STATE CHAMPS: Decatur-Luker, Taylor each walk away with an individual state title

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 22, 2016 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

GREENSBORO -- Stay focused.

Steady your nerves.

The two-part formula paid off for Rosewood wrestlers Kaleb Taylor and Timothy Decatur-Luker on Saturday evening. Each seized an individual state championship during the season-ending N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A individual wrestling tournament contested at Greensboro Coliseum.

Taylor successfully defended his heavyweight crown with a three-point decision over East Montgomery's Colby Robinson in the finals. The four-year starter became just the second grappler in RHS history to finish the season unbeaten (50-0). Alumnus Nick Quillen, who is now a U.S. Marine, holds the school record (60-0) set during his junior campaign.

Decatur-Luker claimed the 106-pound title with a second-period fall over Pender's Alpha Barrow. He emerged as the Eagles' first-ever state title-winner as a freshman.

"I was really happy, never felt anything like that before," Decatur-Luker said. "I've been dreaming about it all year and it finally happened. I was confident I would do pretty good. I wasn't for sure if would win states. That was my main goal.

"I dreamed about it all year and finally accomplished it."

Nicknamed "The Tank," Decatur-Luker launched his gold-medal run with an 11-2 major decision over East Wilkes' Chimeco Barber in the quarterfinals. Decatur-Luker admitted he experienced some nerves and opted to play it cautious against the more-experienced junior.

He could have easily pinned Barber, but logged a few back points to help ease the butterflies in his stomach. The victory boosted Decatur-Luker's confidence as east regional champ Alpha Barrow of Pender waited for him in the semifinals.

A strong opponent, Barrow attempted a few takedown shots that Decatur-Luker smartly blocked. Decatur-Luker gained the upper hand with a takedown and earned a few back points, but the match stopped when the two grapplers bumped heads.

After the injury timeout, Decatur-Luker turned Barrow onto his back and pinned the junior with 25 seconds left in the third period.

"I just saw he was a little down," he said.

The victory set up the championship tilt against South Stanly sophomore Levi Carpenter, who won the west regional. The two battled to a scoreless tie after the opening two minutes.

Carpenter chose the bottom (down) position to start the second period. He attempted to escape from Decatur-Luker, who kept pressure and finally put the sophomore on his back. Carpenter attempted to tripod up and use the move to flip Decatur-Luker.

"I went too high and he tried to hip in, but I threw my legs in and turned him over, made it (the hold) tighter and I pinned him," Decatur-Luker said.

Seconds later, the ref raised his hand in victory.

"Amazing," Decatur-Luker said of the moment.

Taylor's mentality involved experience and preparation.

He upended Mitchell's Todd Self, 3-1, in the opening round which was a rematch of last year's state final. Taylor defeated South Stanly junior Thomas Yarbrough, 5-1, in semifinal-round action.

"We were scoreless after the first period," Taylor said. "I scored in the second period and caught him on his back in the third. It wasn't the best match I wrestled, but it got me to where I needed to be."

And that was in position to become Rosewood's second two-time state champ.

Taylor opposed East Montgomery Colby Robinson in the finals. The two had met on several occasions with Taylor coming out on top in decisive fashion each time.

The trend didn't change.

"I didn't try anything stupid, just wrestled my match and ended up winning," Taylor said of the 5-2 outcome. "It was bittersweet because it was my last match and my career was over at Rosewood. (Winning two state titles) are nice, but I didn't do it by myself because I had great wrestling partners -- Kaleb Smith, Rayquon Jones, Josh Drew, Blake Dean and Dylan Melgar.

"I couldn't have reached this goal without them pushing me every day."