WRESTLING: CBA's Wallace encounters 'interesting' journey

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 20, 2017 9:57 AM

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GREENSBORO -- Excited that he met his weekend goal, Charles B. Aycock wrestler Joshua Wallace ran down the tunnel toward the locker room inside the Greensboro Coliseum on Saturday evening.

His celebration didn't last long.

"Dad (Terry) called me back to the mat," Joshua said.

Wallace's third-round consolation match against John Kanipe of Fred T. Foard wasn't over. After a lengthy discussion between the two referees, it was determined that Kanipe had scored a takedown that Wallace countered with a reverse move.

Aycock's coaches asked for a clarification.

"Josh defended (the move), sprawled and put his left arm in his armpit. He stepped around him to get the reverse," CBA head coach Brian Doyle said. "The match ended, he was all excited, shook hands with the Foard coach and ran off the mat. (But) the second ref said Kanipe clearly had his leg inside Josh's which should have been a takedown."

A 5-3 win morphed into a 5-5 tie.

Overtime.

"It was weird," Wallace said. "Dad told me to calm down because I still had to wrestle. I went back on the mat to warm up and I saw the other guy had his head down. I thought I had already won once, I've just got to do it again."

Wallace thwarted a takedown in the one-minute sudden victory session. Neither wrestler gained an advantage during two 30-second OT periods.

Ultimate OT.

First score wins.

"I had gotten the first takedown of the match and had choice, so I took bottom," Wallace said.

He quickly hit a Granby, rolled out for the one-point escape and celebrated for the second time.

Mission accomplished.

Denied in each of his previous two state tournament appearances, Wallace (53-6 overall) finally earned his place on the podium in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A individual wrestling championships.

"Wow, what an ending that would have been had he lost," Doyle said. "It was a little crazy on the floor for that one."

Wallace clinched a spot in the third-place match with a 6-4 conquest of Braden Homsey from Hillsborough Orange. He lost to Enka's Tanner Revis, 3-2, and finished with 177 career wins -- the second-highest total in program history behind Zack Howard, who filed 191 wins and was also a three-time state qualifier.