Eastern Wayne takes advantage of short-handed South Johnston
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 14, 2011 1:48 PM
Young grapplers got some mat time during Eastern Wayne's 60-18 romp over short-handed South Johnston on Tuesday evening.
It was the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference opener for both teams.
"The biggest thing is I see improvement, I see them working (hard) and doing the right things that's going to make them better," said Eastern Wayne head coach Jonathan Jones. "This past weekend at the tournament (at Rosewood), we took some lumps, but I showed them Monday in the (wrestling) room this is the first year that we've had more pins (than we've given up) at this point in the season.
"Now, we're over that hump."
The Warriors, who return seven starters off last year's squad, battled to a 3-3 split with the Trojans in actual contested matches. Brice Heller and Romario Torres each logged a first-period fall at 106 and 113 pounds, respectively. Teammate Craig Smith (138 pounds) pinned the Trojans' Matt Girouard in the first period.
South Johnston surrendered six forfeits, but got pins from returning starters Justin Min (132), Seth Mercer (126) and 152-pounder Eric Davidson. Mercer pinned the Warriors' Victor Rodriquez with one second left in the opening period.
"I wish Victor wouldn't have been nursing that injury because I'd like to see him go a little bit deeper (into the match) against that kid," said Jones. "He had him cradled and turned him, but he's been fighting getting over a back injury. If his back had held up, it would have been nice seeing him go the full (six minutes)."