Southern Wayne edges Spring Creek on criteria, 31-30

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 7, 2011 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- First-year Spring Creek head wrestling coach Frank Nelson couldn't have asked for a better performance on the mat Tuesday evening.

The only thing missing was a victory against his alma mater.

Southern Wayne spoiled Nelson's homecoming with a "win by criteria." The teams battled to a 30-30 deadlock once the individual bouts had been recorded, but the Saints earned the tiebreaker with "most points scored first" in contested matches.

The result was a 31-30 decision.

"I think the kids wrestled excellent," said Nelson, who graduated in 1989. "I couldn't have asked for them to do a better job. They listen, go out there and do what I show them in practice. They give 110 percent.

"We've been going over the basics, over and over so when they go out there, it's just natural instinct. I have three guys who have wrestled one year and the other guys haven't wrestled at all."

Neither team fielded a full squad.

Five of Spring Creek's six grapplers recorded pins.

The Saints, who were in jeopardy of disbanding the program just one month ago, claimed one pin and four forfeits in their season opener.

"We're doing a lot of instinctive things, but we've got to get technique as part of that instinct," said first-year head coach Jason Edwards. "It's going to be a cumulative effort between the wrestlers and the coaches, who are also new.

"We're going to step out there and have fun."

Southern Wayne logged the initial takedown in four matches, but Spring Creek wrestled off its back well. Carson Gramley (182 pounds), Kevin Lipscomb (195) and Carlos Osorio (215) each got put on the mat early. Each eventually earned a first-period fall.

The Gators' Thomas Edwards (126) and Corey Howell (138) each posted the first takedown against their respective opponent. Edwards needed 89 seconds to pin Austin Williams, while Howell pinned Okhanya Wallace in 33 seconds.

Saints' heavyweight Deonta Hayes claimed a second-period fall.

"We've been teaching them to explode off the whistle, have energy and we're building technique, which takes time," said Edwards. "Technique is the most important thing, then speed and power is going to follow."