On the eve of the Class 6A state wrestling tournament, Hutchinson coach Mike Garcia decided to pull a move similar to Norman Dale's in the movie “Hoosiers.” Garcia wanted a couple of Salthawks to see their championship site -- Hartman Arena in Park City -- and illustrate that wrestling is still wrestling anywhere. “Just so they can walk around, feel it ... (that) there’s nothing different than any place I’ve been before,” Garcia said. “It’s still just wrestling. Same rules, same everything about it. You’ve just got to go out there and take care of yourself.” Although he is just a freshman and about to get his first taste of state, Salthawk 106-pounder Brian Gates doesn't worry Garcia too much about becoming aghast in the atmosphere today. During practice on Thursday, Gates was pretty loose, gabbing with his teammates. They were throwing a ball of tape around while running and wrapping up practice. “I’ve been wrestling since I was 4 so I’ve been in big stuff,” Gates said. Heading into state, Gates is pretty confident – and he has good reason to be. In his debut season, Gates already has established a “big match” reputation. He’s listed No. 3 in the most recent Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association 6A 106-pound rankings and boasts a 29-9 record. Earlier in the season at a tournament in Emporia, Gates handed No. 1-ranked Lawrence Free State freshman Tate Steele his lone loss of the year. Just last week at regionals in Maize, Gates pinned Garden City freshman Kaj Perez, who was ranked No. 2 at the time, in the semifinals. Garcia said Gates surely never cowers against a worthy adversary. “He’s somewhat fearless,” Garcia said. “I think he’s pretty confident in what he can do. He steps out there to win every time. As long as you do that, you have a chance to win it. He does a good job in the big matches. He can rise and find himself in them. I think he is comfortable in that type of setting.” Gates said having those triumphs in his memory bank gives him an extra hop in his step. “It gets me real happy because I know if I beat them once, I can beat them again,” Gates said. The touchstone of Gates’ repertoire on the mat is his aggressiveness. He tries to avoid the long matches and his strategy is to get his opponent down as fast as possible. Once Gates sees a window of opportunity, he pounces on it. “I show them if I can get my shot and get my cradle in, I can win,” Gates said. “That’s what I say. When I have them on their back, I use all my strength to put them on their back so they can’t move. I’ll do a cradle, a three-quarter stack or run moves that I know will work.” Gates may revel the opportunity to go up against the best, but if he is going to bring home hardware at state, he knows patience is key. He said he’ll constantly have to keep himself in the present and focus entirely on his next opponent. “It’s hard to, but like coach says, you just have to be thinking about that one match because if you don’t, you can screw up,” Gates said. Joining Gates at state for Hutchinson are 126-pound junior Hagen Kent, 152-pound junior Lucas Dunbar, and 220-pound senior Francisco Escamilla. For all of his four Salthawks, Garcia said it’s all about taking it one match at a time. “For some people, they kind of look past people or they look forward to something else or they try to plan on this guy winning,” Garcia said. “And you just can’t. You wrestle one match and you move on and get ready for the next match and move on again. It can be overwhelming if you don’t just look at things bits and pieces at a time.”