Stephanie Langguth was at a football game recently when a couple of fellow parents approached her with a mysterious message.

"We realize we've never said anything. We should probably say something," they started.

"My husband and are I thinking, 'What are they going to say?'" Langguth recalled.

She had no idea what they were talking about.

Her son, Chris, a junior wrestler at Rootstown, did.

"There was a kid in the school getting picked on," Chris Langguth said. "I just didn't think that was right. He was being called some really bad things and I stood up for him. 'If you ever need anything, I know me and my friends will always have your back.'"

That's how Chris is, Stephanie said. The only times he got into real trouble, she said, were for pushing a kid who wouldn't let another kid get out of his chair and for roughing up a kid who he said didn’t treat a girl right.

His willingness to stand up for what's right — even if words are generally preferable — doesn't surprise Rootstown athletic director Keith Waesch.

"You don't find so many leaders in today's society, but Chris is one of those types of kids that has those leadership qualities," Waesch said. "He's got a good head on his shoulders to succeed in whatever he sets out to do. He cares about each and every person."

As skilled as he might be in challenging bullies, Langguth has made an even bigger name taking on wrestlers.

And three-and-a-half weeks ago, the Rovers junior decided he was sick of losing. Not that Langguth has done much losing in his career.

He placed sixth in the state as a sophomore and was a National High School Coaches Association All-American as a freshman.

But early in his junior season, he finished sixth at the Beast of the East Tournament and third at the Brecksville Holiday Tournament.

"I had a couple tough losses down in the Beast of the East in Delaware. I lost a tight one in Brecksville," Langguth said. "This is that moment. I decided there I shouldn't lose any more matches. I'm done losing for the rest of my high school career. I'm ready to just win. I'm done with the losing. I know what I'm capable of and I know I'm capable of winning everything."

After that motivating loss to Trevor Lawson of Olentangy Liberty in the Brecksville Holiday Tournament semifinals, he rebounded to beat Edison's Sam Stoll, one of the top wrestlers in the state, in the 182-pound third-place match.

Still, third place isn't going to cut it for Langguth.

"He can go out and finish first in a championship tournament and find reasons and places where he could have done a little bit better," Waesch said. "To me, that's a sign of a real competitor, a kid that's always looking to get better, that's never satisfied, never complacent. That's the type of kid Chris is. He's one of those types of kids that coaches dream of having in their program."

Added Rovers wrestling coach Craig Wise, "He’s been winning since he was a little kid. This is his time to step up and make it happen."

Langguth ended up in Rootstown's wrestling program somewhat by accident. Chuck Harris, who also coaches Langguth in football, saw him playing basketball in first grade, looked at his father and said, "Why is he playing basketball? He's a wrestler."

His father was sold. Chris was sold, in part because he was imagining WWE wrestling. Stephanie needed some convincing.

"It's not a very mainstream sport," she said. "I know about basketball, football and baseball. I didn't know a lot about wrestling."

After several months, she relented and Chris gave it a try.

He was a natural, even if it wasn't quite the wrestling he envisioned from his hours watching WWE with the Steger brothers.

Wrestling was in his blood — his step-grandfather, Jim Caniglia, was an All-American football player and wrestler at Muskingum and coached varsity wrestling at Garfield. 

Wrestling was in his muscle — he had a wrestler's build from the beginning, to the point where a co-worker once told Stephanie that "you really shouldn't let (Chris) lift weights, he's not old enough."

"I was like, 'He doesn't lift weights,'" she said.

"Come on, there's no way he's that defined and doesn't lift weights."

"I said, 'I swear to God,'" she recalled.

"I got my butt handed to me for the first year, but my second year, I started to get the hang of things," Langguth said. "I started to make state tournaments and win a lot more matches. That's when it really started to hit me that I hated losing so much. I just worked my butt off."

As he approached high school, he was flourishing, becoming the only Rovers wrestler to place at state twice while in junior high. In 2015, he was a member of the Ohio All-Star wrestling team, which traveled the western United States for seven weeks prior to his freshman year. In addition to wrestling all-star teams from states like Utah and Wyoming, the wrestlers climbed mountains and went white water rafting.

"The Ohio All-Star tour was something I'll never forget. It was probably one of the most enjoyable times of my life," Langguth said. "It was awesome just traveling around with those guys for two months out of the summer. You just got so close with them. You did everything with those guys. You really became brothers with them."

As a freshman, he didn't make state, but quickly bounced back to earn All-American honors at the National High School Coaches Association National Duals in Virginia Beach.

That's when the college letters started pouring in.

Bouncing back seems to be a particular strength of his. Langguth said he used to get temper tantrums after losing. Now, that anger is a fuel.

"Whenever I take a loss, it's kind of the day after the loss, I'm kind of down on myself," Langguth said. "I kind of realize just sitting around and weeping and moping about it isn't going to help me at all. I get up, get out of bed and hit the gym as soon as I can."

One bounce-back started right there in Brecksville.

Three-and-a-half weeks later, Stoll beat him, and Langguth will have to bounce back once more. 

He hopes that should he get to Columbus, that determination gets him to the top of the podium. Losing is no longer acceptable.

"It has to be a state championship," Langguth said. "It's that or go home. I've been working hard all season. State championship is the only thing on my mind."