Staff report
SPENCER — West Rowan’s male wrestlers have ruled Rowan County for a long time and extended that rein on Saturday.
Coach John Brown’s Falcons amassed 215.5 points to outdistance runner-up East Rowan’s 149.5.
The Mustangs won the battle for second with South Rowan (138) and Carson (124). Next were host North Rowan (90) and Salisbury (52).
West has won eight straight county titles during a nine-season stretch, three before COVID wiped out the 2020-21 tournament, and five since COVID. West has 10 titles all-time, second to South Rowan’s 13.
“I really don’t think we’re as good as we have been in recent years, but we’re still pretty good,” Brown said. “There are some good teams in the county, but we won fairly handily.”
West had six of the 14 weight-class champions. East had four. South and Carson had two each.
West’s larger guys were dominant. Harry Hartwell (190), Xavier Gray (215) and Bryson Ellis (heavyweight) were recently on the football field. All won by pin in their championship matches.
West’s other champs were Oliver Perry (132), Chris Gaither (144) and Drew Taylor (150), who recently won his 100th match. Perry and Gaither won their title matches by pin. Taylor took a major decision.
While most of the day went about as Brown expected, he noted a couple of pleasant surprises — Ellis’ heavyweight triumph over South Rowan’s Evan Cox and Bryson Wilhelm’s runner-up finish at 126.
Besides Wilhelm, the Falcons got second places from Jeremiah Griffin (113), James Stephens (138) and Puavheej Lor (157).
Mason Truman was third in a stout 120 division, and Devaunh White, another football star, was third at 175.
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East was tough in the lower weight classes, with Christopher McDonald (113) and Most Outstanding Wrestler Catoe Byrd (120) winning championships. McDonald won his final by tech fall. Byrd roared through a strong 120 group with two pins and a tech fall.
East also got gold medals from Jayden Greene (157) and unbeaten Braylen Yates (165). Yates won one of the matches of the day when he decisioned Carson veteran Griffin Barber 7-6 in a tight 165 final.
East’s Cole Goucher (106), Mason Stutler (132) and James Banks (150) took silver medals. Lucas Restrepo (126) and Porter Thomas (157) had thirds.
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South Rowan champs were Emilio Diaz (106) and Garrison Raper (138). Diaz won a major in the final, while Raper won by tech fall.
South had runner-up finishes by Chayd Freeze (144), Aiden Carter (175) and Cox (heavyweight). Nic Woolf took third at 165.
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Carson champs were Joseph Little (126) and Jamarion Brown (175). Little won by tech fall in the final, while Brown registered a pin.
Carson had runner-up finishes from Barber (165), Grayson Kilgore (190) and Elijah Morgan (215). Landon Jones (113) and Adrien Crouch (138) placed third.
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North was led by Anton Pontoon, second at 120. The Cavaliers had five third places — Hunter Farris (106), Noah Johnson-Williams (132), Charles Coleman (190), Dylan Garrigus (215) and Steven Hughes (heavyweight).
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Salisbury’s best finishes were third places by Amir Bethea (144) and D’Mhad Bethea (157).
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West was a 3A state contender in recent seasons. It’s possible the Falcons will contend again as the move to eight classifications has split up the programs that were the 3A powers.
“Some of those schools are 4A now and some moved up to 6A, and we’re in 5A,” Brown said. “There are still some good teams in 5A, but like I said we’re pretty good. This is a year when pretty good may be good enough.”
While there are some dangerous teams in the league, Brown said the South Piedmont Conference championship is likely to come down to the West Rowan-East Rowan match on Jan. 21.
