Earns All-American status for fourth time
Jason Bowen
ohn Stewart is a now a four-time NHSCA All-American wrestler.
The Scottsboro High School junior and three-time AHSAA state champion earned another All-American honor by finishing third in the National High School Coaches Association’s High School Wrestling Nationals last weekend in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
It was the fourth straight season that Stewart earned All-American honors in his school class/weight class division at the tournament. He went 7-1 during this year’s tournament in the 132-pound Junior weight class division, which included nearly 128 wrestlers.
“I thought I wrestled pretty well,” Stewart said. “I wrestled a lot of tough (opponents). A lot of work and a lot of preparation went into it. This sport is pretty unforgiving. You’ve got to keep going in it. I’m happy with (the performance), but there’s more work to be done.”
Stewart wrestled at 144 pounds during Scottsboro’s season, finishing his second consecutive undefeated campaign with another state title — he was the 2025 AHSAA Wrestling Championship’s Class 5A Most Outstanding Wrestler — and has a 106-match winning streak in AHSAA competition.
Stewart opened the NHSCA Nationals last Friday with a 12-5 decision over a Georgia wrestler before posting three consecutive technical fall wins of 23-8, 16-1 and 18-3 against opponents from Pennsylvania, Nevada and New York respectively and a 7-1 decision against a Kansas wrestler in the quarterfinal round.
Stewart dropped a 5-4 decision to Ohio wrestler Mason Rohr in the championship bracket semifinals, but battled back to win his final two matches in the consolation bracket to nab a third-place. He won a 1-0 decision in the consolation semifinals before winning the third-place match 4-2 against Collier Hartman of Pennsylvania.
“Lost a close one 5-4 (in the semifinals) — would’ve liked to have wrestled better in that match, but I bounced back,” Stewart said. “I got up 3-0 in the first period (of the third-place match) and was up 4-0 after the second period. By that third day, you’re body is pretty sore. You just have to go out there and fight through it and I was able to.”
Stewart will wrestle later this month in the U.S. Open’s 20U Division Tournament and is also scheduled to compete in the Alabama Freestyle and USA Wrestling’s 2025 Fargo Freestyle Tournament in Fargo, North Dakota.
Staton finishes 2-2 at nationals — Scottsboro two-time state champion Stone Staton notched a 2-2 mark in the NHSCA Wrestling National’s 126-pound junior division last weekend.
Staton posted a 17-0 technical fall victory in his opening match of the tournament before dropping a 7-0 decision in Championship Bracket’s Round of 64. Staton then nothced an 11-1 major decision victory in the Consolation Round of 64 before losing a 2-1 heartbreaker in the Consolation Round of 32.
