Auburndale's Nate Gabriel goes with coaching decision, becomes state champion
A simple tackle and a takedown led Nate Gabriel accomplishing something that he never did before.
Those moves in the 2023 State Championships at the Silver Spurs Arena Saturday against Port Charlotte's Vincent Chavez in the finals meant a dominating 10-0 major decision championship victory.
Before the final takedown, the match started off a little slow, but then Gabriel waited for his opening before scoring a takedown. Gabriel was just too smart and patient for Chavez to counter, as the junior stalled time and won his coveted championship, which put him in the same category as other Polk County wrestling greats.
This is Gabriel's first state championship as a junior.
"When I won the state championship, I just thanked myself because I put in all the hard work. All the hard work paid off after I won it," Gabriel said. "...I feel really accomplished. ... I feel like I deserved to be there. I felt like I was him."
More:Polk County's Tedesco, Fretwell, Whidden, Maldonado, Gabriel win state wrestling championships
An unexpected decision leads to championship berth
Three years ago, Gabriel made a decision that changed his sports trajectory. Gabriel heading into his freshman year, Auburndale defensive line coach Antonio Thomas implored Gabriel to compete in wrestling because he thought the now-junior wrestler would turn out to be like one of his family members in football.
"My D-line coach forced me to do wrestling because my cousin wasn't that good at football, so he forced me saying, 'If you don't do wrestling, you are going to end up just like your cousin,'" Gabriel said.
Gabriel's cousin is Sebastian Lewis, who was a burly defensive tackle for Auburndale. Lewis went on to play football at Florida Central Tech where he plays offensive tackle now.
Gabriel didn't want to go in that early direction, though Lewis went on to develop himself as a formidable football player and Gabriel has been a blossoming talent the last few years. So, with a burning desire to do a little better than his family, Gabriel gave serious consideration to wrestling before deciding to compete despite playing football dating back as far as Auburndale's youth football team and the Lake Alfred Raiders.
"Honestly when he told me, I was terrified. I was scared because I was going to get slammed on my neck and all this other stuff; I was terrified at first," Gabriel said.
As a 6'1", 260-pound athlete, Gabriel was slammed his very first day in the wrestling room by Kody Chisolm, who is a weightlifting state champion. He also was an Auburndale offensive lineman.
"After that day I was like, 'Is this really for me?'" Gabriel asked. "But me, I (have) never been a quitter though, so I just stuck it out."
Gabriel is a guy that is motivated by competition. So, while Chisolm was the better wrestler many days when Gabriel first started to compete on the mat, the multisport athlete did what he could to pick Chisolm's brain.
Chisolm taught Gabriel freshman year underhooks, duck unders, throws, among many other wrestling moves. But around this time Gabriel was only wrestling majority junior varsity matches, though he had some exposure to varsity wrestling.
His summer heading into his sophomore year, Gabriel participated in football summer workouts twice during the day, which helped him in both wrestling and football. But the heavyweight gives credit to his defensive line coach, Antonio Thomas, who taught him the fundamentals of wrestling.
".... He really helped me, mentored me a lot, worked me out a lot ― all that good stuff," Gabriel said. "...He taught me how to be a better football player ― how to actually play the defensive line position."
Gabriel absorbed this information and advanced to states his sophomore year.
The summer of his junior year Gabriel continued to roll, working out twice a day. Gabriel also had a personal weight trainer that assisted him in bulking up to 275 pounds at 6'4." His goal was to expose himself to colleges even more, which was the case following his junior year of football, as the state champ went on to make the all-county football team.
Auburndale's No. 1 heavyweight finished the season at 35-4, and was also a county, district, region and state champion.
Not bad for an athlete who always had football on the radar. Gabriel heading into his senior season has USF, FAU, Michigan, Liberty, Arkansas State, Marshall, Illinois and Coastal Carolina eyeing him.
"I thank coach Thomas, the head (football) coach (Kyle Sasser), the defensive coordinator (Sasser). I thank them every day talking to me about this and that — about how to be a better man," Gabriel said. "I thank my brother actually, for helping me mentally every day."
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Auburndale's Nate Gabriel goes with coaching decision, becomes state champion
