If you're a wrestler, the combination of young and big is not a recipe for varsity success. As an eighth-grader, Sherburne-Earlville senior Garrett DuVall made the lineup at 171 pounds, and he would occasionally move up a weight class depending on the matchup.

Most wrestlers in those weight classes have matured and grown into those divisions, and are typically juniors and seniors. "If you look at 99 and 106 pounds, most of the guys wrestling there are really good pee wee wrestlers," said Sherburne-Earlville head coach. "Garrett was young, and he was starting out in a man's weight class. From 145 pounds and up, that's the big boys."

DuVall has spent his entire career wrestling with the big boys, and he took his lumps that first season. He finished with a losing record that first year, just under the .500 mark. Now, as a senior, he's the number one seed at 220 pounds in the 2015 New York State Division II wrestling tournament.

DuVall is one of six area wrestlers competing today and tomorrow at the Times Union Arena vying for a state championship. DuVall is making his second appearance on the grandest stage for high school wrestlers, and is coming off a third-place finish at last year's tournament.

"He was the 16th seed (out of 16) in his weight class last year," Palmer said. "He lost his second match, then he never lost again."

That perseverance is a defining attribute for DuVall, who comes from a wrestling family. Palmer recalled walking on to a wrestling mat for the first time in 1976 as a young pee wee wrestler. Along side Palmer was DuVall's father, Paul DuVall. The two have remained lifelong friends, and Paul DuVall volunteers on Palmer's coaching staff. Garrett DuVall is the last of Paul's s three sons to wrestle – Gary and Greg being the first two – and will likely step away from coaching this season, something that may be a bit easier if his son is standing on top of the podium Saturday night.