RIPPLE/Matthew Gorry
Forbush’s Nick Kiter pins Wilkes Central’s Dylan Adams with a cradle in the second round of Saturday’s conference tournament in Sparta.
RIPPLE/Matthew Gorry
Forbush’s Nick Kiter wrestles West Wilkes’ Devin Fussell in the 138-pound final Saturday in Sparta. Kiter dropped Fussell 6-2 to capture the conference title en route to being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Few wrestlers in the area are as dominant as Forbush’s Nick Kiter.
Kiter, a senior, is the top-ranked 2A wrestler in the state at 138, according to Retro Rankings. He also boasts an impressive 39-1 mark on the season.
Kiter put his record on the line Saturday during the Mountain Valley Conference wrestling tournament at Alleghany High School.
Dubbed as the No. 1 seed, Kiter blew past Aldair Garcia (Elkin) and Dylan Adams (Wilkes Central), pinning both opponents to earn a spot in the 138-pound final.
There, he ran into second-seeded Devin Fussell from West Wilkes.
Fussell, a back-to-back runner-up in the state tournament and top-ranked 1A wrestler, pinned Jake Shore (East Wilkes) and beat Dakota Elliot (Ashe County) - the fourth-ranked 2A wrestler in the state - 9-1 to book his spot in the final.
In the finals, Fussell took Kiter down 57 seconds in to grab a 2-0 lead.
But his lead didn’t last long as Kiter scored a reversal before the first-period horn to knot the score at 2-2.
Kiter started the second on the bottom and scored his second reversal to take a 4-2 lead.
The senior sealed the match and the conference title with a take down with 42 seconds left in the third to drop Fussell 6-2.
“Nick dominated the entire tournament. He pinned his first two guys and had control of the finals match the whole time,” Forbush head coach Jeff Farmer said. “He was definitely in control. He’s one of those wrestlers that’s a great athlete, and even when he got two points scored on him, he never lost his composure; he rolled with it and went to the next move and ended up on top.”
With his dominating performance Kiter was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler and pushed his record to 39-1.
Kiter’s lone loss of the season came to Paul Briggs from Morehead City, a state qualifier last season.
“He’s only had one loss this year and his only close matches have been against state qualifiers,” Farmer explained. “He’s beat every other state qualifier, and based on that, I expect him to have a really good regionals and really good chance at states. But 39-1 is definitely impressive.”
Kiter will look to improve on a fifth-place finish in last year’s state tournament where he beat Henry Seiler (Madison) 10-2 in the fifth-place match.
As for the Falcons as a team, they struggled during the tournament and finished last with 42.5 team points.
West Wilkes captured its fourth-straight MVAC title with 200.5 team points, while Ashe County (160), Wilkes Central (99), North Wilkes (94) and Starmount (92) rounded out the top five.
The Blackhawks captured several other accolades, including the regular season conference title, Wrestler of the Year (JJ LaPlante - 132) and Coach of the Year (Brian Brown).
Mountain Valley Conference Champions
106-Brandon Reynolds (West Wilkes) dec. 10-1 Juan Castro (Wilkes Central)
113-Jake St. Germain (West Wilkes) pin 1:14 Lucas Smoot (North Wilkes)
120-Ty Franklin (Alleghany) dec. 7-1 Dustin Huffman (West Wilkes)
126-Jorge Lima (West Wilkes) pin 1:36 Zach Prevette (East Wilkes)
132-JJ LaPlante (West Wilkes) major dec. 18-7 Michael Elliot (Ashe County)
138-Nick Kiter (Forbush) dec. 6-2 Devin Fussell (West Wilkes)
145-Tyler Ward (Wilkes Central) pin 1:50 Jeremy Caffey (Ashe County)
152-Wesley Blevins (West Wilkes) dec. 1-0 Cody Mathis (East Wilkes)
160-Nick O’Donnell (Starmount) pin :59 Cody Haubruch (East Wilkes)
170-Hayden Sutphin (West Wilkes) dec. 5-2 Lucas Miller (Ashe County)
182-William Miller (Ashe County) dec. 6-3 Omar Aguilar (Starmount)
195-Taylor Neester (Alleghany) pin 4:34 Zack Faircloth (East Wilkes)
220-Austin Joines (Elkin) dec. 8-5 Cody Lefler (West Wilkes)
285-Austin Wineberg (Ashe County) pin 1:07 Dakota Bell (North Wilkes)
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