Gryphon Grapplers place second in Conference Duals

The 2009-2010 regular season Big East Wrestling Conference Championship took almost twelve hours to conclude. The crown was not decided until the final, 30th match of the day. Each of the six conference teams wrestled the other five, and it all boiled down to the last match of the day. The Northern Nash Fighting Knights won all five of their matches to snatch the first (new) Big East Wrestling Dual Championship.

Northern came into the day as one of the two favorites, along with Nash Central. Northern had placed second at the Pierce-Davis Invitational (Rocky Mount finished 5th) while holding a Takedown Report ranking of the #5 3-A team in the East. Nash Central was working on a stellar year, holding an 18-7 team record and a TDR ranking of 3-A #3. Rocky Mount checked in as the 7th-ranked 3-A team by TDR.

Northern and Central would clash in the first match of the day. The match would eliminate one of the two favorites from a conference championship right off the bat. The Knights slipped by The Bulldogs 37-33 in an electric match.

The Rocky Mount Gryphons started their day with a 66-12 trouncing of Wilson Hunt, followed by relatively easy victories over Southern Nash (48-21) and Wilson Fike (54-27) before squaring off against Nash Central.

In a classic grudge match, the young Gryphon team outlasted the Bulldogs in a back and forth, tick for tack battle that went down to the final individual match, 39-30.

Rocky Mount had one last match. Northern Nash had one more match. Both teams 4-0 on the day. With the Big East Conference Championship on the line, the Knights took the final six individual matches to handily beat the young Gryphons 51-25.

ROCKY MOUNT 66 - WILSON HUNT 12
Justin Atkinson got the day rolling for the Gryphons by taking an 11-5 decision at 160. Janicento Williamson won by pin and Jeffrey Henderson took a forfeit win to put the Gryphs up 15-0.
Jemor Parker took the heavyweight match by pin in between two Hunt pins at 215 and 103. Rocky Mount was on top 21-12.

That's as close to the Gryphons as the Warriors would get. Adam McRea won by decision, 8-2, in the 112-pound match, followed by John Earl (119) and Nick Wescott (125) wins by forfeit. The Gryphs were rolling on the scoreboard, 36-12.

Alex Knight (130) and Chandler Phillips (135) won by pin and Elliot Whitehead took the 140 match by forfeit. Diandre Harris (145) and Damien Smith (152) capped off the match by winning by pin for the final margin of victory, 66-12.

ROCKY MOUNT 48 - SOUTHERN NASH 21
Willliamson rolled off a major decision win, 11-0, to get the Gryphons off against the Firebirds.
The Rocky Mount squad found themselves down for the first time on the day when they lost by pin in the second match (189).

With Southern up 6-4, the Gryphons rolled off consecutive pin victories by Nathan Barbour (215), Parker (HWT) and Mason Holt (103) to go up 22-6.

After a 112 pound forfeit win by McRea and an Earl pin at 119, the Gryphons were out of reach at 34-6.

Knight added a pin at 130, while Harris took a wild 17-11 decision and Smith won by tech fall 16-0.

ROCKY MOUNT 54 - FIKE 27
Rocky Mount was down at the start of the match after giving up a pin at 189. Barbour tied it up at 6-6 with his second pin of the day, but Fike took the Heavyweight match by technical disqualification to lead 12-6 after the first three matches.

The Gryphs took wins by forfeit at 103 and 112 before Earl won the 119 pound match with a jaw-dropping pin in just 12 seconds, putting Rocky Mount on top 24-12.

Gryphon forfeit wins at 125 (Wescott) and 135 (Phillips) bracketed an 11-5 decision loss at 130 and the Gryphons were up 36-15.

Whitehead won with a first period pin at 140 to push the Gryphon lead to 42-15.

The Gryphons and Demons traded pin victories in the final four matches, with Smith (152) and Williamson (171) coming out on top for Rocky Mount.

ROCKY MOUNT 39 - NASH CENTRAL 30
The Bulldogs jumped on the Gryphs early, winning the 215 bout in an exciting squeaker, 6-5, and a pin at Heavyweight, to go up 9-0.

Rocky Mount answered with a Holt pin at 103, a hard-fought McRea decision, 13-10, at 112 and an Earl decision win at 119, 11-4. Gryphons 12, Bulldogs 9.

Central took the 125 match by pin and the 130 by a 6-2 decision. Bulldogs 18, Gryphons 12.

A Phillips win by forfeit tied the score at 18. Whitehead followed with a first period pin victory at 140. Gryphons 24, Bulldogs 18.

Nash Central pushed back on Rocky Mount by winning both the 145 and 152 matches by pin to go back in front of the Gryphons 30-24.

Justin Atkinson won by pin at 160 to knot the score at 30 with only two matches to go.

Brandon Branch frustrated his 171 pound opponent into a disqualification to take six points and put the Gryphons up 36-30 entering the final individual of the match.

Williamson wrestled up at 189 and clinched the victory for Rocky Mount, winning by decision 6-0 and a 39-30 team win.

ROCKY MOUNT 25 - NORTHERN NASH 51
This one was close and exciting through the first nine matches, as the two teams traded both decisions and pins.

The Knights ran out to a 12-0 lead by way of pin at Heavyweight and forfeit win at 103.

Coach Jermaine Jones decided to bump his 103 through 135 wrestlers up one weight class. His six wrestlers responded by not only catching Northern, but putting the Gryphons up on the scoreboard.

Holt took the 112 pound match by pin to start off the bumped up Gryphons. McRea scored 4 points for the team with a major decision win, 17-4. Earl took a close decision, 8-6, at 119.
After the first five individuals, Rocky Mount led Northern 13-12.

The Knights took a decision win at 125 by a slim 5-3 margin to regain the lead, 15-13.

Alex Knight and Phillips won with back-to-back pins and the Gryphons were back on top, 25-15, just past the halfway point of the duel.

But that would be the end of the Gryphon run. With his wrestlers bumping up, Jones had no answer for the 145 bout and the Gryphs forfeited to let the Knights inch closer, 25-21.

Northern flexed their collective muscle on the Gryphons, winning by pin at 152, 160, 171 and 215. The Gryphons did not send out a wrestler for the 189 match. The 36 unanswered points buried the Rocky Mount squad for the final 51-25 tally.

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The Big East Conference scheduled only one of these conference duals this year, making the Northern Nash Fighting Knights the conference's Regular Season Champions.

With the second place finish and four wins, the Gryphons upped their dual record to 12-7. They should see their TDR Ranking rise with the results on Saturday, also. It is not clear at this time if the second place finish has qualified Rocky Mount for another NCHSAA Team State Tournament, or if a team placing at the Conference Individuals will decide that. Jones has guided his last three teams into the state tournament. That information will be passed along as it becomes available.

BIG EAST TEAM RESULTS
Northern Nash Knights 5-0
Rocky Mount Gryphons 4-1
Nash Central Bulldogs 3-2
Southern Nash Firebirds 2-3
Wilson Fike Demons 1-4
Wilson Hunt Warriors 0-5

GRYPHON INDIVIDUAL WINS
Adam McRea 5
John Earl 5
Mason Holt 4
Chandler Phillips 4
J.K. Williamson 4
Alex Knight 3
Elliot Whitehead 3
Damien Smith 3
Nick Wescott 2
Diandre Harris 2
Justin Atkinson 2
Nathan Barbour 2
Jemor Parker 2
Jeffrey Henderson 1

Rocky Mount's Grapplers will be on the practice mat until Saturday, Jan. 16. They will travel to Southern Nash High School to compete in the Thomas Cowles Duals, where they will look to improve on their team dual record and continue to work towards a possible spot in the NCHSAA team state, the individual conference and regional tournaments, held in February.