Wrestling --Rosewood advances to dual team state final

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on February 2, 2018 5:53 AM

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As the official clock sped toward the designated start time of Thursday night's N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A east regional dual team wrestling final, Rosewood High head coach Bill Edmundson -- whose team had just dispatched Edenton Holmes in a bother-me-not, 60-23 quarterfinal laugher --  paused near the scorer's table to summarize the task ahead for his band of grappling savants.  

His assessment -- a straight-laced bit of coaching verbiage that rang directly from the field guide of New England Patriots lead man Bill Belichick -- proved to be quite prophetic.

 "Uwharrie's going to be a tough team," Edmundson noted. "They're strong where we're strong, they're not as strong where we're not as strong...  we're like a mirror-image of each other, really."

With one exception, however --  only his Eagles had access to the resiliency of one Seth Finney.

And the senior's performance -- a stirring, to-the-mat's edge bit of white-knuckle drama in which he staved off a pin by UC's Jerry Jimenez countless times -- capped a lightning-quick burst of seven wins in nine matches and ushered Rosewood to the proper side of a 39-36 instant classic.

Trailing 2-0, David Brown formed the rally by making quick work of Dylan Jones at 195 pounds, then watched it gain momentum with victories by Nyterrius Williams (285), Christian Decatur (106), Timothy Decatur (120), Chris Hill (126), Reid Amodeo (132) and Jordan Todd (145) --  all of whom then rallied around Finney, who sealed matters with a bit of survival mastery in the last match of the evening.

Make no mistake -- in every sense, the affair felt like a state final.

"That should have been the state finals, in my opinion," said Edmundson, whose Eagles earned a rematch with last year's state title foe, Robbinsville.

"Uwharrrie has got a heckuva team. They have assembled a group that's really come strong the past couple of years. They're mainly juniors -- and going to be something to contend with next year."

Just not on Thursday, when Finney and his band of brothers were destined to have weekend plans.

Rosewood (ROSE) 60,

Holmes (HOLM) 23

160: Joey Behrend (ROSE) over Richard Fisher (HOLM) (Fall 1:06) 170: Collin Pendergraph (ROSE) over Tyler Vick (HOLM) (Fall 0:25) 182: Timothy White (HOLM) over Luke Evans (ROSE) (TF 15-0 2:36) 195: Dawson Cullipher (HOLM) over Noah Carden (ROSE) (Fall 2:51) 220: Ky`Vaughn Rome (HOLM) over Aaron Jarvis (ROSE) (Fall 0:38) 285: Andrew Wade (ROSE) over Seth Simmons (HOLM) (Fall 0:13) 106: Christian Decatur (ROSE) over AARON JONES (HOLM) (Fall 1:01) 113: Riddick White (HOLM) over Malika Haines (ROSE) (Fall 3:37) 120: Timothy Decatur (ROSE) over Nata Rankins (HOLM) (Fall 0:45) 126: Chris Hill (ROSE) over Brayden Johnson (HOLM) (Fall 0:50) 132: Reid Amodeo (ROSE) over Jordan Huerta (HOLM) (Fall 3:12) 138: Jordan Todd (ROSE) over JONATHAN SALINAS (HOLM) (Fall 0:14) 145: Tanner Smith (ROSE) over Nathan Hansley (HOLM) (Fall 1:06) 152: Seth Finney (ROSE) over Trace Murray (HOLM) (Fall 0:27)

Rosewood (ROSE) 39,

Uwharrie Charter Academy (UWHA) 36

170: Bailey Parks (UWHA) over Collin Pendergraph (ROSE) (Fall 0:50) 182: Isaiah Martin (UWHA) over   (ROSE) (For.) 195: David Brown (ROSE) over Dylan Jones (UWHA) (Fall 4:18) 220: Jaime Bernal (UWHA) over Blake Jarman (ROSE) (Dec 9-7) 285: Nyterrius Williams (ROSE) over Jace Voss (UWHA) (Fall 1:01) 106: Christian Decatur (ROSE) over Scott Tyree (UWHA) (Fall 0:52) 113: Hayden Waddell (UWHA) over Malika Haines (ROSE) (Fall 0:32) 120: Timothy Decatur (ROSE) over Josh  Poteat (UWHA) (Fall 2:48) 126: Chris Hill (ROSE) over Adam  Robins (UWHA) (Dec 9-5) 132: Reid Amodeo (ROSE) over Chase Matney (UWHA) (Fall 2:00) 138: Caleb Bryant (UWHA) over Tanner Smith (ROSE) (Fall 2:57) 145: Jordan Todd (ROSE) over Nick Menjivar (UWHA) (Fall 1:59) 152: Jerry  Jimenez (UWHA) over Seth Finney (ROSE) (Dec 6-3) 160: Branson Lambert (UWHA) over   (ROSE) (For.)