The Jacksonville boys’ wrestling team made the statement it wanted to make Saturday — that being was that the Cardinals were still the top squad in Onslow County.
Led by four individual champions and two runners-up, Jacksonville captured the Onslow County Cup championship for the third consecutive year during the annual tournament at Southwest.
The Cardinals scored 182.5 points, followed by White Oak at 173, Swansboro’s 128, Southwest’s 118, Dixon’s 109.5, Northside’s 72.5 and Richlands’ 36.
“It comes from the hard work in the room,” 120-pound sophomore Garrett Moses said. “We push each other, we push the pace and we get better every day. We don’t get stale with our performance, but we are consistent.”
Aiden Allen, a 150-pound junior, agreed.
“We work a lot in the room to keep things consistent,” he said. “We want to pass things down to the next generation so they can continue to win.”
Jacksonville outscored second-place White Oak again, but it wasn’t easy – unlike last year’s 92-point victory.
The Vikings featured four champions, three runners-ups, one third-place finisher and two in fourth. The Cardinals had two silver medals and four bronze medals.
“White Oak was a thorn in our side that we had to get past,” Jacksonville coach Mark Holbrook said. “The White Oak guys and Jacksonville guys all workout together, so they are friends. That made this that more exciting.”
Allen said the Cardinals entered with confidence.
“We wrestled White Oak earlier in the season, and it was kind of spotty,” he said. “But we were confident. Everybody performed as best they could.”
Sophomore Tyler Gardner was Jacksonville’s first champion as he pinned White Oak’s Gianni Lawrence in 1:29 in the 113 final. Moses then defeated Swansboro’s Levi Vetter 6-3 in the 120 final.
Senior Maxwell Davis defeated White Oak’s Chris Chambless 18-0 in the 138 final and senior Brock Smith won the 157 title via a pin in 4:53 over Lejeune’s De’Sean Godbolt in the final.
Freshman Gabriel Robida was second at 126, Allen was second at 150, freshman Jake Geist was third at 106, junior Gavin Costillo was third at 132, junior Jonathan Berry was third at 215 and senior Hunter Saiebliski was third at 285.
“The older guys have shown the younger guys how they should work and how the pace of the room needs to be,” Moses said.
Allen added that the Cardinals put in extra work to succeed.
“It’s been easier to get extra mat time so that we come out here, we can outlast and outperform teams,” he said.
In other individual finals: Southwest sophomore Esteban Placencia topped Lejeune’s Trebor Berkshire 18-4 at 106, White Oak senior Robert Alexander pinned Robida in 1:14 at 126, Swansboro sophomore Sheamus Mercer defeated White Oak’s Colten Lewis 19-13 at 132, White Oak senior James Campos defeated Dixon’s Dominic Avvisato 16-10 at 144, White Oak sophomore Hayden Smith pinned Allen in 1:38 at 150, White Oak junior Jacob Campos pinned Southwest’s Trenstin Bolden in 1:58 at 165, Swansboro sophomore Gavin Hassek pinned Richlands’ Joshua Wilson in 4:57 at 175, Northside senior Marcus Cherry won 19-4 over Southwest’s Quandayvis Bacon at 190, Dixon senior Cooper Lanier won 17-1 over Southwest’s Trenton Mungavin at 215 and Kayden Clark pinned Dixon’s Tyler Goatcher in 1:28 at 285.
Smith was named the boys’ tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Chris Miller can be contacted via email at cmiller@jdnews.com. Follow him on X @jdnsports.