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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

Between April 26-30, Davie’s wrestling team limped to 1-3. From May 4-12, the War Eagles galloped to 7-3 by outscoring six opponents 361-85.

Ten wrestlers hold winning records with at least four decisions under their belt. Coach Perry Long should feel mightily encouraged that seven of the 10 are freshmen and juniors.

In a tri-meet at Dudley on May 12, the War Eagles made quick work of Dudley (63-6) and Andrews (66-6). In both matches, they took 11 of 12 weight classes. Davie’s only two losses came in forfeits at heavyweight, where it is missing injured Evan Copeland.

While Long is pleased with Davie’s progress, he’s not about to get carried away. Dudley and Andrews both handed over six forfeits.

“I feel like we’re getting better, but when you wrestle teams (that forfeit a lot), only a few kids get decent matches,” he said.

Matthew Downey (160 weight class), Jack Jarvis (170), Hunter Testa (182) and Charlie Frye (195) put up pins against Dudley, but the most impressive moment might have been a 4-3 decision. That was Isaac Webb’s skinny margin in a big-time struggle at 152 against Kristian Jones.

It was 0-0 after the first period. Webb got an escape to take a 1-0 lead in the second. The third ended with the score 2-2. Webb finally prevailed in sudden death to preserve his spotless record.

“Isaac had a tough match,” Long said. “It was going back and forth. It was crazy. In sudden death, Isaac got back points to pull it out.”

In the match against Andrews, Tyler Snyder (132), Sam Collins (138), Webb (152), Downey (160) and Brysen Godbey (220) produced pins as Davie ran its winning streak to six.

Testa, Jarvis and Webb are the unbeaten War Eagles. Jarvis, a junior, is 10-0 at 170.

“Jack can just wrestle,” Long said. “He works hard. He’s good on his feet and he’s strong. If you want to muscle with him, he’ll go with you.”

Webb, also a junior, is 10-0 at 152.

“Isaac has gotten so much better,” Long said. “We’ve still got to work on some things on his feet. He wants to shoot that double-leg blast. We’ve got to put some more sweeps in, so people don’t figure out how he wrestles with just a double leg and mix it up late in a ballgame.”

Testa is a marvelous freshman who is 10-0 at 182. Making his record all the more impressive, only three of his victories are forfeits. He has six pins and a tech fall to his credit.

“‘Little Man’ is still undefeated. That’s what I call him,” Long said with a laugh. “He’s little for a 182, but he’s been sticking people. I’ve got to keep him humble. Sometimes they get big-headed when they’re starting as a freshman. We’ve got to keep him working. He works hard. He’s playing (JV) baseball, too.”

Junior Collin Bailey is 8-2 at 145. Snyder, a senior, is 8-2 at 132. Hill, a junior, is 7-1 at 126. Senior Adam Szewczyk is 7-3 at 120. Downey, a senior, is 6-2 at 160. Collins, a junior, is 6-4 at 138. Godbey, a freshman, is 4-0 at 220.

Testa leads Davie in pins. Webb and Collins are next with five and four, respectively.