Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

A 4-0 week used to be the norm for Davie wrestling. It was just ho-hum news.

Not anymore. The War Eagles are in rebuilding mode in several spots. (They generally hand out two forfeits and they’re extremely young in the upper weights.) Those concerns led to an uncharacteristic 1-3 start.

But the War Eagles are cooking now. They toppled North Davidson, Salisbury, Lexington and Central Davidson in a span of three days.

The four-match winning streak raised Davie’s record to 5-3 as it nears the Central Piedmont Conference race.

“I’ve got a young team,” second-year coach Perry Long said. “We’ve got three seniors on the team. We’ve got to continue to get better and I think we’ll be able to compete before it’s all over with.”

Davie traveled to North Davidson for a tri-meet on May 4. It claimed 11 of 13 weight classes and drilled North 66-10. The pins came from Adam Szewczyk, Lane Hill, Collin Bailey, Hunter Testa and Evan Copeland.

Then Davie handled Salisbury 48-27 as Sam Collins picked up a pin. It was actually Davie’s only win aside from forfeits, which factored heavily in both wins in Welcome. North handed over six freebies and Salisbury gave Davie seven.

•••

Two days later, Davie competed in another tri-meet, this time at Lexington. The War Eagles dominated both matches by the same score – 59-18.

Against Lexington, Szewczyk, Tyler Snyder, Collins, Isaac Webb and Charlie Frye pounded out pins, while Hunter Testa enjoyed a technical fall.

Against Central Davidson, Davie got pins from Snyder, Collins, Collin Bailey, Webb, Matthew Downey, Testa and Brysen Godbey and a tech fall from Jack Jarvis.

Davie got four forfeits from Lexington and two from Central.

While the season could bring a series of ups and downs, it’s hard to doubt the War Eagles will ascend to the top 10 in 4-A again in the not-too-distant future. In fact, with a loaded junior class, they could be something to see in 2021-22.

Of the eight guys with winning records, five are non-seniors. There are three unbeatens, none of whom are seniors.

Testa is 8-0 with five pins at 182. Jarvis is 8-0 at 170. Webb is 8-0 with four pins at 152. Bailey (145) and Snyder (132) are both 6-2. Hill is 5-1 at 126. Szewczyk is 5-3 at 120. Downey is 4-2 at 160.

How about Testa. The freshman has been marvelous in a weight class that would intimidate other freshmen. He’s also juggling two sports this spring, JV baseball being the other.

“For him to be a freshman, he’s tough,” Long said. “And he’s just going to get better and better. The thing about it, he listens. He’s going to always go against a sophomore, junior or senior.”