Dixon one win from state 1-A wrestling dual-team finals

There are only two area high school teams left standing, which isn’t usually a good position to be in if you’re a wrestler.

But in this case it’s exactly where Dixon and Croatan want to be.

The Bulldogs (17-9) are just one win away from advancing to the NCHSAA 1-A state dual-team finals while the Cougars (15-2) need two wins to have a shot at bringing home their third straight 2-A state championship.

And while Croatan would be on the road for the finals, Dixon would be right at home Saturday for the title match.

“That’s a lot of motivation right there,” Dixon coach Dal Tomlinson said Wednesday.

Dixon beat Rosewood 37-34 and Chatham Central 38-37 Tuesday night to advance to tonight’s East Regional final against Ayden-Grifton (38-4). The match is set to begin at 7 p.m. at Dixon High School.

Ayden-Grifton advanced with a 50-30 win over Southwest Onslow and a 37-36 win over North Rowan.

“I think it’s going to be the same,” Tomlinson said of tonight’s match. “I think it’s going to be a squeaker. It’s going to be 5 to 12 points either way.”

Meanwhile, Croatan whipped Roanoke Rapids 61-16 and Corinth Holders 53-17 to advance to tonight’s sectional and regional at Topsail High School. The Cougars face North Brunswick (8-8) and Topsail (13-6) takes on the Durham School of the Arts (25-13). Both begin at 6 p.m.

Those winners will play later tonight for the right to move on to the state finals Saturday at the home of the West Regional champion.

 “We’re excited about making it to the final eight,” Croatan coach David Perry said. “We feel like we’ve got a decent chance if we wrestle well on Thursday to make it back to our third state final in a row.”

Both Dixon and Croatan are young. Dixon has only three seniors while Croatan has only one wrestler from its state title team of two years ago.

And while both teams have traditionally been strong in the sport, both coaches weren’t sure whether they’d make it this far when the season began, although that — and more — was the goal when the mats were first rolled out for practice Oct. 31.

“They’ve surprised me all year. The fact that we have a winning record surprises me,” said Tomlinson, who credited his three seniors (Marshal Wilkins, Jason Sapp and Avery Arnold) for leading the way. “I think actually at this point it’s a challenge for them to keep surprising me. I think that’s like their mission in life, just to give me a heart attack at this point.

“I told them I’m going to either go out with a heart attack or a stroke right there beside the mat one day. I don’t think they’re trying to push me to that level, but I think they’re just kind of trying to keep surprising me.”

Perry didn’t go quite that far, although he agreed his young team was trying to put together its own legacy to add to a program that annually is the best in the area.

“I think for them they’ve kind of had a different attitude,” Perry said. “They’ve looked at it as we don’t want to lose what we’ve accomplished over the last couple of years, but we’re going to have to work even harder because we don’t have a lot of starters back from those teams.”

To some it night be mind-boggling what Croatan has accomplished: 13 straight East Central 2-A Conference titles, not having lost a league dual-team match in that time and still in the running for a third straight title.

And to Perry?

“It’s definitely been fun. It’s exciting,” he said. “I think, if anything, it’s kind of made us put more pressure on ourselves. I think sometimes we forget to sit back and just enjoy it. We’re always trying to make sure we don’t (lose).”

Is there a key to winning the state title? Is there one thing that runs through the past two championship runs?

“I think you’ve got to motivate the kids,” Perry said. “They’ve got to realize how important this is to the team and the school. I think our kids have a sense of that. They don’t want to let anybody down, the community down or the school down.

“So I think that has given us a little bit of an edge. Also, somebody has got to step up. Every year somebody has stepped up in the state championship match and won a big match that has sort of got the team going and then we seem to just feed off of that.”

Interestingly, Perry and Tomlinson take different approaches to preparing for tonight. While both said they’ll do online research to see how their foes have done and compare their matches against common opponents, Perry said he’ll also pick up the phone and call coaches for additional insight.

“We do for some matches if we can’t get enough information,” he said. “If it’s a school we haven’t seen at all, we can call and ask if there’s some things that they do that are unique.”

Tomlinson flatly said he doesn’t call opposing coaches, although the Bulldogs and Chargers have any number of common foes, including Southwest Onslow. Asked why he didn’t, Tomlinson replied:

“That’s a subjective opinion. It’s not going to matter who they put against them because my guys are completely different.”

Besides, there’s a simple bottom line to it all.

“It’s not like I’m going to draft somebody new anyway,” Tomlinson said. “We’re going to put our people against their people and whoever wrestles best is going to determine who wins the match.”