Perfect Records Are Made To Be Broken

BY BRYAN STRICKLAND
SALISBURY POST

It's still pretty early in the wrestling season, but it's pretty late for five wrestlers in Rowan County to still be unbeaten.

East Rowan still has a trio of unbeaten wrestlers in Steve Fox (13-0), Gavin Proctor (13-0) and Danny Misenheimer (11-0), while Salisbury's Dwayne Coward (10-0) and South Rowan's Josh Boyd (10-0) are perfect 10s.

But even though those five wrestlers are a combined 57-0, their coaches insist that continued perfection is not a top priority.

"You don't want to put that kind of pressure on a young man. That will take care of itself," said Salisbury coach Durwood Bynum. "You can be beaten at any time. It just takes one mistake."

East coach Barry Justus is taking the Denver Broncos' approach to perfection. After the Broncos got knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten Sunday, players insisted that all that really mattered to them anyway was winning the Super Bowl.

Justus has a major proponent of that philosophy in Proctor, who stood at 44-0 for Kannapolis last season before losing in the state championship match.

"I think the kids are more looking toward the end of the year and states," Justus said. "I look at each match as a stepping stone toward the end of the season.

"I'm more worried about cleaning up mistakes. But if they happen to end up undefeated, that's wonderful."

At least one of those five wrestlers in sure to lose for this first time at Saturday's county tournament.

That's because both Misenheimer and Boyd are in the heavyweight class.

COWARD OF THE COUNTY:

Coward remained unbeaten by winning the 130-pound class at the Trinity Invitational last weekend.

Salisbury finished seventh as a team.

Brandon Ruso finished second at 103, while Paul Kluttz (145) and Chris Chinaka (160) recorded fourth-place finishes.

SUPER SOPH:

With three unbeaten teammates, it's easy to overlook a wrestler like East sophomore Jeremy Teague.

But opponents had better not overlook Teague. After going 16-13 as a freshman, Teague is 11-2 this season at 140 pounds.

"He's really improved his aggressiveness and attitude," Justus said.

Teague won his class at the Ledford tournament and finished second at Forbush. Then this past weekend at Piedmont, Teague finished second to Central Cabarrus' David Cooper, who finished third in the state the last two seasons.

STILL SEARCHING:

Justus has three opponents lined up for the Mustangs' dual-team tournament on Jan. 9, but he'd like a couple more.

He certainly hasn't come up short due to lack of effort.

Justus said he has sent letters to 100 schools so far but hasn't received any acceptable responses.

WEST'S WARRIORS:

One day after a loss to East, West Rowan competed in a most grueling event, racking up eight dual-team matches in two days at the Viking-Warrior Dual Tournament in Statesville.

The Falcons wrestled three times Friday evening, then five more times Saturday. Five matches is the maximum allowed in one day.

"Sometimes that much competition in a short period of time is devastating to your team," said West coach R.L. Lail. "But it worked out well for us.

"We had enough kids in the middle section to rotate, and it was amazing that at the end they were still raring to go."

All 23 West wrestlers saw action. Antoine Norman (135) compiled a record of 7-1, while Brandon Hiatt (112) and Chris Jackson (152, 160) went 6-2.

But Scott Roby beat them all Ð literally. Roby, competing at 145, bounced back from a loss to East's Fox on Thursday to go 8-0 over two days.

"He showed that he could bounce back and came out with a lot of enthusiasm," Lail said.

West compiled a record of 3-5 at the event.

ANSWERING THE BELL:

Kannapolis also competed at Statesville, going 1-7.

But senior Joe Bell turned that record on its ear. Competing at 112, Bell went a perfect 8-0.

"He's only a second-year wrestler. He's wrestling on a lot of natural ability," said Kannapolis coach Jon Fry. "He won't wrestle anybody who's any stronger than he is this year.

"He has the makings of a collegiate wrestler if he chooses to go that way."

Bell competes in one other sport, but the school doesn't field a team in his other endeavor. When Bell isn't wrestling, he's bull riding.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Fry started the season with too many 130-pounders and not enough in the surrounding classes. So Fry used a simple approach to spread the wealth.

"We just kind of had to pick and choose," Fry said. "We told them, 'OK, you start eating, and you stop eating.'

"You've got to fill those holes."

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

South Rowan dropped decisions to powerhouses Orange and Fayetteville 71st last weekend, but Raiders coach Wayne Freeman isn't concerned.

"It doesn't matter what I think. It matters what the kids think," Freeman said. "If they come away from a loss with the impression that they need to work harder, that's a good thing.

"But if they just throw up their hands and quit, that's not good."

South won the last three classes in each match, including victories No. 9 and 10 for Boyd, who stayed perfect at heavyweight.

Last season, injuries helped limit Boyd to just nine wins all season.

NUMBERS GAME:

Davie County ran away with four dual-team matches at the Freedom Duals this past weekend, rolling by a mind-boggling combined score of 301-24.

That combined score nearly matches Coach Buddy Lowery's career record. The victories improved the War Eagles to 11-1 this season and improved Lowery to 300-57-2.

"I said we were young, but I didn't say we weren't going to be good," said Lowery, now in his 23rd season. "We're getting better every day."

Davie opened the event with a 78-3 win over Fred T. Foard, then came up with an 81-0 blanking of Lincolnton. The War Eagles then handled host Freedom 70-9, and Lowery closed the day with his 300th victory, 72-12 over Shelby.

"I think a lot of teams are real young, so some of the scores might get ballooned and give you a false impression," Lowery said. "But this gave our kids a chance to feel good about themselves.

"We wrestle some tough ones, but sometimes you need to be able to relax and have a little fun."

A pair of Davie wrestlers are still unbeaten. Adam Bailey is 11-0 at 130, and Kenny White is 10-0 at 215.