Chargers top Tigers in individual bouts, but trio of forfeits lead to wrestling loss

Posted

CHAPEL HILL — It was a tale of the rookie wrestling coach challenging a Hall of Fame icon when 3A Northwood traveled to 4A Chapel Hill last Monday. And despite the gap in experience, first-year coach Joe Harris’ Chargers outdueled Robert “Tripp” Price’s grapplers, 6-5, in individual bouts wrestled.

Unfortunately for the Chargers, however, Chapel Hill still seized the 48-28 victory on the strength of three forfeit wins and a 5-4 edge in falls in what was mostly a pin-or-be-pinned contest. Add a Northwood major decision and 10 of the 11 bouts resulted in bonus points.

“The forfeits hurt us, that’s for sure,” said Harris, a 2016 Northwood graduate and wrestling alumnus. He’s got holes in his lineup at the 106-pound and 145-pound spots, and his 113-pounder failed to make weight — resulting in an automatic 18-point deficit — but he saw sparks of potential.

“I think they did good,” Harris said. “I think they need to work on their conditioning, and they need to get out there and start practicing harder on their moves, rather than worry about the smaller things. Techniques and moves are more important than strength and trying to toss people around.”

The wild and wooly pin-athon was, perhaps, as much by design as it was getting caught in early season mistakes.

“The way I look at it is, you get six and you get off. Don’t sit out there longer than you need to be,” Harris said of his pin-oriented philosophy.

“I’m trying to bring it all back together as a team.”

Northwood graduated some seniors from last year’s squad, and lost a few other team members, including 2020 state 3A 106-pound runner-up Josh Miller, who transferred to newly-opened Seaforth High School.

Harris lacks a full-time assistant, so he’s relying on 182-pounder Cliff Davis, a state qualifier from last season.

“He’s my captain, he’s shown leadership in helping out with the team,” Harris said.

Price, who is enshrined in the North Carolina Wrestling Hall of Fame, has a better sense of his team’s abilities after its season-opener.

“It was just good to get back out there to see where we were,” Price said. “We’ve got a bunch of really young kids, and then we’ve got three or four kids who are state caliber. … We need more time in the mat room to work on basics.”

While acknowledging that Northwood won more of the contested bouts, Price wasn’t concerned.

“If I was wrestling them for a conference title, I would not have wrestled the same lineup. I would have made some changes to get our better kids with their better kids,” Price said.

Alexander Gunning, a state runner-up at 160 pounds last year, got things rolling for Chapel Hill with a first-period pin of Kayden Payne at 170.

Davis put the Chargers on the board with a 6-2 decision over returning letterman Jeremy Breeze at 182 pounds. He gave up a single-leg takedown on the first-period whistle, but dominated after that. Davis hit a nifty balance check at the end of a rowdy scramble for a second-period takedown, then countered a setup move by Breeze for a third-period takedown to go with a pair of escapes.

Northwood’s Ryan Brinker pinned Moo Day with seven seconds remaining in their 195-pound match. Day countered Brinker’s throw attempt for a takedown, but Brinker came up with a cradle off of a reversal for a five-point move, then slapped on some bars to clamp Day.

At 220 pounds, Jose Bautista of Chapel Hill decked Matthew Goldston in a furious first period, scoring a takedown and exchanging reversals before he slapped on a headlock for the fall, with Chapel Hill leading 12-9 at that point.

Jake Dunning put Northwood ahead, 15-12, at 285 pounds, using a bar and half nelson to pin Joseph Rodriguez in the second period. He was leading 2-0 at the time after slipping out of a Rodriguez headlock attempt and gaining a first-period takedown. Dunning gave up 28 pounds to his 249-pound opponent.

Owen Rector at 106 pounds and Ethan Elbogen at 113 pounds received forfeit wins for Chapel Hill. That pushed the score to 24-15, and Northwood never led again.

Sophomore Coltrane Northington pulled Northwood to within 3 points, 24-21, at 120 pounds by pinning Diego Reveles at 120 pounds. Reveles got a first-period headlock but immediately ran into trouble.

“Before the match, I was pretty nervous. I heard this kid was pretty good,” said Northington, a returning varsity member who was at 113 pounds last year. “He was trying to hit a tilt but … I just bridged over and he went with me. He landed on his back and I hit him with a reverse half and locked his arms up and got the pin.”

Chapel Hill widened the gap to 36-21 when Lucas Daley decked Northwood’s Hughson Crean with a first-period pancake at 126, and Jakob Maiwald pinned the Chargers’ Aiden Vigus with a second-period bar and half nelson at 132.

Andrew Kimbrel temporarily stopped the bleeding for Northwood, topping the Tigers’ Gabriel Waterhouse, 9-2, at 138 pounds. He scored on a double-leg takedown in the first period, a short sit-out and reversal in the second and another takedown shot on the legs in the third period that flowed into a three-point near fall.

Porter Brice picked up the third forfeit win for Chapel Hill at 145 pounds and the Tigers’ 152-pounder Justin Albouy nailed Northwood’s Austin Thomas with a headlock for a third-period pin.

Trailing 48-24, Northwood grabbed the final bout of the night at 160 pounds when freshman Ethan Kuball earned a 10-2 major decision over Luke Bennard. Kuball was superior on his feet, blasting to three takedowns in the first two periods, then getting a reversal and a pair of back points off of a cradle in the final period.

“I didn’t want to pin him right away because I haven’t got a full match this year,” Kuball said. “I wanted to see what my endurance was. I was trying to do a tilt but couldn’t get it. He was strong.”

The Chargers (3-2) — who went on to split matches against Southwestern Randolph (loss, 42-27) and Southern Lee (60-12) — get back into action on Wednesday against conference mate Cedar Ridge.