ORANGE PARK – Already one of two girls playing football in the county, Orange Park High junior Andrea Smith also is on the boys’ and girls’ wrestling teams.

“My main sport is wrestling,” she said. “I wrestle here at Orange Park High for the boys’ team, and I wrestle girls nationally on the Florida national team, and I travel every couple of months.”

Smith wrestles in the 195-pound weight class for boys and 200-pound weight class for girls. She is currently ranked sixth nationally among girls, dropping following a loss in the state finals after being as high as No. 2.

In seventh grade, she began to wrestle after seeing her brothers at practice and thinking, “I want to do it, too.” She started to wrestle in school in eighth grade, and for her first two seasons, only wrestled boys.

Her first two years were rough.

“My first year, I was terrible. I lost every single every single match. The next year I won a couple of matches, and I just went up from there,” she said.

Smith hopes to become a lawyer one day, but for her undergraduate time, she hopes to be a student-athlete. She wants to wrestle in college, and that will be a significant factor in the decision on where she attends school. For now, she will continue to wrestle, locally and nationally, and make the best of her final two seasons as a prep athlete.

Smith plays nose guard, one of the more physical positions, for the football team. Playing on the line is a position where footwork, strength and leverage are paramount to being successful.

Many all-time-great football coaches have been proponents of their players also being wrestlers.

“Wrestlers make coaching football easy, they have balance, coordination, and as a coaching staff we know they’re tough,” said legendary Nebraska Cornhusker football coach Tom Osborne.

“I would have all of my offensive lineman wrestle if I could,” said Hall of Fame NFL coach John Madden.

Not only football coaches understand the value of having wrestlers on the roster, but so do players.

Hall of Fame Linebacker Ray Lewis, widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time, who also wrestled in high school, said, “Wrestling teaches you what most people want to do, which is make your hips and butt work for you.”