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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Firing on all cylinders, South Davie’s wrestling team throttled North Davie, 72-33, while winning its fourth match in a row.
The match was held at North on Jan. 11.
When the teams met in late November, the Tigers won by 26 as it beat North for the first time since January of 2017. This time they won by 39.
“We wrestled a good match,” South coach Russell Hilton said. “We came with the right mindset. We got after it.”
TJ Douglas (115), Laz Smith (122), Jamarious Pelote (140), Isaiah Leonard (147), David Hicks (172), Maddox Creason (184), Kaden Sagendorf (222) and Jakob Alexander (252) all won by pin for South. North forfeited to Brody Vaughn (76), Aidan Szewczyk (108), Isaac Lawson (154) and Troy Gadson (162).
South has won six of seven to raise its record to 7-4.
“This team has been fun to coach,” Hilton said. “We’re really young. We’ve only got one superstar (Szewczyk), but we’ve got a lot of good kids that are getting better every single day.”
The Wildcats actually had the early momentum. Riley Kennedy, who fell behind 7-0, came out of nowhere for a pin at 85. Hilton felt bad for his guy, Leighton Reavis, who had Kennedy on his back for a while.
“I thought we had (Kennedy) pinned,” Hilton said.
North coach Jamey Holt said: “In the first period, (Kennedy) fought off his back for 20-25 seconds. In the second period, he hit an elevator and stuck him. It was a shocking moment because to that point, he was getting dominated.”
Pins by Hayden Potts (92) and Braxton Hunter (100) created an 18-6 lead for North.
“Hayden wasn’t feeling great, but he did a good job of gutting it out,” Holt said. “We were proud of him. He sucked it up.
“Braxton is pretty much a pin machine. He wrestled his usual match – let things come to him. Once he gets on top, he’s pretty tough.”
After South surged to a 24-18 lead, North got pins from Andy Davis (128) and Javon Carter (134) to regain a 30-24 lead.
“Andy’s technique is pretty good and he’s smart,” Holt said. “We’ve told him if he gets serious about it, he’s got a chance to help Perry (Long) at the high school down the road.
“Javon is athletic. He’s got potential to be pretty good. He’s going to be one of our go-to guys next year.”
Although the first nine matches went back and forth, Pelote’s pin at 140 ignited a South avalanche. When Creason pinned at 184, the Tigers had scored 36 unanswered points for a 60-30 lead.
North’s sixth and final victory was a decision by Reid Howard at 197. “That was the best Reid’s looked all year,” Holt said.
Notes: Both of North’s losses have come against South. The Wildcats are 5-2. … South has three unbeatens: Alexander (9-0), Szewczyk (8-0) and Douglas (7-0). … North has four unbeatens: Hunter (7-0), Potts (7-0), Davis (7-0) and Carter (6-0). … Hunter has pinned every opponent. He went 10-1 at 78 as a sixth grader. He did not wrestle last year because the baseball/wrestling schedules conflicted. “Hunter Testa (a Davie sophomore) probably has the most (career) wins (at North), but Braxton probably would have challenged him if we’d had a full season last year and had a full season this year instead of teams having to cancel,” Holt said.