Spotsylvania High School's once-proud wrestling program hadn't had many reasons to celebrate in recent years, as the openings of Massaponax and Riverbend diluted the county's talent pool and left the Knights scrambling to field a competitive lineup in the Battlefield District.
That reality made it all that much sweeter Wednesday night when Spotsylvania treated its home fans to a
"If that wasn't a statement, I don't know what it was," said Spotsylvania coach Joe Wood, who hopes to bring the same kind of success to his team that he experienced during his high school career at Orange. "Hopefully people are looking at us and saying, 'Spotsylvania isn't just going to roll over anymore.'"
Clearly, there's still plenty of pride and interest in the Spotsylvania program among its alumni. Twelve former Knights--ranging from Ray Clark (a 1968 graduate) to Hunter Perkinson ('08)--came out for Alumni Night, the brainchild of assistant coach Jeff Clark.
Clark, a Chancellor graduate, thought it would help motivate the current wrestlers by connecting them with alumni who had been around during the program's glory days. Spotsylvania won five district championships and two regional titles in the 1970s, and finished as the Group AA state runner-up in both '73 and '74.
Wednesday night was only the first step in that process, but it was an obvious success as Spotsylvania built on the momentum from a strong performance in last weekend's Mountaineer Duals at Madison County High School.
"They're ready to take on the world," Wood said of his wrestlers. "Now they've got a taste of winning and they want more. We have no intention of stopping now."
--Jim McConnell