With the Big 8 Conference Championship race boiling down to one match next week, the Orange wrestling team had a successful, if nerve wracking, trip down east.
On Saturday, the Panthers swept all four matches in the Havelock Duals at Havelock High School. Orange captured the final match of the day against Havelock 36-35, with the final match based on criteria. Havelock’s Derek Waiaau pinned Tyler Larkin at 220 pounds to even the match at 35-35, but Orange earned the overall victory after winning eight individual matches to Havelock’s six.
The Panthers improved to 22-2 as they go into a crucial match on Wednesday against Chapel Hill that will likely determine the Big 8 Conference Champion. Orange will go for its 17th consecutive conference championship spanning three classifications.
The Tigers have already defeated Northwood, Cedar Ridge, and Southern Durham.
In Havelock, Orange defeated J.H. Rose 60-21; they romped past Northside-Jacksonville 62-16 and polished off West Craven 66-10.
Brendon Worsham scored four victories on the day, including pinfall victories against Nic Roberts of West Craven in 41 seconds and Zachariah Gallardo-Chism of Northside-Jacksonville in 47 seconds. Biggest of all was a 8-0 major decision over Tate Cringan of Havelock, the third from last match of the day. The extra point from the major decision (worth four points instead of the usual three points for a standard decision) led to Orange winning the Havelock match.
Worsham is now 20-10.
Havelock opened the dual match with a pin by heavyweight Isaiah Verspoor. Dillon Heffernan earned an 11-5 decision at 106. In the tightest bout of the match, Orange’s Joshua Dunn defeated Trey Henke 9-7 in overtime to win at 113.
Havelock took a 12-6 lead when Cody Rutherford scored a pin at 120 pounds. Orange’s Kessel Summer narrowed the Rams’ lead to 12-10 with a major decision victory over Nate Lucio 14-5.
Matthew Smith-Breeden, who won all four of his matches on the day, scored a pin over Jaylen Jarman in 47 seconds. It was the first of four straight Orange wins.
At 138, Orange’s Henry Joubert-Stanzel pinned Collin Jasset in 1:07. Tayton Alvis pinned Havelock’s Austin Dennis in 15 seconds at 145. Noah Davis decisioned Xavier McCullough 13-10.
Havelock’s Gordon Whitfield earned a tech fall at 160, and the Rams’ Gabe Godette pinned Hayden Horne at 170 to cut Orange’s lead to 31-23 going into Worsham’s match at 182.
Switching between 132 & 138 pounds, Smith-Breeden earned a forfeit victory against Rose, defeated Northside-Jacksonville’s Dakar Pearson 11-3 and pinned West Craven’s Tristan Moore in 3:32. Smith-Breeden is now 23-8 with eight pins this season.
Heavyweight Juan Navarro earned three pins on the day. He defeated Daniel Olarte of Rose in 1:48. Navarro finished off Josh Smith of Northside in 1:09. Against West Craven, he pinned Malachi Williams in :47. Navarro is 22-6 with 14 pins.
At 138 pounds, Joubet-Stanzel narrowly defeated West Craven’s Jeremiah Cannon 13-12. Earlier, Joubert-Stanzel compete at 145 pounds and pinned William Denison in 2:14. Joubert-Stanzil is 20-7 with nine pins.
Last Wednesday, Orange defeated Northwood 55-12 in Pittsboro. Nathan Hecht pinned Hue Jacobs in 1:32 to sew up Orange’s first Big 8 Conference win of the 2020s with a pin of the Chargers’ Hue Jacobs in 1:32. It was one of seven pinfall victories for the Panthers. Worsham defeated William Lake in 1:47. Tyler Larkin won at 220 pounds, pinning Chandler Stubbs in 2:57. Tayton Alvis was victorious at 145 pounds over Nathan Davis after a pin at 2:34.