HAMPSTEAD
– The Pirates hosted the Coastal Plains Conference
Individual Championships last weekend and dominated the
entire conference.
“We wrestled a great tournament,” said head
coach Jake Pence.
The
Pirates placed in 10 of the 11 possible weight classes
with 140lbs. being the only exception to their excellent
performance.
Of their 10 placements, four Pirates took first. Sophomore
Ric McCutcheon won the 119lb. class without a hitch.
Junior
David Croft, who has performed so well over the course
of the season had a buy into finals and only had to wrestle
one match. He pinned his opponent in the 125lb. class
in a mere 1:57.
“Croft is wrestling exceptionally well this season,”
said Pence.
The next first place wrestler was junior Kyle Proulx at
130lbs.
“Proulx had the match of the tournament,”
said Pence. He pinned Joey Williams, a state qualifier
out of Dixon,” said Pence. “That was a huge
win for Proulx and the team.”
Junior Josh Schaefer continued to steam-roll opponents
as he took first at 215lbs. Schaefer was recovering from
an illness he had earlier in the week, but it did not
seem to slow him down on Saturday.
Other stand out performances came from freshman Kirk Robertson
and sophomore Joseph Graves.
“Robertson wrestled well throughout the tournament,”
said Pence. “Graves took his opponent into four
overtimes, but lost due to giving-up a penalty point after
his third caution.”
Earlier in the week, Topsail was able to secure another
conference victory over East Carteret, more than doubling
their score at 50-24.
The Pirates competed in the first round of State Duals
yesterday (Tuesday), but the results were not available
for press. Depending on those results, the Pirates will
wrestle in the second round on Saturday at a currently
undecided location.
“Some of the goals we stress as we go into duals,”
said Pence, “are for the wrestlers to be selfless.
They have to remember that the name on the front of their
singlet is more important than their own. We want them
out their wrestling for their team and representing Topsail.”
Having such a wrestling creed allows the Topsail wrestlers
roles to take a new shape.
“We strive to never be pinned if we are losing a
match,” said Pence, “and to pin as quickly
as possible when we are winning.”
The reason for this motto is simple according to Pence.
“This is an endurance match,” he said. “We
have a lot of wrestling to do. We want to win quickly
and make other teams wrestle the full length of time if
they want to defeat us.”
Individual Championship Standings
103 – Johnathan Howard – 3rd
112 – Kirk Robertson – 2nd
119 – Ric McCutcheon – 1st
125 – David Croft – 1st
130 – Kyle Proulx – 1st
152 – Asher Kirkland – 2nd
160 – Bradley Luttlogh – 2nd
189 – Joseph Graves – 2nd
215 – Josh Schaefer – 1st
285 – Kurt Lawrence – 3rd
