Wrestlers strong with minimal on the mat

Published 9:23 am Tuesday, November 23, 2021

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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Since Davie’s wrestling team had voids in six weight classes, the War Eagles needed productive outings from all eight guys to make a good showing in the Husky Invitational at Hough on Nov. 20.
They got it.
Coach Perry Long got at least two wins from all eight guys as Davie opened the season by finishing fourth out of 14 teams.
Newton-Conover, which had 14 guys for a full lineup, scored 224 points to take first. Bandys, which had 11, scored 158. Hough, which had 11 as well, scored 157. Davie posted 131 despite having three fewer wrestlers than fifth-place Hickory Ridge (115).
“We’ve got some stuff we’ve got to fix – and we will,” Long said. “But overall I feel good about our team. We came to this tournament to get all the things we need to work on worked out.”
Jack Jarvis, who is coming off a brilliant junior season in which he won the state 4-A championship at 170, absolutely walloped his three opponents at 170, pinning twice in the first period, once in the second and picking up career win No. 100 along the way. He wrestled a total of five minutes, 13 seconds.
Davie’s other first-place performer was 152-pound senior Collin Bailey, who pinned his first man before pitching a pair of shutouts (7-0 and 4-0 decisions).
“(During the 152 final against Newton-Conover), they were complaining and saying Collin was stalling,” Long said. “I’m thinking: ‘Collin is dominating. What are you talking about?’”
Sophomores Hunter Testa (182) and Brysen Godbey (220) had second-place performances. Testa pinned and major decisioned before losing narrowly, 10-8, to Hickory Ridge’s Tomas Brooker, who had pinned twice in the first period on his way to the finals.
“Hunter can beat that kid from Hickory Ridge,” Long said. “He should have beat him. He had (Brooker) on his back. I thought he was flat.”
Godbey picked up two pins before losing a 5-2 decision in the finals.
Lane Hill (132) and Vance Visser (195) took third. That was no surprise for Hill, a senior who will join the 100-win club sometime this season barring injury. He had two pins and a major decision during a 3-1 effort.
But it was an admirable job by Visser, a senior who is wrestling for the first time in his life. He opened with a first-period pin. After losing a decision, he got a pin in the third-place match. Who does that in their debut?
“And he’s as green as you can be,” Long said. “But I’m telling you, he’s going to help us. He’s strong and he knows enough to keep himself out of trouble. He does some first-year stuff that could get him in trouble sometimes because he doesn’t have experience.”
Senior Sam Collins (145) and junior Lawson Hire (126) helped Davie with 3-2 and 2-2 showings, respectively. Both of Hire’s victories were pins.
Davie was missing injured Isaac Webb, a senior who has 101 career wins, and several others. “I wrestled the young kids that will be in the lineup yesterday at Parkwood,” Long said.