Will County Gazette

Wrestler Matt Ramos was a force of one during the recent Cadet Freestyle World Championships.

The Lockport senior was the only member of Team USA to walk away with a world title from the event held in Zagreb, Croatia after besting Japan’s Kota Takahashi by fall in 2:40 in the 51-kilogram title match.

Family members and friends of the rising star recently got together to fete him at a local sports grill.

“This means so much to me,” Ramos told The Herald-News. “Everyone here has helped me get through when I was getting down on myself, and they helped me back up. My coaches and partners pushed me to be the best, and all of my friends who have helped me through the bad times were here since they’re always supporting me.”

Ramos, who finished third in Class 3A last year at 113 pounds and fifth at 106 pounds the year before, always believed he had what it takes.

“The key is always to have confidence going into matches,” he said. “If you don’t go into a match feeling confident, you’re not going to wrestle confidently. You have to know that you’ve got to make something happen.”

With Porters assistant coach Jameson Oster looking on as an assistant, Ramos said his strategy in Croatia was just to be himself and focus on the things he knew to be tried and tested.

“Since I didn’t know about their types of wrestling, I had to wrestle like I do in every match and not change my style,” he said. “I was really happy that Jameson was there for me, since he knows me the best in coaching, and the U.S. coaches only got to know me for a week. He knew exactly what I needed to do and what I needed to get to on my attacks.”

With the Cadet Freestyle title in the bag, Ramos is now ranked sixth nationally at 120 pounds by FloWrestling.

“This gives me more confidence going into the future,” Ramos said. “It shows that I’m at the level with the best people in the country and the world. So, knowing that, I feel like I can do anything.”