For Central Region wrestling champ, today is everything

Hatcher, Mills Godwin's Central Region champion at 140 pounds, is one of more than 200 Virginia high school wrestlers competing this weekend in the Group AAA tournament at Oscar Smith.

For most, winning a state title is a dream. And for all but 14, it will remain just that.

Hatcher's dreams usually yield under a steady schedule of, "practice, studying, bed, school; practice, studying, bed, school."

Math comes naturally to him, the problems unraveling under scrutiny. He paints, sketches, even sculpts a bit - watching his vision unfold from nothing. His grades are better than perfect.

"I have to be good at everything," he said.

In a sophomore art class, he constructed a wrestler, big enough to practice takedowns on in his garage. The project was supposed to represent his interests, with its soccer ball head and football foot. Maybe it started to, the lacrosse and baseball, the swimming and running.

But the figure was, first and foremost, a wrestler. And all of Hatcher's manic energy is focused into wrestling, the sport he inherited from his father.

When Matt wrestles, Glenn Hatcher is there. Every practice Matt can remember. Every match. Fourteen years of wrestling tournaments and matches, the son as focused and driven as the father.

Matt Hatcher has heard it from his friends, even his wrestling friends.

"You don't ever stop," he repeats. "You don't ever stop."

It's half a compliment, half a reproach. Hatcher's relentless efforts in everything, even practice, could wear on the temper and break down the body of most partners.

It wasn't so bad when he was an underweight freshman, wrestling at 103. His sophomore year, he won his first region title at 112 pounds. In practice, he still was tiny enough to be manageable against older, bigger foes.

That growth spurt before his junior season was a killer. Hatcher, used to competing in the tiniest, quickest classes, skipped two weights to 130.

Teammate Matt Brunke, suddenly on his own quest for self-improvement, stepped in to bear the brunt of practicing with that lean bundle of limbs.

Even after practicing with the slightly bigger Brunke, Hatcher was surprised at his now thick and muscular competition. The little lightweights still looked the way he expected himself to look.

So he worked even harder to become faster and more aggressive, always attacking. When he finally saw a video of himself, the new self-image sank in some. But Hatcher's style was set.

"I still have the mindset of a small guy," he said. "I still have my speed and my agility."

At 130 pounds last year, he also had a lot of competition.

James River's Jared Anongos (now a four-time region champion who has since broken the VHSL record for career wins) battled Matoaca phenom Josh Clark at the top of the weight class for most of the season.

Hatcher battled a hernia and finished second in the regional tournament. He turned up at the state tournament without a win in two previous trips and with a nasty case of flu. The good news was he finally won a match. But it was only one, and he left Chesapeake no closer to a state title than when he arrived.

This year will be different. His attitude, he says, will be different. He's going in believing that he's the best, genuinely believing that he will be the first Central Region wrestler to win a Group AAA title since 2002.

"This, right now, is the most pressure moment of my life," he said. "I've blown it the past three years. I've said to myself, my freshman year I said I had three more years. Sophomore year, two more years, then one more year. Now, this is it. I've got to win states.

"I'm just tired of working so hard and getting to states and then not doing what I want to do."