Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

After dropping five of the first six weight classes, Davie’s wrestling team came strong.
But not quite strong enough.
In the quarterfinals of the 4-A state duals at Hough on Feb. 5, the War Eagles almost staged an epic rally before suffering painful defeat, 34-30, to Hough.
Although the Huskies improved to 22-0 and had destroyed virtually everyone in their path, Davie (19-3) gave them everything they could handle.
“It’s always such a great atmosphere with the crowd; Davie travels so well,” coach Josh Stanley said after Davie fell short in its bid to repeat as state duals champion. “If we could have had that at home, it would have been really good. We always say do it the right way, do it the Davie Way. The right way doesn’t mean not making mistakes; it means pouring out passion and effort. And they did. We made some mistakes, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. You could feel the passion from everybody.”
The match began at 150 and Davie trailed virtually all night as Jackson Rowling squeaked out a 10-9 decision over Davie’s Andy Davis, who had won 12 in a row.
“We bumped him up to wrestle the No. 1 guy in the state at 150, and Andy was gung-ho for it,” Stanley said. “We had the guy where we wanted him. He was tired, more tired than Andy. He had two stalling calls against him.”
Elliott Gould did his part by taking a 14-6 major decision at 157. But give Hough’s Amiri Mingo credit for not getting pinned.
“When you get into a match that late, when you get into major range, the other coach is having the guy shut down,” Stanley said. “They’re not really wrestling us back anymore. To dominate somebody who’s trying to just survive, it’s tough to do.”
The teeth of the Huskies’ lineup was 165-215, and they created substantial trouble for Davie by pinning at 165, 175 and 215 and winning by tech fall at 190. It was a tall order for freshman Isaac O’Toole at 165, seeing his first varsity action since Jan. 4 and making his first ever Davie appearance in that weight class.
“We had to do some bumping around and he fought his butt off,” Stanley said.
At heavyweight, Ryder Strickland came through with a 4-0 decision that raised his record to an eye-catching 40-1. But again, give the Hough guy credit for limiting the damage. Quinn Schiano refused to get stuck.
“(Schiano) was 80 pounds less than Ryder,” Stanley said. “The kid’s been pinned a lot this year, but he was prepped … He knew his role in the lineup there, so we were having a hard time getting him to his back.”
When the War Eagles lost by tech fall at 106, their backs were squarely against the wall at 31-7. At the same time, they were now at the meat of their lineup, and a string of Davie guys delivered in pressurized spots.
Jack Bost survived 6-3 in overtime at 113. Aidan Szewczyk got a major decision at 120 to maintain his spotless record (18-0). Cayden Glass (39-4) took care of business with a major at 126. Tiaj Thao (31-4) stayed as hot as ever with a pin at 132. Just like that, Davie was within 31-24 with two matches to go.
“The heart of our lineup was coming up and we had some kids step up and fight really hard,” Stanley said. “T wrestled one of the guys (Tyton Kostoff) that moved in from Ohio that beat Cayden this year. T pinned the kid, so he stepped up huge.”
The teams would split the weight classes 7-7, but the problem for Davie was a 3-1 deficit in the pin category.
“When you know that pins are that important, sometimes you wrestle out of character and try to force stuff,” Stanley said. “And that’s what I felt like was happening.”
Davie was in a must-win situation from 113 through 144, and Brett Foster was oh so close to putting the outcome on Carter Hoots’ shoulders at 144, leading 13-10 in the third period at 138. But he suffered an excruciating 16-13 overtime loss. With an insurmountable 34-24 lead, Hough forfeited to Hoots to end the night.
“We tell them we’ve all been there,” Stanley said. “I got teched when I was in the state (duals) final, so it’s just the life of a wrestler. It could have been that way last year; we just came out on top of it. We had everything that we wanted (vs. Hough).We had the matchups we wanted, we just came up short.”
And then: “I’m not going to cry about it, but we didn’t get all the calls that we really should have gotten,” he said. “It was a tough night.”
Notes: Anderson avoided a pin at 106 to save Davie a point. It was all heart. “Graylan got teched, but it was such a big point because we knew it was going to be a three- or four-point match,” Stanley said. “We preached that all week and he nearly broke his back trying not to get pinned.” … Later in the night in the semifinals, Hickory Ridge took down Hough 34-32. Hough was down 31-26 with two matches left, but Hickory Ridge sealed victory at 144 and forfeited at 150. … In Saturday’s state final, Cardinal Gibbons defeated Hickory Ridge 41-22. … Last year Davie won the state duals by knocking off Myers Park, South Caldwell, Hickory Ridge, Grimsley and Laney. … Now the War Eagles will focus on the Midwest Regional, which they are hosting Friday and Saturday. Last year they won the region for the first time in six years, qualified eight for the state meet and captured the state individual title with 100 points to Lumberton’s 96. “Hopefully we qualify eight or nine and hopefully even 10,” Stanley said. “It’s going to take us having a champion or two champions and some high placers to win (the state) individually. But we have the talent for that.”