The inevitable became reality Thursday for Polk County Middle’s wrestling team.
Even the greatest of sports dynasties suffer defeat at some point, and the Wolverines’ turn finally arrived after a remarkable 42 consecutive victories, a winning streak of almost three years. Apple Valley Middle wrestled well, Polk Middle did not and that resulted in a 50-47 win for the Knights.
Every goal that Polk Middle (10-1) set at the start of the season still remains in play. The Wolverines remain two matches ahead of the field in the Blue Ridge Conference’s East Division and can clinch at least a tie for the division title with one more win. A third straight conference championship also remains a very real possibility.
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That at least provided a bit of comfort for the Wolverines as they silently filed out of the school gym.
“We wrestled sloppy, and that’s what can happen when you wrestle a good team,” said Polk Middle head coach Jerry Cox. “At least we don’t have the streak hanging over our head, and maybe we’ll wrestle a little bit looser, practice a little bit harder.
“We can still be division champs. We can still be the one seed. We’ve still got a great road to the championship. I think of 2018 when we lost in football to Apple Valley. We don’t lose there we probably don’t win the conference championship that year. We’ll just see how the kids take it. It’s life.”
Apple Valley (6-3) nearly upended Polk Middle earlier this year, so the Wolverines expected to be challenged. Cox and coaching staff plotted and planned and looked to score every team point possible, anticipating a close finish.
All that strategy nearly worked – the Wolverines lost two matches in the final minute that they had been leading and saw another match end in a second-period loss by pin after nearly winning by fall. Flip any of those results and Polk would have emerged with its streak intact.
Instead, the Wolverines will be back in action Monday, hosting Brevard Middle and looking to begin a new winning run as the regular season enters its final two weeks.
“We’re probably not going to have school tomorrow and no practice, so we’ll have to get right back to a match on Monday,” Cox said. “Maybe that will be good. Maybe they’ll have a couple of days to be upset about it and Monday they’re full of testosterone and ready to excel again.
“We’ve been here before. We’ve lost plenty of close ones. We’ll respond well, we’ll be fine and we’ll fight it out to the end.”
APPLE VALLEY 50, POLK MIDDLE 47
78: Ellis Searcy (PC) p. Easton Whitaker
85: Brent Newcomer (AV) p. Jared Contreras
92: Silas Amorelli (PC) p. Angelo Hernandez
100: Rhys Jackson (PC) maj. dec. Alex Alvarez, 18-7
108: Egor Cludinov (AV) p. Josh Odel
115: Jordan Robles (AV) p. Oakley McDowell
122: Riley Morgan (PC) p. Avery Capps
128: Liam Williams (AV) d. Gavin Waldbillig, 11-10
134: Alex Labreche (PC) d. Colton Honeycutt, 10-5
140: Cooper Morrow (AV) p. James Logan
146: Elijah Hensley (AV) by forfeit
152: Matthew Sokil (PC) p. Barron Russell
159: Roenin Hickey (AV) p. Chris Kriblings
169: Andy Serrano (PC) maj. dec. Sam Tondra, 10-0
175: Paul Alvarez (AV) p. Michael Jenkinson
190: Adrian Lopez (AV) p. Xander Worley
215: Hudson Hyde (PC) by forfeit
250: Gabe Nelon (PC) by forfeit
