RAY BLACK III
Cary's Alex Ynoquio pulls Panther Creek's Matt Stober, top, onto his back before pinning him on Wednesday.
CARY -- Whether it was an offseason workout, a summer training session or weekend tournament, the Cary wrestlers had kept their 2011 loss to Panther Creek near the forefront of their minds ever since falling to the Catamounts on Feb. 2, 2011.
It was then that Cary's streaks of 409 straight home regular-season wins, 20 years without a loss to a conference opponent and 27 years of conference championships were all snapped, thanks to a Catamounts victory in the final bout.
The Imps wanted their conference back. Thanks to a furious late rally, Cary can try to start a new streak of conference titles as it won at Panther Creek 40-28 on Wednesday night.
"A conference championship this year means more than it ever has. I wanted to avenge our loss," Cary senior Bo Mulligan said. "After our streak was snapped, it was all the more motivation to get this team together and be as good as we have the potential to be. Even though it was sad to lose our streak, I think it helped us in the long run."
Cary, which still has two more Tri-Nine Conference dual matches against Green Hope and Athens Drive remaining, was down 25-12 with six bouts to go. But the Imps won five of those last six bouts with four coming by pin. The two sides were tied at 28 with two bouts left when Cary junior Franklin McNamara (170 pounds) clinched the match with a pinfall three minutes and five seconds into his match. McNamara's heroics even surprised Cary coaches, who were hopeful for a win - just not a pin.
"We were counting on a win there," Cary coach Taylor Cummings said. "But when were sitting down figuring out what we were going to do and what we could give up, we had figured just a decision there at best."
Panther Creek could've tied if Kofi Sackey was able to score a pin in his final bout, and the Catamounts would have won the match based on an eighth tiebreaking criteria of "total match points." Aside from pins - which were even at four apiece - Panther Creek edged Cary 25-19 in total match points.
