"In that first match, I was a little bit outmanned. He had more experience than I have," Hester said. "In the second match when I won, that definitely boosted my confidence."
Hester hopes to put that confidence to good use Saturday in the Danville Invitational, the Admirals' only major competition of the season at home.
Coach says Hester stepped up
"It definitely makes you want to work harder when there are people you know watching you," Hester said. "You definitely want to step up your game."
Danville coach Jeff Selby said Hester has certainly stepped up this season.
"He's gotten a lot stronger," Selby said. "You can see he's starting to grow and starting to become a man."
Hester wrestled at 180 pounds at the middle-school level last year, and Selby said he thinks the freshman could be in the 215-pound class by next year and in the heavyweight division before he leaves Danville if he continues to work in the weight room as he has.
"We've just got to get him to work a little harder in practice. He'll bust his gut during a match, and I'd like to get him to work that hard in practice," Selby said.
Hester is the younger brother of former Danville wrestler Dylan Hester, and he said Dylan's interest in the sport is the reason he jumped into wrestling as a sixth-grader.
"I look up to him a lot," Hester said. "He was a great wrestler and a great role model for me in the sport of wrestling."
Not his only game
Wrestling isn't Hester's only game. He's also a lineman on the Danville football team, and he hopes to see quite a bit more time on the field this fall and help the Admirals make a run at a state title.
Meanwhile, he's trying to help a young wrestling team continue to improve with age. Danville's roster of 13 wrestlers has no seniors and only two juniors.
"I'd rather have a young team right now," Hester said. "I'm pretty happy with what we've got right now."
Hester said it would be nice, however, if the roster were a little closer in size to that of his other sport.
"I'd like it to be like football, but it's not going to be," he said.
But the roster is a little bigger than it was a year ago. About 10 of this year's wrestlers compete at the varsity level, whereas only about seven did so last season.
And Selby said the young Admirals have the potential to be highly successful later in their high school careers.
"It kind of reminds me of when I first started and we had a group of six or eight kids," the Danville coach said. "I just tell them they've got to stick with it. Especially without a middle school program, they've got to hang tough for a couple of years.
"I tell them they'll take their lumps in their freshman and sophomore years and give them out in their junior and senior years."
Invitational is Saturday
The Admirals would like to dole out a few lumps Saturday in their annual invitational. They'll host about 15 teams, including Western Hills and Whitley, the two teams that were there Wednesday.
Regional opponents Central Hardin, Fort Knox, Nelson County and North Hardin are scheduled to compete, along with more distant schools such as Dixie Heights, Holmes, Letcher County Central and Perry County Central.
"It definitely makes you want to work harder when there are people you know watching you," Hester said. "You definitely want to step up your game."
Saturday's competition begins at 10:30 a.m. in the Danville gym, and Selby said the finals should begin by about 6 p.m.
Danville (D) 39,
Whitley County (WC) 21
112 - D.C. Evans (WC) won by forfeit; 119 - Louis Beto (D) def. Duncan Caddell (WC), 3:16; 125 - Jeremy Turner (D) def. Joey Caddell (WC) 3-2; 130 - David Harlan (D) won by forfeit; 135 - Brandon Lannum (D) def. Jacob Jones (WC), 1:32; 140 - Jacob Chancelor (WC) def. Michael Cline (D), :32; 152 - Carl Petrey (WC) def. Nick Nelson (D), 1:51; 160 - James Robinson (D) won by forfeit; 189 - Jaron Simley (WC) def. Evan Hester (D) 8-3; 215 - Jonathan Tanner (D) won by forfeit; HW - Brooks Evans (D) won by forfeit.
Danville (D) 39,
Western Hills (WH) 12
119 - Beto (D) won by forfeit; 125 - Turner (D) won by forfeit; 130 - Harlan (D) won by forfeit; 135 - Lannum (D) won by forfeit; 140 - Cline (D) won by forfeit; 152 - Joe Nedvidek (D) def. Steven Games (WH), 1:46; 160 - C.J. Roberts (WH) def. Robinson (D), 2:23; 171 - Mischa Gittinger (WH) won by forfeit; 189 - Hester (D) def. Chris Wheat (WH), 1:21; 215 - Josh Jones (WH) def. Tanner (D), 3:26; HW - Evans (D) def. Charley Rawlings (WH), 1:07.
