20th Eagle Invitational: Rosewood matmen surprise head coach

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 14, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

One prediction came true.

Perennial powerhouse Holly Springs ended the day with six individual champions, compiled 193 points and claimed the Eagle Invitational team belt for the fourth consecutive year.

County rivals Rosewood and Charles B. Aycock finished second and third in the team standings. Each had three individual champions and a combined 11 wrestlers to place among the top four in their respective weight classes.

Overall, 10 grapplers protected their No. 1 seed. Five schools -- Holly Springs, Raleigh Millbrook, Corinth-Holders, Rosewood and Aycock -- accounted for all 14 individual championships.

The biggest surprise was Rosewood's Blake Dean.

Seeded 10th in the 220-pound weight class, Dean -- in his first appearance of the season -- pinned one opponent and scored two decisions. The second was a 9-8 squeaker over North Johnston's Cody Jones that propelled Dean into the finals.

Dean pinned Aycock's Brandon Johnson with 5 seconds remaining in the finals.

"Blake has come so far over the past few months," RHS head coach Bill Edmundson said. "He has been steadily dropping down to 220 pounds. (He) won the class getting better and more confident throughout the day. If you had told me we were going to have five wrestlers in the finals, I would have laughed."

Timothy Decatur-Luker secured the 106-pound title and Kaleb Taylor, again, worked his way to a gold medal in a highly-competitive division. Taylor was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Jordan Todd (126) and Dylan Melgar (195) each finished runner-up.

"Timothy is learning how important it is to be constantly in motion and paid off today. He really dominated the class," Edmondson said. "Jordan has learned so much from his (finals) match. He already has developed a defense for the thigs that got him in trouble during this match."

Coming off a lackluster tri-meet match two nights earlier at Southern Nash, the Golden Falcons rebounded in solid fashion.

Junior Josh Wallace (19-0) experienced a strange start at 160 pounds. He earned a medical forfeit in the quarterfinals, slipped past Brandon Shene of Richlands and pinned Northeastern's Tyler Gonzalez in the title match.

Tyler Marquard took the 132-pound title with a 15-0 (technical fall) over Holly Springs' Jared Wainwright in the finals. Teammate Jaret Paynter seized the 195-pound championship with a 15-5 conquest of Cleveland's Trevor Bryant.

Washington finished runner-up at 220.

"(We) had a great tournament," said Aycock head coach RJ Allen, who could not fill two weight classes due to an injury. "After a lackluster night earlier in the week, the team pulled it together for the tournament. (I'm) proud of these young men and the rest of the team for what they accomplished."

Eastern Wayne's Mario Harper and Cainen Miller secured fourth place at 106 and 138 pounds, respectively. Harper dropped into the consolation bracket after a semifinal-round loss to Decatur-Luker. Miller also fell in the semifinals and worked his back into medal contention.

"Mario wrestled really well," first-year EW head coach Aaron Lynch said. "He continues to improve daily and had a good tournament. Cainen wrestled well. (In his consolation finals) he was up and he made a mistake and got caught. Cainen continues to improve daily and wrestled some tough matches at the tournament."

Southern Wayne's Kimari Johnson and North Johnson's JoJo Richardson shared third-place honors at 145 pounds. Johnson lost to eventual 145-pound champ Cam Devers in the quarterfinals, but won three consecutive consolation-round matches.

Johnson and Richardson could not compete for third place due to the five-match rule.û