Going into Monday’s dual meet with Southwest Onslow and Spring Creek, the Clinton Dark Horses had one thing on their minds — winning. They accomplished their goal and improved their record to 3-0.

“Southwest Onslow came without their full array of wrestlers because they still are in the football playoffs,” said head coach Frank Quinata. “We will wrestle them again and see what happens then.

As for their wins, the Dark Horses pulled their 1-0 record to 3-0 after beating Southwest Onslow 60-23 and Spring Creek 54-29.

“We got to put in new wrestlers in the Spring Creek game, which got to give the freshmen a win and at least a chance to step out onto the mat and see how it feels,” Quinata shared of the second meet.

According to the coach, out of all three meets, every player on the team had experienced at least one win.

In Monday’s wrestling action, Clinton’s Pablo Meza was first to hit the mat, weighing in at 125 pounds. He took on Southwest Onslow’s Dominique Whitfield and was taken down to give the Stallions a 6-0 lead.

Weighing in at 130 pounds, Brittany McCullough matched up with Deontia Evans for one notable battle. Although McCullough was eventually terminated due to a technical fall because Evans exceeded her score by 15 points, she did not go down without a fight, bringing the match to three periods of action.

Following McCullough was Carlos Polanco, Quindale Faulkner, Brian Lazo-Alvarado and Michael Graham who were all awarded 6 points a piece due to Southwest Onslow’s forfeits in the weight classes of 135, 140, 145 and 152 pounds. The Dark Horses took the lead 24-11.

In the 160-pound weight class, Danna Ammons matched up with Matt Roberts and was defeated in the first 30 seconds to take the score up 24-17, still Clinton’s meet.

Clinton’s Chris Peterson gave the Dark Horses another 6 points, moving the score up 30-17, after defeating Dimitrious Rieg with seconds left in the second period.

Chris Gutierrez, in the 189-pound weight class, took Clinton up 36-17 after another Stallion forfeit.

Dontre Wilson was the last to wrestle in the 215-pound class, and after three periods of intense action, Wilson lost.

Although Wilson’s loss brought Southwest Onslow up 36-23, forfeits by the Stallions in the heavyweight (285 pound), 103, 112 and 119 pound weight classes gave the Dark Horses the victory 60-23.

Spring Creek

In the second meet of the evening, Clinton sprawled with Spring Creek. The Dark Horses were eventually able to take the victory 54-29 after numerous weight class forfeits by the Gators.

Forfeited weight classes included: 160, 171, 215, 145, 152, and 285 pounds, which gave the Dark Horses 36 points.

Also adding to the board was Gutierrez with a victory over Kevin Lipscond in the 189-pound weight class; Ted Rives with a win; and Faulkner with another win.

Check out a preview of the Dark Horse wrestling team in the Thanksgiving Day edition.

Jessica Wagner can be contacted at (910) 592-8137 ext.122 or reached by e-mail at siphoto@myclintonnc.com