The Holly Springs wrestling program finished the regular season strong with a 48-22 victory over Athens Drive High School last Thursday night to clinch third place in the Tri-9 conference. Due to the inclement weather that shut-down school for three consecutive days, Thursday night’s match came without the aid of practice time for either team. Amid a plethora of distractions, the Hawks came to wrestle, and wrestle hard on their Senior Night. Matt Hannah jumpstarted Holly Springs at 103lbs with a second period pin of Drew Coponegro. Athens Drive would take the next two matches and a 10-6 lead with the meat of their line-up set to take the mats at 125, 130, 135, and 140lbs. Holly Springs’ Jake Reinemund elated the crowd and Hawk bench with a last second escape to beat Ryan Goodchild and pull the Hawks to within one point, 10-9. Athens Drive seniors came through at 130, 135 and 140lbs as they stretched their lead to 22-9 with only half of the 14 weight classes remaining. That would be the final time Athens would score as Holly Springs’ Don Sill (145lbs) and Kyle Hays (152lbs) picked up a decision and pin, respectively. Athens Drive head coach Mike Wood decided not to wrestle four of his younger wrestlers at 160, 171, 189, and 215lbs and instead sent out forfeits. At Heavyweight Hawk freshman Chris Sauls make quick work of Taylor Barren, recording the fall early in the second period to make the final team score a 48-22.

On Saturday, the Golden Hawks (21-6, 6-2) traveled to Cary High School to participate for the first time in the Tri-9 conference tournament. As in their previous conference, the Greater Neuse, they competed with great success as 11 of the 13 who entered the tournament placed in the top-4. Placing secnd were Matt Hannah (103), Don Sill (145), and Chris Sauls (HWT). Winning the consolation finals to take third place were Jake Reinemund (125), Kyle Hays (152), and Xavier Bailey (160) while Charlie Dew (130), Skylar Kitchen (135), Kylen Blanchette (171), Devin Porter (189), and Anthony Samperisi (215) each took 4th. The top-3 final team standings mirrored the regular season conference standings as Cary High placed first, Panther Creek second, and Holly Springs finishing in third place out of 9 competing teams.

Hawk Wrestling team earns State Tournament bid

The Holly Springs Golden Hawk Wrestling team (21-6, 6-2) learned Monday that they had received one of only four Group AAAA wild card bids given to deserving teams in the State of North Carolina. The Hawks now enter into a 32-team playoff to determine the 2009-10 Dual-Team State Champion. In further demonstrating the strength of the Tri-9 conference, Green Hope (fourth place in the Tri-9) took the only other wildcard birth in the East, giving the conference a historic and unheard of four state playoff participants, joining conference champion Cary and runner-up Panther Creek who each received automatic bids. Holly Springs must first travel to Pinecrest High School Tuesday night where they’ll clash with Southern Durham for a chance to make the round of 16. The winner of that match will then face the winner of JH Rose and Pinecrest High School later that night for a chance to make the round of eight. You can follow your Hawk wrestling team at GoldenHawksWrestling.com.