Rosewood grapplers achieve program milestone in Pilkington Duals

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 30, 2013 1:47 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- Youthful Charles B. Aycock accomplished a pre-tournament goal and gained more confidence during the 16th installment of the Terry Pilkington Memorial Duals contested Saturday.

County rival Rosewood achieved another milestone in its illustrious wrestling history. The Eagles surpassed the 500-win plateau as a program, and claimed their first Pilkington championship since 2010.

"It was such a pleasure wrestling in the Pilkington Memorial again this year," RHS head coach Bill Edmundson, who considers the late Terry Pilkington as one of his many coaching mentors.

"Our guys pulled together, and came up with a few key matches and won the team championship. The coaching staff is extremely pleased with the commitment level of the wrestlers this season."

The Eagles (24-1 overall) defeated Goldsboro, Northern Nash and earned their 500th victory as a program against Aycock in pool play. Edmundson's team sealed its second Pilkington crown overall with a 49-20 rout of perennial Big East 3-A power Rocky Mount in the championship round.

"(Rosewood) came in with one purpose and that was winning the whole thing," first-year Aycock head coach RJ Allen said. "I was impressed watching them and how the entire team was involved in each match. Bill has built a great program at Rosewood."

The Eagles, who have six state-ranked wrestlers in their starting lineup, got standout efforts from their usual leaders -- Joshua Drew, Samuel Drew, Jordan Batson and Kaleb Smith. Joshua Drew remained perfect in 26 outings this season, while Sam climbed to 20-4.

Batson has 21 individual wins, while Smith has 20.

Rosewood returns to action Jan. 4 and will play host to the inaugural Carolina/4 Rivers/Coastal 10 Conference duals. The day-long meet includes Princeton, Neuse Charter, Manteo and Tarboro. The winner secures the league's automatic qualifying bid to the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A dual-team playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Golden Falcons (9-6) defeated Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference foe D.H. Conley for third place.

"We wrestled well in our final match and I could tell the team really wanted to place in our own tournament," Allen said. "Overall, I thought we started off a little sloppy, but with each match the team seemed to come together. By our final match, they realized that a loss was not an option.

"I said I would be pleased with a top-three finish and that is what we got. I wanted to win, but being in the top three gives the team confidence heading into the second half of the season."

Jacob Dickenson's pin in the final individual match clinched a tournament-opening victory against Northern Nash. The Golden Falcons swept all three contested bouts against short-handed Goldsboro, which had just three grapplers and finished eighth overall.

Princeton topped Northern Nash for fifth place, while North Johnston took seventh.

Aycock plays host to the annual Falcon Invitational on Jan. 4.

"I am looking forward to the rest of the season," Allen said. "Our team continues to get better and I think it will really show during the next half of the season."