Pilkington Duals: Allen hopes Golden Falcons finish among top 3

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 27, 2013 1:47 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- The ultimate result?

A team title.

The realistic outcome?

RJ Allen will take a top-three finish when Charles B. Aycock plays host to the 16th annual Terry Pilkington Memorial Duals on Saturday. The eight-team, round-robin event starts at 9:15 a.m.

"If we finish in the top three, I'll be pretty pleased," said Allen, the first-year head coach of the Golden Falcons. "We have a young team, but each time (on the mat) they keep getting better. We have some wrestlers who keep stepping up every time and helping the team out."

The door is open for a new team champion.

Cleveland, which won three consecutive Pilkington titles from 2010-12, isn't competing this season. Aycock (6-5 overall) will battle for the crown along with county foes Rosewood (19-1) and Goldsboro (0-8); and D.H. Conley (1-2), Princeton (4-7), Northern Nash (5-2), Hertford County (3-3) and North Johnston (2-12).

Four teams split into two pools will compete in round-robin fashion to determine the seedings for the final round. The top team in each pool will meet for the championship, which has been won by five different schools since the tournament's inception in 1999.

Aycock seized seven straight Pilkington crowns from 2001-07.

"I think it will be a good tournament," Allen said. "I'm looking forward to seeing how the team will do. Most of the tournaments we've been to this season have been individuals, so it will be interesting to see how they work together as a team.

"I think we've come a long way compared to where we started."

The Golden Falcons graduated eight seniors off of last year's team. The lone returning starter is senior 182-pounder Ryan Morton. Allen has started as many as seven freshmen on the mat, including 152-pounder Joshua Wallace and 106-pounder Ty Marquard.

Wallace and returning starter Zack Howard each have 14 wins -- two behind team leader Jacob Dickenson. Morton and Marquard have logged 10 victories apiece.

Overall, the Golden Falcons are 105-104 as a team in total overall victories. Nearly two-thirds of the results are pins, including 63 by Aycock.

"We've talked to them about not getting pinned and how much that hurts the team points-wise, and we've done better in some of the recent duals," Allen said. "We have a 'top 10', a repetition of moves that we drill every practice for 30 to 45 minutes. They're moves that we know we have to master in order to be better.

"I'm very pleased with the team."