— When faced with the unknown, Dan Schofield won't fake it. He knows the uneasiness of nervousness, wondering how he'll get through the moment at hand. Fearing that moment is something he doesn't know.
His father taught him that.
Schofield is Lisbon High's 229-pound state heavyweight wrestling champion, one of the seven who qualified for the New England tournament in New Haven, Conn., on March 6-7. Never mind that Schofield never wrestled before this, his senior season. Never mind that he separated his shoulder three weeks before the Class C championship meet in Augusta. Or that his opponent in the state finals had pinned him the week before.
Never mind that he had been uprooted last summer from the life he once knew in Ohio and Michigan. Schofield's father, Roland, had lost his fight with cancer in June, five years after his wife, Ilene, lost hers. Dan and his 15-year-old sister, Amanda, moved to Maine to live with his older brother, Christopher, and his wife, Charlotte.
''It was hard,'' Schofield said Wednesday of the passing and the grieving, of leaving friends from school and church behind. But Roland Schofield had told his son to trust himself and to have faith.
''My dad believed that life gives you opportunities and challenges,'' said Schofield, who measures his words, thinking before he speaks.
He didn't hide the loss of his parents from teammates. Neither did he share a lot of memories.
Happy teammates surrounded Schofield after he beat A.J. Carrier of Dirigo at the end of the tournament. He was the last of seven Lisbon wrestlers to win championships that night. The team title was locked away long ago.
Most new champions feel a surge of intense satisfaction in the moments after competition. Schofield did. ''I feel,'' he said that night, ''that I can do anything.''
Lisbon football coach Dick Mynahan spotted Schofield this summer walking along the road they share. Schofield was a strange face.
''I remember asking myself, why don't we get football players (that size) in Lisbon?'' Later, Mynahan learned that someone had been at the weight room used by Lisbon High football players, asking about playing.
It was Schofield.
Schofield grew up in St. Helen, a small logging town in north-central Michigan so small, it couldn't support a high school. Two years ago his father moved his children to Toledo, Ohio, to be closer to the medical facilities treating his cancer.
''There aren't a lot of differences,'' said Schofield, referring to old friends in Ohio and new ones in Maine. ''I'm always meeting one person that reminds me of someone I knew back home.''
Schofield played defensive tackle and offensive guard on the Lisbon line. He used his exceptional leg strength well.
Teammates encouraged him to go out for wrestling. The Greyhounds needed a heavyweight. Schofield knew what a double-leg takedown was, but little else about the sport.
''I'm home schooled (he attended public schools in Ohio and Michigan) and I wanted something more to do. So why not?''
He's a rangy 229 pounds with good quickness, balance and strength.
What helped him on the football field would help him on the wrestling mat. He learned new moves quickly.
''I was amazed at the amount of knowledge he retained,'' said wrestling coach Mark Stevens. ''We'd show him something new and he'd use it right away.''
He won more bouts than he lost, many times giving away 20 or 30 pounds or more in the 285-pound class. He believed he could at least place in the state meet and maybe win. But in late January, while pulling his arm out of an opponent's hold, he separated his shoulder. He still won the bout but couldn't raise his arm.
Schofield took some time off. The pain lessened but didn't go away. He returned to the mat. The son who was at his father's bedside in a hospice had the strength to push another kind of ache aside.
At the state meet, Schofield pinned both his opponents, including the Eastern Maine champ, Andrew Larson of Foxcroft Academy, in the first period of their semifinals bout. Then came the rematch with Carrier. Up in the Augusta Civic Center grandstand, Dick Mynahan watched, respecting Carrier's talent and thinking the bout would end quickly.
Schofield held his own. That's when those in the Lisbon community who knew Schofield realized they were watching something special.
What happens in two weeks at the New England tournament will take second place to the triumph of the spirit.
Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at:
ssolloway@pressherald.com
