Matthew Bain , mbain@press-citizen.com 6:21 p.m. CT Feb. 10, 2017

West Liberty's Will Esmoil, right, and his older brother, Bryce, watch teammates wrestle in West Liberty on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)Buy Photo

Iowa wrestler Thomas Gilman said he wasrelaxed last Sunday when Minnesotas Ethan Lizak took an early 8-0 lead on him during the Hawkeyes dual in Minneapolis.

Bryce and Will Esmoil and their parents, Mark and Chari, were definitely not relaxed. They watchIowa duals together, and theysat anxiously in their West Liberty living room as Gilman appeared fallible on theTV screen.

Then, in an instant, Gilman seized control and pinned Lizak in the third period.

"Everybody was jumping up and down,"said Will, a freshman at West Liberty.

When it comes to wrestling, the Esmoils are quintessential Iowans. The sport runs in their blood. Mark Esmoil wrestled for Muscatine in the late 1980s. His brother, Matt, wrestled at West Liberty in the early 1990s. Chari Esmoils cousins, Chad and Todd Morrison, also wrestled in the '90s for West Liberty, and Chad was a state champ.

Now, the newest generation ofEsmoil boys is continuing the tradition. Bryce (37-2), a junior, is the No. 1 195-pounderin Class 2A, and Will (35-5) ranks third at 106. No. 5 West Liberty didn't qualify for the state dual team tournament, but, along with top-ranked 152-pounder Joe Kelly, the Esmoil brothers have legitimate shots for individualtitles if they can advance through the district tournamentthis weekend.

West Liberty's Bryce Esmoil tries to pin Monticello's Lake Stahlberg as they wrestle in West Liberty on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Watch the Esmoilsonce, and you'll notice theres some combativemotivation at playthe epitome ofsibling rivalry.

"Usually, when I do decent or good, he does good too,"Bryce said. "We try to better each other by wrestling, and proving each other wrong. Like, if he calls me a wimp or something, Ive got to go out there and prove myself. And if I do it to him, he goes out there and proves himself."

Added Jeff Wiele, West Libertys head coach: "The better either one of them wrestles, the other one comes out to outdo. I think it drives both of them to do better."

That competitive spirit has characterized Will and Bryce's relationship their whole lives,Chari Esmoil said.

The living room doubled as a wrestling mat and boxing ringsince both boys could walk except after 7 p.m., when roughhousingis strictly forbidden at home. The fights were neverexactlyfair. Bryce got the bulky Morrison genes and weighed about 100 pounds in kindergarten; Will inherited the Esmoilbody and topped out at50 pounds at the same age.

"We grew up wrestling together.We grew up fighting, throwing stuff in the house at each other,"Bryce said. "Just brothers. Just naughty kids. Moms always yelling at us."

But still, Will never backed down to a brother whodoubled him in size. He gave Bryce a black eye during a boxing match when he was 8 and Bryce was 11, and he recently beat Bryce at a West Liberty practice over winter break. There's a caveat: Bryce had to wrestle on his knees.

"I let him beat me,"Bryce said with a wry smile.

West Liberty's Will Esmoil wrestles Cascade's Nolan Noonan in West Liberty on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Today, the brothers spend lots of time with each other whether its at school, playing video games, hunting together ortradingnotes while watching Iowa wrestling at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Theyve grownnoticeably closer now that theyre on the same team, Chari Esmoil said. For proof, just watch Bryce during Wills matches. He'll be the guy in the blue Cubs shirt,hunched over off the edge of the mat, yelling and contorting his body as if hes wrestling out there with his little brother.

"Yeah, whos more nervous? I think Bryce is more nervous,"Chari Esmoil chuckled. "He always gets into the matches, and I think hes more nervous when his brothers wrestling than when hes out there wrestling. And I think Will would say the same thing.

"Theyre good kids. They love wrestling, and we love watching them. So the highs and the lows, well take them all.And hopefully they're growing from it."

West Liberty's Bryce Esmoil watches his brother, Will, wrestle Cascade's Nolan Noonan in West Liberty on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Wiele knows what its like to wrestle alongsideone'sbrother. He and his younger brother, Mick, grew up in West Liberty and wrestled together for the Comets in the late '90s and early 2000s.

Watching Bryce and Will reminds him of those high school days.

"Id say definitely our competitiveness (is similar),"Wiele said. "We always wanted to do good. And I think the way Bryce is with Will, I always wanted Mick to win and I think vice versa. He wanted me to win, and we were each others biggest fans."

But theres a key difference: Wiele and his brother never won a state title. Both Esmoils could.

Bryce placed third at 195 last year. Hes the favoritethis yearand probably will be in 2018, too. And Wills already got everything mapped out;he wants to make top three this year and then win three state titles over the next three seasons.

Collegeshave started expressinginterest in Bryce. Iowa and Iowa Statereached out this fall, and he visited South Dakota State around the same time. Will hasnt thought much about college athletics yet. Hes more worried about getting good grades and perhaps opening a chiropractor clinic with Bryce once they both graduate college.

Itsfair to say those two would probably compete to see who landed more patients.

Matthew Bain covers preps, recruiting and the Hawkeyes for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Des Moines Register and HawkCentral. Contact him atmbain@gannett.comand follow him on Twitter@MatthewBain_.

Originally posted here:

Sibling rivalry: West Liberty's Esmoil brothers push each other to success - Iowa City Press Citizen