Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

South Davie’s wrestling team was missing 20 guys when it traveled to Chestnut Grove for a tri-meet on Dec. 9. Among the missing were Jakob Alexander, who is 6-0 at 250; Aidan Szewczyk, who is 5-0 at 106; and Laz Smith, who is 4-1 at 126/132.
Maddox Creason, Isaac Lawson, Ivan Bustamante, Isaiah Leonard and TJ Douglas picked up a lot of the slack as the Tigers managed a satisfying split. After losing to Southeastern Stokes, they took down Chestnut Grove.
“We’ve got a bunch quarantined,” coach Russell Hilton said after carrying 13 wrestlers to the meet. “We had two that were (COVID) positive. We had three or four sick that tested negative. We had four at a band concert. We had two injured. Aidan was out of town wrestling at Virginia Beach. You name it, there was a reason why they weren’t there. It was crazy.”
All things considered, it was a good day for South.
“We had a good time,” Hilton said. “All my kids wrestled twice.”
After winning their previous two matches, the Tigers lost 76-30 to SE Stokes. Bustamante (106), Douglas (113), Leonard (145) and Lawson (152) had pins. South’s other win was a forfeit.
South was basically behind 30-0 when it started as it forfeited at 76, 98, 126, 138 and 250.
•••
The Tigers forfeited five times against Chestnut Grove as well, but they still found a way to win 60-48. They built leads of 24-6, 30-12 and 42-18 before CG came back within 48-42 and 54-48.
Providing pins were Austin Samuels (90), Bustamante, Douglas, Memphis Nunn (120), Isaiah Baity (132), Leonard, Lawson and Creason (170). South had two wins by forfeit as it improved to 4-4.
For the season, Leonard and Creason are both 6-2, while Douglas is 4-0. That trio has combined for 14 pins.
“Ivan is a sixth grader, but he got two wins,” Hilton said. “Leonard is a first-year seventh grader and he got two wins. TJ hasn’t lost yet. He’s a scrappy, tough kid. He’s got a really good double leg and he can take you down. Things are starting to click for some of these kids and we’re going in the right direction.”