An easy win over South Caldwell in the first round of the dual team state playoffs had Davie’s wrestling team feeling good. A fast start in the second round against Lake Norman had Davie feeling even better.

What followed left the War Eagles disappointed.

Davie jumped on Lake Norman 22-3 in the first six weight classes. But here’s the “but,” and it’s a big one: Davie dropped seven of the last eight individual matches and lost 40-28.

The first and second rounds were hosted by Lake Norman on Feb. 2.

“A bunch of sophomores met up with a good group of seniors,” coach Buddy Lowery said of the loss.

In the first round, the War Eagles breezed to their 15th straight win, building a 40-7 lead over South Caldwell and forfeiting the final four weight classes to settle for a 40-31 victory. The outcome wasn’t a surprise because Davie handled the Spartans 48-28 on Dec. 18.

Before the forfeits at the end, Davie captured eight of 10 matches. The wins came from Kyle McCune (4-0 decision), Isaiah Olmedo (9-0 major decision), Anthony Olmedo (pin), Josh Shore (pin), Hunter Smith (pin), Isaiah Whitley (forfeit), Tommy Trader (7-2 decision) and David Sigmon (pin).

South finished with a 17-21 record.

“Shore probably had the best night of anybody we had,” Lowery said. “Against South Caldwell, that guy major decisioned Shore when they wrestled at Christmas and Shore pinned him this time.”

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Later in the evening against Lake Norman, the War Eagles roared to a 22-3 lead by claiming five of the first six matches. Davie fell off a cliff, beginning at 120, and lost the second-round match 40-28.

Davie got off and running behind I. Olmedo (pin at 182), Jesse Carter (13-7 decision at 195), Jesus Olmedo (10-1 major decision at 220), Shore (5-2 decision at 106) and Smith (pin at 113).

“We had a great start,” Lowery said.

Losing after holding a commanding lead made it all the more cruel for the War Eagles, who suffered their first defeat since Dec. 17. The Wildcats improved to 15-3, while Davie checked out at 28-3.

Even though it was a great start, Lowery said Davie missed opportunities to forge a bigger lead.

“(In one match) we won, but we thought we should have pinned,” he said. “We had him on his back two or three times. I know we had him in a bad position at least twice. (In another match) we won, but again we thought we would have pinned. You’ve got to understand it’s going to be one of those close matches and you’re going to have to produce points.”

Davie’s only win in the last eight matches came at 138, where Will Allen got a pin.

“Allen wrestled as a freshman and then he sat last year,” Lowery said. “He’s just now coming into his own. He’s getting better.

“We hit a row of seniors that we couldn’t handle. We didn’t wrestle bad. We could have scored a couple more points here and there. We wrestled hard. We just didn’t get it done.”

In a moral victory, freshman Anthony Olmedo only lost 3-1 to the No. 1-ranked heavyweight in the state in senior Patrick Dabiero, who is 41-4.

“Anthony didn’t wrestle bad,” he said. “He was aggressive. All the guy did was push and push and push.”

On Saturday, West Forsyth put a bow around a 50-0 season by routing Holly Springs 57-10 in the state championship match.

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I. Olmedo and Smith are having dynamic seasons. I. Olmedo is 50-2, achieving the 16th 50-win season in school history. The record for season wins is 56, set by Zack Vernon in 2008-09.

Smith, who is 49-5 on the year, has 122 career wins, marking the fourth-most wins by a junior. Michael Waters had 148 by the end of his junior year. Russell Hilton had 128 and Aaron Hollifield 127. Smith passed Timmy Allen (121) and his older brother, Ryan Smith (119).