Rosewood emerges C/T-RC champion

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 31, 2005 1:56 PM

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Less than 72 hours after seizing its sixth consecutive regular-season conference championship, Rosewood returned to the mat Saturday and turned in a dominating effort.

The Eagles crowned 11 individual Class 1-A Carolina/Tar-Roanoke Athletic Conference champions and amassed a whopping 319.5 points in the team-title chase. Spring Creek finished second with 118 points, followed by Princeton (111), North Johnston (103), Durham School of the Arts (78.5) and Louisburg (77).

Coaches selected Rosewood senior Ramsey Brown the conference wrestler of the year. The Eagles' Bill Edmundson, the Gators' Dwight Glenn and North Johnston's Ben Williams shared coach of the year honors. Williams started the North Johnston program this season.

The teams wrestled a round-robin format due to several byes in each weight class.

Rosewood's individual champions and all-C/T-RC members were Brown (112 pounds), Jim Bish (103), Tyler Daniels (119), Dustin Sittig (125), Matt Davis (130), Jeremiah Goodson (135), Byron Cavenaugh (140), Chris Holmes (160), Antar Shafer (171), Clayton Taylor (215) and heavyweight Michael Sander. The entire group should qualify for the 1-A/2-A eastern regional scheduled Feb. 11-12 at North Pitt High School in Bethel.

Princeton, a first-year program, crowned two champions -- Matthew Blackwell (145) and Kyle Harman (152). Tonnie Cooper set the standard for the Panthers by winning the 189-pound title.

Durham's Rodrick Howard tied Daniels for the 119-pound championship.

Rosewood (21-7) and Spring Creek return to action Tuesday in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A dual-team playoffs. The Eagles face West Davidson, the 2004 runner-up to Elkin. The Gators challenge Yadkin Valley champion Chatham Central, which will play host to the four-team sectional.

The Eagles fell in the opening round last season after finishing runner-up to South Davidson in the 2002 and 2003 eastern regional finals.

Spring Creek is making its first-ever dual-team playoff appearance.