Announcements 2009

Announcements 2009
This page was last update 01/06/16 10:17 AM
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Ray Farnsworth - 103 State Champion
Kurt Stephens - 119 3rd
Cody Stephens - 125 4th
Logan Self - 152 5th
Steven Rink - 189 3rd

It has been a record setting year for the Tribe. 37-2 Dual Record. The most dual wins in the history of Saint Wrestling. State Runner Up performance at the Individual State Championship was the highest placement in this event in the schools history. The most State Placers that I can recall on one team.

CVAC Conference Regular Season Champions, CVAC Conference Tournament Champions, Final Four in the State Duals, 3A Western Regional Champions with 8 state qualifiers, State Runner Up in the State Individual Championship.

Ray Farnsworth earns a state championship crown and becomes only the third state champion for St. Stephens. Robbie Lail 2X and Drew Forshey 4X were before Ray as Saints only state champions.

What a great year. What a great team. What a great parent support group. Thanks to all making St. Stephens a model wrestling program.

Saint finished as champions of the 3A Western Regional with 177 points, a 32 point lead over second place Mooresville at 145. All the tournament scores, brackets, and placers can be seen on our Regional link on the Latest News page. You can also click on the State link and it take you to the just released brackets for the State Tournament.

Saint will take 8 state tournament qualifiers to Winston-Salem next week.
Ray Farnsworth @ 105 Champion
Kurt Stephens @ 121 Champion
Logan Self @ 152 Champion
Cody Stephens @ 127 Second Place
Gunnar McDowell @ 142 Second Place
Brandon Lackey @ 147 Second Place
Steven Rink @ 191 Third Place
Michael Ellis @ 217 Fourth Place

New Milestones were reached in the tournament by three of our wrestlers.
Additional congratulations to these state placers.

Logan Self earned his 150th career wins when he won the championship match tonight.

Cody Stephens marched past the 100 win milestone and finished the tournament with one additonal win.

A big thanks goes out to the Saint Moms that did an outstanding job on two fronts, the coaches hospitality room and the wrestlers' room. The food was just great and very appreciated by the coaches. I'm sure the wrestlers said thanks to the moms, yeah right, so heres to you ladies.

Let's all take joy in knowing how well the tournament went with everyone involved in making it a success. To the Grill'n Crew, the Chow Hounds, Coaches Room, Wrestler's Room, the set up, the tear down, the clean up, and ,oh yeah, the wrestlers. It takes a village to raise a wrestling program. Thanks to all.

We made another great run but just couldn't get by 2X state champions Parkland. We end the season 37-2. The most dual team wins in a season by any team in Saint history.

The Mooresville match was a great win and also an exciting win down to the last match. Everyone did all they could against the big guns of the #2 ranked Mooresville. Saint was ranked #4 as a dual team.

Pinning for the Tribe was Ray Farnsworth, Kurt Stephens, and Gunnar McDowell. Alex Pollard and Cody Stephens both majored with 9-1 wins. In the first 7 matchs, the Tribe won 5 matches led 26-6. Mooresville stuck back winning the next 5 matches with one pin, one major decision, and 3 decisions.

With only 2 matches left in the dual, Saint was ahead 26-25. Only Michael Ellis and Brandon Townsend stood in the way of Mooresville claiming the match. Here we had the #2 and #4 teams going down to the final 2 matches. The final two matches pitting the closely ranked Saint and Mooresville Big Guys.

At 215 Saint's Michael Ellis, ranked #4, was taking on Nathan Lemings, ranked #2. Michael scored in the first period with a takedown as time was running out. SS 2 MO 0. Leming scored an escape in the second to draw closer SS 2 MO 1. The two wrestlers kept locking, banging, and pulling through most of the 3rd period. Leming was awarded a point as Michael was called on a stalling call. SS 2 MO 2. Time was running out and it looked as if overtime was the future of this match. With just 10 seconds remaining Michael worked an angle and scored a takedown to seal the match SS 4 MO 2. Michael's win gave Saint a 29-25 lead going into the heavy weight match.

Saint now had only a 4 point win. A lose by a major decision and 4 points would tie the team score, but Mooresville would win the match by criteria of most matches won. Anything more than that would be an out right win for Mooresville. Brandon did not have to win. He just could not have a big lose.

Saint's cantankerous small heavy weight Brandon Townsend, ranked #5, was now facing a true large heavy weight, Jordan Marsh, ranked #4. Brandon fought hard the first period as the two pushed each other all over and off the mat. No score in the first period. Marsh took down in the second period and scored a reversal to lead 0-2 after the end of the period. So far, so good. Brandon had held his own up until this point. They went neutral to start the 3rd period. Marsh scored and take down to go out 0-4 in the lead. Brandon was now under the weigh of a full heavy weight. Brandon could not get the big guy off of him. Brandon was then warned by the official for stalling on bottom. Duhh!!! Brandon was mashed into the mat. The official gives Marsh a point for another stalling point. Now the score is 0-5. Just 3 points away from giving up a major decision and the match. Time started running down, just 20 second left. BAMMMM!!!! The official gives Marsh another point for stalling on bottom. Score now 0-6. Just two more points for Marsh and the match would be lost. 10 seconds left.

Could Brandon hang on and not get turned? Will the official think to award more points against Bandon's effort to just breath on bottom. It looks like DOOM is near.

"But WAIT! (do-do-do-do-dooming)(sing like "Pretty Women). What Do I See! (do-do-do-do-dooming), Brandon's making a come back, I see. YeaaaaH! Bandon's making a come back, I see."

Bandon SCORRRES a reversal, clock runs out, score 2-6, Brandon looses his match with Marsh. BUT WE WIN. Saint 29-28

Saint once again is in the final four of the state dual. There are a lot of teams that only dream of getting this far. A great year win a 37-2

Congratulations are in order for three Saint Wrestlers this week.
Gunnar McDowell just passed his 75 win milestone and now stands at 79.
Alex Pollard passed 50 wins and now stands at 53.
Paul Lane reached 25 career wins.

I apologize for the delay in updating, but other duties have required my extra time. Thanks to all of you that have expressed well wishes and support to my family and to Dawn and Dillon Lail's family in this trying time.

Saint defeated Hunter Huss in the first round of the State Duals Tuesday night by a score of 63-9.

The next match of the night turned out to be a nail biter for the Tribe in a 39-26 win over Northwest Cabarrus. Saint racked up four pins on the night by Ray Farnsworth, Gunnar McDowell, Logan Self, and Brandon Townsend.

The match started at 105. After the first two matches it was tied 6-6. Kurt Stephens pushed the Tribe ahead with a major decision and put the Tribe up 1-6. After that point, Northwest Cabarrus went on a rampage for the next four matches with the heart of their line up.

By the time these four matches were over the Tribe was down 10-23. Kenny Dellinger and Saylor Barnette fought off their opponents to only loose by major decisions. This was a turning point of the match that could have put the Tribe in a deep hole, but Kenny's and Saylor's efforts cut short the potential gains that North Cabarrus was hoping for in those matches. Great job by these two wresters to keep it close enough for a come back by the Tribe.

Saint then kicked in to save the match. Gunnar McDowell started the comeback with a pin to pull the Tribe back to 16-23. Brandon Lackey major decisioned, 20-23.

A coaching decision was made and Zak Hampton went out at 162. It was gut check time for our seniors to win the match. Zak picked this time to be the match of his life and a match that will remembered by the Saint Family for years to come. Zak scored, and scored, and scored on a taller opponent that, appearance wise, would make you think it was impossible to do. After three periods of excitement, Zak majored his opponent 14-2. His win put the Tribe ahead 24-23. This performance could not have come at a more critical time for the Tribe.

Logan Self pinned in the next match at the 2:51 mark and the Tribe moved out to a 30-23 lead. Steven Rink decisioned to push the score to 33-23.

The match was not won yet. Ahead by 10, the Tribe could not allow NW Cabarrus to pin in last two matches.

NW Cabarrus made one last run, but fell short. They won in overtime on the next match which put the score to 33-26. The match was won with a 7 point lead. Brandon Townsend made the final statement for the Tribe win a pin that made the final score 39-26.

The Tribe is now 36-1. The next round of State Duals and opponents have not been set. Snow delays of other matches have caused them to be wrestled on Wednesday night.

We will post any information on opponents and locations as soon as possible.

The Tribe rolled out big in its last CVAC Conference Tournament with a 57.5 point lead over the 2nd place finisher, Newton-Cononver. Building up to a 236.5 point total, the Tribe placed all fourteen team members into medal contention.

First place champions were: Ray Farnsworth @ 105 scoring 22 points, Kurt Stephens @ 121 scoring 22 points, Cody Stephens @ 127 scoring 23 points, Gunnar McDowell @ 145 scoring 23 points, Logan Self @ 171 scoring 19 points, and Steven Rink @ 191 scoring 22 points

Second place winners were Alex Pollard @132 scoring 14 points, Paul Lane @142 scoring 15.5 points, Brandon Lackey @154 scoring 15 points, and Micheal Ellis @ 217 scoring 18 points.

Fourth place winners were Evan Payne @ 114 with 10 points, Kenny Dellinger @ 137 with 10 points, Zak Hampton @ 160 with 9 points.

It was a great team effort with all members driving up the score for the Tribe. This tournament concluded all the CVAC competition for the near future as the conferences will realign next year.

The huge question now is the STATE DUALS. As soon as I hear where it is going to be held, I will put up the infomation with driving instructions.

Saint Claims Undefeated Conference Championship Season
Defeats Bandys 57-15

It was a great way to finish the regular CVAC season by clinching an undefeated 9-0 record. The Tribe put Bandys away early in the nineth match of the night and just kept going.

The Tribe won 11 of the 14 match ups. 4 by pins, 3 by majors, 1 by decision, and received 3 forfeits.

Ray Farnsworth, Kurt Stephens, Cody Stephens, Steven Rink, and Logan Self finished the conference season with a 9-0 record.

Gunnar McDowell finished 8-0 and Paul Lane finished with a 7-0 conference record.

As always, it took a full team effort to claim yet another conference title and the 9th one in 10 years with an undefeated conference record.

It was great to recognized the Seniors on the team and to show them our appreciation for their efforts to continue the winning tradition of Saint Wrestling.

And you Cheerleaders were so great. It looked like everyone enjoyed themselves.

Next up is the second goal for the season. The Conference Tournament Championship. Go the Latest News page and click on the CVAC Conference Tournament link for updated information. See you at Hickory on Saturday.

Saint Keep Driving Towards Conference Championship
Defeats Maiden 70-6
Now it is Senior Night with Bandys

We are down to the last regular season match after Saint defeated Maiden 70-6. It's time to get the game face on and close out this conference season with a big win against.

I just loved those cheerleaders in the top row on Maiden Night. I hope they show up BIG in the Bandy's Match Tuesday Night.

It will be Senior night and a special time to reflect on the contribution of our Seniors Saylor Barnette, Micheal Ellis, Zak Hampton, Brandon Lackey, Paul Lane, Caleb Peterson, Steven Rink, Logan Self, Brandon Townsend, Sierra Keller, and Stella Hlawna our foreign exchange student. These young men and women have had a great impact on the program in the past four years as well as the current 33-1 season. I hope you join us in the pre-match recognition of our guys and gals.

There will be a lot on the line Tuesday night for the team and individual conference championships and all conference awards. You have got to be there to support the Tribe in their effort of an undefeated CVAC Title.

Saint defeated the Bears of Bunker Hill tonight 69-12, winning in 12 of the 14 weight classes. That pushes our conference record to 7-0 with just two more dual meets to go in the conference season.

The Tribe rolled tonight with 8 pins coming from Evan Payne, Kurt Stephens, Alex Pollard, Gunnar McDowell, Brandon Lackey, Logan Self, Micheal Ellis, and Brandon Townsend. Not one match made it out of the second period tonight. Ironically, Gunnar McDowell and Bandon Lackey had two back to back pins in 0:57 for the quickest pins of the match. Steven Rink had the lone decision tonight with commanding 12-5 win. The Bears forfeited to Ray Farnsworth, Cody Stephens, and Paul Lane.

Once again, Brandon Townsend turned in the statistically odd match of the night in the heavy weight match. No points were awarded tonight by the official in the match. No points were scored in the first period. Bunker Hill took down in the second period. Brandon turned his opponent for a pinning in 3:06. No takedown, no reversal, no escape, just a pin. Get-R-Done Brandon.

The Tribe closed out another win in conference action with a 75-6 win over Hickory, this runs the record to 31-1 in overall action and 6-0 in conference action. With 3 matches left in the conference and Bandys yet to be defeated in conference action, it will take the full concentration of the Tribe to collect yet another conference crown. The conference season closer at Senior Night with Bandys appears to be shaping into a dramatic conclusion to the season. We still have Bunker Hill, an improving Maiden squad, and Bandys that will see Newton-Conover before they come to our house for the season closser.

Also, Jonathan Troutmans's letter of congratulations was added to the posting of the NC match. Nicholas Chance's letter added Thursday evening. Drew Forshey's letter added Friday at 4:30. Matt Helton's was already listed the first night.

Lay Some Sugar on Me. Nancy, could you move Billy's 300th win sculpture out from in front of the cheese dip. I have a radio show to do in a few minutes. Unplug the toaster so I can plug in this transmitter. Oh! The mic is already on again.

Welcome fans to the "Super Station of Saint Wrestling". We've got a big show tonight for you, so relax, get a cup of coffee or "cold pop" and settle in for a great night of SAINT WRESTLING.

Well I guess you been waiting to hear the results. And I've been waiting on a big match to turn the "Super Station of Saint Wrestling" back on this year. WNNC & WHKY always complains when I knock them off the air. I normally don't get excited about a 49-9 win, but it was against the #2 ranked 2A school Newton-Conover and our closest competition for the CVAC Regular Season Championship.

Both Saint and Newton went into tonight's conference match with a 4-0 record. The match ups tonight on paper were down right puzzeling and scary. Every match seem to have a state ranked Super 32 wrestler. How do you match up? How do you bump? Who will they bump? Who will get the odd or even match coin toss? Whose stomach was going to heave up that Sub Way from acid reflux? Will this 2009 group of young men up hold the wrestling expectations of Saint?

The offical pulled the starting weight of 103. Newton won the toss. It was out of our hands on the match up. Our wrestlers had to step up and give us their best effort in order to keep us in the hunt for a conference regular season title.

105: Our little Ray-Ray, Ray Farnsworth #1 3a faced off with Ian Canrobert #8 2a at 103. Ray just doesn't give you enough time to reach for a handfull of popcorn. Take down - Pin 1:05, SS 6 NC 0.

114: Evan Payne matched up in a "must win" match with Eric Holbrook. Holbrook got the 1st takedown, but we needed leadership tonight and Evan fought back with an escape-takedown-Nearfall 2 for 5 straight points before Holbrook was able to get out of the boney elbows and knees of Major Payne. The two wrestlers swapped escapes for the duration of the match. Evan wins 6-4. SS 9 NC 0

121: Kurt Stephens #2 3a went up with Austin Setzer #8 2a. Kurt took charge in the first period with take down and nearfall 3 to close the period 5-0. Kurt took down in the second period and scored and escape and another take down for a 8-0 lead. Setzer held his ground on bottom. To his credit, he fought off the pinning combinations. Setzer gain two points in the third with penalty point and escape to hold the match to a 8-2 decision for Kurt. SS 12 NC 0

Special Congratulations goes out to Kurt Stephens for reaching his 125th career win milestone with this win tonight.

125: Cody Stephens #2 3a took on Tyler Knopp. By all prematch planning, Cody had to score a pin here to keep us on pace to win the dual. Cody delivered on his effort with a second period pin at 3:00. SS 18 NC 0

132: Alex Pollard stepped up big against Ben Reinhardt #6 2a. This was to be a swing match for Saint. On paper this was to be a big point swing for Newton. It would take a huge effort on Alex's part just to keep Newton from grabbing a pin at this weight class. The first period started with a wild scramble and Alex came out on top with a take down. Reinhart quickly recovered and started hooking up for a Peterson Roll. Alex broke free to allow the escape. First period 2-1 for Alex. We seem to be on to something here. Reinhardt took down in the second and started grabbing for the Peterson Roll. "Get away Alex! Run Alex Run!" Alex pushed away to allow the escape. Score now 2-2. The strategy for the match was set. Alex took Reinhardt down 3 more times in the period and let him up for escapes. At the end of the second period Alex was up 10-5. Alex's attack strategy continued to work in the third and started breaking down the resistance of his opponent. With two more take downs building the lead to 14-6, Alex finally scored a nearfall 3. Reinhardt worked out of the nearfall for another escape. The match ended 19-8. A huge 4 point win at this point of the match against Newton. After a few bad outings last week, this is was a turning point effort put out by Alex tonight. GREAT EFFORT. SS 22 NC 0

137: Kenny Dellinger faced off the with Charlie Avis #6 2a. The odds were obvious. Kenny was going against a very seasoned wrestler for Newton. Kenny had to do what a lot of wrestlers had done for Saint in the past. Don't get Pinned. Not only did Kenny not get pinned, he wrestled tough on bottom to gain needed escapes. Kenny lost tonight 3-6, but as far as tonight's needs for the team, Kenny won the challenge put in front of him. GREAT EFFORT Kenny. SS 22 NC 3

142: Saylor Barnette gave us the match of his wrestling career at Saint with a huge win over Randy Ortega. Saylor just has a way of slowing the match down, like a soft gentle rain. Nothing flashy, Nothing in a hurry. The match was a take down / escape trade off between the two wrestlers. At the close of the second period, Saylor was ahead 5-4. Can Saylor hang on for just one more period. Saylor started the third on bottom and quickly scored and escape. Score now 6-4 for Saylor. The time started runing down in the third, "Keep Circling Saylor", "Stay Low", well he never listens to me. Ortega burst inside for a take down to tie the score with less than 30 seconds left. Saylor is in the referee's position, little time left, tie score. The crowd was screaming,"Get UP,Get UP", maybe he'll listen the them. 15 second Saylor fights up, scores and escape, leads 7-6, 10 seconds left. Saylor blocks off the final attack and wins the match 7-6. Our high school should give the church crowd a free months rent after this match. Saylor just won a huge match in the dual meet against our main competition. It blasted the door open for an early conclusion to the dual meet. SS 25 NC 3

147: Gunnar McDowell #6 3a faced off with Matt Owensby #6 2a. Matt was bumped up from 142 to go after Gunnar and possible put Newton back in the hunt. Compared to Gunnar, Owensby looked about 7 feet tall. It was going to be a brawl and we hoped to come out on top. Gunnar's years of wrestling experience served him well tonight. In the first period, Gunnar scored three take downs and gave two escapes. 6-2 after the first period. Owensby fought back in the second scoring 3 points on an escape and take down. Gunnar escaped for one point. 7-5 after the second period. The matched tightened with hard wrestling in the third. Gunnar took down and managed an escape to pull out and finish the match with a 8-5 win. According to one local paper, Gunnar looks striking similar to Saylor Barnette. I had not noticed that until now, but gee, its so obvious now. (Just a little fun'n there paper, don't get upset, we're tickled you were there.) SS 28 NC 3

154: Brandon Lackey #6 3a drew Eric Cernuda. Win this match and the dual meet would be out of hand for NC. Brandon wasted no time in the attack. At the end of the first period it was 8-2. The second period ended with a reversal and pin by Brandon at the 3:17 mark of the match. To this point, this was only the 3rd pin of the night and we were on the 9th match. Brandon's pin took Saint to 34 points. Even if Newton pinned us in the remaining matches, Newton could only score 33 points. The dual meet win was clinched. SS 34 NC 3

For those of you that have been with us the last three years, you could not think of a better way for Brandon to finish his senior year dual match with Newton. Just two years ago, the full burden of a undefeated conference season was unfairly dumped onto Brandon at Newton. In that match he battled his tail off. He won his match. The last match of the night. He thought he had secured the win against Newton that night. He was wrong. We needed an impossible pin to save the undefeated conference streak. Brandon wrestled a great match against a strong opponent and won. We lost the dual meet and our conference streak by one point.

Brandon's win, by pin, sealed tonight's match win and kept our goal of an undefeated conference season alive. There is a power above that watches these things too. Newton could come back at this point with all pins to get a score of 33, but they would be the one coming up one point short. A GREAT WIN for Brandon and the Tribe.

162: Zak Hampton took on Ethan Carter #2 2a. Zak gave a great effort as he fought off the Beast of Newton, but Carter overpowered Zak with his wrestling skill at the 3:46 mark of the match. Newton's only pin of the night and, what proved to be, their last win of the night. SS 34 NC 9

173: Logan Self #9 3a 160 was bumped up to face Gilbert Rodriguez #3 2a 173. This was a match up of two very stong athletes and proved out to be an very tight win for the Tribe. Rodriguez scored first with and escape in the second period. Logan responded by scoring the only take down of the match in the second period. Logan escaped in the third to complete the win with a 3-1 score. A great match and effort by Logan against a heavier nad higher ranked opponent. SS 37 NC 9

91: Steven Rink #4 3a out wrestled Michael Self #9 2a for his win tonight. The match was tie 2-2 into the middle of the second period. After he was taken down in the second, Steven out manuvered Self from the bottom position to score a reversal and nearfall 3 to close out the second period. Steven had bottom in the third and once again gained a reversal to close out the scoring with a 9-2 win. SS 40 NC 9

217: Micheal Ellis #5 3a won against Clint Hare tonight in an action packed 3-2 win. Hare was awarded a point in the first period for Micheal's hard charging attack, (which kinda continue out of the circle, through the out of bounds area, and off the mat), but it was a close call that I surely would not have made. Micheal rebounded quickly in the second period and scored an escape. As time was closing out in the period, Micheal score the only take down of the match. The score was know 3-1. Hare took down and gained an escape to tighten the score to the final 3-2 decision. SS 43 NC 9

287: Brandon Townsend #5 3a faced Andrew Temain #7 2a. It was a push and pull first period with no one gaining the advantage. Brandon took down in the second. Brandon had a plan. A secrete diobolical plan. Off the whistle the plan was activated. The dreaded TR move. If you don't know what TR is, that's because its a secrete. It worked. Tremain was put to his back and pinned to close off the night. (If Andrew had not attacked Coach Baker from behind at last weeks JV tournament at Alexander Central, Brandon would have never used that move. Justice had to served and Coach Baker's honor restored.) Brandon's closure with a pin signified the total team effort put forth tonight against Newton. SS 49 NC 9

After the match, a special presentation was given to Coach Baker. Last weeks win againt West Caldwell was Coach Baker's 300th career win. Listed below are reprints of information and a letter sent in to honor Coach Baker tonight. Thanks to the Saint Wrestling Fans for staying after the match to honor Coach Baker.

Read by Roy Hoffman:
For those of you that visit our web site, you may know that we keep track of milestones reached by our wrestlers.

This is our night to honor Coach Baker for reaching a milestone in his coaching career. With his 64-10 win over West Caldwell on 1-9-09, Coach Baker reached his 300^th career win as a head coach.

Starting his head coaching career at Lincolnton HS, know as the Alternate School for West Lincoln, Billy battled his way to building a wrestling program. Without realizing that West Lincoln had already sucked up all the wrestling money in Lincoln County, Billy’s only support was himself and one pack of mat tape. He saved and reused his mat tape every day. I think it is still in use today at Lincolnton.

After being here 10 years, but 9 years as head coach Saint 267 wins 51 losses 83.96%

7 Conference Regular season championships, which tonight might claim the 8 title.

All these accomplishments were not made with a casual effort toward the success of Saint Wrestling. He has made every sacrifice of hours, research, counseling, and detailed Coaches Meetings. He has planned development activities and functions to strengthen our wrestlers physically, mentally, and in mat experience.

Disney National Duals, Saint Wrestling Summer Camp, App Camp. Not to mention the planning of our regular season schedule to expose our wrestlers to the best competition in the state.

We thank Billy for his love of Saint’s wrestlers and the wrestling program.

We wish Billy Baker a continued rich and fulfilling coaching career going into the future of Saint Stephens wrestling.

Here to present our token of gratitude to Billy is Mrs. Taylor, the principal of St. Stephens and Dennis Whitner, the Athletic Director of St. Stephens. The statue is a Dan Gable sculpture and the plaque commemorates the date and score over West Caldwell marking his 300^th win.

Mrs Tayor read the following letters along with other ones that I do not have a copy of for posting. This letter was sent in by Matt Helton who was on the first group of wrestlers coached by Billy when he came to St. Stephens. Other letters were from Drew Foshey, Jonathan Troutman, and Nicholas Chance. If I can get a copy of them I will place them here for our historical record.

From our Elementary Wrestler, Nicholas Chance, that had to move away to Louisiana

It's me, Nic Chance. My mom asked me to write a note on what a great coach you have been to me. Moving away made me very sad that I would not be able to wrestle in high school for you or St. Stephens. You worked me hard and were tough on me when I wanted to be lazy and use the same moves over and over like the double arm hook. I always knew I could look in the corner and you would tell me exactly what I needed to do. My favorite memories are from the VA Tech wrestling camp and practicing with the high school guys. When I wrestle now I don't have you in my corner, but I still can feel you cheering me on and I still hear you pushing me to do my very best. I will always have you to thank for teaching me to love wrestling and to give everything I have when I step on the mat and to be a good sport. I will make you proud Coach Baker and you will be the first person I call when I have my first high school state title. Oh, and thank you for passing on the legacy of getting sick before each match!

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Coach Baker on reaching this milestone in his coaching career. As a former St. Stephens wrestler, I know that Coach Baker makes many sacrifices to sustain a winning wrestling program. Coach Baker's degree of dedication to his wrestlers and determination to win are rarely seen on the high school level and we are honored that he has chosen to coach at St. Stephens. This accomplishment is a testament to the hard work and dedication that Coach Baker has shown throughout his coaching career and in his daily life. Thank you, Coach Baker, for the positive impact you have had on my life and this wrestling community in general. Congratulations, on reaching 300 wins! We are thankful for your continued efforts that have created and maintained a winning tradition here at St. Stephens.

This is from Drew Froshey, 4x State Champion, Graduate of UNC & ACC Champion

When I was asked to write something about coach Billy Baker I thought it would be really easy. After about a week of trying to do so, I have found the opposite to be true because there is so much I want to say about the guy. Not only has he been a huge part of my career and the success that I experienced, he has been a huge part of the St. Stephens wrestling family. I think I speak for everyone when I say we are truly blessed to have such a wonderful coach. The expectations that he has held us all accountable to have never been too far out of reach. As a result, SSHS has continued to have top notch teams and individual wrestlers year after year. Upon hearing that coach Baker was reaching his 300th win, I was not surprised at all. It was never a question of when he would do something like this, but rather how long it may take.

I would love to be the first to say I am very proud of you coach Baker. You deserve this recognition more than anybody else. The amount of time you have sacrificed for this team and this school goes well beyond thanks. Even though you were only my wrestling coach for 4 short years, you are truly a great friend now, and that will last forever. Thank you for all of the lessons you have taught me both on and off the wrestling mat. I know I speak for everyone when I say "thank you." I love you coach, you deserve to be proud.

This is Matt Helton's letter, Serving in the Military at Walter Reed Hospital

Here is my best attempt at brevity- please pardon if we have different definitions of the term! Coach Baker is more than just a wrestling coach; he is an encourager, friend, leader, mentor, and life coach.

As a skinny sophomore that was unsure of whether I even wanted to wrestle for another season Coach Baker would find me in the hallways and do what he does best; convince me and the other soon to be wrestlers that this really was our passion. This first lesson on passion did not just stop at the conclusion of a hallway conversation or on a wrestling mat; this lesson then turned into a foggy haze of exhaustion following one of his “Don’t Cheat Your Body” kind of practices and now; it is crystal clear- anything you set your mind to- do it with tenacity, vigor, and whole heartedly. Thank you for teaching us about the importance of having a good work ethic.

As a friend Coach Baker broke the mold of “I’m a teenager and over there are the teachers.” To me he was two important things; available and approachable. I cannot recall one instance where I would come to his office and he would turn me away because it wasn’t his posted office hours or because he was too busy. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate it but now; after six more years of school I have found his open door policy to be unparalleled- Thank you for simply being there.

A noun in Webster’s that should have Coach Baker’s picture beside it is leadership. Leadership is defined as the capacity or ability to lead; he took our “Bad News Bears” look alike team to our first conference championship the first year he was coaching at SSHS. He again saw to it that this was done in finer fashion the next two years following that I wrestled on his team. With this being said; it would be foolish for one to equate only winning with leadership. With the precision of a military strategist he won over the teams heart and mind both in victory and defeat; he instilled in us a will and determination to be the best- and if not for our own selfish motives, we wanted to be the best for him. Thank you for your firm hand and calm demeanor in which you led us.

His attributes of being a mentor and a life coach have had far reaching effects in my life and many others- of this I am certain. Now as an Army Physical Therapist I work with many young men that need the same guidance and encouragement that I once needed, literally- to be brave and take the first steps. I find myself using the tools Coach Baker has taught me to help all sorts of people. I learned to be hard on folks that need it and more gentle on others- humm, maybe I didn’t learn that gentle part from him… Regardless Coach Baker should know that I am keenly aware that I would not have succeeded in college or be where I am at today without having him and a few others like him in my life. Thank you Coach Baker and congratulations on this accomplishment.

Well, that's the show for today. WNNC and WHKY are outside begging to get back on line. From Beautiful County Home Road, this is Roy signing off the "SUPER STATION of SAINT WRESTLING".

It was a great day of wrestling for our younger team members. After a long day of wrestling against 10 teams, our boys came out with a hard fought championship.

It was a heavy night of forfeits for the scrappy West Caldwell team. There were 6 forfeits to the Tribe and it was a short night of wrestling. See our Latest News page for updated team and individual stats.

Coach Mark Crisp's young wrestling team had a difficult time tonight against the veterian Saint Squad. In only their second year of competition, the Patton team is still in the growing stage, but we are very aware of Coach Crisp's ability to ramp up a program as he did at East Burke.

The Tribe scored 11 pins by Ray Farnsworth, Evan Payne, Kurt Stephens, Cody Stephens, Kenny Dellinger, Gunnar McDowell, Logan Self, Caleb Peterson, Steven Rink, Micheal Ellis, and Brandon Townsend. Paul Lane won by a decision with a 9-2 score.

Kurt Stephens had the quickest pin of the night with a winning time of 0:20.

Ray Farnsworth had the second quickest pin time of the night with a 0:21 seconds pin. Over three conference matches, Ray has disposed of his opponents in 3 mins 23 seconds.

Kenny Dellinger had the 4th quickest pin of the night with a 0:42 seconds pin

Cody Stephens had the 5th quickest pin of the night with a 0:45 seconds pin.

All the confernce results for Tuesday night are updated and the conference race has tightened to a 3 way tie for the top spot. Saint, Newton, and Bandys. See the conference results on the Latest News Page.

Saint War Party you are put on NOTICE. Next Tuesday we wrestle Newton-Conover at home for the top conference spot. It's time for you to spead the word and get our crowds up and involved in the urgency of the moment. Get everyone you know to come to the home match with Newton. GET LOUD. BE PROUD.

Saint Wins 2009 Central Duals Tournament
Saint JV Squad Goes Undefeated to Win JV Dual Tournament

Saint traveled to RS Central this Saturday and captured another dual team tournament championship. The results can be seen on our Current Dual Team Record link on the Latest News page. The Tribe defeated Chase 66-18, West Henderson 75-0, Madison 64-15, and defeated Dobyns-Bennett of Tenn 67-5 in the finals.

During the competition on the day, 2 wrestlers met or passed their upcoming career wins milestones:

Our JV squad worked as a dual team in the JV section of this weekend's tournament. They went undefeated and also won a tournament trophy for their win.

Saint is now 27-1 in dual team action, 2-0 in the CVAC in conference action. We will go back into confernce action this coming Tuesday at Patton HS and then Friday night at West Caldwell. Driving directions to Patton is listed in our MAPS section.

Saint defeated Foard tonight 67-4 to take its 2009 CVAC Record to 2-0, 23-1 overall. Foard's new coach is the highly respected Mike Carey. You can expect the Foard program to make steady progress as Coach Carey builds his program. Although the score does not indicate the intensity of the matches held to night, the Foard program is show great improvement under Coach Carey's leadership. We also notice the much increased participation of the Foard support crowd that attended tonights match. This was more people that we have seen even at Foard's home matches.

The match of the night was the highly charged match between Brandon Lackey at 152 and Bo McArn of Foard. The physical nature of the match charged the crowd on both sides as each wresters were given warnings and then simultaneously given each a point for unnecessary roughness as the scrapping continued. Brandon scored 4 takedowns in the match on his way to a 12-6 conference win.

Ray Farnsworth @103 defeated Foard's 9th ranked wrestler Jefffery Buchanan with a pin at 3:02.

Cody Stephens @ 130 defeated Foard's 15th ranked wrestler Jeremy Griffin with an 18-5 major decision.

Gunnary McDowell @145 defeated Foard's 15th ranked wrestler Hayden Albert win a pin at 4:56.

There were 9 pins on the night for Saint by Ray Farnsworth, Evan Payne, Kurt Stephens, Alex Pollard, Paul Lane, Gunnar McDowell, Logan Self, Steven Rink, and Brandon Townsend.

Kyle Stringfield stepped on the varsity mat tonight with a great win at 215. Kyle out battled Thomas Hopkins to win 5-0.

There was one last match of tense emotion. Kenny Dellinger was a middle schooler at Jacobs Fork and didn't start on the middle shool team. His family moved into the St. Stephens district last spring and Kenny joined our wrestling club. He wrestled all spring and summer with us and paid his dues to win a spot on our varsity team. Tonight was the first match up with the school and schoolmates he left behind just a couple of years back. The Saint War Party knew of the stress of the match on Kenny. Kenny wrestled a controlled match and worked out a 3-1 win to close out the night of wrestling.

One last word about our special guest we had on our bench. Nicholas Chance was one of our young club wrestlers with and considered as a very promising future star for Saint. Coach Baker presented Nicholas with a team picture of our 2008 Indian Classic Championship and everyone signed it. His family moved to Louisiana and we have sorely missed our young friend. We continue hope for the very best for Nicholas and his family. It was great to see him and his family again while they were here on vacation. They are always welcomed.

The Tribe made a strong run at the 4A Champions Cary falling just 20 points off the lead in the final count. We had 11 wrestlers in the finals matches competing for 1st, 3rd, or 5th.

Ray Farnswork claimed the 103 weight class with 3 pins and a 6-0 decision in the final against Cary's 4A State Champion Ben Creed. Ray was voted the MOW of the tournament.

Kurt Stephens pinned his way through the 119 class with 3 straight pins, including the finals. Kurt pinned Harrison Rosenburg of Cary at 3:55 in the match after building a 9-1 lead.

Cody Stephens at 125 pinned his way to the finals and decisioned Brett Rostern of Sanderson 4-1 in the finals

Steven Rink at 189 had 2 pins and a 11-1 decision to go the finals. He lost a 2-3 decison to the independent high school champion from Cary Academy, Miguel Alecio to take 2nd.

Micheal Ellis at 215 had two pins going into the final, but lost in the championship to Derek Holloman to take 2nd place.

Brandon Lackey at 152 scored two pins and two major decisions to capture 3rd place

Evan Payne at 112 had two pins and one decision in the tournament. Congratulations to Evan Payne for reaching his 25 Career Win Milestone

Brandon Townsend at 285 pinned 3 times in the tournament, but lost in the championship and the consolation finals to the same wrestler Kirk Lincoln from Leesville Road. Congratulations To Brandon Townsend for reaching the 50 Career Milestone

During the competiton of the day there were four wrestlers that achieved their next milestone markers.

Hibriten was weak in numbers and gave up too much in forfeits to stand off the Indians tonight. Saint won 6 of 8 contested weight classes, the others were forfeited to Saint.

Our Kurt Stephens at 119 matched up with Scottie Hardiman, currently ranked #2 in 2A on the Super 32. Kurt got the first takedown after several scrambles by both wrestler. Kurt maintained control throughout the match and finished with a 7-0 win.

Our Michael Ellis at 215 took on Zoi Ouellette, currently ranked #1 in 2A on the Super 32. This match ran thought all overtime periods before Michael lost 3-2.

Others that pinned tonight for the Tribe were Cody Stephens in 1:21, Paul Lane in 0:52, Brandon Townsend in 0:45, and the fastest pin of the night was Saylor Barnette in 0:29.

Saint is now 17-1 overall with a 1-0 conference record. The CVAC Conference Standings link is now updated with the lastest reported scores. Go to the Latest News page and click on the link for Conference Standings.

We now prepare for the day long battle at the West Lincoln Rebel Duals this Saturday. WARNING:Please wear personal protective equipment and clothing as West Lincoln supporters are widely known to throw objects at their competition during matches.

St. Stephens wrestling team won the Eden Holiday Classic held at Morehead High School in Eden, NC. This was the first time the Indians have won this individual tournament. This is the second individual tournament the Indians have won this year, having won the Indian Classic last weekend. It was a full team effort with 12 of 14 weight classes placing at the tournament.

St. Stephens place in twelve of the fourteen weight classes. The Indians had six wrestlers in the championship finals. Ray Farnsworth, Cody Stephens, and Stephen Rink won their weigh classes. Kurt Stephens, Logan Self, and Michael Ellis place second. Brandon Townsend placed third at 285. Finishing seventh for the Indians were Evan Payne, Alex Pollard, Kenny Dellinger, and Saylor Barnette. Zak Hampton placed 8th for the Indians.

There are a several exceptional matches or performances that deserve a few comments.

Brandon Townsend wrestled 285. You can't help but be so proud of this young guy. Brandon has been competing for us at 215 until this tournament. He took on huge competitors and only lost one time to capture 3rd. The first match of the tournament for him was nerve racking. His opponent was a full 285 lb standing a head and half taller than Brandon. How Brandon did not collapse under this guy was unbelievable! All heart. Brandon finish 3rd in the tournament.

Ray Farnsworth, on a mission, two pins 0:13 & 0:44, his toughest match was a 23-10 lighting storm.

Evan Paynes 7th place match against RS Central. Trailing 1-3 in the third period, Evan grabbed a takedown and two point near fall to take the lead 5-3. Will he win it now, no, opponent reversed to tie the score as time runs out. OVERTIME. We need this Evan, You need this Evan, Whistle Blows, Evan attacks, gets the takedown, but more, in the takedown he goes for the pin and STICKS IT. Evan Payne takes 7th in overtime with a pin.

Kurt Stephens had two outstanding matches in his drive to the finals. He wrestled a tough Orange HS opponent and won a physically contested 4-3 win. Kurt lost in the finals to nationally ranked Tony Gravely. Kurt didn't give in, but it was tough to match up with Gravely. Kurt scored 6 points. Gravely told Kurt that he was the only one to score on him in two years. A great effort by Kurt.

Cody Stephens showed his metal in his final match. Losing 4-5 with less than 15 seconds left in the 3rd, Cody scrambled from bottom for a reversal and put his opponent in a pinning combination as time ran out, scoring a nearfall 2 points. He won the match on shear desire 8-5.

Kenny Dellinger in his 7th place match battles back from a 0-4 score in the third. Kenny was award a penalty point at the start of the third. 1-4, scored a reversal 3-4, gives up an escape, 3-5. Time is now running out, he got to get the takedown. 10 seconds left, Kenny attacks and gets takedown, time is out. Tie 5-5. OVERTIME. How much has this young wrestler grown in the his short time in the Tribes practice room. Now or never. Whistle blows, Kenny attacks, TAKEDOWN, MATCH OVER. 7-5.

Saylor Barnette in his 7th place match could not have been a sweeter finish. Saylor began the 3rd period down 0-6. By the results of the first two periods, Saylor had to have an unbelievable come back. No sweat for Mr. Excitement Barrnette. Third period starts in the neutral position. Saylor scores a takedown to a pinning combination and STICKS IT. WINS BY PIN.

Logan Self cruised in the tournament, but lost in the finals. He came back from 1-6 with 15 second left to gain a reversal and three point near fall as time ran out. So close to a pin. Logan never backed down in the match. He loss came as he attempted yet another attack and the opponent slipped past for the takedown.

Steve Rink, just full domination all day. Two pins and a techfall in the finals. Little to be said by me when Steve said it all in his performance. He was not scored on all day, not a single point, wins the championship match 15-0.

    1   213.50 St. Stephens
    2   174.00 Orange
    3   164.50 TW Andrews
    4   148.50 Ragsdale
    5   142.00 Southwestern Randolph
    6   141.00 Jack Britt
    7   109.00 Southeast Guilford
    8   106.50 Morehead
   9   101.00 Southwest Guilford
   10    99.00 East Gaston
   11    88.50 Magna Vista
   12    83.00 R-S Central
   13    68.00 RJ Reynolds
   14    61.00 Rockingham County
   15    52.00 Martinsville
   16    50.00 Bassett
   17    42.00 Reidsville
   18    15.00 Veritas Academy

103   Ray Farnsworth, St. Stephens Fall Troy Loutzenheiser, Southwestern Randolph, :44
112   Kyle Narburgh, Jack Britt M-Dec Nick Garneau, Southwest Guilford, 20-7
119   Tony Gravely, Magna Vista T-Fall Kurt Stephens, St. Stephens, 21-6
125   Cody Stephens, St. Stephens Dec Chris Johnson, Orange, 8-5
130   Brandon Hodges, Ragsdale Dec Darius Delgado, Jack Britt, 7-4
135   Jacob Creed, Ragsdale Fall Jack Stephens, R-S Central, 2:16
140   James Esmay, TW Andrews Dec Aaron Culler, RJ Reynolds, 6-5
145   Blair Fewell, Ragsdale Dec Remington Jarrett, Orange, 3-2
152   Jared Bartram, Jack Britt Fall Marty Hall, Morehead, 2:37
160   Jeff Wysosky, Southeast Guilford Dec Logan Self, St. Stephens, 8-6
171   Michael Hodges, Bassett Dec Josh Coles, Magna Vista, 7-3
189   Steven Rink, St. Stephens T-Fall Chris Intehar, Orange, 15-0
215   Christian McLean, Southwest Guilford Fall Michael Ellis, St. Stephens, 5:27
275   Andrew Miller, Bassett Dec Branson Ohara, Southwestern Randolph, 7-5

103   DJ Giles, Morehead T-Fall KC Hunt, Jack Britt, 19-2
112   John Grigg, East Gaston Fall Johnny Luna, RJ Reynolds, 4:46
119   Dakota Aldridge, Southwestern Randolph Fall Devin Blue, TW Andrews, 4:22
125   Ben Welker, Ragsdale Dec Avery Holland, TW Andrews, 3-1
130   Travis Townsend, TW Andrews Dec Taylor Johnson, Martinsville, 9-3
135   Jesse Grigg, East Gaston Fall Jonathan Bennett, Southeast Guilford, 4:45
140   Corey Jonas, East Gaston M-Dec Nick Key, Rockingham County, 11-2
145   Brad Merriman, Rockingham County Dec Gary Sirsombath, TW Andrews, 3-1
152   Baxter Riddleberger, Ragsdale Dec Taylor Cash, Orange, 4-1
160   George Musgrove, Magna Vista Dec Chris Cope, R-S Central, 13-11
171 Malcolm Childress, TW Andrews Dec Nick Shriner, Orange, 11-10
189   Kevin Brackett, Southwestern Randolph Fall Dalton Stewart, Jack Britt, 2:18
215   Ian Kirkman, Morehead Fall Logan Harr, Martinsville, :48
275   Brandon Townsend, St. Stephens Dec Thomas Harrington, Orange, 3-0

103   Justin Meador, Southeast Guilford Fall Geoffrey Haigler, Reidsville, :09
112   David Eggleston, Morehead Dec Ryan Lucas, Southwestern Randolph, 9-3
119   Charlie Humphrey, Ragsdale Dflt Dustin Champion, Orange
125   David Mearns, Southeast Guilford M-Dec Cody Luckett, Reidsville, 12-2
130   James Norman, Orange Dec Darius Snoffner, Southeast Guilford, 8-3
135   James Rodgers, Orange Dflt Jarrid Garneau, Southwest Guilford
140   Angelo Nunez, R-S Central Dec Josh Stanley, Martinsville, 12-7
145   Sam Porterfield, RJ Reynolds Fall Drake Fortner, East Gaston, :36
152   Eddy Roman, Southwestern Randolph Dec Demorrise Anderson, TW Andrews, 6-4
160   Melvin Jones, Southwest Guilford Dec Nick Nagowski, Jack Britt, 9-6
171   Matt Berry, Southwestern Randolph M-Dec Dillon Smith, East Gaston, 11-4
189   William Moore, Reidsville Fall Cedric Webster, TW Andrews, :39
215   Eric Confer, Orange Fall Cameron Fletcher, R-S Central, 3:58
275   Phillip Middlebrooks, TW Andrews Fall Dennis Zirkle, Southwest Guilford, 2:58

103   Mark McLean, TW Andrews Fall Will Riley, Orange, 4:43
112   Evan Payne, St. Stephens Fall Evan Boggs, R-S Central, 4:49
119   Calvin Hinton, Jack Britt Dec Brandon Hicks, Southwest Guilford, 4-3
125   Austin Swayne, Morehead Fall Josh Hatfield, Southwestern Randolph, 1:53
130   Alex Pollard, St. Stephens Dec Tyler Harr, East Gaston, 7-2
135   Kenny Dellinger, St. Stephens Dec Luke Ziglar, Morehead, 7-5
140   Justin Anderson, Southwestern Randolph Fall Ethan Simpson, Ragsdale, 2:02
145   Saylor Barnette, St. Stephens Fall Will Wingfield, Magna Vista, 3:26
152   Jack Meador, Southeast Guilford Fall Luke Bartlett, RJ Reynolds, 3:57
160   Colby Flinchum, Rockingham County Dec Kevin Jackson, East Gaston, 5-2
171   Nick Nawrocki, Veritas Academy Fall Zak Hampton, St. Stephens, 3:48
189   Aris Smith, R-S Central Dec Aaron Peoples, Rockingham County, 9-7
215   Seth Stone, Southeast Guilford Fall Lance Martin, Magna Vista, 2:20
275   Jordan Dixon, Morehead Fall Sloan Wilson, Rockingham County, 3:36


Ray Farnsworth Champion 103	Evan Payne 112 7th Place

Kurt Stephens 119 2nd Place	Cody Stephens Champion 125

Alex Pollard 130 7th Place	Kenny Dellinger 135 7th Place

Saylor Barnette 7th 145	Logan Self 160 2nd Place

Zak Hampton 171 8th Place	Steven Rink Champion 189

Micheal Ellis 215 2nd Place	Brandon Townsend 285 3rd Place

Group Shot-Ray in Background,Coach Baker,Steven Rink,Coach Ervin	Group Shot - Evan Payne, Coach Ervin, Brandon Townsend, Ray

It was a night of great matches as the Tribe traveled to Alexander Central for a face off for a second time this year. Alexander had a new line up of strong and athletic wrestlers waiting on the Tribe and the brawling began. It was a hard fought night that usually finished in our favor, but I hand it to the AC team for a night of hard wrestling. Saint lost the last time we wrestled at Alexander two years ago. Saint won the varsity match up tonight 51-11.

The night started off with our non-starters dominating their opponents. By team score count our non-starters push, shoved, and headlocked their way to a 48-6 showing over the AC non-starters. Pinning for our non-starters were Tue Lee in 1:31, Tyler Helton in 2:08, JonMark Stevenson in 1:15, Saylor Barnette in 2:09, Dillon Lail in 0:44, Dale Huffman in 0:41, and Kyle Stringfield in 2:54. Jeff Ellis won by decision 10-6 and Jon Holloway won by decision 4-2.

The starting line up took to the mat and the brawl began. AC Cheerleaders, (yes I did say that), were doing a great job in whipping up the AC crowd. Our Cheerleaders (well I think one of our boys had a picture of them in his wallet) were overshouted by the faithful Saint War Party of Moms and Dads of Saint Wrestling.Way to Go Saint War Party. (there ought to be a t-shirt, what do you think? Text vote GOSAINTWAR1 for yes or GOSAINTWAR2 for no)(WAIT, DON'T DO THAT, some guy name Larry was really upset when I kept punching the 1 key, maybe he could't find his order pad.)

Zak Hampton took AC's best shot and lost by a techfall 16-1. It was a great physical effort by Zak as he fought out of 3 nearfall pinning situations. Zak just simply refused to be pinned. Our coaching staff was jacked up to see the great effort by Zak which only gave AC a 5 point win. SS-3 AC-5.

Steven Rink was involved in the first emotional roller coaster of the night. Steven fought back from a 0-2 situation in the second period to even the score 2-2. The third period went back and forth with no one able to gain the upper hand for a last second score. 2-2 now overtime. Both exhausted wrestlers were spent. Steven took the chance at the takedown and scored which won the match 4-2 and put Saint back in the lead. SS-6 AC 5. (and the Saint War Party went "Yeah Steven")

The entire gym was trying to catch their own wind and calm their nerves when the next match began to unfold into another nail biter. (This was like getting off the red Fire Dragon and running over to the blue Ice Dragon at Disney). This was great. Our guy Brandon Townsend fought back from a 0-1 disadvantage in the 3rd period to tie it up 1-1. Unforturnately, our fearless Brandon substained a cut over one eye. Blood was everywhere. I wiped the blood away before Coach Baker fainted. We got him patched up. After all this total team effort to win this match, Brandon made a heroic attempt to win it in overtime but slipped off the single leg attack. Final score 1-3, SS-6 AC 8.

Micheal Ellis came on to settle the team down and start the run for control of the dual meet. Micheal pinned his opponent in 43 seconds. SS-12 AC-8.

Freshman Bradley Bader performed impressively for such a young wrestler. Bradley built a 13-1 lead before pinning at 3: 39 in the match. SS 18 AC-8.

From this point the Tribe didn't look back as they ripped off a 6 win run to close out the night.

Alex Pollard out husseled his opponent in a 9-5 win. Alex showed some moxie as he fought out of a pinning situation in the 2nd period. Alex scored 4 takedowns in the match to pull way. SS-39 AC-11.

Kenny Dellinger demonstrated his learned skills from last summer's competitions and efforts as he round up a 2:24 pin. SS-45 AC-11

Brandon Lackey commanded his win with 4 takedowns to control a 9-5 decision. Brandon is 2 wins away from reaching his 75 career win milestone. Final SS-51 AC-11

It was a great win for the Tribe and the Saint War Party. (DON'T CALL LARRY)

The Indian Classic is ours, again. First time in my time of recording history that the Tribe has won Back-to-Back Indian Classics. It was a powerful team effort to grasp the 37th Annual Indian Classic title. Twelve of our fourteen wrestlers were place winners in the top four of their weight classes.

While we had seven wrestlers in the Championship Finals, we also had five wrestlers competing for the Consolation Finals.

Evan Payne @ 112 earning 14 points. Evan closed with a pin in the consolation final.

Saylor Barnette @ 145 earning 15 points. Saylors Senior year effort saw him come back from a first round loss with two consecutive pins and major decision to claim 3rd.

Brandon Townsend @ 215 earning 18 points. Brandon lost his second match of the day, but finished his Senior year Indian Classic effort with 3 pins, including the pin in the 3rd place match.

Michael Ellis @ 285 earning 16 points. Michael finished his Senior year Indian Classic effort with a powerful 6-1 decision in this weigh class of huge competitors. Michael lost in his second match of the day, but won two other matches with pins to go the the consolation final.

Paul Lane @ 140 placed 4th earning 8 points in his Senior year and a first time starter.

Kenny Dellinger @ 135 earning 3 points and Caleb Peterson @ 171 earning 6 points did not place.

The effort from these wrestlers earned a total of 80 points as a group. That equaled the points of the 5th placed team in the tournament. That means they alone tie or outscored six teams in the ten team field. Congratulation to this group for moving us up to the top 4 teams. This was a great effort by all.

Our 2008 Champions & 2nd Place winners of the night racked up 147 points on their way to the top two places in their weight class. Our Champions were:

Ray Farnsworth @ 103 scored 21.50 points in his championship performance. He finished the night with a pin in the finals.

Kurt Stephens @ 119 scored 23.5 points on his way to the championship. He also pinned in the final. His early rounds were won with a pin and techfall.

Cody Stephens @ 125 scored 19.5 points on the night. He won in a 6-2 final. His earlier matches were won by techfall and decision.

Bandon Lackey @ 152 scored 22 points in his championship run. Unfortunately, his opponent for the final could not compete. Brandon won by default.

Steven Rink @ 189 scored 25 points in the tournament winning by tech falls and pins. His techfall win in the final earned him is first place finish.

Alex Pollard @ 130 scored 17.5 points in his first Indian Classic. Alex won his early round with a techfall and decision.

Logan Self @ 160 scored 18 points working his way to the finals. He had a pin and a decision in his early rounds.

It was a great night of wrestling and a great memory for the future. All the details of the 2008 Indian Classic can be view on our Indian Classic web page. Just click on the link to this years results.

This was the second win over East Burke this season, but it was more competitive than the last matchup. East Burke's line up was strengthen this time with the addition of Ben Shults at 215 and Tyler Shatley at 285. Both are seniors and are highly rated in the state rankings. Our first match up of the year saw Saint win 60-10, tonights efforts gave Saint a 49-18 win.

Kurt Stephens, Cody Stephens, Ray Farnsworth, and Gunnar McDowell extended their individual unbeaten streak for this year. Saint wrestlers with pins tonight were Ray Farnsworth, Cody Stephens, Kenny Dellinger, Brandon Lackey, and Zak Hampton. Logan Self scored a major decision wthe a 11-2 win over his opponent.

Its been a successful dual team run for the Tribe with only one loss to 4A Davie County to amass a 15-1 record. We now turn to individual tournament championships with the 37th Annual Indian Classic. Saint won it last year, but a great effort will be needed this year to reclaim the title. You can read about the Indian Classic and its recent history on our Indian Classic web page.

Saint Claims 2008 Indian Duals Championship
Please go to the Indian Duals section of our website for all the tournament details.

Saint rolled all day long only giving up 25 points in the Pool A match ups.Alexander Central won all 4 of their matches in Pool B. Saint claimed the 2008 Indian Duals with a 69-10 win over Alexander Central.

Coach Baker used 27 wrestlers in the tournament that allowed our up and coming wrestlers to gain varsity experience.

Saint faced off against East Mecklenburg 76-6, South Caldwell 70-3, Avery County 75-6, and R.S. Central 70-10 in the pool match ups. It was not the large margins that indicated improvement within our program. It was the individual performances our rising wrestlers that gave us encouragement.

Congratulation to Ray Farnsworth on reaching his 50th Career Win Milestone in his East Mecklenburg match
Ray Farnsworth defeated Andy Thuan by pin 0:35

Evan Payne, starting in the line up as a regular this year, was down 3-8 in the South Caldwell match late the third period. He was in the bottom position and was fighting off the riding pressure. Evan did not give in, but kept working against the mounting odds and dwindling time on the clock. Evan grabbed a reversal move and put this opponent to his back to gain the pin. It was a great come back. Evan has worked hard and wrestled all summer. It was up lifting to see a young man work this hard and turn up a big win.

The Avery County match was loaded in our young wrestlers trying win their first varsity match or build on their young careers. Soph Jesse Hudson pinned, Freshman Tyler Maltba pinned, Junior Tue Lee pinned, Junior Sam Bernhardt pinned, Soph Dillon Lail won dec., Thomas Wessels pinned, Dale Huffman pinned, and new comer Jerry Grillo pinned. These young men our our future and they are making good progress in their combative skills.

Congratulations to Coach Billy Baker on his 250th Career Dual Win
Saint defeated Avery County 75-6

The R. S. Central match brought another milestone winning match for Kurt Stephens.

Congratulations to Kurt Stephens on reaching his 100th Career Win Milestone in his R. S. Central match
Kurt Stephens defeated Johnny Hunt by pin 1:09

The final's championship match up was against Alexander Central. Alexander went through their pool competition as well and dominated their matchups. We won 69-10, giving up one pin and a major. We grabbed 10 pins, 1 decision, and one forfeit for the win. It must have been the Black Singlets

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving Break. Now Back to Wrestling. We go to East Burke Wednesday 7:00. Remember this quote:

The Tribe grabbed a 5-1 win record in this week of great wrestling. After dropping a tough match up with 4A Davie County on Thursday night, the Tribe mastered the field of contenders at the West Lincoln Round Robin on Saturday and grabbed 5 dual meet wins.

Davie County is always a state level power and this year is no exception to their tradition. Gunnar McDowell, Ray Farnsworth, Kurt Stephens, and Cody Stephens were the only ones to score team points against the War Eagles in a 21-45 loss. Davie was solid in their offensive and defensive skill. The loss set the tone for Saint's Friday practice in preparing for 5 matchups on Saturday at West Lincoln.

After being "godfathered in" by Coach Ross on Mat 3 for being the Legend of West Lincoln, Coach Baker used 19 wrestlers to achieve the wins over East Burke 60-10, Hibriten 80-0, Madison 51-21, North Wilkes 69-9, and South Caldwell 67-6 at the West Lincoln Round Robin. As Coach Baker rested in his complementary Lazy Boy Lounger complete with cupholder, (a gift from the West Lincoln Legend Worship Committee), he watched as his new Assistant Coach Scott "Alarm Clock" Ervin do all the work in jacking up the team. The team members were so inspired by the new coach, they eagerly crowned him with his on head band. There is no doubt now that the Tribe has taken in our newest member of the coaching staff.

The highlight of the East Burke 60-10 match was the opening match at 103. Jesse Hudson worked the quickest pin of the dual match with a 25 second first period pin. Jesse has worked hard in the off season and his effort was rewarded. There were 4 other pins in the match. Ray Farnsworth, Cody Stephens, Brandon Lackey, and Brandon Townsend.

The Hibriten 80-0 match was not team we will see in a few weeks for a conference match. Hibriten is still in the football play off. They gave up 5 forfeits. It will not be this way in a few weeks so don't count Coach Woodruff out of the conference fight. We were again brought to our feet by the performance of another 103. Freshman Bradley Bader excited the Tribe Crowd with a masterful 16-5 major decision. There were 7 pins for the Tribe from Evan Payne, Kurt Stephens, Alex Pollard, Paul Lane, Gunnar McDowell, Steven Rink, and Micheal Ellis.

The Madison 51-21 match was a much tougher match than the score indicates. These guys came to wrestle and each match was just a brawl. There was no quit in these guys and you had to grind them into the mat to get a pin. My hat is off to this schools wrestlers and coaches. We have never wrestled this school before and it was an impressive showning on their part.

We also defeated North Wilkes 69-9 and South Caldwell 67-6 to finish out the day. This was a well rounded day of wrestling by our Tribe members. After we cleaned up the gym, rolled up Coaches Ross's mats, helped Coach Baker out of the Lazy Boy, we started home. A day well done.

Congratulations to Alex Pollard who reached his first career milestone of 25 wins.
His win came in a major decision of 11-2 over his opponent in the South Caldwell match.

The Motel Information for Morehead and Cary tournaments has been updated for your planning. Please click on the tab at the top of the page.

The Tribe carried experience into the North Wilkes Quad this weekend and capture three dual team wins. The Tribe defeated North Davidson 78-6 in the opening matchup, Wilkes Central 84-0 in the second round, and North Wilkes 66-19 in the closing matchup.

Congratulations to Cody Stephens and Gunnar McDowell on reaching their 50 career wins milestone this weekend.
Cody won his match with a pin against North Davidson. Gunnar won his match with a pin against North Wilkes.

It was a good start for the Tribe's 2009 season. We earned 9 pins and was given two forfeits to finish the night. Ray Farnswork, Evan Payne, Kurt Stephens, Cody Stephens, Alex Pollard, Kenny Dellinger, Saylor Barnett, Dillon Lail, and Steven Rink all pinned for the Tribe.

Most of the matches were first peiod wins, but two matches went almost to the full 3 periods and were filled with action.

Alex Pollard worked his way to winning in a 18-11 match. With both wrestlers starting to show fatigue late in the third, Pollard made a great athletic move from bottom to gain control and pin his opponent with only 20 seconds left on the clock.

In his first match for the Tribe, Corey Seabock battled at 215 and made a great effort. He lost the match 6-8, but his effort was appreciated by the crowd and the team.

Kenny Dellinger and Dillon Lail complished their first varsity wins with pins in tonights match.

Congratulations to Senior Steve Rink hit his 75th career win milestone tonight with a second period pin.

Ray Farnsworth won the 103 divison and Steven Rink won 3rd in the 215 division this weekend. Congratulations to both our wrestlers on a great effort.

We have changed over to an updated web publishing system. There will be numerous links that may get over looked. If you find any link that does not work for you please email Roy at royhoffman@bellsouth.net . Some corrections will be made as the season progresses. Thanks for your help.

Our team trip to compete in the Disney Scholastic Duals was a great time for the team. We had our expected results in the team competition, but we were thrilled with the success of our more seasoned wrestlers against national competition.

Kurt Stephens @ 112 finished with a 8-0 record and received an individual Gold Medal.

Cody Stephens @ 119 finished with a 6-2 record and received an individual Bronze Medal

Steven Rink @189 finish wiht a 5-3 record and received an individual Copper Medal.

This is the best and highest individual accomplishments our wrestlers have achieved at this national competition. We are looking forward to another great Saint Wrestling season in 2008-2009

The Saint Wrestling Club Bus will leave promptly from the front of St. Stephens High School at 3:30 PM.

There are 9 seats still open. Call Neil McDowell’s cell phone tomorrow at 828-312-9233 or tonight at home at 828-495-8122.

If you plan to drive to Hunter Huss, the map is loaded on our web site in the Maps section for Hunter Huss. See link above at the top of this page for Maps to Schools. Please allow yourself plenty of time. Please remember that the intersection of 321 and I-85 is a very congested and slow moving intersection.