Daily Pilot High School Male Athlete of the Week: Edison’s Williams turns fears to cheers

There are some questions in ascertaining the origin of our fears.

Some of what makes us afraid stems from the unknown.

What we do know can also scare us.

Edison High’s Jared Williams began wrestling when his brother, Cameron, took up the sport as a high school freshman.

Little did he know that he was bound to follow the path of his brother on a much larger scale. Cameron had been a top-10 wrestler in the state when his high school career was derailed by a series of shoulder injuries, wiping out his junior and senior seasons.

Williams got off to a slower start when he arrived at Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula. He went 0-2 as a 132-pounder at the CIF Southern Section Central Division wrestling championships his freshman year. The following year, one of his worst fears came to fruition. Williams suffered an AC joint injury that robbed him of his sophomore year.

“It kind of made me scared that I was going to have the same thing happen that my brother did,” Williams said of tearing his AC joint. “It was scary. I kind of babied it, made sure I didn’t hurt it.

“I kind of changed my wrestling to make sure that I didn’t ever end up in those kinds of positions where I could hurt my shoulder too bad. It’s worked out so far.”

After his freshman year, Williams began training with Bubba Jenkins. His private coach told him that the goal should be to defeat all of his opponents by technical fall (a victory by 15 or more points) rather than pinning them.

Jenkins’ philosophy benefited Williams, as it trained him to keep his body out of compromised positions.

Greater success came after the injury. Williams also credits the rehab process for his development as a wrestler, as he was forced to put greater emphasis on his technique.

“When I was training with [the injury], I was in a sling with tape around my waist to hold up my arm, and I kind of just started wrestling,” Williams said of remaking his wrestling style. “I had to change how I wrestled so that I didn’t hurt my shoulder.

“It’s made me a better wrestler to do that because it’s made me focus on my technique, rather than just my strength and my scrambling.”

In his junior year at Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, Williams reached the CIF State wrestling championships for the first time.

It was a marked improvement from his first full season of high school wrestling, but Williams came away unsatisfied.

“My goal last year was to place at state,” Williams said. “To say that I was one match away kind of made me mad that I could have worked a little bit harder, a little bit longer. That could have made me be on that podium.”

The Chargers senior arrived at Edison motivated to accomplish that goal. He had help in the form of a training partner. Elijah Palacio also transferred in from Calvary Chapel as a senior, bringing with him the experience of placing eighth at the 2017 state meet for 126-pounders.

Edison’s state-qualifying duo made it a goal to get back there together. They accomplished that goal by reaching the final of their respective weight classes in the section’s Masters meet at Temecula Valley High last Saturday.

Williams, a 152-pounder, battled injury again, defaulting out of several tournaments due to a sprained ankle. When the postseason arrived, however, the Edison camp saw a different wrestler.

“He definitely had a different swagger walking out,” Palacio said in reference to Williams at Masters.

A semifinals win over Palm Desert’s Troy Mantanona (16-5 major decision) at Masters helped to energize Williams. The Aztecs junior was ranked third in the state by the California Wrestler entering the tournament.

Chargers coach Pete Escandon said that Williams was “super-psyched” to beat Mantanona, who pinned him in the third-place match at Masters the previous year.

“It’s his senior year, and he wants to go out with a bang,” Escandon said. “It’s really showing in his wrestling, and he’s starting to wrestle how we all knew he could, be technical and aggressive. He’s peaking at the right moment.”

Entering Saturday, Williams had reached the semifinals of the 152-pound bracket at state.

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Jared Williams

Born: June 5, 2000

Hometown: Palos Verdes Estates

Height: 5 feet 7

Weight: 152 pounds

Sport: Wrestling

Year: Senior

Coach: Pete Escandon

Favorite food: Oreo shake

Favorite movie: “21 Jump Street”

Favorite athletic moment: Williams won the Royal Crush Nationals as a 145-pounder during his sophomore year. The tournament was held in Las Vegas.

Week in review: The state-ranked No. 6 wrestler at 152 pounds was a finalist in the CIF Southern Section Masters at Temecula Valley High last Saturday. He had two major decisions, a technical fall, and a pin en route to reaching the championship match.

andrew.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner