Aycock bests Eastern Wayne on the mat

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 21, 2010 1:46 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- One more step.

The Charles B. Aycock wrestling team moved closer to its preseason goal of a regular-season championship with a 63-15 rout over county archrival Eastern Wayne on Wednesday evening.

The Golden Falcons (14-6 overall) improved to 2-0 in conference play with contests remaining against Southern Wayne and league newcomer Triton.

"Our goal is a conference championship ... the immediate goal in front of us," said Aycock coach Marc Peck. "Then qualify for state duals and just go from there. Individually, things will take care of themselves as we get better each week."

Aycock picked up its 16th ECC victory in 18 tries since 2006 and remained unbeaten in 17 outings against Eastern Wayne since 2001. The short-handed Warriors, directed by first-year head coach Jon Jones, suffered their fourth straight league loss since 2009.

The 40-minute affair featured just five contested matches.

Sophomore 119-pounder David Romo, senior Kaleb Robinson and junior heavyweight Jarrod James each emerged victorious for the Golden Falcons. Romo and Robinson each pinned their respective opponent, while James logged a 6-0 decision over the Warriors' Calvin Christian.

Romo and Scott Pate, who drew one of Aycock's seven forfeits on the night, share the team lead with 20 individual wins. Jon Rudolph is next with 19, followed by Justin Farrell and James with 18 apiece. Farrell, Mario Darby, Zeb Darden, Jorden Lee, Khaleil Owens and Rudolph each registered a forfeit win.

"The contested matches ... we took care of business in all but one," said Peck. "Daniel Romo, the kid he wrestled has more match time than him. Our 215 ... it's just a matter of mat time.

"We just got Rudolph down to 189, so there hasn't been much mat time for Travion (Lewis). That will come."

Romo dropped a 7-5, overtime decision to Warrior 130-pounder Austin Helm. A returning starter, Helm controlled the tempo for two-plus periods until yielding a match-tying takedown in the final 15 seconds.

Helm secured the winning takedown in overtime. It was the sophomore's seventh straight victory and 10th overall in his last 11 outings.

"Austin put himself in a lot of good situations and the only problem I saw was at the end of the match," said Jones. "He went to back to the non-aggressive tie-up, and got himself in trouble. The good thing is he got himself together and overall, wrestled a good match.

"I was pleased with that."

The Warriors' Logan Wicks, who recently returned to the lineup, grabbed a second-period fall over Lewis at 215 pounds. Teammate James Barrett received a forfeit at 171 to round out Eastern Wayne's team scoring.