Rosewood's Sam Drew fights through pain

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 23, 2015 1:49 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

GREENSBORO -- Pain seared through his body as Rosewood wrestler Sam Drew talked with his coaches after an opening-round loss in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A individual state championships.

They wanted to medically forfeit the injured grappler.

Drew slept on the idea.

He returned Saturday morning, warmed up and talked head coach Bill Edmundson into letting him wrestle Princeton's Martin Bayles. Despite a completely torn anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) in his right knee, Drew pinned Bayles in the second period.

Edmundson said "we're done."

"Coach, let me wrestle one more so I can get into the third- and fourth-place match," Drew pleaded.

He pinned East Surry's Austin Bryant 27 seconds into the second period.

Drew walked off the mat.

"Coach, I'm going for third place, it's not even a question of whether we're going to continue," he said.

Later in the afternoon, Drew had the bronze (third-place) medal placed around his neck after he avenged an opening-round loss to Cherryville's Tanner Jones. He caught Jones in a spladle and logged a 4-minute, 24-second pin.

The victory left Edmundson speechless.

"A very emotional match for everyone in our group," he said.

Drew emerged as one of six Rosewood grapplers to finish among the top four in their respective weight classes. Heavyweight Kaleb Taylor became the second state champion in program history. Kaleb Smith wound up third at 170 pounds. Brother Josh (182) and sophomore Rayquon Jones (220) each secured fourth place.

Malique Boyd, David Dotson, Joseph Waters, Evan Reiss and Dylan Melgar also competed for Rosewood.

The Eagles compiled 75 points in the team portion of the two--day tournament. Dual-team champ Mitchell County collected 121 points, followed by Mt. Airy with 90.

"I am not at all disappointed in the performance of everyone else who made it as a state qualifier," Edmundson said. "I think some of the young men may be disappointed, but they shouldn't be. This was an extremely tough tournament with several variables that are hard to compensate for like not being able to practice an entire week before the state championships."

3-A

Charles B. Aycock's Zack Howard, the program's all-time career wins leader, wound up sixth in the 132-pound division.

Howard launched his state-title journey with a 6-4, sudden-victory decision over F.T. Foard's Austin Hughes. Mike Jones of Morehead derailed Howard in the quarterfinals, which forced the Golden Falcon senior to work his way back through the consolation bracket.

Howard triumphed 14-11 over Marvin Ridge's Christian Beach, but endured back-to-back losses to Ian Machamer (N. Gaston) and Reagan Fedowitz (Union Pines). A four-year varsity starter, Howard ended the year 44-8 overall and 190-36 for his career.

Jacob Dickenson advanced past the first round with a third-period fall (4:36) over Northern Guilford's Alex Roberts at 120 pounds. His tournament ended with consecutive defeats against Ryan McKellar (Sun Valley) and Nathan Buchanan (Central Cabarrus). Dickenson wound up 42-11 for the year.

Joshua Wallace, a first-time participant in the state meet, endured losses to Dillon O'Neal (Pisgah) and Seth Bridgeman (W. Iredell). Wallace finished the season 42-8 overall.