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While Davie-West Forsyth on Jan. 13 was a showdown that could have gone either way – the Titans prevailed 39-33 to assume the driver’s seat in the Central Piedmont Conference – the rest of the league slate followed a predictable script.
West ran the table and took the trophy. Davie bludgeoned the other six rivals to claim runner-up. Davie and West, or West and Davie, seemingly always finish 1-2.
Davie traveled to Glenn for a tri-meet on Jan. 25. Parkland failed to show up, giving Davie 12 forfeits and an 84-0 decision.
Then the War Eagles took care of Glenn, 60-22. The pins came from Lane Hill (132), Hunter Testa (182) and Charlie Frye (195). Again, there were a ton of forfeits, seven to be exact from the Bobcats.
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One day later, Davie hosted a tri-meet. The first matchup was a battle for second place. Reagan came in 3-1 in the CPC, but it was no match for Davie, which recorded eight pins and cruised 55-21.
Pins came from Lawson Hire (120), Reid Nail (126), Hill, Sam Collins (138), Collin Bailey (152), Jack Jarvis (170), Testa and Vance Visser (220).
Ramiro Gutierrez (145) and Isaac Webb (160) took major and minor decisions, respectively.
Coach Perry Long said Davie rolled without its best effort. “We wrestled OK,” he said. “There were a couple matches I thought we should have won that we didn’t win.”
The most exciting moment was Nail’s comeback at 126.
“Reid was losing with only a few seconds left in the third,” Long said. “Somehow he catches the kid with a front headlock and gets him to his back. That was a good confidence-booster for him.”
Later in the evening, the War Eagles destroyed East Forsyth 72-6. It was Senior Night for Bailey, Jarvis, Hill, Visser, Collins, Webb and Gutierrez.
Recording pins were Jarvis, Ryder Strickland (285), Hunter Potts (106), Luke Tehandon (113), Hire, Nail, Hill, Collins, Gutierrez and Bailey.
The War Eagles improved to 21-9 overall and closed CPC play at 6-1 – one spot behind West and one win ahead of Reagan.
For the season, Davie’s top records belong to Hill (35-3), Bailey (34-2), Brysen Godbey (31-6), Jarvis (29-3), Webb (25-7), Testa (23-2), Hire (21-9), Collins (20-7), Strickland (15-13), Visser (14-11), Frye (12-5) and Gutierrez (10-2).
That Strickland has a winning record – and 11 pins – as a freshman heavyweight is no small feat.
“He’s improving every day,” Long said. “He’s going to be pretty dang good. The matches he loses, the kids are just stronger.”
The state dual team playoffs started Monday. They will resume Feb. 2 and conclude Feb. 5.