Lecka, wrestling at 215 pounds, competed in five matches on the day, defeating Independence’s Charlie Kurtz by first period pinfall. After falling in a narrow 8-4 decision to Hibriten’s Tripp Patterson, Lecka rallied for wins over East Burke’s J.D. Buffamoyer (pinfall-26 seconds), West Caldwell’s Guillermo Solis.(11-7 decision) and host Fred T. Foard’s Zach Edwards (10-1 decision) to capture the bronze medallion.
Vance, competing at the 160-pound class, had Avery’s highest finish, placing second overall. The senior won a 4-1 decision over Freedom’s John Chaney and defeated Hopewell’s Tyler Kirpatrick by a 14-8 decision to reach the tournament final. In that match, Vance faced a tough foe from the host school in Foard’s Hayden Albert, who won the match by pinfall.
Yackey, wrestling at 140 pounds, brought home a fourth-place finish overall, with a major decision 13-3 win over Alexander Central’s Tyler Reese and a third period pinfall win over Draughn’s Jaron Draughn sandwiched around a loss to West Caldwell’s Matt Wooten by second period pinfall.
In the third place match Yackey took on Brandon Watts from East Lincoln. In a narrow, hard-fought match, Watts came out victorious by a 3-2 decision to win third place.
Six other Viking grapplers took part in the tournament, including Wesley Hobbs (103 pounds), Justin Gragg (125 pounds), Zac Freeman (135 pounds), Josh Gragg (152 pounds), Luke Price (171 pounds) and Brandon Huff (heavyweight).
“The Tigerland Classic was the most competitive tournament that we’ve entered thus far this season. Brock’s weight class had three state placers in it. The one loss that Lucas suffered was to a wrestler who finished second in the state in 3A last year. We’re wrestling some good people,” Avery head wrestling coach Stacey Clark said of the weekend. “Even though we have a young team, we backed off our schedule a little early, but at this point we’re wrestling the kids we should be wrestling, getting our guys prepared for state tournament.”
The 2010-11 edition of the Avery wrestling team is an exciting club that has seen the number of participants include and has experienced an infusion of young talent that, with time, will continue the tradition of excellence that has marked the Viking wrestling program for decades.
“We’ve got a great turnout this year. It’s the best turnout that we’ve had since I have been the head coach. For the first time we have the potential to fill all of our weight classes. We have some kids who are not quite down to their minimum weight classes, but once that happens, we should have every weight class filled, which is the first battle in wrestling, to get the kids out and get them on the mat,” Clark said. “We have our three returning wrestlers, along with a number of freshmen and a large group of sophomores and juniors who are first-year wrestlers out this year. They’ve taken some lumps and taken some losses, but they are improving and you can see their development in the wrestling room every week.”
Aside from the efforts of the veterans, the early season wins have been somewhat inconsistent, but the coach believes in his team and sees signs that the current team can experience great measures of success not only this season, but in the years to come.
“The younger guys who have shown continuity with getting in practice are showing improvement, while others who have not been able due to weather or other reasons to get to practice consistently are coming along a little slower. It’s put us at a little disadvantage, but it’s not anything this team can’t work through if we’re able to consistently get everyone in practice at the same time,” Clark added. “Our veterans have good chances to advance far this season. They have taken their lumps and paid the price, and have gained a lot of experience through the seasons to see what regional and state competition is like. None of them have lost to a 1A opponent this year, and the losses they’ve had have been to wrestlers in 2A and higher classes.”
This Wednesday, Dec. 22, and Thursday, Dec. 23, the Vikings compete at Mitchell High School in the KT Feldspar Duals, an event featuring many of the best wrestling squads in the Western 1A region, including the likes of Rosman, Robbinsville, Cherokee and host Mitchell. The event will prove a good fulcrum for the Vikings to measure its progress as it nears the midway point of the season.
“This tournament brings an opportunity for a high match number for our kids, especially given how we scheduled a bit less to start the season and anticipating that the football playoffs might go long this fall,” Clark said. “We knew coming in that we would have a young team with just three returners, so we scheduled individual tournaments early so that those who had been around the team longer could be successful. The KT Feldspar Tournament guarantees every wrestler on our team will get eight matches, helping us make up for our late start.”
Following the holiday break, the Avery wrestling schedule includes four home dual matches against conference opponents, including Madison on Jan. 7, Mountain Heritage on Jan. 11, Owen on Jan. 18 and Polk County on Jan. 28.
“We’re excited about the direction we’re going in. We have Coach Hank Hardin back in the wrestling room helping us again this year and he’s really teaching the kids well. Coach Puckett is helping me, and the three of us are focusing on keeping the freshmen interested and helping them to understand that even the losses are a part of the learning process,” Clark said. “We have a unique opportunity to build a really strong team for the future, and our focus and keeping these kids involved long enough to turn the corner and become the great wrestlers that we know they can become. We have a heavy home schedule in the month of January, and we really want to encourage the great wrestling supporters in Avery County that I know we have to come join us in January when we open with Madison.”
