North DeSoto’s Adams family is a clan of Yankees who find Stonewall to their liking

The drive from Massachusetts to Stonewall with four youngsters and a passel of pets was a long and arduous one for Holly Adams and her clan, but the move has paid off for the North DeSoto wrestling team.

Senior Nathan Adams is on the verge of competing for a potential LHSAA state individual and team wrestling title after finishing fourth last season. He recently captured first place in the regional meet and is expected to be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed when the LHSAA Championships kick off Friday in Bossier City’s Brookshire Arena.

“Nathan Adams’ maturity separates him from most,” Griffins coach Dustin Burton said. “He’s very disciplined and has a great feel for wrestling. He’s very fundamental in every position which makes him dangerous at any moment.”

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Adams and his dangerous counterparts have a shot at bringing home a team family after the Adams family made the complicated trip south in 2014 thanks to a family split that was less than amicable.

“As we Yankees say, ‘it was a wicked pissah,’” Holly Adams said of her divorce.

The trip was supposed to take two days but ended up taking four due to multiple stops for the seven dogs on board, bathroom breaks for the children, vehicular issues and “stuff falling out of the truck.”

“You know – all the fun things that come up when moving across country,” Holly said.

A stickler for having a clean car while competing at 126 pounds, Nathan Adams lives in a household with five sisters, his mom and more than a half-dozen dogs, depending on how many strays Holly has carted home on a given day.

“For the most part, Nathan tries to ignore us,” Holly said. “He likes to make sarcastic comments when we hog the bathrooms. But he’s a Yankee and anyone who knows him gets along with him. He’s easy going and a great student.”

He’s also a busy guy. When he isn’t studying, wrestling or at Gloster Baptist Church, he’s cooking up some tasty chicken fingers at Raising Cane’s or operating his car-detailing business.

Nathan’s career as a wrestler has continued to progress and he now appears on top of his game. He recently defeated the 2023 state champion at 126 pounds, Kaiden Triche of Rummel, in the Louisiana Classic by pinning him in the second period. That gives him confidence heading into next weekend.

“I put in the work this summer, and nothing will stop me,” Nathan said. “To get better I went to the wrestling camps during the summer and learned high-level techniques from different high-level people. To get stronger our team has a weight training coach, and we spend time in the weight room every week.”

Adams said coach Burton has pushed him to get to a brick wall and blow through it during practice.

“My drilling partners, like Collin Bell, Dalton Compton and Chase Smart, have the same goals to be successful in the sport as I do,” Adams said. “I believe being around people with similar goals in mind has really helped me grow as a wrestler.”

While he admires his coaches and training buddies, Adams said his mother is No. 1 on his admiration list, even though she sometimes bills him tongue-in-cheek as a smart aleck.

“She has done so much for me and my siblings. My mom has always been there for us supporting us financially by working three jobs and taking care of us when we were younger because she was a single mom after the divorce,” Nathan said.

The Adams family seems well settled into Stonewall’s fabric, but last week’s visit of ice and snow reminded Nathan about what he most misses.

“I do miss the northeast as far as the snow, and I got to see the other part of my family more,” he said. “We still visit up north during the summer to see our dad but the drive is long.”

If Adams is able to win a state title, being able to brag a little about that in Massachusetts, might make the trip shorter.

“I believe Nathan has all the tools to accomplish his goal of being a state champion," Burton said. “He will need to execute his best wrestling one match at a time with confidence and the rest will take care of itself.”

Jimmy Watson covers Shreveport-Bossier area sports. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: LHSAA wrestling: North DeSoto’s Nathan Adams makes moves on the mat