Northwood boys’ wrestling comes away with two wins on Chatham Central’s senior night

The Chargers scored a combined 95 points.

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BEAR CREEK — The Northwood boys’ wrestling team scored a combined 95 points in two Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference dual wins over Chatham Central and North Moore at Chatham Central’s senior night on Jan. 8.

The Chargers beat North Moore 41-39 and Chatham Central 54-30 to win their fourth and fifth conference duals, moving to 5-3 against conference opponents.

North Moore beat the hosting Bears 39-20. The Mustangs moved to 4-6 in conference play while Chatham Central fell to 5-4 against the conference.

Chatham Central’s girls picked up an 18-0 win over North Moore and a 24-12 win over Northwood from all matches being decided by forfeit.

Before the final dual of the night, Chatham Central honored its seniors, including its first ever girls’ wrestling senior class. Aspen Phillips, Amani Carter, Caleigh Warf, Jayla Clark and Payton Pickett were honored, making up the entire roster except sophomore Madalyn Holton.

“It feels nice to know that we’re the first girls’ wrestling team at Chatham Central, and it’s nice to know how it’s just a good community,” Holton said. “We make a lot of friends.”

Northwood’s boys gained an 18-point advantage over North Moore thanks to three forfeits in the 106, 144 and 285-pound weight classes. The Mustangs made a valiant effort to make up the deficit with six pins and a win by decision over the Chargers. North Moore scored 18 straight points with pins from Austin Williams (175 pounds), Saul Ferrer (190) and Kevin Martinez Lopez (215) to take a 39-35 lead before Northwood’s Jaxon Green (215) was granted the deciding six points from a forfeit to close the dual. A technical fall from Northwood’s Connor Willingmyre (120) and pins by Aldo Peluso (132), Cole Shambley (138) and Elijah Farrow (165) all kept the Chargers alive while North Moore made its late run.

Against Chatham Central, Northwood gained a 30-6 advantage over the Bears due to forfeits. More pins from Shambley, Farrow, Green and Kevin Fortin (175) put the Chargers over the hump although the Bears still picked up fall points from Carson Williams (150) over Northwood’s Alex Raley, Aiden Hernandez (132) over Peluso and Stephen Silhan III (190) over Franklin Sandria.

“I saw some good performances,” Northwood coach Tony Shambley said. “My 165 was on point as always. I had some good showings from my guy that just made it down to 215, Jaxon Green. That was good to see.”

Said Shambley, “We had a couple of things go wrong that I wasn’t sure what happened, but we’ll try to correct those for next time.”

North Moore only had an 18-6 advantage over Chatham Central from forfeits, making for a closer dual down the stretch. The Mustangs held a 33-23 lead over the Bears before the decisive 215-pound match between Lopez and Chatham Central’s Logan Robinson. Lopez pinned Robinson in 54 seconds to seal the win for the Mustangs, despite Chatham Central picking up six points in the 285-pound match from a forfeit.

Chatham Central coach Stephen Silhan II said the Bears missed some wrestlers during the meet due to injury and one of his girls missing weight. Shambley also said he has to get some of his wrestlers back in shape and acclimated to the season after the long break.

All three teams will have a chance to wrestle against each other again during the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference tournament on Jan. 25.