AUSTINTOWN — For a kid who hates tournaments, Jacob Kamperman sure has done a good job wrestling in them.

The Columbiana High School heavyweight just started wrestling last year, and he quickly realized the day-long tournaments weren’t his favorite thing in the world.

“My problem with it is I’m always the last one to go,” said Kamperman, pointing out how the 285-pound weight class always goes last. “I’m not a big fan of waiting.”

Well, it didn’t take him long to reach the state tournament.

Kamperman qualified for state by placing third in the Division III Garfield Heights district tournament last weekend. Clippers coach Doug Velasquez said he can’t remember ever coaching or hearing about a local wrestler who advanced to the high school state tournament, which starts Friday, in just his second year in the sport. Kamperman has done it in impressive fashion. He’s 26-3 and a sectional champion after finishing 15-12 last year.

“I never thought about it, but yeah, it is (rare),” said Velasquez of Kamperman reaching state in his second year. “He’s so big and strong, and this year you could really start to see him figuring out his body position. You would think he would get rolled sometimes or reach back, but he just kind of figured it out. One thing is, if he gets hit by (a move), he’ll learn from it. He’s learned with some mat time and things like that. He has come a long ways.

“If he was at a four (on a scale of 1 to 10) last year, he’s an eight or nine this year. The amount that he’s grown in one year is really noticeable.”

Kamperman almost didn’t return to wrestling this year.

He said Velasquez first got him interested when he told him how wrestling would help him in football. Velasquez, the head football coach at Lowellville last year, was right, as Kamperman became a two-way starter as a junior after not playing much as a sophomore.

Still, Kamperman despised the long wait between matches at tournaments, and he was heavily involved in weight lifting. He and his father work out together throughout the week, and Kamperman didn’t want to give up his workout regimen.

So, Velasquez came up with an idea.

“He was a little hesitant on coming back,” he said. “We worked out a plan together. We gave him some weight-lifting days because he’s a big weight lifter. He trains with his dad, and they do it a couple times a week, so we worked around that schedule. We kept him out of a couple tournaments, kind of just to keep him fresh, and tournaments aren’t the biggest thing for him. He’s very impatient. He doesn’t like waiting around. But we’ve worked out a plan, and the plan’s worked out so far.”

Indeed, it has.

Kamperman may be inexperienced as he enters this weekend’s state tournament, which begins at 3 p.m. Friday and runs through Sunday at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, but his incredible size and strength help make up for any lack of wrestling knowledge.

Kamperman benches 315 pounds and squats around 500. He also takes a simple approach into matches that Velasquez says helps him avoid some of the nervousness that is associated with the sport. Maybe of most importance is Kamperman has started to grasp the importance of staying in good position and avoid certain holds and moves.

“My first year, I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out all the skills and stuff, but by the end of the year I was starting to catch on,” Kamperman said. “This year is when I really started knowing all the skill.”

Velasquez is interested to see how far it will take him.

He doesn’t want to put any undue pressure on his young protege, but with his 6-foot-5 height and a massive muscular build, Kamperman could be an unknown prospect in Columbus.

“He’s just so strong. … He has a chance against anyone if he can lock up (his move),” Velasquez said. “I tell him, the biggest thing for him is going three periods against some of these kids. He’s in pretty good shape, and he can normally outlast a guy. His strength will take over in the third period. His strength keeps him in every match.”

It will be put to the test starting Friday.