The tournament adopted a new format last year and kept it this time around. In the past, each school would seed its wrestlers in the individual weight classes and the last person standing at the end of the day was the winner.

One problem. Not every school can fill each weight class. So instead, the meet turned into a dual-team tournament: five rounds with four head-to-head matchups for each team, not wrestler.

“It makes you look most at the team, really take pride in your school,”said South’s Keith Garrett, the 130-pound champion. “The other way, somebody might have made it to the last match just because of an easy draw.”

Forfeits still kept some wrestlers from having as full a day as others. South Rowan’s Matt Talbert, the 119-pound champion, wrestled just twice thanks to forfeits by West and North.

In fact, only five of the 14 gold-medal winners recorded four wins without benefit of a forfeit: Salisbury’s Brandon Russo (112), East’s Logan Johnson (125), Salisbury’s JamelAlexander (140), East’s Hunter Land (160) and South’s Dale Eidson (171).

Dwayne Coward and Willie Hosch wrestled for state titles last year (Coward won, Hosch took second) and are the unquestioned leaders of the Hornet wrestling team.

But coach Durwood Bynum was pleased with several other performances, especially since Coward was missing from his 152-pound class and the Hornets competed with a shuffled lineup.

Brian Clark, a 145-pounder, stepped in at 152 and went 2-2. Josh Cathcart went 3-1 at 119 pounds, up from his typical 112. McBride made the jump from 130 to 135 and got one win.

“We have a lot of members not here due to injuries and other things and a lot of kids have had to step it up,”Bynum said.

Bynum also praised Jeremy Rehders, the 130-pounder who lost once, and Josh Seasteadt, who was shut out at 171 pounds but wrestled tough despite his 160-pound weight.

The biggest story was Bynum’s big three, though: Joseph Walker at 189, Omar Jackson at 215 and heavyweight Preston Jones.

That trio went 11-0 with seven pins and a technical fall, and Bynum said it’s due largely to experience. After being smacked around by the likes of graduated all-stater Danny Misenheimer the last few years, seniors Jackson and Jones and the junior Walker are ready to dish out the lumps they’ve been taking.

“They’ve been on the other end of the spectrum the past two, three years,”Bynum said “Having seniors at the higher weight classes is a good advantage because they’ve been there and done that. It’s their turn now.”

The Falcons’ only win of the day came against North Rowan in a tight 39-36 decision, but R.L. Lail’s team put up a couple of good fights against heavily favored Salisbury and East squads.

“We wrestled East Rowan earlier and they beat us a lot more convincingly then,”Lail said. “We worked on some things and it paid off with a closer match.”

The East match actually was tied at 21-all before the Mustangs reeled off three straight pins at 152, 160 and 171 pounds.

Against Salisbury, Joel Hopler held on for a 12-10 decision vs. Rehders at 130 and Justin Reasbeck pulled off a 2-1 victory against Clark at 152. Matt Russ added a pin at 171 pounds in that 51-24 loss.

Hopler, a sophomore, wrestled two weight classes below his senior brother, Adam, who finished 3-1 with only a 6-2 loss to first-place finisher Alexander.

Lail said that with the Hoplers, Reasbeck and freshman Charlie Aldridge, who went 3-1 at 189 pounds, the Falcons have a nice foundation to build on this year and beyond.

The only team shut out from the all-county team was the Cavaliers, who wrestled with fewer numbers than coach Tim Burns would have liked.

Aaron Rimer, who earned a silver at 145 pounds, lamented his team’s lack of depth.

“You can’t get the momentum going and that hurts a lot,”Rimer said. “Salisbury: in the East match, they were up and going crazy. It’s hard to do that with so many forfeits.”

Burns still saw some potential in several areas. Brian Walton picked up a win at 125 pounds and wrestled a few other tight bouts, as did Jimbo Davis at 160, who pinned one opponent and lost two other close decisions.

Also promising is Maurice Swaringen, who went 1-3 at 189 pounds. Burns said Swaringen has only been wrestling two weeks and is just three pounds away from getting into the 171-pound class. Once he drops from 189, he could find the going a little easier.

The Mustangs only took three golds Saturday, a number that certainly surprised Barry Justus.

But East did have two near misses in D.C. Proctor at 135 pounds and Jordan Shinn at 171.

Proctor finished second after South’s Gaven Mize pinned him in the second period. And South’s Eidson continues to have Shinn’s number after a second-period pin.

At the end of Saturday’s meet, the Raiders didn’t quite know what to do with their second-place plaque. But upon further review, second wasn’t too bad.

“We thought we could’ve done better, but we knew we had a couple of guys out,”Garrett said Monday while at the all-county football gathering. “I won’t say it would’ve changed the outcome, but it could’ve made things closer.”

Garrett improved to 17-1 for the year. His only loss came to Statesville’s Andy Mottsinger, the two-time defending state champion.