Chester Wilson stepped onto Polk County’s wrestling mat Tuesday evening with just one win for the season and desperately needing another.
Recovering from an injury suffered on the football field last fall, Wilson only recently returned to competition, posting a 1-4 record for the Wolverines while working back into competitive shape.
Yet when Polk County most needed a victory, head coach Mark Emory never hesitated to send Wilson into the fray of the state 3A playoffs – and the Polk sophomore soon justified that selection.
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Wilson’s third-period pin of North Wilkes’ Spencer Hunt assured Polk County of a second-round 3A state playoff triumph, helping seal a 40-30 victory over the Vikings and sending the Wolverines into next week’s state quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
Polk County (33-5) will compete either Monday or Tuesday in the 3A West semifinals against the winner of the four-team pod at Mount Airy, those matches to be wrestled Thursday. A location for the remaining three rounds of the 3A dual team playoffs will be announced at some point this week by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
After a fairly benign 59-17 victory over Surry Central to open the evening, Polk’s second-round matchup with North Wilkes quickly turned heated, with the Vikings losing three team points for a flagrant misconduct penalty and the Wolverines twice losing a team point due to unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
North Wilkes (21-7) pulled ahead 20-16 midway through the match, but Zalen McCraw delivered a quick pin at 165 pounds, Zach McCraw earned a forfeit at 175 and Styler Blackwell pinned his opponent in 30 seconds to put Polk up 34-20.
Wilson stepped onto the mat for the 215-pound match knowing Polk would forfeit the 106-pound match. That meant either win or force the heavyweight bout to be the deciding contest.
Wilson raced to a 7-0 edge and maintained the upper hand throughout the match, finally pinning Hunt in the third period.
“Chester stepped up big for us in that last match,” Emory said. “I knew he would. That’s why I put him in there. He’s only wrestled five matches all season, but he stepped up big for us.”
The early emotions didn’t take away from one of Polk’s most competitive matches of the season, which is exactly what Emory expected, especially after the Vikings dismantled Hendersonville 63-12 in their first-round matchup.
“We wrestled with intensity tonight because we had to,” Emory said. “That was a tough team, and they came ready to wrestle. But so did we. We had a lot of kids step up.”
The Wolverines had little trouble in the opening match as a young Surry Central (10-12) squad entered with four empty weight classes. Liam Jackson’s technical fall at 126 pounds started a run of five straight Polk wins, and the Wolverines then won four more before opting to forfeit the heavyweight match.
The Wolverines will now turn their focus to this weekend’s 3A West Regional, the individual tourney set to begin Friday at West Lincoln.
POLK COUNTY 59, SURRY CENTRAL 17
106: Silas Amorelli (PC) by forfeit
113: Double forfeit
120: Jose Trejo (SC) tech. fall Jayden Pons, 15-0
126: Liam Jackson (PC) tech. fall Luis Nava-Cruz, 15-0
132: Amon Villarreal (PC) by forfeit
138: Connor Ahlert (PC) p. Colton Walker
144: Jaxtyn Virgil (PC) p. Isaiah Salazar
150: Brody Wolfe (PC) p. Jayden Zavala
157: Blake Collins (SC) p. Carson Bell
165: Zalen McCraw (PC) p. Zachary McCarther
175: Zach McCraw (PC) p. Micah Whitley
190: Styler Blackwell (PC) by forfeit
215: Isaiah Staley (PC) by forfeit
285: Jacob Blythe (SC) by forfeit
POLK COUNTY 40, NORTH WILKES 30
113: Jackson Rhoades (NW) p. Silas Amorelli
120: Ethan Goins (NW) maj. dec. Jayden Pons 17-6
126: Liam Jackson (PC) d. Carson Griffin, 8-3
132: Amon Villarreal (PC) dq. George Wood
138: Phillip Dancy (NW) tech. fall Connor Ahlert, 17-0
144: Jaxtyn Virgil (PC) d. Reid Overcash, 9-2
150: Brody Wolfe (PC) p. Tommy Strugill
157: Josue Mendoza (NW) p. Carson Bell
165: Zalen McCraw (PC) p. Brady Weatherman
175: Zach McCraw (PC) by forfeit
190: Styler Blackwell (PC) p. Tristen Gates
215: Chester Wilson (PC) p. Spencer Hunt
285: Troy Edwards (NW) by forfeit
106: Hunter Dancy (NW) by forfeit
Note: North Wilkes penalized three team points for flagrant misconduct. Polk County penalized a total of two team points for unsportsmanlike conduct
