Every now and then a school and community is blessed to get to watch special athletes compete. Not only do those athletes make special memories for themselves and their teammates but for the school that they represent.
This past athletic season was a special one for Southmont and recent graduate Wyatt Woodall. After a junior season that saw him and the Mounties almost pull off the upset of Linton Stockton and then fall short on the opening night of the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals, this senior season for Woodall was about redemption.
He and his Mountie teammates got that redemption this past fall when they took down the Miners and won the sectional title on their way to semi-state. That success and momentum carried over into the wrestling room where Woodall would see his dream come true of placing on the podium with a seventh place finish at 215 pounds while he got to do it with his best friend and teammate Marlin Williams alongside him.
“This senior season was a culmination of just staying true to who I am,” Woodall said. “I really focused on bettering myself not only as an athlete but as a person. All I really did was just continue to work hard and keep my head down. Of course this senior year had its ups and downs but that’s just part of life and is going to happen. After the downs, I just kept telling myself that the ups would be well worth it. To look back on this senior season and realize all that not only myself, but what we at Southmont accomplished, it’s something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.”
With all that Woodall has accomplished not only in just his senior season, but in his four years at Southmont, it’s fitting that for the second straight year, Woodall has earned the 2024 Journal Review Male Athlete of the Year.
Making the jump his junior year and having the success he did, but still coming up just short, was the perfect blend of confidence yet motivation for Woodall.
“Losing that Linton game our junior year was such a big eye opener for us and it showed that we have what it takes to compete with a team like that and we were meant to be here. Fast forward to wrestling and getting to the state finals for the first time and losing one that Friday night that I probably shouldn’t have, that was just another eye opener and showed me that I need to work just a little bit harder. All of what we accomplished this past year wouldn’t have been possible without that junior year. All of us came in hungry and the results speak for themselves.”
It’d be easy for one to say that everything fell into the right place for the Mounties and Woodall this past year. Making semi-state in football, winning the Sagamore Conference title in wrestling and placing on the podium at the state finals.
“People don’t know all of the hours in the weight room, out on the practice field or in the wrestling room that all of us put in,” Woodall said. “Getting to host that Regional game and have those final three games of the post-season didn’t happen by luck or accident. We had a bond that no one can ever take away. Everything came together for us at the right time for wrestling too with getting to win the conference for Coach Welliever and of course getting to go down to Evansville with Marlin, some may call it lucky but it’s just everything came together because of all the work we put in.”
Mountie football coach Desson Hannum during the post-season run called Woodall “arguably the best player to ever come through the program”. You add on his success in the wrestling room and it’s fair to say that Woodall has established himself as an All-Time Mountie as the both the football and wrestling record books have his name all over them. But as he has throughout his four years, Woodall never made it about himself.
“I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am if it wasn’t for all of coaches, parents and everyone who has believed in me,” he said. “When I think about my career, it’s not the touchdowns, tackles, take downs, or medals that come to mind. Instead it’s about doing this for all of the little kids who I’ve gotten to meet after games wanting pictures with their jerseys. I do it for those things because there’s simply no greater feeling than knowing you’ve made an impact on someone’s life like that.”
Woodall isn’t putting up his pads just yet as he’ll trade in the scarlet and gray Mountie uniform for blue and gold of Marian University. He still has one final high school game to play in however as he along with Hannum will get to share the sidelines one final time next Friday in the North/South All-Star Game.
History is not only going to remember Woodall for his accomplishments on the mat and field, but the type of person he was and always putting others before himself.
