Announcements 2007
This page was last update 01/06/16 10:18 AM
BACK TO LATEST NEWS PAGE

4-30-2007

Post Season Honors for Kurt Stephens

Our freshman 103 Kurt Stephens was voted NC Mat Freshman of the year. Kurt finished second at the state championships losing to a Junior. He finished his freshman year with a 34-3 record. His year included 1st place finishes at our Indian Classic, RJR Individual Championship, and the 3A Western Regional Champion. What a great start to a high school career. Congratulations to Kurt Stephens.

2-23-2007

Saint Finishes Season With 5 State Placers

The Tribe finished 7th this year in the state tournament with 77 points and placed 5 wrestlers in the top six. Here are a few highlights and comments.

Freshman Kurt Stephens @ 105 ripped through his first two match ups pinning in both matches. He then out fought his 3rd round opponent in a very physical and brawling match winning 11-8. Kurt then lost to a junior from Ragsdale in the final 5-12. This was a great freshman year for Kurt and he sent the message that this Saint Wrestler will be a force to contend with for the next three years.

Senior Jesus Vazquez @ 114 closed his Saint career with a 4th place finish. He was a consistent dependable winner for the Tribe with a 127-27 career record.

Senior Bradley Pendleton @ 132 closed his Saint career with a 6th place finish. Bradley is an example of continueous improvement and dedication to the sport of wrestling. He worked in the off season by competing and developing his best moves. He surged ahead of the field in his senior year and finished with a 88-64 career record.

Junior Cody Rink @ 142 finished with a 6th place finish and set the stage for a strong upcoming senior year.

Junior Justin Baumgarner @ 160 finished in 3rd Place with some of the most courageous come back matches of the tournament.
He won his first match 2-0.
His second match was a nail biter to the last second. Justin obtained a bleeding lip injury during the first period. We had already used 3 blood stoppages to fix the bleeding and were preparing to face tape Justin if we had to stop again. With 17 seconds left in the 3rd period Jusin's opponent gained a reversal to take a one point lead. It seemed as all was lost. Justin found the will power to keep fighting. With 3 seconds left Justin escaped to tie the score and took an immediate leg shot on his opponent. The impact knocked the opponent down to his hip and Justin gained the take down call with 0.5 seconds on the clock. The Saint faithful in the stands were stunned and then exploded when it was clear that Justin had just won the match. I had left my medical pouch open for quick access for the next blood stoppage. When the signal was given for the 2 point take down, I leaped into the air and spun around. The contents of the medical pouch, (scissors, tape, vasaline, nose plugs) were launched across the mat.
Justin obtained a back strain in his next match and had to medical defaut.
His fouth match was another nail biter. This match went to the 4th sudden death overtime period. Justin took down and had to escape in 30 second. It only took ten seconds for Justin to escape and win the match to go to the consolation campionship.
Justin won the 3 place match with a score of 14-7.

This was a great and fun season. Like every season, we will miss our seniors and remember them and their accomplishments for the Tribe. We will have a strong crew of rising seniors and seasoned underclassmen to battle next year. Until then, lets work hard in the off season and set high goals for next year.

Thanks to all the parent for you support, not only for your son, but for the entire team. Your efforts make a positive enviroment for team spirit.
There is an old saying that has a lot ot truth. "It takes a village to raise a child." Thanks for being there for all the wrestlers.

2-17-2007

Saint Claims Nine State Qualifier Positions

The 2007 3A Western Regional was held at St. Stephens. Saint qualified nine top four placers to go the state tournament next weekend in Winston-Salem. Saint placed second in the regional tournament with 172 points, only 13 points behind Enka.

Senior Josh Young ended his wrestling career with Saint in the tournment, but not until after he earned the team 4 points pinning his opponent in the first round of championship elimination.

The Tribe had 3 Regional Champions. Freshman Kurk Stephens @ 105 pinnned all his opponents. Senior Jesus Vazquez @ 114, and Junior Justin Baumgarner @ 162.

Junior Travis Paap @ 127 claimed second place.

There were 3 third place qualifiers. Senior Bradley Pendleton @ 132, Junior Sam Monish @ 137, and Junior Cody Rink @ 142.

We also had 2 fourth place qualifiers. Freshman Cody Stephens @ 121, and Sophomore Brandon Lackey @ 147.

It has been ten years since the Tribe has sent this many wrestlers to the State Tournament. The last class to send this many wrestlers was the class of 1996. The wrestlers of 2005-07 have held up to the high standard of a winning tradition for the Saint Wrestling Program. Best of luck at the State Tournament to all our qualifiers.

2-7-2007

Saint Defeats Mooresville, Looses to Ragesdale in State Duals

The State Duals started off well for the Tribe as they defeated Mooresville 47-18. Mooresville had a 30-1 dual record and was ranked just behind the Tribe in the state rankings at 10th. Kurt Stephens, Bradley Pendleton, Bandon Lackey, and Steven Rink scored pins for the Tribe. Jesus Vazquez and Travis Paap won major decisions over their opponents.

Saint lost in a hard fought contest in the second round of the Duals to Ragesdale. The final score was 32-37. Saint and Ragsdale have traded big wins over the years at key points in the state duals. Saint defeated them last year to advance to the State Finals. They are always a tough and well coached team. Their program is very much constructed as Saint. They raise and teach their wrestlers through their system and go with what they develop. Sam Monish, Cody Rink, Seth Eckard, and Micheal Ellis pinned for the Tribe, but we were not capable to keeping pace with the solid top to bottom line up that Ragesdale had on their team. Congratulations to Ragsdale

Saint finishes their dual season with a 30-4 record. We won 6 tournaments this year including the CVAC Conference Tounament Championship.

Now Saint, let's win another Regional.

2-3-2007

Saint Wins 2007 CVAC
Conference Tournament

I made this in big letters just in case you missed the news that we won in the Hickory paper. It is stated on sports page C7 on the last line of information under the nice picture of Patrick McIntosh of Bandys. If you look on the front sports page you would think Newton won it.

What a redeeming win it was to retake the conference tournament after lossing it last year. Saint has won the conference tournament 7 of the last 8 years during the Baker reign. The Tribe produced and outstanding performance with six champions, two seconds, three thirds, and one fourth. Twelve of our fourteen battled the conference into the top four positions. Saint had a huge lead early in the tournament, but went into the finals behind by 4.5 points to Newton-Conover. Saint had 8 in the finals and Newton Conover had 6. There was only one head to head match up. The stage was set for a battle to the final match.

Our first champion of the evening was freshman Cody Stephens @ 103. His opponent Kiel Sampson from Bunker Hill, last year's 2A 103 state champion and currently ranked #1 103 2A wrestler. There was no surprise that Cody made the finals and most in attendance has this one locked up for Sampson, but only a few know how deep the competitive spirit runs in the veins of the Stephens twins . Cody scored the first take down in the match, but was reversed by the seasoned Sampson and rode out the period. Action went against Cody at the beginning of the second period as Sampson choose down and scored a quick escape. A sling and fling brawl took place after the escape with both wrestlers making scoring moves that were just out of bounds. Coach Baker was intensely encouraging Cody between the out of bounds time outs to "Hang Tough", "Keep the Intensity", "You Can Do This". Finally, in the last quarter of the second period, Cody out scrambled Sampson for the lead with his second takedown of the match and rode out the period. Leading 4-2, Cody followed Coach Baker's instruction of "YOUR GOING DOWN" and "YOU GET OUT OF THERE". Cody battled out of the control of Sampson and scored a reversal, then Sampson scored an escape to set the score to 6-4. The remaining time of the match was filled with good defense and not giving Sampson the advantage of a last second take down. The Host of Heavenly Saints in the stands knew the significance of the pending win. As time ran down on the clock, the rapture of "5", "4", "3", "2", "1", "GO SAINT" rumbled down from the rafters of the Jerry Copas gym. As his hand was raised, and he came to hug Coach Baker, you could see the elation in Cody's heart. Not for just the great win he had accomplished, not for just the fact that he won for Saint, but for the realization that he is indeed a state level wrestler. No questions now about that ability. I'm pretty sure there tears of joy and pride in the "Host of Heavenly Saints", but I don't know for sure. My vision went blurry for a few minutes. Cody's outstanding win earned him the favor of the voting coaches as he was eventually name the tournaments "MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER". The win gained 4 points and Saint was still behind by a .5 point.

The "Host of Heavenly Saints" were still a buzz and exploded again was our Jesus Vazquez @ 112 stepped onto the championship circle. Jesus had defeated 14th rankd Tee Lee of Bunker Hill earlier in tournament. He was now facing the tall and dangerous Matt Smith of West Caldwell. Jesus scored first with a takedown and was award a penalty point in the first period. Leading 3-0 into the second, Jesus made the dangerous decision to take down for the start of the second. After several attempts to escape and restarts, Jesus scored a reversal to finish the period with the lead of 5-0. Smith choose top to begin the third and began working Jesus into dangerous positions with his long and rangey frame. Our little Aztec Warrior was up to the challenge and scored another reversal only to be reversed again by Smith. When the time ran out and the voice of the Host of Heavenly Saints in full voice, Jesus won his conference tournament title 7-2. The win scored 4 more points for the Tribe, which now led by 3.5 points over Newton Conover.

Eric Webster of Newton-Conover performed as expected and pinned his opponent and pushed the Red Devils back into the lead by 3 points

Travis Paap @ 125 was the Tribe's next competitor in the championship finals. He faced Jordon Armstrong of Bandys. Travis scored a take down in the first period and led 2-0. Armstrong choose down for the start of the second period and scored a reversal and a heart stopping nearfall two as he worked Travis momentarily to back exposure. Travis eventually started to work back for a reversal when a untimely use of a elbow caused the official to award Travis with a one point penalty point. Travis was now behind 3-4 going into the third period. With no other choice to make, Travis took down knowing that his only hope at regaining the lead was to score a reversal or at the very lest an escape to tie the score. Not only did Travis work and escape, but continued to attach and scored a take down. The match ended with Travis ahead by the score of 6-4. This gave the Tribe 4 more points and pushed the Tribe into the lead by 1 point.

Senior Bradley Pendleton took the match next for the Tribe @ 130. The Tribe needed a win with bonus points to gain ground on Newton-Conover before the Red Devils started their run in the upper weight classes. Bradley faced Jeremy Griffin of Foard. Bradley demonstrated full command of the match, but to Griffin's credit of not giving into a pin, and scored a techfall decision of 17-2. Bradley could not be stopped in this match up as he scored 4 takedowns, two 3 point nearfalls, one 2 point nearfall, and one escape. This huge win gained additional bonus points which totalled 5.5 points for the win. Bradley's senior performance pushed the Tribe's lead out to 6.5 points over Newton-Conover.

Sam Monish placed second for the Tribe @ 130. He had a gutzy battle with Zane Simmons of Hibriten in the finals, but fell short by a score of 5-9. Sam had a great tournament and gained 16 points for the Tribe on his way to the finals. He defeated 5th ranked Joe Smith from Newton-Conver 11-8 to make it to the finals.

Still clinging to the 7 point lead, Saint's Cody Rink @ 140 had made it to the finals defeating Matt Smith from Bandys and now faced 8th ranked Brandon Cromartie from Bunker Hill. Cody made first strike with a first period takedown and rode out the period trying to turn Cromartie. Cromartie choose neutral for the start of the second. Again Cody was first attack and scored a bid takedown that led into a pinning combination. It was a huge pinning win that gave full bonus points that was sorely needed by the Tribe. Kicking in 6 point for the win, the Tribe now led by 12.5.

Bandy's won the next two weight classes against other schools. Patrick McIntosh and Colt Howell won their weigh classes. Colt Howell defeated the 2nd Newton Conover wrestler in the championship round to keep them from scoring more points. The Howell win boosted the hopes of the "Host of Heavenly Saints". Newton is now down to 4 remaining wrestlers, Saint down to 2, in the championship battles. Saint still led by 12.5.

The rafters were once again sent into vibration as our Justin Baumgarner @ 160 took the mat in a match up with Bandy's Trent Mauney. Justin was a pumped as high as ever seen before. After a disastrous conference outing the previous year. Justin was on the threshold of his biggest conference match. When the whistle blew there was no place to go. Justin attacked, attacked, and attacked until he got his double leg. He took this oppponent straight to his back and scored a 38 second pin. A conference championship for Justin, and huge win for the Tribe. Six huge points pushed the Tribe out to a 18.5 lead.

Saint was down to one last wrestler, Seth Eckard @ 189, and Newton-Conover had four left to finish out the tournament. Newton-Conover had to win all four and work for some bouns points in a few matches to win the tournament.

3rd ranked Chucky Jacobs @ 171 for Newton scored a 4 point win to pull the Red Devils to within 14.5 points of the Tribe.

Saint's Seth Eckard @ 189 had the last challenge of the night for the Tribe as he faced 11th ranked Brian Mulligan of Newton-Conver. Seth fought a great match against Mulligan and got the next best result we could want. Seth lost a close 1-4 match and held the Newton scoring down to 4 points. Seth's efforts stayed in our team concept mentality of "win big or lose small". His did what he could to hold the Red Devils at bay. The Red Devils moved to only 10.5 points of the Tribe with two matches to go. Newton had to score two wins with one of them being a pin to win the tournament and take it away from the Tribe.

Newton did score a pin in the next match at 217 by Andrew Reinhardt. The "Host of Heavenly Saints" could only stand by and watch to lead dwindle to 4.5 points. Another win at heavy weight with bonus points by the Red Devils would let the Saint victory slip away.

It was your classic heavy weigh match beteen Hibriten and Newton. There as alot of pushing and shoving, and the referee always want to encourge the wrestlers with stalling calls. The "Host of Heavenly Saints", knowing the possiblities either way, showed their support for the Hibriten wrestler and was politely quick to tell the ref what they thought of his stalling calls against the Hibriten wrestler. Hibriten took a 2-1 lead in the final period and our crowd was sick with anticipation. As time was crawling to the end, the rapture of "5", "4", "3", "2", "1", "GO SAINT" rumbled down from the rafters of the Jerry Copas gym, again. Saint had reclaimed the Conference Champion Title.

All of this would not have happened if it were not supported by the outstanding efforts of other Tribe wrestlers.

Senior Robert Wessels @ 215, who's only lost was to the champion Andrew Reinhardt at 215, placed third in the tourmament and scored 12 points for the team.
Sophomore Steven Rink @ 171, who's only lost was to the champion Chucky Jacobs, place 3rd and scored 16 points.
Junior Chris Moody @ 119, placed 4th and scored 8 points.
Sophomore Bradon Lackey @ 145, finish 3rd and scored 10 points.

1-30-2007

Seniors Shine on Senior's Night
Defeats Bandys 53-20

The regular season could not have ended any better with a defeat of the 4th ranked 2A Bandys' Trogans and a big win by every senior on the Saint team. Saint had numerous wrestlers to step up in this big match, but the seniors stole the night with performances that will be remembered for a lifetime.

Senior Jesus Vazquez started the night off at 114 and pinnned his opponent in 1:26. This was Jesus's 117th career win for the Tribe and put us out in the lead 6-0. Jesus's current season record is 31-2. His career conference dual record closed at 19-2 over four years.

Senior Bradley Pendleton pounded out a 11-3 lead before pinning his opponent at the 3:12 mark of his match. To place his opponent on their back, Brad perfectly executed a "cement mixer". It was a crowd pleaser with the high intensity and spiralling flip that Brad forced his opponent to make. His win pushed the Tribe out to a 18-5 lead. This was Bradley's 78th career win for the Tribe. His current season record is 78-60 and his career conference dual record closes at 18-4 over four years.

Senior Josh Young has spent most of his varsity career as a back up, but he has always stepped up to win big matches for the Tribe when called on by Coach Baker. Josh swarmed his opponent in the 217 lb match and pinned him with the quickest pin of the night in 54 seconds. Josh ends his varsity dual meet record with 4-0 record and takes his overall career record to 14-13.

Senior Robert Wessels made the night for the home crowd with a heart jerking win. Robert has wrestled this year at 215, but bumped up to heavy weight on this night to get his fellow senior Josh Young into the line up. Little did anyone suppect the drama of the match to be wrestled by Robert in the heavy weight match. Robert was out weighed by at least 40 pounds by his opponent. It was the classic heavy weight match with a lot of tie ups, pushing, pulling, and clamping down on a head to force one to the mat. Both wrestles struggled to gain control over the other and after reminders from the official, each wrestler was awarded a penalty point for stalling. With the score tied 1-1 in the middle second period, our mild mannered Robert gave up another penalty point by catching his opponents attention with a reasonably significant head butt. Robert was now lossing 1-2, but we were encouraged to see the intensity building in Robert. When it came to the third period Robert told Coach Baker that he was taking the down position. (Now for those of you that may not have caught many of Robert's matches, this would appear to be an wise decision). Robert was determined to get off bottom, and he did, scoring an escape late in the 3rd period, and tied the score 2-2. Now we went to overtime. The first overtime period of one minute lasted about 21/2 hours as the two giant young men pushed, pulled, and collar tied. The first overtime period ended with no scoring and still in a 2-2 tie. Robert won the choice in the 2nd overtime period and immediately told the bench that he was going down in the referee position. But this time, Robert was not looking to just escape. To the crowds delight, Robert reversed his opponent to score R2 and pulled out to the 4-2 lead as time ran out. This left his opponent with only one option, he must go down in the 3rd overtime period to score. This was not to be tonight on Senior Night. Robert held him down and rode out the clock in control of his opponent to score a 3 point decision. By this time Saint led 48-20 and had sealed the match.

These are excellent young men that have devoted their high school years to the Saint wrestling program. It was just great to see all the seniors finish their last conference dual match with big wins. Thanks to Jesus, Brad, Josh, and Robert for their 4 years of dedication to our wrestling team.

1-26-2007

Saint Defeats Bunker Hill 55-18

Bunker Hill's hammer proved to be tough, but the Tribe endured and competed courageously to hold Bunker to 18 points. Kurt and Cody Stephens held off the the highly rated Kiel Sampson and Tee Lee to 3 point losses. The rest of the team climbed on top and scored 7 pins. Bradley Pendleton had the quickest pin at 0:16.

The remainder of the evening brought three other non-conference dual wins against North Lincoln 77-6, Highland Tech 78-6, and Challenger 75-6.

The win against conference foe Bunker Hill brought the Tribe to 6-1 conference record going into Tuesday night's Senior Night match with Bandy's. The significance of the match with Bandy's will be to claim the setond place finish in the regular season of the conference.

We need all the alumni and family friends there to support the team.

1-23-2007

Saint Keeps Momentum, Defeats West Caldwell 59-13

The night started slowly for the Tribe as two defeats in the prelims and losing the first two matches of the night. We started at 154 and were down 0-10 before Justin Baumgarner won a major decision after bumping up to 173. Even through he won 12-4, it didn't come easy with him fighting stomach cramps from eating a bag of pretzels after weigh in. He would only share a few of them with me before the match, so I thought I would bring it up.

Seth Eckard at 191 followed up with a quick pin in 47 seconds to even the score at 10-10. By the end of the heavy weigh match the Tribe was ahead 16-13 and West Caldwell would not score anymore during the match.

The quickest pin of the night was Kurt Stephens' pin at 105 in 22 seconds. Travis Paap, Bradley Pendleton, Sam Monish, Brandon Lackey, and Cody Rink all pinned for the Tribe.

Chris Moody demonstrated more impoved technique by almost gaining a tech fall, but won the match with a major decision 16-2. Chris scored his last two points with seconds left in the third and was progressing to back points. The referee got excited and stopped the match while Chris was moving, thinking a tech fall had been scored. There were only seconds to score from the referee position, so the match ended in a major decision.

The match of the night was the 112 match with Jesus Vazquez. West Caldwell's Matt Smith battled as hard as any wrestler this year against Jesus. Lankey and strong, Smith appeared to be a foot taller than our Jesus. In turn, Jesus showed the heart of our full blooded Aztec Warrior. At the end of the second period Smith lead the scoring 5-6. Smith took top in the third. That was the last move he made. Jesus reversed Smith and scored a 3 point nearfall. Our crowd applauded Jesus's efforts. They all knew he battled a great match.

Our next match Friday night is at Bunker Hill. We will also wrestle North Wilkes and Challenger High School. Take note that the match starts at 5:00 PM.

1-19-2007

Hibriten Falls to Saint 46-22

A strong Hibriten team came into Saint for a battle to take a stronger hold on second place in the conference. The Tribe wrestled the match the old way in winning big and losing small. We won 9 matches against 5 with 5 pins against 2.

There were a few match ups that stood out during the match.

Cody Stephens pinned his large 105 opponent after building a 12-0 lead.

Chris Moody had another great match with a major decision of 14-4.

Bradley Pendleton out wrestled his opponent to a 13-0 lead before winning by pin.

Brandon Lackey extended his conference record to 5-0 with strong 10-7 win.

Justin Baumgarner mauled his way to a 10-0 lead in the first period before pinning in 1:32.

Seth Eckard went out strong on the whistle and executed the quickest pin of the night in 0:23 seconds.

Back to the subject of losing small. This is critical to our success and the best example of the night was Micheal Ellis. Micheal's opponent Damain Thorton is an absolute man among boys. Micheal wrestled the match wisely and with courage. Most people would have simply folded in the first period. Micheal lost 2-7, but in the 3rd period, came off his back after giving up a nearfall 3 and eventually scored an escape. He gave up the small points, 3. Great Job Micheal !!!!!!!!!!

1-16-2007

Saint Wins Against Hickory, Chris Moody Close to Upset Win

Saint defeated Hickory 70-6. This was not an unexpected event; however, with the score 64-3, Chris Moody at 119 took on the 9th ranked 3A 119 Joey Alfonso. This turned out to be the match of the night.

Chris was down 0-5 going into the 3rd period after fighting off his back during the 2nd. Alfonso control the first two periods with a take down and a nearfall. Chris took top in the 3rd and brought the crowd out of the seats has he turned Alfonso to his back to get a nearfall 3. It was just so close to the pin, you just knew an upset was at hand. Alfonso, to his credit, worked out of the situation, but remained on bottom. Chris would not give up control and kept pressing to gain back exposure on Alfonso. The official awarded Chris 1 point for a stalling call making the score 4-5. With time running out in the 3rd, the official awarded another point to Chris for stalling by his opponent. That sent the match into over time with a 5-5 score. To his credit Chris was the aggressor in the the overtime and took the first shot to win the match. Alfonso fought off the shot to score the winning take down. We were all proud of Chris's effort.

1-14-2007

Conference Win Streak Ends with Loss to Newton

After 7 undefeated conference seasons, the Tribe dropped their first lost by one point. It was simply a case of lossing big and not winning big enough. Each team won 7 matches. Both teams had 2 decisions. Both teams had 2 major decisions. Saint had 2 pins and 1 tech fall. Newton had 3 pins. Final score 31-32. We congratulate Eddie Clarke and the Newton program.

To illustrate how long it has been since Saint lost a conference dual match, our seniors were in the 5th grade, our freshmen were in the 2nd grade. Our gratitude to this successful streak belongs to Coach Baker, who built a program doing the right things for the program and our wrestlers. No matter what, a streak ends at some point. A win streak, the length of time we had at Saint, places an unfair extra element of stress on each year's group of wrestlers. All wrestling teams want to win, not many teams have the added pressure of a streak. Nobody wants to be the group to end the streak, but it will eventually happen and it did. It took a great effort from a class program to accomplish it and our kids battled to the last second to keep the streak going and lost by 1 point.

The match started at 152. By the time the heavy weight class was done, Newtow was ahead 4-25. Only Justin Baumgarner at 160 managed a major decision. Justin had his opponent on his back twice in the match, but could not obtain the pin needed. Down 4-25, it looked as if the 3rd ranked 2A Newton would walk away with the match. But the heart of Saint would fight back.

Cody Stephens @103 for Saint started the come back for Tribe. He majored his opponent with a 14-2 win. Cody had his opponent on his back twice, but would not get the pin call. Score 8-25.

Kurt Stephens bumped to 112 and tech falled his opponent with a 17-2 decision. Kurt had his opponent on his back 3 times but could not obtain a pin call. Score 13-25.

Knowing that we could not absorb another big loss in the match against their number one ranked 119 star Eric Webster, our Jesus Vazquez, number one ranked 112, bumped from 112 to 119 to hold off Newton. Jesus was overmatched in size, but to in heart. The match was lost by a major decision allowing Newton only 4 points, not 6. Score 13-29.

Travis Paap @ 125 charged from the whistle and pinned his opponent in 1:26. Score 19-29.

Bradley Pendleton @ 130 pinned his opponent in 1:03. Score 25-29.

Sam Monish @ 135 decisions his opponent 8-5. Score 28-29.

We lost the next match by decision for Newton to go ahead to 28-32. We now needed a pin or tech fall to save the match. Brandon Lackey @ 145 exploded at the whistle and in the first 40 seconds had his opponent on his back for a near fall 3 and almost had the pin for the save, but the opponent worked off his back. Brandon finished the match with a 7-5 decision to close to the final score of 31-32. This was a tremendous effort for our second year wrestler.

Only thing left to do now is start a new streak.

1-9-2007

Tigers Fall to Tribe 66-18

It was another dominating night for the Tribe as they rolled through the Fred T. Foard lineup. With only 3 lost match ups on the night the Tribe pinned 11 Tigers on their way to a over powering win.

The most impressive win on the night was the longest match going 5:27 betweeen Seth Eckard and Foard's Micah Huffman at 189. Huffman is a very large 189, but Seth wrestled in control to a 10-2 lead before pinning Huffman with a secrete move only taught at St. Stephens. We would tell you what move was used, but we would have to terminate you. Congratulations to Seth on a great win.

Kevin Wellman stepped in for the Tribe tonight at 160 and controlled his match to a 8-2 match before pinning his opponent at 5:03.

The next match with Newton on Friday is the key match up of the conference season. Please bring your friends and family to Newton to cheer on the Tribe.

1-5-2007

Tribe Sweeps New Maiden Team 84-0

Maiden's new wrestling team took an expected lost Friday night, but showed a lot of heart and determination. Maiden, who is just restarting their wrestling program after decades of not wrestling, was not at the same level of experience compared to the years of mat time that the Tribe has put into the sport.

Scoring the perfect match score of 84-0 was coupled with the fact that all match ups did not go past the first period. According to the score book, Brandon Lackey had the fastest pin of night finishing his opponent in 34 seconds.

This gave Saint a 1-0 conference record and a 20-2 overall record. Look at Individual Conference Stats on the Latest News page to see the Conference Records of our wrestlers.

12-30-2006

Tribe Closes Out 2006 With 55-22 Win Over Brooke Point, VA

The last dual match of the year was wrestled at the Greensboro Coliseum at the college event the Southern Scuffle. Saint dominated their opponent with six pins and a major decision.

This sets the pace to enter into the conference dual season that starts 1-05-2007. Saint. will host Maiden at 7:00 PM. We are hoping for a large turn out to encourage our wrestlers to go after another conference championship. Please bring all your friends and relatives that you can to start off the season. We only have 4 home conference matches this year. Maiden, Hickory, Hibriten, and then the last match of the season against Bandys on Senior Night.

12-28-2006

Tribe Claims 5th Tournament Championship
Wins R.J. Reynolds Invitaional

It was a big day for the Tribe with everyone placing in the tournament. Finishing 1st place were Kurt Stephens @ 103, Cody Stephens @ 112, Travis Paap @ 125, Sam Monish @ 130, Cody Rink @ 145. Bradley Pendleton, Chris Moody, and Robert Wessels placed 2nd in their weight classes. Steven Rink, Seth Eckard, and Micheal Ellis placed 3rd in their weigh classes. The Alumni would have yelled out "Old School" with pride if they had seen the the finals dominated by the Red & White & Gray.

Notice: The trip to the Hopewell Duals has been dropped. We will not be going to this tournament.

12-24-2006

Cody Rink Places 3rd At the Tiger Holiday Classic

The Tiger Invitational is one of highest ranked high school tournments in the nation. Numerous teams throughout the country fly in or travel great distances to complete. Several are from private schools that recuit though out their state or nation to put togather their teams. This was a 32 team field that took place over two days. This is a level of wrestling that most of our team members have never seen or much less competed against. The measurement for our wrestlers in this level of competition is not the win / loss but how they competed using their level of ability.

Our Springs Road product, Cody Rink, a junior 145, placed third in the 145 division. His record was 5-1 for the tournament. He had 4 by pin and one by 6-0 decision in the consolation championship match. He lost in the championship semifinals to an out of state wrestler from St. Christophers and then defeated his next opponents to capture third.

Three other wrestlers advanced deep into the tournament, but lost out before the final six placement positions.

Cody Stephens, freshman 103, went 3-2 but lost out in the consolation bracket to a state champion from Jesuit, La. His only other loss was a 1 point decision. He had a great effort and did not stop battling in each of his losses. His other 3 wins were by pins and a 2 point dicision. I was most impressed with his 4-9 loss against Jesuit because of his efforts. Even as time was running out, and most lossing wrestlers would just find a way to ride it out, Cody kept fighting and was gaining a reversal just as time was running out. This was outstanding character for a freshman.

Travis Paap, junior 125, went 3-2, but lost out in consolations to another Jesuit wrestler.

Sam Monish, junior 135, went 3-2 before losing out to 4A Mt. Tabor's Robbie White in consolations.

12-16-06

Saint Regroups to Win the Rebel Duals

After the let down of Wednesday's match with Parkland, it was unsure as to how the Tribe would react to a dual tournament that had to go through the 4th ranked 2A team West Lincoln and the 1st ranked 1A team of Alleghany.

The first match was with Tuscola which the Tribe won 48-15. Although the score was one sided, one could see the emerging talent of Tuscola now that Coach Atwood is back at the helm.

Watauga was next and the Tribe out manned the Pioneers with a 60-18 result. Southwest Guilford was next, but they fell to the Tribe 58-12.

Mat News' 4th ranked 2A West Lincoln was the next opponent for the Tribe. The projected outcome of the match was questionable so Sam Monish, a junior at 135 was pressed into action after being out for illness. Sam started the Tribe off right with a major decision. It was followed by a pin by Brandon Lackey and a major decision by Cody Rink. The Tribe led 14-0. There was no looking back from there on out as the Tribe finished the match with a 48-21 win. Pinning in the match for Saint was Brandon Lackey, Justin Baumgarner, Cody Stephens, Jesus Vazquez, and Travis Paap.

The final match of the tournament for the Tribe was Alleghany. It was a neck and nech scoring race that ended in a Saint win at 39-34. Pinning for Tribe was Cody Rink, Seth Eckard, Micheal Ellis, Kurt Stephens, Jesus Vazquez, and Travis Paap.

At the end of the tournament Elizabeth Carpenter offered to carry the Championship trophy to our bus. We had to work so hard at cleaning the gym for her dad Butch that she just thought it was the right thing to do. We said NO, NO, NO, and insisted that we carry the trophy ourselves. As always the Rebel Duals was a well run tournament and a great wrestling atmosphere. However, anyone who attended the David Avery International Pairing Clinic may want to ask for your money back.

12-14-06

Tribe Loses To Parkland

Parkland ruled the night as the Tribe could not muster a comeback attack. There is not much to be said here othe than Parkland has a great set of athletes and you will have to bring you A-Team and A-Game in to stay with them.

12-11-2006

Special Announcement
Jesus Vazquez Passes 100 Career Wins

Jesus started the season with 86 career wins. He has now won 18 matches so far this year to push his Saint Career Total to 104.
He passed the 100 mark in a match with Aaron Licourt from North Lincoln in which he pinned to claim 3rd Place in the 2006 Indian Classic

Congratulations to Jesus Vazquez

12-09-2006

Saint Clinches the 2006 Trinity Duals Championship

Finishing with 200 team points on the night, Saint unexpectedly won the Trinity Invitational with placing 6 in the championship round. Cody Stephens @ 103, Jesus Vazquez @ 112, Travis Paap @ 125, Cody Rink @ 145, and Seth Eckard @ 189 won their respective weight divisions. Steven Rink @ 171 took 2nd, Chis Moody @ 119 took 3rd, and Robert Wessels @ 215 took 4th. It was a team spirit building performance after a disappointing team lost earlier this week.

Saint trailed Trinity through the first two rounds of championships by 20 points. The push started the Tribe in the Semi Final Championship round as the Tribe placed 6 into the finals. That was not all that was needed to seal the win. The Tribe needed points in the consolation rounds to keep pace with the resurging Trinity Bulldogs. Chris Moody, George Hahn, Brandon Lackey, Kevin Wellman, Will Lominac, Robert Wessels, and Micheal Ellis all kicked in points in the next two rounds to keep gaining distance from Trinity. Chris Moody and Robert Wessels fought back all the way to the consolation finals. Chris placed 3rd and Robert finished 4th.

12-07-2006

Tribe Falls to Alexander Central 33-39

Alexander was ready to go Thursday night as the Tribe rolled into town to get it's first dual meet loss of the season. It was a nail biting contest to the very last match. Saint could not wrestle it's usual line up but that doesn't take anything away from Alexander Central who put on a powerful performance. Our hats off to the wrestlers and coaches at Alexander Central who have worked hard at building a very good wrestling program.

The meet did not start well for the Tribe as Alexander Central built up a 21-0 lead. With Senior Captain Bradley Pendleton, Junior starter Sam Monish, and Sophomore starter Adam Starnes were out of the usual line up due to injuries, Coach Baker had to roll the dice and rely on the light weights have the courage to bump up and pull the Tribe back.

The excitement started to build as the Stephens twins, Cody and Kurt, would take the mat in the same meet for the first time in their young careers. Cody Stephens @ 103 scored the first points for Saint with a major decision obtaining 4 team points. Kurt Stephens went in at 112 and technical falled his opponent gaining another 5 points.

The Tribe was now behind 9-21. Senior Jesus Vazquez @ 119 pinned in the second period of his match and then Chris Moody @ 125 pinned to bring the match score to dead even at 21-21. Saints fans jumped to their feet at the 130 match at Travis Paap bumped up and pinned in the first period to push the Tribe to is frist lead to the night at 27-21.

Saint fail back in the next two matches getting pinned at 135 and 140. Trialing 27-33, Cody Rink @ 145 pinned for Tribe to tie the score once again at 33-33. The last two matches of the night were hard fought contest, but they were lost by the Tribe both by decisions. Will Lominac fought with all his heart only to lose in a double overtime decision @ 152. With the Tribe losing by 3, Josh Baumgarner had to force for a pin for the Tribe to save the night. Fate was not with the Tribe this night as time ran out with Justin losing 6-8. The final score was 33-39.

12-03-06

Saint Places Seven Wrestlers in the 35th Annual Indian Classic

It was another hard fought tournament as the Tribe finishes 3rd, 26 points behind the leader Newton-Cononver and 7 points behind the runner up West Lincoln. All results can be viewed on our web page for the Indian Classic. (We would have finished 2nd, but West Lincoln Coach Butch Ross insisted that his wrestlers got to wrestle 6 matches. We only agreed to this so that his coaching staff would have to leave the hospitality room so the rest of us could get some food and diet drinks.)

The Tribe still had a great showing with placing 3 champions, 2 runner ups, and 2 in thirds.

Kurk Stephens, a freshman @ 103, finished as the champion in the weight class. He had two pins going into the finals and defeated senior Jacob Belk of South Iredell 4-3 in the final match. He was second in the team scoring for the Tribe with 22 points for the tournament. Kurk now has a 10-0 varsity record.

Travis Paap, a junior @ 125, finished as the champion with a major decision in the semi-finals and a pin in the finals against Charlie Avis of Newton-Conover. He finished with 21 team points. Travis now has a 14-0 varsity record.

Cody Rink, a junior @ 152, finished as the champion by mastering his opponents with pins in all his matches. He pinned Jon McCall of East Burke in the finals and scored a team high 24 team points.

Justin Baumgarner, a junior @ 160, finished 2nd in the weight class.

Steven Rink, a sophomore @ 171, finished 2nd in the weight class.2nd

Jesus Vazquez, a senior @ 112, finish 3rd in this loaded weight class. His only loss was to last year's 2A state runner up Matt Whittle of West Lincoln.

Josh Young, a senior @ 189, finished 3rd. His only loss came from the tournament champion Brian Mulligan of Newton-Conover.

The Tribe must now regroup and take on Alexander Centeral this Thursday 12-07-2006 at 6:00 pm @ Alexander Central. This will be a tough match up as Alexander Central finish 4th in the Indian Duals this year.

A special note on this coming weekend's trip to Trinity. The Tribe Fan Van is available to travel down Saturday Morning. Reservations must be made by Thursday Night 12-08-2006. There are only 21 seats available so call now 465-4851 for information. If you want to stay at the same hotel as the team, click on Motel Reservation Information at the top of this page for details for you to make reservations.

11-28-06

Tribe Pulls Away to Clinch 45-28 Win Over East Burke

The Tribe trailed East Burke 24-18 after nine weight classes in tonight's match. That did not last as the Tribe wrestlers pinned 4 of the next 6 opponents to seal a win. It was a great team effort as many of our wrestlers stepped up to battle their best wrestlers.

Cody Stephens moved to 112 to take on Austin Annas, a 6th place state finalist from last year. Cody lead 3-0 going into the 3rd, but got caught in a pinning combination in the third. It was a great effort which told the coaching staff that Cody, a freshman, is ready to step up if needed to help the Tribe in the future matches.

George Hahn held off the skillful Kyle Benson, ranked 5th in 4A, until a late third period flurry pushed the score to a major win for Benson. That gave the Calivers 4 points instead of their customary 6 points from Benson.

Our heavy weight classes manned by Robert Wessels and Micheal Ellis held off the attacks of East Burke and held them to only 3 points wins for East Burke. Both matches were physically exhausting matches of straight up force to force. Their efforts opened the door to our light and middle weights to take over the match scoring.

Kurt Stephens, Chris Moody, Travis Paap, Sam Monish, Cody Rink, Justin Baumgarner, and Seth Eckard all pinned their opponents to give the Tribe the commanding lead.

The high scoring match of the night was between our Bradley Pendleton and Trey Starnes. Bradley won 13-10 in a match that had to be stopped twice, once by each side, to recover from injuries. Bradley was down by an injury in the 2nd peiod and losing 6-8. He roared back in the 3rd with 7 point attack that clinched the 3 point decision.

It was a great win and team effort.

11-27-06

I thought you would like to see the coverage given to to South Caldwell by the Lenoir News Topic about their 3rd place finish. http://www.newstopic.net/articles/2006/11/26/sports/40spartanscomeinthird.txt

11-22-06

Saint Defeats Davie County 48-23 in Indian Duals Finals

Happy Thanksgiving came to the Tribe on Wednesday with a rare win over Davie County in the Indian Duals Finals. Match scores can be viewed on the Indian Duals page under Results. I would like to personally thank all the deer hunters for letting their boys stay to help us win the tournament.

The Tribe is finding ways to win with great individual efforts and Head Coach Billy Baker mixing the line up better than Martha Stewart with Hamilton Beach Tater Blender. Our wrestler's individual match results was 55 wins to 15 loses. Out of the 55 wins we finished the matches with 33 pins. We scored 308 team points against 70 for all opponents. The tournament's championship final with Davie saw the Tribe pin 7 times in its 9 wins. The next best news is that we gave up only one pin in the finals against a very good Davie County team that roled through their pool. The Tribe's dual record now stands at 11-0.

Everyone in the line up is making great contributions. One of the surprises of the Indian Duals was the insertion of freshman Sam Bernhardt into the line up after the injury Sam Monish. Bernhardt takes a forfeit against Avery and then pins his opponent in the last pool match against Olympic that placed the Tribe into the finals. And how about Brandon Townsend, now 4-0 with a big pin for us in the Davie final. From Kurt and Cody Stephens at 103 to Micheal Ellis at 275, the Tribe has out matched all the opponents. There are 10 wrestlers with undefeated records. The energy and drive will have to be maintained next week as we take on 4A East Burke.

Indian Duals Pictures

Indian Duals T Shirts

11-18-06

Saint Wrestling Wins Lincolnton Dual Tournament Title

This tournament was great for the Tribe to introduce our on coming underclassmen into more mat time competition. Our young wrestlers demonstrated wrestling skills and strengths that displayed that they are ready to challenge for those prized starting positions. We dominated all the vast majority of matches, so everyone performed well.

The match results can be seen on our Current Dual Record link on the Latest News Page.

Each team in the tourament was given one most outstanding wrestler award for their team and the selection was made by the coach of the team. The top two teams were given two awards.

Sam Monish was awarded one of our most outstanding wrestlers in the light weigh division. Justin Baumgarner was selected from the heavy weight classes for his showing of athletic ability and brute force. Congratulations to these two Saint Wrestlers.

11-16-06

Saint Opens Season With 59-15 Win

The score does not indicate the toughness of the match. Lake Norman came after Saint with the heart and effort of champions. I expect this Lake Norman team to surprise several teams this year. It was a great night of wrestling.

The long awaited appearance of Kurt and Cody Stephens on a vasity mat came to reality tonight. Kurt Stephens started and won his first varsity match with a pin to start the night off for the Tribe. Cody Stephens dominated his prelimenary match with a 12-1 lead before pinning in the third. These two mat rats have watched both their older brothers compete and win for the Tribe and now they continue the Stephens winning tradition at Saint. The future is bright for the Tribe with these two ready four their four year run.

The winners tonight for the Tribe was Kurt Stephens, Jesus Vazquez, Chris Moody, Travis Paap, Bradley Pendleton, Sam Monish, Brandon Lackey, Cody Rink, Steven Rink, Seth Eckard, Robert Wessels.

There were numerous matches that deserve recongition. Justin Baumgarner lost tonight in one of the most physical early season matches I have witnessed in several years. Although Justin lost in the closing period, his effort was overhelming considering he only had a few days of wrestling practice since the football season. Every since his days as kid in the wrestling club, he always shown more heart than his body frame can hold.

Bradley Pendleton defeats Ben Cloninger (a previous state placer) with a last peroid Escape and Takedown. It was a great displace of endurance and strategy. Bradley is rising on the career leader board and is a returning regional placer. He had a very stong state tournament and we are looking forward to a great senior year.

Seth Echard, a junior, demonstrated he was going to be a contenter for Tribe line up with a second period pin over his opponent. After being taken down in the first he refused to be dominated and tie the score with two reversals at the close of the period. 31 seconds into the 2nd period he pinned. We looking forward to watching this young man grow for the Tribe.

Robert Wessels in the heavy weight match brought the Crowd and Mom and Dad and the Coaching Staff out of their seats with one of the greatest individual comebacks I have witnesses since the days of Stu Baby. Losing 4-0 under the weight of a full 275 pound opponent for four f-u-l-l _ l-o-o-n-n-g-g _ m-i-n-u-t-e-s-s-s-s, Roberts opponent took the down position to start the third period. This must have allowed Robert to have a minute to get the air, that had been mashed out of his lungs for four f-u-l-l _ l-o-o-n-n-g-g _ m-i-n-u-t-e-s-s-s-s, back into his lungs. I know this for a fact for, as a trained observer such as I truely am, I could see the his cold grey/blue cheeks turn a rosey pink just after a few, actually 10, gasping intakes of air. Man, I knew he was ready then. As the referee called for Robert to take top position, the Crowd and Mom and Dad and the Coaching Staff settle into a coma in our seats waiting to watch another two f-u-l-l _ l-o-o-n-n-g-g _ m-i-n-u-t-e-s-s-s-s of a reversal and lung crushing weight. BUT WAIT. WHAT JUST HAPPENED. The big boy on bottom came to a sitting position OOHHHH NOOOOOO. Robert, who in a few short seconds decided he really liked breathing, grabbed around the big boys face and CLINCHED THE CHIN, SNAPPED BACK HIS HEAD, LOCKED IN A OVER THE TOP HEAD AND ARM HEAD LOCK, AND PUT THE OPPONENT ON HIS BACK. WELL THE SEATS IN THE CROWD AND MOM AND DAD AND THE COACHING STAFF WAS E-E-E-M-M-M-P-P-P-T-T-T-T-Y-Y-Y-Y. A CHANT WENT ROARING THROUGH THE GYM. ROBERT-ROBERT-ROBERT. Four 45 seconds Robert kept the control and got the pin call at at time of 4:55. I know this for a fact because, as a trained observer such as I truely am, I smacked the gym floor at the same time the referee smacked the mat. At that second I thought I broke my delicate fingers. I know this for a fact because, as a trained observer such as I truely am, my fingers hurt real bad and my wrist was not doing to well either. But it was worth the pain to be at mat side celebrate a great win by a quality young man that has battled against overhelming opponents for the last several years. This is what high school wrestling is really all about. It is not always about the super wrestlers that you expect to win. It's about young men who battle, grow, and succeed. This makes a great memory for life for the Crowd and Mom and Dad and the Coaching Staff. Great win Robert.

11-11-06

Tribe Opens Season at Home Against Lake Norman

Expectations are high again with this year's group of wrestlers. With 4 starting seniors and 8 starting Juniors in the line up, the Tribe has the potential of another great season. The season may start slowly with a large number of our athletes catching some rest time from a much improved football season and post season playoff game.

This years's team will be led by returning starters and Seniors Bradley Pendleton, Jesus Vazquez, Robert Wessels, and Josh Young. Brad and Jesus are returning state qualifiers and Jesus was last year's state runner up at 103. Robert was a solid performer last year with a 24-21 record and Josh Young won a huge match for the Tribe last year to put the Tribe into the State Finals.

There was a change made to the weight classifications this year as the old weight of 275 has now been moved to 285. I'm sure that's going to be an pretty sight. I wonder if we will ever get back to the old school weight class of Unlimited Food Supply.

The opener will be at home on Thursday night. Gates open at 6:00 PM with the match at 6:30 PM.

Check the Varsity Schedule for full details of the season. The day of the date has been added to the schedule for ease of day reconginition when you read the schedule so you may want to reprint it again. A new link was added to the top of Annoucement Page so you can click right to the Varsity Schedule.