The Landrum wrestling team cruised at home in a region match-up that included Blacksburg, Christ Church and St. Joseph’s on Thursday night, Jan. 13. The Cardinals won all three matchups, beating Blacksburg 60-14, Christ Church 64-12 and St. Joseph’s 57-24.
“I think we improved a lot tonight,” senior wrestler Antonio Barron said.
Barron dominated his Blacksburg and Christ Church foes, pinning both in the first period to lead the Cardinals to an undefeated start in region competition. Barron’s best performance came against Blacksburg’s Bradley Kurth. After jumping out to a 4-1 lead early in the first period, Barron pinned Kurth with over a minute left on the clock.
Danny Seay had a good night for the Cardinals as well. He had two pins and a technical fall.
“I’ve never done that before,” he said. “It was great. I feel like I’m starting to put stuff together and be a leader.”
The real drama of the night came between Landrum’s J.C. Graham and St. Joseph’s Gabe McCall. Through almost the entire three periods McCall had a 1-0 lead over Graham. That one point came early in the first period. Graham finally broke through with ten seconds left with a two-point maneuver to win the match as time expired.
Landrum finished with three pins against St. Joseph’s, two pins in five matches against Christ Church and four pins against Blacksburg.
While individuals did well on Thursday, the Cardinals (8-14, 7-0), however, were more focused on the team’s improvement.
“For 1A, we’re doing really good,” head coach Josh Fowler said. “Overall we need to be more competitive as a team. We’re getting there.”