WRESTLING: Taylor bringing back tradition at Southern Wayne

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 17, 2017 10:02 AM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

GREENSBORO -- Southern Wayne head wrestling coach Frank Stauffer constantly checked the bracket sheets once they were posted after each round Saturday afternoon.

One name kept appearing -- Alex Nobles.

A collision course seemed immiment. Stauffer kept quiet and watched -- in amazement -- as senior Tim Taylor morphed into a buzz saw during the wrestle-back portion of the east 3-A regional.

Taylor knocked out four opponents -- all by pin.

"(Nobles) was a whole lot stronger than I thought," Taylor said of the opening-round loss that ended 42 seconds into the third period of their 195-pound bout.

"We get to the third period, I'm gassed out and he pins me. I didn't like the fact that I lost it, and I wanted to show people that I could win."

Taylor's run astonished Stauffer.

"I reassured him that it's not done, anything can happen," Stauffer said. "You get a stretch where you get a little bit of confidence, win a couple in a row and that's what he did. He caught fire."

Stauffer knew Nobles waited in the wings.

He said nary a word.

Once the two shook hands at center mat and the ref blew his whistle, Taylor took the passive role. Nobles scored the initial takedown and made a slight mistake that allowed Taylor to grab a single leg.

Taylor executed a fireman's carry. Nobles got stuck on his back and the ref called the pin -- in 26 seconds.

"I knew I was going to states," Taylor said.

And end a LONG draught in program history.

Taylor (18-14 overall) is the first state qualifier since 2008 when Tristan Bass and John Futrell both represented the Saints in the N.C. High School Athletic Association individual wrestling championships.

A total of 40 SW grapplers have advanced to the state level since the 1970s.

"I've had a rough year, haven't won that many matches...my wins are close to the number of losses," said Taylor, who ran cross country last fall, ate healthy to maintain his weight and worked out in the weight room.

"I wasn't too confident going into regionals. But the coaches sat down with me and told me 'I've got this,' and it really helped me out in the end."

The fourth seed from the East Region, Taylor opened action earlier today against West Region champ Darion McClain (31-9) from Kings Mountain.

Stauffer offered the same advice.

"He just told me to go out there and do my best," Taylor said. "It's going to be different because it's better competition, but I feel like I have a decent shot of doing better than most people think I can.

"(Qualifying) means a lot to me because it shows that we're in there doing the work like we're supposed to, and the program is going to go somewhere again."

With Taylor as the newest building block.