Eagle grapplers trust coach's judgement

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 3, 2008 1:46 PM

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DUDLEY -- Rosewood's Chris Lane and Zach Behrend understood the need to bump up a weight class Tuesday evening.

And they trusted Bill Edmundson's judgment.

"(We hoped) to offset the forfeits at 119 and 125 (pounds)," said Edmundson. "We stressed with the wrestlers to trust the coaching decisions and trust each other to get the job done."

The Eagles certainly proved their unselfishness.

While the 931/2-pound Lane suffered a loss at 112 pounds, Behrend came through with a 31-second fall over Southern Wayne's Nick Evans at the 119 slot. Behrend's first-period victory fueled a match-clinching 24-6 run as the Eagles stopped the Saints 52-30.

"Zach just missed the 103 weight class and wrestled a great match at 119," said Edmundson. "It's always good to start out your dual season with a win. Southern Wayne is a formidable opponent."

The Saints suffered their first loss in three outings this season.

"We're young and we made a lot of young mistakes, but overall I'm happy with the effort," said Southern Wayne head coach Jonathan Jones. "We've got a lot of things we need to work on ... develop in practice. They took it to us when they were on top and we were on bottom.

"We were doing the right things, but doing them slow while they were doing them faster."

Rosewood earned the initial takedown in eight of 11 contested matches and recorded seven pins. Dillion Guss (140 pounds) and Matt Coley (135) pinned their respective opponents in 37 and 40 seconds, respectively. Andrew Sass (171) needed just 43 ticks of the clock to pin the Saints' Dakota Toms.

Another weight class, according to Edmundson, proved crucial. Jamie Wooten's forfeit at 189 helped open the door for 215-pounder Jon Rudolph, who grabbed a second-period fall over the Saints' Derek Whitman.

Senior Joshua Holmes, who remained unbeaten this season, needed three periods to claim a 23-10 major decision over Southern Wayne standout Dustin Richards at 145 pounds.

"He made some good coaching moves and I didn't have a whole lot of options," said Jones. "We did the best we could."

The Saints collected falls from 152-pounder Ethan Brogden, 112-pounder Matt Sparks and heavyweight Greg Taylor. Taylor yielded more than 40 pounds to the Eagles' Paul Atkinson, but pulled off a 3-minute pin.

"Chops (Taylor) goes out there knowing he's a smaller guy and tries to wrestle smart, so he doesn't make a mistake and get under those (bigger) guys," said Jones. "He did that well today, made sure he didn't get under because Atkinson was bigger than him. He was careful, chose his shots ... wrestled smart."

Rosewood 52

Southern Wayne 30

145 -- Joshua Holmes (R) maj. dec. Dustin Richards, 23-12; 152 -- Ethan Brogden (SW) wbf Greg Cavenaugh, 2:50; 160 -- Jacob Roberts (R) wbf Minek Ford, 2:17; 171 -- Andrew Sass (R) pinned Dakota Toms, 0:43; 189 -- Jamie Wooten (R) by forfeit; 215 -- Jonathan Rudolph (R) wbf Derek Whitman, 2:56; Hwt -- Greg Taylor (SW) wbf Paul Atkinson, 3:00; 103 -- Ryan Gross (SW) by forfeit; 112 -- Matt Sparks (SW) wbf Chris Lane, 3:52; 119 -- Zach Behrend (R) wbf Nick Evans, 0:31; 125 -- Miles Bradshaw (SW) by forfeit; 130 -- Scott Pate (R) wbf Jacob Richards, 1:46; 135 -- Matt Coley (R) wbf Keith Jones, 0:40; 140 -- Dillion Guss (R) wbf Duron Smith, 0:37.

Records: Rosewood 1-0, Southern Wayne 2-1

Next match: Saturday, Rosewood at Pierce-Davis Memorial; Dec. 9, Eastern Wayne at Southern Wayne