Going to the Mat

Going to the Mat is a 2004 Disney Channel Original Movie. It debuted on Disney Channel on March 19, 2004.

Plot
Jason "Jace" Newfield (Andrew Lawrence) is the new blind student at his school, whose family recently moved from New York City to somewhere in Utah. Thinking that his way to fit in is through playing the drums, he shows off in class only to find out that his band teacher, Mr.Wyatt, is also blind.

He later finds out from one of his friends, Vincent 'Fly' Shu, that the only way to fit in is to be a jock. However, his other friend, Mary Beth Rice, is becoming increasingly irritated by his "New Yorker's rule!" jokes and tells him that the reason no one is willing to be his friend is not because he is blind but because he is acting like a jerk. So in an effort to help Jace fit in, she asks him to try out for the wrestling team. 'Fly' unwillingly tries out for the team with Jace, and they both make it.

Throughout the course of the season he slowly starts to fit in with some of the students that gave him a hard time at the beginning of his year at the school. At the end of the season, they go on to the state championship. It ends with a reporter interviewing Jace's teammates about his wrestling; they deny that he is even blind, because they realize that he is a significant person, and they accept him for who he is and not just a blind person, which is what they saw at first.

Cast

 * Andrew Lawrence as Jason 'Jace' Newfield
 * Alessandra Torresani as Mary Beth Rice
 * Khleo Thomas as Vincent "Fly" Shu
 * Wayne Brady as Mason Wyatt
 * D. B. Sweeney as Coach Rice
 * Billy Aaron Brown as John Lambrix
 * Brenda Strong as Patty Newfield
 * Brian Wimmer as Tom Newfield
 * T.J. Lowther as Luke Nolan

Response
Going to the Mat is one of the most critically acclaimed Disney movies, garnering a Directors Guild Award for Stuart Gillard and a Humanitas Award Writing nomination for Chris and Laurie Nolan. It was also one of the highest rated Disney Channel movies on IMDb.