Six Gryphon Wrestlers Qualify for State Tournament

NEW 6 Conference Produces 15 Qualifiers

Rocky Mount head coach Jermaine Jones was intense all weekend while his wrestlers were on the mat competing in the NCHSAA East Regional Individual Tournament at South Central High School in Winterville. You could hear his booming voice shouting instructions to his guys even while sitting in the upper reaches of the bleachers. He argued calls, questioned scoring, tended to wounds and plugged bloody noses.

Jones studied the bracket sheets between his team's matches. He studied wrestlers his guys would be going up against in the next round. At one time Friday night, he was coaching one wrestler in the main gym while two more of his wrestlers waited on their mats in the auxiliary gym. Finish coaching one winning wrestler, on to the next.

After 2 days of all that intensity, Jones had enough energy to smile. A big, wide smile of satisfaction. He had coached 9 members of his team into qualifying status for this Regional. Six of those wrestlers came out two days later as State qualifiers.

Ahmir Scott (112), Francisco Alfaro (130), Chandler Phillips (135), J K Williamson (160), Dedrick Silver (171) and Guy Williamson (215) will all be heading to Winston Salem next weekend.

Alfaro will be making his third trip to compete at Joel Coliseum, while Silver will be competing for the second time. J K Williamson is thought to be the first Rocky Mount wrestler to qualify as a freshman.

The "Gryphon Six" will lead a contingent of 15 NEW 6 Conference wrestlers to compete at the state tournament. Northern Nash qualified 4 wrestlers, Nash Central 3, while Southwest Edgecombe and Fike qualified one each.

There is a pool of 22 teams within the East Region. The Gryphons placed 6th in team points, tops among NEW 6 schools. They finished just 2 points behind White Oak for 5th place. Northern Nash (7th) and Nash Central (9th) both finished in the top 10. Havelock finished first, followed by host South Central, Currituck and Washington.

Below is a list of NEW 6 Conference wrestlers who will be in Winston Salem Friday and Saturday, February 20-21 -

103 - Cory Johnson, Northern Nash
112 - Vincent Webb, Fike ; Ahmir Scott, Rocky Mount ; Landon Lucas, Southwest Edgecombe
119 - Donald Battle, Northern Nash
125 - Jacob Robinson, Nash Central
130 - Francisco Alfaro, Rocky Mount
135 - Chandler Phillips, Rocky Mount
140 - Tavis Richardson, Northern Nash
145 - Steven Luper, Nash Central
152 - None
160 - J K Williamson, Rocky Mount
171 - Dedrick Silver, Rocky Mount ; Donnie Wecenske, Nash Central
189 - None
215 - Guy Williamson, Rocky Mount ; Joe Young, Northern Nash
HWT - None