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Davie Wrestling Not Used To Losing
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| Heavyweight Aaron Peoples has done well for a sophomore, winning 12 of 17 matches. |
Every match is an education. Over half the lineup is still learning the varsity ropes. Parts of the lineup are nowhere near ready for varsity competition, but they’ve been thrown to the wolves because of injuries and heavy losses to graduation.
Last week Davie won four of six matches. Records of 12-4 overall and 1-0 in the Central Piedmont Conference in a down year would make many programs envious, but it makes coaches Buddy Lowery and Howard Riddle grimace time and again. The War Eagles have one of the state’s richest traditions, and even though they’re far from wrestling poverty, the season has been tortuous for guys who are accustomed to being able to count defeats - over the course of multiple seasons - on one hand.
It doesn’t help that Davie has a fat bull’s-eye on its chest.
“Sometimes we’re thinking it’s going to happen just because we’re Davie County,” Lowery said. “And it seems like everybody’s enjoying beating us, too. You don’t want to get in that mode where you accept it, but you know there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Davie seized its fourth straight win with a 51-30 CPC decision at South Rowan.
Jonathan Hupp, Jake Boger, Josh Burcham and Derrek Abendroth staked Davie to a 21-0 lead, and Chris Ange and Joel Barnett fended off a South rally with consecutive pins. South gave forfeits to Jesse Cousins, Ethan Curtis and Floyd Collins.
How inexperienced is Davie? Abendroth and Collins made high-school debuts as a senior and junior, respectively, and Hupp made his varsity debut as a freshman.
Davie cruised because of the blanks in South’s lineup, but the pin count was 5-5.
“I told them: ‘I’m not going to lie, boys. Right now we’re young and not very good. We’ve got to get better,’ ” Lowery said. “It’s not one of those things where you can say: ‘We’re not coming (to your tournament) this year. We’re not very good. We’re so young.’ You can’t do that if you want to continue to go. Because they’re going to get somebody else in there. I don’t think you can go when you’re good and pick pansies when you’re not good. I don’t think you get any better wrestling fish.”
Ange sustained a cut above the eye. No matter. He took a timeout and pinned ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 99, Mocksville, N.C. 27028.