Wrestling: Undefeated season for Erwin Middle School
Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 19, 2024
- Erwin wrestling: 14-0
Erwin’s Jacob Helms.
Maximus Goucher
Braylen Yates
Jeg Merrifield
By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com
GRANITE QUARRY — Fifteen years ago, Thomas Lowe sprinted for touchdowns for South Rowan, as he and West Rowan’s KP Parks, Salisbury’s Romar Morris and Carson’s Shaun Warren piled up rushing yards in an amazing weekly duel that led to huge headlines in the Post and an unprecedented onslaught on football record books.
Despite some setbacks, despite playing jayvee ball as a freshman and missing most of his junior season, Lowe amassed 3,471 yards in his high school varsity career. He’s proud of every one of them, but his passion for wrestling probably ran even deeper than his love for the pigskin.
People who remember the 33-year-old Lowe only as a powerful running back, forget that he was on the state podium for wrestling in the winter of 2010. He placed sixth in 3A at 189 pounds.
Coaching wrestling, passing on his knowledge, has become Lowe’s passion now, although he’s not a school teacher. A North Carolina Central graduate, he’s a mental health professional with a master’s degree.
Lowe is the head coach of the Erwin Middle School wrestling team that just went 14-0 and won the Tri-County Conference Championship. He’s also coach of the East Rowan Wrestling Club, which seeks to get youngsters involved in the sport an an early age.
“There are great coaches in the county with the goal of rebuilding Rowan County wrestling to where the sport is strong at every school again,” Lowe said. “You have to start guys young, and we are doing that. We’ve got some great kids who want to wrestle year-round. Those are the ones that can become champions.”
Lowe spends a great deal of his time on mats, but he loves all of it.
“Fortunately, I’ve got a very understanding wife,” he said.
In the recent Tri-County Conference Tournament, Erwin put 11 wrestlers in championship matches.
Seven won.
Middle school weight classes start with 76 pounds and go up to 250 pounds for the heavyweights. Students in grades 6-8 are eligible to compete. East’s Jeg Merrifield, a sixth-grader who has a chance to be really special, won his weight class in the tournament.
The strongest competition for Erwin (273 points) in the “Tri-County” came from Mooresville Middle (183), West Rowan Middle (169), North Davie Middle (149), China Grove Middle (135), Ellis Middle (116) and South Davie Middle (75). The three Davie schools (SD, ND and Ellis) will compete together once they get to high school.
“A lot of very good wrestling programs are in the league,” Lowe said. “But our athletes were ready to compete when the time came.”
Also scoring were North Rowan Middle (37), Southeast Middle (27), Selma Burke (26, that’s the new Mooresville school that opened in the fall of 2023) and Corriher-Lipe (5).
Erwin tournament champions were Merrifield (83 pounds), Maximus Goucher (90), Catoe Byrd (120), Jacob Helms (132), Gabe Daniele (138), Braylen Yates (165) and Joshua Brown (250).
Helms and Brown turned in 17-0 seasons. Merrifield, Goucher and Yates were 16-0. Byrd was 15-1, while Daniele was 12-2.
Yates was voted the conference tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.
