Rosewood matmen achieve program history, win tourney

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 5, 2015 1:48 PM

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TOPSAIL ISLAND -- Rosewood's wrestling team crossed a few more items off of its "to-do" list for this season.

Four, to be exact.

The Eagles defeated perennial 3-A powerhouse Havelock, New Bern and Croatan for the first time in program history over a two-day period. And those three monumental victories helped Rosewood finish 9-0 as well as claim the 2015 Big Horn championship contested at Topsail High School.

"This tournament is traditionally a very tough event with eastern North Carolina power schools," RHS head coach Bill Edmundson said. "(Havelock, New Bern and Croatan) were high on our priority list."

Eight Rosewood grapplers logged unbeaten worksheets. Sophomore Rayquon Jones led the way with nine victories, while Malique Boyd and Josh Drew each posted eight individual wins. Jones has a team-leading 26 wins.

Sam Drew (7-0), Evan Reiss (6-0), Kaleb Taylor (5-0), Joseph Waters (5-0), Alex Godwin and Tyree Owens also concluded the tournament unbeaten. Overall, 22 Eagles saw mat time against nine schools -- Croatan, First Flight, Fuquay-Varina, Havelock, Jacksonville, New Bern, SW Onslow, West Carteret and former 1-A nemesis Topsail.

"Joseph had a fantastic tournament and really surprised several teams," Edmundson said. "Joseph is a very methodical wrestler who likes to set the pace and slow his opponents down."

Rosewood (28-3 overall) faces North Lenoir and Pamlico on Tuesday.