Knights bump Golden Falcons from 3A dual-team wrestling playoffs

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 4, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- One thread unraveled.

Then another.

And another.

Charles B. Aycock did its best to "patch" the holes, but dropped a season-ending 40-36 decision to Northern Nash in opening-round action of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A dual-team wrestling playoffs Tuesday evening.

"I don't want to make excuses," second-year Golden Falcons head coach RJ Allen said. "We still had a chance to win the match. It came down to the last one. We had a few people go to their back. I'm proud of the guys, they wrestled well.

"I think (assistant coach Mark) Bass did a great job manipulating the lineup the way he did to get us as close as we got. My hat's off to him for really knowing the sport."

Bass bumped middle weights Daniel Bryant and Joshua Wallace up to 152 and 160 pounds, respectively. The seasoned wrestlers responded with consecutive pins to put Aycock in front, 12-0.

But the lack of depth and inexperience soon showed, and the tapestry that Bass had carefully sewn started to slowly come apart.

The first thread was a season-ending injury to Jaret Paynter, who had foot surgery Monday. His absence forced Bass to forfeit the 170-pound weight class. The Fighting Knights (12-12 overall) capitalized and reeled off 31 consecutive points that included three pins -- two against wrestlers who continue to work on their technique on the mat.

Those two threads along with a decision at heavyweight and a major decision "steal" at 106 pounds -- Jordan Whitaker's 12-4 triumph over CBA's Alex Johnson -- gave Northern a comfortable 31-12 advantage.

"When we got to the lower weights, they all became very pivotal," said Allen, whose team trailed 31-12 after Johnson's loss.

The Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A champion, Aycock (18-8) attempted to sew its comeback when 113-pounder Hayden Gurley and 120-pounder Jacob Dickenson each pinned their respective opponent. DeShawn Owens followed with a second-period fall at 126, which closed the gap to 31-30.

Northern's Matt Andrews topped Zach Creel at 132 pounds and Aycock took its final lead, 36-34, on Zack Howard's second-period triumph over Tyrees Wiggins. Emanuel Sanchez sealed the Golden Falcons' fate with a 28-second pin of freshman Austin Pittman in the final individual bout.

"(Austin) was in a situation that was very tough for him, a must-win situation," Allen said. "I have to give anyone credit who goes out there and gives it a shot, and he gave it his best shot. It just didn't roll our way today."

Aycock endured its fifth consecutive opening-round loss in the postseason, and sixth straight defeat overall after making a second-round appearance in 2010.