LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Dillan Franz and Joshua Arceo are great friends with vastly different backgrounds.
Dillan is a senior at Bonanza High School and has Down Syndrome, while Josh is the current 4A wrestling state champion.
They do have one passion in common: Wrestling.
It's a hard sport that requires lots of strength and agility, but above all, mental toughness. As the old saying goes, "You don't play wrestling."
"You can't blame anybody other than yourself," Sierra Vista Wrestling head coach Brett Terry said. "You can't say, oh well my quarterback threw three interceptions."
But if you ask Dillan, he doesn't care how hard it is, he won't let himself be held back, because he just wants to wrestle.
"Coach talk about me, ok, practice, wrestling, my match, keep doing my match," Franz said.
Dillan became the manager for the Bonanza wrestling team last year. He told coach Michael Dean that he wanted to get out on the mat.
"I told Dillan at that time that if he came to practice every day and he worked hard and did what we did, that I would find a match for him," Dean said. "Dillan every day for the next month talked about his match."
On the day of, he says he came in ready to go, and he left with a moment he will never forget.
His opponent was none other than Josh himself, and the rest was history.
"Man, I cried," Dean said. "I'm not going to lie, when they were jumping up and chanting, 'Dillan, Dillan,' that is something I don't think I'll ever forget."
"It's pretty cool that I can help a kid's dream come true," Arceo said. "That is why I love wrestling. It builds a bond between two teams."
As for Dillan, he savored the win, but he's got one more match against his teammate to prepare for, and he says he's locked in.
"Hey Luis, I will beat you on the 24th," Franz said. "You can't see me."
