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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

The road to Greensboro began at North Davie Middle on Feb. 1, and the first-round match in the 4-A state duals was a Davie clinic.
Myers Park got blasted 64-10 as the defending state champion took care of business in 42 minutes. It was poor timing for the Mustangs, who traveled 59 miles to find Davie’s wrestling team at full strength for the first time all year.
“I felt like we were ready and we knew they had a shorter lineup,” coach Josh Stanley said.
Davis Jones (pin at 157), Jamarius Pelote (tech fall at 165), Maddox Creason (pin at 190) and Ryder Strickland (decision at 285) tidal-waved Myers Park 32-0 out of the gate. Mixed in were forfeits to Max McCall and Walker Matthews.
Myers Park (15-7) won a major decision at 106, but those were the last points it would score until Davie forfeited out at 150. The Mustangs were on the business end of a pin from Jack Bost, a tech fall from Aidan Szewczyk, a tech from Cayden Glass, a major decision from Tiaj Thao and a pin from Andy Davis. The visitors forfeited to Brett Foster at 138.
“We’re the closest we’ve been (to full strength),” Stanley said. “We’re in the best place we can be, so this is the best team we’ve got.”
Davie 42, Weddington 30
After taking a 23-minute break to watch Weddington squeeze past Southeast Guilford, the War Eagles locked horns with a Weddington squad that sported an impressive 22-3 record.
And the Warriors looked as good as their record in the early going. After Davie’s Pelote got things started with a 43-second pin at 165, Weddington’s Declan Luedtke (56-7 at 175), Luke Shipley (71-6 at 190) and its 215-pounder sent the Warriors to a 17-6 lead. McCall got a takedown against Luedtke, which is an achievement against a dude like that.
“Max was scoring, he was in the match, and he maybe got a little confidence off that,” Stanley said. “Both of those guys (at 175 and 215) are No. 1 in the state, so we knew what we were getting into.”
While Davie was down by 11, there was nothing to fret about. Some big guns were coming for Davie.
Strickland (285) won a six-pointer when his opponent exhausted all his injury time. Like Pelote, Graylan Anderson (106) turned in a spectacular pin (22 seconds).
“It’s really good to jump out, get six and light the crowd up,” Stanley said of Pelote. “Graylan’s a freshman, so he was nervous (vs. Myers Park). He lost that one, but he’s got a short memory.”
Weddington forfeited to Bost at 113 and Szewczyk kept the Davie momentum going with an 11-5 decision at 120. The day marked a much-anticipated return for Szewczyk, who had missed seven weeks after starting 15-0 at 126. He cut down to 120 and went 2-0 on the day in his first action since Dec. 14.
“He’s surviving right now, but he comes back fast,” Stanley said. “It’s not as much his gas tank as trusting the knee, and the weight cut was a little rough. It was so important for us to have him today so he’ll be firing on all cylinders on Wednesday.”
Two sledgehammers met at 126. Glass had won 13 straight, but he couldn’t get anything going in a major decision loss to a 43-2 opponent named Aiden White. That cut Davie’s lead to 27-21.
“(White’s) really good,” Stanley said. “We didn’t approach that match the best we could have.”
But at 132, Thao did what Thao does, pinning in the first period to boost Davie’s lead to 33-21.
“T thrives on this, the team aspect,” Stanley said.
After Foster lost a decision at 138, Stanley called on freshman Carter Hoots at 144 and bumped Davis to 150. Hoots found quick success before falling behind 5-3 to Michael Kepler, who is 54-27. Davie could smell blood in the water when Hoots rallied for a 6-5 win. What a moment for the freshman.
“That’s our lineup for state duals, but we hadn’t showed it yet,” Stanley said. “We trust (Hoots, who is 22-5) a lot. He’s gangster. He’s got a crazy gas tank, so he usually finishes good. He caught a cradle and the rest was history.”
Davis sealed the deal with a pin at 150. With a 42-24 lead, Davie was able to forfeit the final weight class at 157.
“We know Andy’s gonna step up,” Stanley said of the 19-2 junior.
The Warriors watched their eight-match winning streak come to an end. By lifting its record to 19-2, Davie advanced to Feb. 5’s quarterfinals/semifinals at Hough. The state final is Saturday in Greensboro.