WRESTLING: Rosewood dominates CBA in title match

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 22, 2016 10:07 AM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- When a reporter once asked Tampa Bay Bucs head football coach John McKay about his team's execution, he said, "I'm all for it."

Charles B. Aycock head wrestling coach Brian Doyle felt like McKay on Wednesday evening.

"The effort was certainly there," Doyle said of the Golden Falcons' battle with county rival Rosewood during the finals of the 2016 Terry Pilkington Memorial Duals tournament Wednesday evening.

"But we failed to execute some basic defense that directly affected many of the matches. Not to say that it would have changed the result, but prolonged some matches."

Rosewood emerged victorious in nine of 11 contested individual matches and claimed its third Pilkington crown since 2013 -- and fourth overall -- with a resounding 68-12 triumph over CBA.

The Eagles (23-2 overall) posted seven falls, one decision and one tech fall during the 62-minute affair. They drew three forfeits against the Golden Falcons, who have struggled to fill an entire team (14 wrestlers) for a variety of reasons throughout the season.

"I thought we had a really good lineup with CBA for the finals match," RHS head coach Bill Edmundson said. "All of the guys on both squads look forward to wrestling each other. It is a unique sport where they hate each other before the match, and then hang out afterwards and talk.

"We have a lot of respect for watch Coach Doyle and Coach (Marc) Bass are doing with their program."

Aycock received first-period falls from 160-pounder Tyler Hughes and 182-pounder Josh Wallace. Hughes, a freshman, improved to 27-6 overall this season. Wallace remained unbeaten in 27 outings.

"It's my job to ensure my wrestlers are prepared and know how to recognize and execute basic defense techniques -- that's on me," Doyle said. "Again, I was proud we competed (in effort), but our execution has to improve...now.

"Despite the disappointment of the Rosewood match, we, as a team did well."

The Golden Falcons advanced to the finals with victories over East Carteret (51-28), Manteo (72-12) and county foe Southern Wayne (68-12).

Rosewood cruised past Manteo (60-18), East Carteret (60-24) and Southern Wayne (75-6). The Eagles recorded a total of 20 pins on the day.

"I thought we had an exceptional outing today," Edmundson said. "We have a nucleus group that is really starting to come in to their own and produce with huge wins. Several guys are starting to work the score heavily in their favor because they know as the season points toward playoff time, pins will be harder and harder to get.

"We were able to get in almost everyone that came with us due to (wrestling) short-handed teams."

Southern Wayne, East Carteret and Manteo participated in the dual, which was reduced to five teams in a two-day period. Former Pilkington champ Cleveland could not make the trip, and Beddingfield pulled its squad from the tournament early Wednesday morning.

CBA, Rosewood and SW return to action Dec. 30 in the annual Falcon Invitational, which is the second-longest running individual tournament in Wayne County.