Scott earns another state title for Randolph

OMAHA — Injuries end some athletes careers.

For others, an injury just makes an athlete more determined.

That’s the case for Randolph’s Noah Scott.

On Saturday, the Randolph senior pinned Creighton’s Bryce Zimmerer with 20 seconds left in the third and final period to win the state championship.

Scott has wrestled since he was in elementary school, and navigated his way to the State Tournament in Omaha as a sophomore in 2017.

A knee injury in football his junior year prevented him from contributing to Randolph’s postseason run in football that season, and stripped away his junior wrestling season.

Coming back as a senior he again battled injury in the football season, but this time returned to wrestle one more season.

“It was really tough missing my junior year, but I just used that as motivation for the season,” said Scott. “It pushed me to work hard while practicing, lifting weights, and doing rehab as well.”

Scott worked his way to become District Champion, and earn one of the top four seeds in the D170 bracket. From there he had a picturesque weekend, going 4-4 and pinning three of his opponents while winning the other in major decision.

“Winning a state championship this year means the world to me,” said Scott. “It just goes to show how hard I worked to get back to competing again. Not many people can say they won an individual state championship.”

Scott’s championship marks the 12th for a Randolph wrestler, with the most recent before him being Drew Loberg in 2016.

A big advantage for Scott was the experience he gained this season from a challenging schedule put together by Randolph coach Mark Lech.

“I told people that my district was basically a preview of state,” said Scott. “The crazy part was that I had already wrestled every one of my opponents at state except for one. But down in Omaha, anything can happen, as we have all seen before. I knew I had to take it one match at a time, and had to go one hundred percent during each one. I think I wrestled well. I came out and set the tone in my first two matches, which led into the others.”

Scott’s previous experience during his sophomore year was also advantageous, said Scott. It helped calm his nerves in the big arena, but the biggest difference was as a sophomore he finished fourth at Districts and had to wrestle a District champion, whereas this year that was opposite.

Scott was one of three wrestlers from Randolph to compete in Omaha this past weekend, with Alex Schmit and Brandon Bloomquist also making the trip. All three are seniors and have wrestled together for over a decade.

“It was really cool sharing this experience together,” said Scott. “We have always been close friends and have pushed each other in practice. We knew this was going to be our last chance to prove ourselves, and that we needed to leave it all on the mat.”

Neither Schmit nor Bloomquist made it on the podium, each falling one match short. Lech said all three wrestled valiantly though and that each should look back on their high school careers with pride, especially considering the amount of years the boys have put into the sport.

“This group is a special group for me and for all of the coaches,” said Lech. “They have been together since they were junior wrestlers and stayed dedicated through their senior season. The best part of this trio is not their wrestling, but their character. They are all great guys that do the right thing on and off the mat. They represent the school well where ever we go and they will be hard to replace. “

Scott ended his wrestling career on a high note with a state championship. He is a state qualifier in track and field, and soon shifts his focus to the next season’s sport. After track and graduation though, Scott will be continuing his athletic career at the next level.

The Randolph senior is not done competing.

He recently announced his decision to play football for Wayne State College, continuing his career as a running back.

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