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| Brandon Armstrong, a wrestler for Ellis, puts his opponent down for the count. |
In the final eight of the 4-A playoffs Friday night at Jay M. Robinson, the War Eagles roared to a 30-6 lead and could smell a berth to the Western Regional finals.
The upstart Bulldogs, however, shredded the script. They stormed back, pulled out two matches that Davie figured to win and stunned Davie 38-36. Robinson’s only lead came in the final match.
The outcome registered an 11 on a 1-10 heartbreak scale. Davie was 34-0 and had been ranked one or two in the state poll all year. It hadn’t lost since the 2008 state final against Cary.
So much for the Davie-Cary showdown on the following day. Butler squeaked past Robinson later on Friday, and Cary whipped Butler 43-18 as the Imps claimed their third straight state title. While Robinson’s 32-6 run left the home fans breathless, the War Eagles walked somberly to the locker room.
The turn of events explained why there are lotteries and why coaches always use the cliche “anything can happen on any given day.” First, Davie lost the coin toss. Then the War Eagles lost two matches in which they were confident about winning. If Davie wins the toss, it likely wins at 173 and 191 instead of splitting those spots. Waters was leading 4-0 before losing control and getting pinned. Instead of a 33-12 lead, Davie’s lead was chopped to 30-17.
“Coin toss and a freak accident,” summed up Davie coach Buddy Lowery. “I think we’re better than them. Things just didn’t work out. If we’d got the right matchup, I think we could have won both of them (at 173 and 191). But we lost the coin toss and they did what was smart.”
Three days earlier, the War Eagles ripped through South Caldwell (43-34) and Freedom (57-21) in a pair of home matches in the opening rounds. They had a 43-9 lead over South, and they closed the Freedom match with a 30-0 run.
The winners against South were ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.