BY STEVE HANF
SALISBURY POST

MOUNT ULLA— At the beginning of the day and the end of it, Salisbury wrestling coach Durwood Bynum spoke highly of tradition.

In between, raw power up and down his lineup gave the Hornets six All-County wrestlers and the team championship at the annual Rowan County Wrestling Tournament.

The win in the five-team event at West Rowan’s gym was Salisbury’s second straight, but the Hornets still have a long way to go to match the history-rich programs at South and East, which finished second and third, respectively.

“East and South have got the tradition. Everything I’ve learned in wrestling I’ve learned from Barry (Justus, the East coach) and Wayne (Freeman, South’s leader). I’m trying to get that tradition going here at Salisbury. We’re getting there, but we’ve got a long way to go.”

East and South stayed even with the Hornets in the head-to-head battles until the final three weight classes. That’s when Joseph Walker, Omar Jackson and Preston Jones took over, slamming their opponents to the mat time and again and slamming the door on the Mustangs’ and Raiders’ hopes.

Walker, all-county at 189 pounds, started Salisbury’s rally against East Rowan in the second round. He pinned Blake Abernathy in the first period, all-county 215-pounder Jackson pinned Morgan Shelton in the first and heavyweight honoree Jones pinned Keatin Shelton in the first to pull out a 45-31 victory.

In the final round, South and Salisbury entered 3-0. All-county 119-pounder Matt Talbert gave the Raiders a quick lead by pinning Jarod Cathcart early. Teammate Gaven Mize, all-county at 135, stretched the advantage with a pin against Robie McBride before two forfeits had Salisbury ahead 30-24.

Dale Eidson finished his day 4-0 with a 17-2 win against 171-pounder Josh Seasteadt to pull South within 33-29 before the big trio took over.

Walker and Jackson each pinned their foes in the first period, and Jones scored a 19-4 victory against Scott Moyer for the 51-24 final.

“I thought we’d win. We were doing good — we stuck East and North,”said Talbert, a junior who took silver in this tournament last season. “They’re just big and strong.”

As much noise as the Hornets’ big three made, three more Salisbury grapplers starred earlier in the matches. Brandon Russo collected three pins and a technical fall at 112 pounds, Jamel Alexander had two decisions and two pins at 140 and Willie Hosch fought for three pins and then took a forfeit against South.

All three earned all-county honors, and Hosch, state runner-up a season ago, was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler. With reigning state champ Dwayne Coward out of action for disciplinary reasons, the Hornets were Hosch’s team Saturday.

“We consider ourselves the team leaders,”Hosch said of the role he and Coward share. “I had to get everybody up. East Rowan was sitting down and we had everybody into the match.”

The Raiders weren’t thrilled with second place, but Freeman fought an uphill battle all day. South gave up forfeits at 145 and 152 pounds and had four injured wrestlers in an already-young lineup.

Still, of the 12 Raiders, 11 finished in the top three and took home medals. Keith Garrett also earned all-county honors at 130.

“Salisbury beat us pretty good earlier (in the season),”Freeman said. “This time we had a lot more heart in the match. All day we showed a lot more heart.”

Freeman’s squad took second thanks to a 51-24 decision against East. The Mustangs, still coming down off their loss to Salisbury, took the mat against South and got wins from their all-county selections and Jake Kittrell at 140 pounds — and that was it outside of a forfeit.

“We went into today against Salisbury to finish our moves and that didn’t happen,” Justus said. “Then we turn around and have a letdown against South.

“Salisbury out-muscled us and South out-moved us and we didn’t do the little things. That’s why we go back Monday and work on it.”

The Mustangs took out their frustration in the final match against North in a 62-12 final. Wins from Logan Johnson at 125 pounds, Jeremy Teague at 152 and Hunter Land at 160 solidified their spots on the all-county squad.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day belonged to Johnson, who didn’t even pin anybody. But he was back on the mat less than two weeks after surgery on his knee.

“After the first match, it gave me confidence”Johnson said of his 16-11 bout with Salisbury’s James Hobson. “He was good competition and I knew from watching him beat a whole lot of people that it’d be tough.”

The final — or first — spot on the all-county team went to little freshman Brent Painther of West Rowan. The 103-pounder had two pins, a decision and forfeit to stretch his winning streak to 10 matches.

“I didn’t think it would be like this,”Painther said of his success. “I was nervous. East (Tim Kirkley) was a struggle — I just ended up on top.”

No Cavaliers landed on the top of their weight class to make the all-county squad, although 145-pounder Aaron Rimer lost his first match of the year to Hosch in the first round before winning three straight.

“I made one mistake against Willie,”Rimer said. “I was setting up my move, Willie got on the bottom and when he stood up I thought I had it. I just left too much daylight.

“I’m looking forward to wrestling him again — if he’s not too scared,”Rimer added with a laugh and a smile at Hosch, who was standing just a few feet away and firing back.

North coach Tim Burns won’t necessarily enjoy seeing the Hornets again in the 2A Central Carolina Conference season thanks to a depleted and inexperienced roster.

“We’ve got five kids who haven’t wrestled more than two weeks,”Burns said. “It’s a tough sport and some kids can’t handle the pain and they quit. Wrestling’s tough and it’s not in the limelight, so not everybody sticks with it.”

Those who were there from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., eating oranges, lounging on the bleachers and cheering on their teammates and staying focused mostly left with smiles on their faces and pats on the back for teammates and opponents alike.

“It’s a hard day,”West coach and tourney director R.L. Lail said. “A lot of the kids are just enjoying being out there on the mat. Too much work goes into this not to enjoy it.”