By Rob Sherrill, W.I.N. High School Columnist

Every story in sports, it seems, has a hero and a villain.

The villain is the 500-pound gorilla which sets up shop as king of the mountain and dares anyone to take a shot at knocking him off.

The rest of the players all are trying to be the hero.

It’s no different in wrestling.

Look around the nation and you see those evil primates everywhere, but not necessarily many heroes.

Who’s going to beat Bennington Mount Anthony High in Vermont, for instance? The Patriots have won 19 straight Vermont titles and will make it 20 this year. Or Brandon High in Florida’s Class 2A, let alone at any other level in the state? How about Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High in Wisconsin? Kansas City Oak Park High in Missouri? Or Gillette Campbell County High in Wyoming?

Just a few examples of teams which have become the wrestling standard in their respective states.

When you’ve achieved such machine status, the form sheet almost doesn’t matter. The name alone means respect and it means you’re going to be in the hunt, almost without regard to the lineup. To steal a cliche from some other sports, the name on the front of the uniform means a lot more than the name on the back.

On the national level, two programs possess names that are synonymous with wrestling success: Blairstown (N.J.) Blair Academy and Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward High.

Both have impressive streaks of their own. Blair has won 27 consecutive National Prep Championships titles. That streak not only is the longest in the nation for any program, it dates back before not only the entire current Bucs wrestling roster was born, but even before some members of the coaching staff.

Defending national champion St. Edward’s current streak is a bit more modest. The Eagles have won Ohio’s last 11 Division 1 state titles. They also own a 10-year winning streak and have been the state’s signature program since taking the first crown in 1978.

Both programs have routinely stocked major college programs all over the East and the Midwest for years. No program prepares its athletes for the next level and markets those athletes to college coaches better than Blair coach Jeff Buxton and St. Edward coach Greg Urbas.

So for the better part of a decade, the battle for the top spot in high school wrestling’s Top 25 team standings, whether W.I.N. Magazine’s or anyone else’s, essentially has been a two-horse race, with few other contenders over that period.

As we count down the days to the start of a new wrestling season, it’s safe to say that neither team will put out the best line-up in school history.

How will Blair replace Kellen Russell, Max Shanaman, Eric Medina and Jared Platt, who combined for 11 National Prep titles and seven trips to Fargo finals with four titles, and now are freshmen at top-line Division 1 programs?

How will St. Edward deal with an inexperienced group of upper weights that includes four new wrestlers at the final five weight classes?

Does it really matter?

Sure, both teams have plenty of bullets left in the gun.

Despite the high-profile graduations, Blair returns nine starters. Using last year’s weights, sophomore Chris Villalonga (112) and seniors Mario Mason (140) and Corey Peltier (171) are thoroughbreds and Garrett Frey (119), Joe Stanzione (125) and their teammates will provide plenty of help.

St. Edward will rely on junior two-time state champion Collin Palmer (125) and senior state champion Brian Roddy (171), who provides some flexibility in the upper weights. The lower weights are still strong with state finalists Jamie Clark (103) and Nick Sulzer (112) and two-time place-winner Neil Birt (130).

But given the status these two programs have achieved, those stars represent an embarrassment of riches. On paper, these programs are not bad … by their standards, anyway.

But “on paper” doesn’t apply when you’re discussing Blair or St. Edward. You can take that paper, rip it to shreds and toss it in the dumpster. Even if a year comes when either or both teams graduate all 14 starters, count on them to be right back in the argument the next season.

Some say there are some pretenders this year. On paper, at least, that would seem to be the case.

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