Gryphon Wrestlers Win Season Opener

The Tarboro Vikings visited Rocky Mount High Wednesday night to kick off the 2009-2010 wrestling season. Both squads are starting their campaigns with football teams still competing in the State Playoffs and short-handed to some degree.

For the Vikings, that meant dressing only 10 wrestlers for the match and only sending 8 of them to the mat to compete. The Gryphons, however, dressed a full squad of 14; something coach Jermaine Jones has not had the luxury of doing the past couple of seasons. The result was an easy win for the Gryphons, rolling to a final score of 75-6.

Last year's Gryphon squad sent nine wrestlers to compete at the Individual Regional Championships. Six of those wrestlers went on to compete in Winston-Salem at the NCHSAA State Individual Championships. Of those wrestlers, only senior Chandler Phillips and sophomore J.K. Williamson remain on the team. For the first match of the year, Jones sent 10 wrestlers to the mat wearing "RM" for the first time. The squad is loaded with freshmen and sophomores who have little or no varsity experience. Phillips is the only senior suiting up until the return of a handful from the football team.

The lack of varsity experience did not hurt Rocky Mount on the rainy night against the Vikings. As the final tally would indicate, there were plenty of first time varsity victories to put in the books.

Alex Knight drew the first match of the year at 130. The freshman went up against one of the few experienced Vikings and came away with a hard fought 9-8 win in a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat match. The Gryphs were out to a 3-0 lead, and they would not look back. Tarboro did not send out wrestlers for the 135 through 152 matches. Freshman Nick Westcott notched his first varsity win at 135, while Phillips (140), Northern Nash transfer and sophomore Dashawn Taylor (145) and junior Damien Smith (152) booked their first wins of the season. The Gryphs suddenly were up 27-0.

Sophomores Antonio Ramirez (160) and Williamson (171) each won their matches by pin - Williamson getting his with a mere 3.3 seconds left in his contest - to extend the winning streak and bump the Gryphon advantage to 39-0. Tarboro recorded their only points on the night in the next match at 189 with a pin to close the score to 39-6. Rocky Mount took the 215 pound match when the Viking wrestler was called for his 4th technical violation for locking hands and was disqualified while up in the match 18-17 with less than a minute to go. Xavier Hart joined the first win club at Heavyweight with a pin to increase the Gryphon lead to 51-6.

Rocky Mount was not about to let up as the lightweight guys lined up. Fellow freshmen Sidorayna Petway (103) and Mason Holt (112) each notched first varsity wins by way of forfeit, while Juniors Adam McRae (119) and John Earl (125) posted wins by pin to finish out the final 75-6 score.

During a brief talk in a huddle following the team's victory, Jones warned his guys that future victories will likely not be so easy. It won't take long to find out where some of the guys stand, as the team will travel to Charles B. Aycock High School on Saturday, November 21 to compete in the Falcon Invitational. The tournament will be a double-elimination, individual meet. Wrestling will start around 9 in the morning and run late into the evening.