It is conference period and kids from every corner of campus are spilling out of their classrooms en route to their clubs. The artsy kids go to their artsy club; the jocks go to their athletic clubs; some people go get some tutoring.
And then there’s one of Perry’s top returning wrestlers – senior Arch Ratliff.

“Arch has been a four year leader on our team- forget wrestling, he’s a good person,” head coach Darren Johnson says. “Arch’s nickname is Captain America because he does everything right.”

Ratliff, who wrestles at 126-pounds, is an avid “Harry Potter Club” member, singer, Eagle Scout, and two-time state qualifier in wrestling.

“Actually I’ve only seen one movie, and went to part 2,” Ratliff states. “The midnight showing with my friend and my brother joined the Harry Potter club, so I wanted to do it, also.”

Other than being in Harry Potter club,  he was an Eagle Scout .

Ratliff says, “Eagle Scouts helped me with leadership capabilities and helped me to work with a wide variety of different people.”

Being an Eagle Scout meant doing projects and earning merit badges representing different skills they have learned in their time as an Eagle Scout.

When asked how Eagle Scouts helped Ratliff in school and wrestling, he states, “[Eagle Scouts] made me want to do better.”

One of the top wrestlers is also a church choir boy. His mother says that by not performing outside of his  church he is wasting talent, but he says he is not a fan of singing in front of people.
When asked if he is the type of person to be singing in the back of the bus, Ratliff comments proudly, “Oh yeah!” with a little chuckle.
Ratliff enjoys singing with his youth group, but has no plans for the future involving singing.

Ratliff mentions that he has had a song stuck in his head and was singing before a play started back when he was in NYS (National Youth Sports) football. “I would be in the back hour safety, you know, hands on knees singing before the play started. It was pretty funny.”

Singing has taught Ratliff not to quit and how to work as a team player.

Being a part of a family full of wrestlers has helped Ratliff become a better wrestler.
“Ever since I was a little kid I would wrestle with my dad just before bed and he would let me win,” he said. “Eventually I got to the point where I could almost beat him- and now I can, it’s pretty much every night where he will wrestle each of us.”

Ratliff’s dad was a former Marine and weighs 230 pounds.

“ He’s a lot bigger than me, so it makes me use my speed,” Ratliff states about his dad.

He wrestles with his brother, Aaron Ratliff and they are always wrestling.

“We have a wrestling mat in the garage,” Ratliff mentions.

Ratliff is always practicing, which shows his dedication to the sport and how much he enjoys wrestling.

“I lost my two matches by a point each; glad they were early on so I have time to improve,” Ratliff states about his 2012 career.

“A lot of people think wrestling is individual, but it is really about the team. And you’ll do stuff that, you know, affect the team and you want to affect them for the good.”

Ratliff cares for his team as their leader and will lead them to victory as his career wrestling record for Perry is 103-32  and his individual record for 2012 is 10-2.
Ratliff started wrestling freshman year at 112 pounds then gained seven pounds by sophomore year, but jumped up to wrestling at 126 pounds.

Out of all of the Varsity wrestlers, Arch is one of the 14 wrestlers going to Wisconsin competing against 60 teams from five different states.