Falcon Invitational V: Aycock successfully defends title

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 20, 2006 1:47 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Bryant Lancaster seized Most Outstanding Wrestler accolades and Charles B. Aycock prevailed in key head-to-head matches with archrival Eastern Wayne en route to its fifth consecutive Falcon Invitational crown Saturday afternoon.

A returning state qualifier, Lancaster (3-0) collected three pins en route to the 145-pound title. His first two matches lasted a total of 2 minutes, 9 seconds, but he needed nearly six minutes to dispatch Southern Wayne's Eric Futrell in the finals.

"Bryant made a huge commitment this summer and fall to improve his technique and more importantly his strength," said Aycock head coach Kevin Smith. "Today, Bryant reaped the benefit of his hard work this summer."

The Golden Falcons seized two crucial contests against the Warriors in the championship round. Top-seeded Ngu Tran (3-0) needed just 49 seconds to pin Eastern Wayne's Keith Broadie in their 125-pound tilt. Teammate Steven Bentley pulled off a narrow 3-2 decision against the Warriors' Brian Lincoln in the 152-pound final. Senior Ronald Lynn emerged victorious at 135 pounds with a 7-2 conquest of D.H. Conley's Corey Sly.

"Our four champions wrestled great all day," said Smith. "I think they did an excellent job of getting that first takedown and controlling the match from that point on.

"When they knew we needed the point in finals, they went out and delivered."

C.B. Aycock, which didn't field a full squad, edged Eastern Wayne 185.5-181 in the team-title chase. The Golden Falcons got key points from Kyle Harmon, who placed second at 171; Josh Grimes (third at 160) and Drake Gurley (fourth at 112).

Smith said his first-time starters contributed 55 points. Aycock missed four projected starters -- three due to football and one due to a family emergency.

"Expectations for our veterans are always high and we expect them to carry a huge part of the scoring load for us, but the bottom line is that without the new guys, we don't win the tournament.

"They came up big for us."

The Golden Falcons finished 6-0 in head-to-head bouts with the Warriors, 0-1 against the Saints and 1-2 against Rosewood.

"There were plenty of mental mistakes, but those are correctable errors," said Smith. "I cannot, however, fault the kids' effort because we really got 100 percent from everyone when it came to effort.

"We have a full week and a half to clean up our technique and improve our conditioning."

Conley finished third with 170 points. Southern Wayne and South Central rounded out the top five with 166.5 and 135.5 points, respectively.

Rosewood ended up seventh with 123 points and Princeton recorded a 12th-place showing with 54 points.

"We got 18 of our guys on Monday and we had been practicing with 10 or 11," said Rosewood coach Bill Edmundson. "For one week of practice, I thought we did very well. We'll take that considering who we were wrestling with."

The Warriors concluded the day with three individual champions. Chris Tesar won the 119-pound division with a third-period pin against D.H. Conley's Philip Cartwright. Detori Mitchell cruised past Southern Wayne's Josh Richards 7-1 in the 140-pound title match. Brandon Johnson, a returning state qualifier, pinned Conley's Allen Owens early in the second period.

Tesar, Mitchell and Johnson were No. 1 seeds in their respective weight classes.

Overall, 11 wrestlers from the four participating Wayne County schools claimed gold medals. Southern Wayne senior Doogie Niemond took the 112-pound title with a thrilling 1-0 conquest of Rosewood's Jim Bish, a returning state qualifier.

"Their match was unbelievable," Edmundson said of the Niemond-Bish result. "They respect each other so much and that was a great match to watch.

"Jim just did miss getting an escape in the third and Doogie was outstanding."

Fellow Saints John Futrell (160) and heavyweight Josh Robinson also worked to perfection in convincing fashion in their respective divisions.

Chris Hare picked up Rosewood's lone individual crown at 130. Hare won all three matches by fall in a combined time of 5 minutes, 57 seconds. A regulation match is six minutes -- three, two-minute periods.

"We're really happy with Chris," said Edmundson. "He had a wonderful tournament. To me, he was the most outstanding wrestler there.

"He went out there and had fun. He's just a competitor."

Edmundson also praised first-year starter Luke Davis, who finished 4-1 and tied for fifth at 112 pounds.

"The guy (Cartwright) he lost to ended up finishing second, so we feel real good about that one," said Edmundson.

The Eagles' Andrew Sass placed fourth at 152 pounds.

Rosewood opens the dual portion of its season at home Tuesday, while Eastern Wayne is the guest of Triton on Wednesday.

Princeton received third-place efforts from Zack Stevens (145) and heavyweight Jon Hartley. Hartley is a returning Class 1-A Carolina/Tar-Roanoke/Albemarle Conference champion.