FRUITPORT – To his coaches and teammates in the Fruitport soccer and wrestling programs, Davis Johnson has always been a star.

Really good in both sports. Super hard worker. Team captain and inspiring leader.

To those outside of those programs, however, Johnson is probably a little less known, because he’s always had a few standout teammates who scored more goals, won more matches and grabbed more headlines.

That never bothered Johnson, because he’s a team-first guy who loves to win, and he’s helped Fruitport soccer and wrestling claim a lot of championships in the last few years.

But high school wrestling is both a team and individual sport, and Johnson had a breakthrough season last year as a junior, advancing to individual regionals for the first time and coming painfully close to qualifying for the individual state finals.

So after soccer season ended a few months ago, and his senior wrestling season approached, he was excited about having an even better year, making the state finals, and earning a little notoriety of his own.

As Johnson put it, ”I love the team aspect and being part of something bigger than myself, but my parents have always said that the individual part of wrestling is good, too, because you determine your own fate and get out of it what you put in.

“Getting to the state finals is definitely a goal of mine, just to cap it all off and show how much I’ve put into it.”

Just before Halloween, however, with preseason wrestling practice right around the corner, Johnson started feeling sick.

“I would say around Halloween week, the day we had the Pumpkin Cup soccer game at school, an intramural team thing we do, I went home and took a nap, and when I got up I didn’t think I was going to make it. I was just super exhausted.

“About two weeks later, I still felt like that, and my mom said something is going on, we need to get you tested.”

Johnson had started preseason conditioning for wrestling, and made the first couple days of practice, then he was sitting at lunch at school when he got a call from his mother. The rest results had come back, showing he was suffering from both mononucleosis and a strain of influenza.

Recovery required weeks of rest, and he didn’t get back to practice again until mid-December.

So instead of getting a great jump on his final season, and building early momentum toward a run at the state finals, Johnson was forced to sit, watch and recover.

“Honestly, it was pretty bad,” he said. “I was always tired. I slept quite a bit. I would come home from school and be ready to take a nap. It just kind of dragged along. I was never deathly sick, just sick for so long.”

The long wait was frustrating, but Johnson did not let the setback mentally derail him.

“I was able to stay pretty positive about it,” he said. “I’m glad that it wasn’t an injury. It was hard going to tournaments, watching my teammates compete, and not be able to do anything. But I still wanted to be there to support them.”

A great legacy, and he’s not done yet

If Johnson never competed in another day of high school sports, he would still have a record that any kid would be proud to leave behind.

He played for three years on the Fruitport varsity soccer team and had a big role in helping the team achieve great success, with an overall record of 55-8-7, three district championships and two conference titles.

As a junior he had eight goals and three assists and earned All-Region, All-District and All-Conference honors. As a senior he had five goals and four assists, was a team co-captain, and earned all of the same honors again, along with being named honorable mention All-State.

“Davis is arguably the toughest player I’ve ever coached,” said Fruitport soccer coach Dan Hazekamp. “He was a warrior who often played hurt, gave relentless effort, and played at an incredibly high level throughout his career.

“Through his leadership and tremendous work ethic he garnered the respect of opponents, coaches and teammates. He left an incredible legacy within our program.”

In wrestling, Johnson has been a big winner over three-plus years of varsity competition.

He won 29 matches as a freshman, 26 as a sophomore and broke through with 36 victories last season as a junior.

Last year he made his big move in the postseason, finishing third in individual districts and qualifying for regionals for the first time. He reached the “blood round” at regionals – meaning he would have qualified for the state finals with one more victory – but lost in a close match.

Overall Johnson has helped the Trojans capture three straight team district titles and one team conference championship.

Perhaps most impressively, Johnson has been a co-captain on the wrestling team since he was a sophomore, a pretty rare honor for an underclassman. He earned that title through hard work and leadership that caught the coaches’ attention right away.

“Davis has been a heartbeat of our program for the past four seasons,” said Fruitport head wrestling coach Chad Johnson. “His work ethic in the practice room is unmatched, and his athletic ability speaks for itself.  As a three-year captain, he has led relentlessly by example, pushing his teammates every day and holding everyone, including himself, to the highest standard.

“Our program is better because of Davis, and his impact will be felt long after he’s gone.”

All the praise from coaches is great, but Johnson is not quite ready to settle for the legacy he’s already created. He still has what’s left of his senior wrestling season, and his goal of reaching the individual state finals remains very much intact.

He’s also excited about helping his team try to win its second consecutive O-K Silver conference title and fourth straight district title.

“I’m going hard at practice and keeping a positive mindset,” he said. “I’m getting a lot of good matches in and zeroing in on what I could do better. It’s go-time now.”

One final push for success

Not surprisingly, Johnson has has mixed success so far this season, with a 20-10 record.

That’s partly because the mono and influenza left him drained and weak, even when he started to compete again.

He has also faced a lot of really tough opponents, because Coach Johnson purposefully builds a challenging schedule to get the wrestlers ready for the postseason.

“He’s still trying to get his conditioning where it needs to be, and he’s had his share of tough matches,” the coach said about Johnson. “Nothing has been easy for him so far. He’s ran into a few hammers to start out.”

Johnson returned to competition in early January at his team’s own Fruitport Invitational and battled his way to a 2-3 record.

He gutted out a very tough 4-0 win over Portland’s Liam Spitzley, and his second victory came by forfeit. He lost one very close match 5-3, and was also pinned twice.

“It was a pretty tough day,” he said. “We wrestled against some tough teams, so coming back to a tournament like that was pretty hard. I pride myself on towing the line, and I always keep going hard until the final whistle, but I was really tired that day.”

His best day so far came at the Jan. 10 Sparta Invitational, when he won four matches, including two by pin.

His third match of the day turned out be a really special one, because he earned the 100th victory of his varsity career, a milestone that few high school wrestlers reach.

“It was a pretty cool milestone,” Johnson said. ”It’s pretty big in wrestling to get your 100th win. I remember when I was a freshman and had a pretty good year, the coaches told me that put me in contention for 100 wins, so it was definitely a goal in the back of my mind.”

Johnson admits he’s not totally satisfied with his performance just yet, and doesn’t feel like he’s where he needs to be to maximize what he can do for the team and make another run for the individual state finals in a few weeks.

“I don’t think I’m there yet,” he said. “Half of that is probably mental, just me needing to get back to believing in myself.

“I still think I can get there. Like I told my coach today, I want to take these last few weeks and give it all I’ve got to end my senior year.”