The newest wrestling whiz kid at North Carroll is Dameon Davis.
The sophomore 119-pounder had to wait a year to break into thtough Panthers lineup, but he is more than making up for lost time.
Davis has been little short of sensational in the first 11 bouts ohis career, going 10-1 with six pins and getting off to a 9-0 start.
His only loss (6-2 decision) came Tuesday night to North East'Ernie Miller in a tri-match that also included North Harford and was won by North Carroll.
Davis showed a lot of poise after losing for the first time. Hcame back later that evening to pin North Harford's Mike Liplap in 4 minutes, 10 seconds.
Davis really broke into the limelight last weekend at thprestigious McDonogh tournament, where he was the only North Carroll wrestler to win an individual championship.
Davis scored a dramatic 7-5 overtime decision in the 119-pounfinals over Gilman's Maakan Taghizadeh. There were just two seconds remaining in overtime when Davis came through with a takedown for the deciding two points.
He had forced the overtime with an escape.
"That was easily my biggest thrill so far," said Davis. "I'm not thasurprised by my fast start because I haven't faced the tough competition yet."
Sure, the likes of Francis Scott Key junior Ryan Etzler will provide stern tests for Davis, but he appears to be ready for prime time.
"Dameon has good solid wrestling moves and he uses hiemotions to fire himself up to a better performance," said first-year North Carroll coach Bryan Wetzel. "I'd say hard work more than anything else has made him the wrestler he is."
Hard work and wrestling against his brother Eddie, who was thCarroll County 112-pound champion last year.
"My brother beat up on me a lot, but he taught me to never givup no matter what the situation is," said Dameon.
It was the presence of Eddie Davis at 112 and Doug Dell at 11last season for the Panthers that kept Dameon Davis off the team.
"There was no way I was going to beat out Doug Dell and wouldn't have wanted to beat out my brother even if I could have," he said. "I just decided to wrestle in junior leagues for a fourth straight year and I finished second in the states."
By not wrestling last season, Davis has arrived on the scene athe same time as Wetzel, and the youngster seems intent on making the new coach's transition period easier.
"There was some debate among a few wrestlers as to whethecoach Wetzel would be a good coach," said Davis. "There was talk that he might be too young [1992 graduate of Slippery Rock] and toy with the wrestlers too much. But Mr. Wetzel is a great coach. He knew all about Mr. Bauerlein's program [Dick, former coach] and he has taken it a step further by teaching us the advance moves he learned in college ."
Davis' early performances have helped the Panthers get off to 5-0 start, win the Meade tournament and finish third in the McDonogh tournament.
To prepare Davis for the stretch drive and the statchampionships (dual meet and tournament), Wetzel is not only teaching him some advance moves but trying to break a bad Davis habit.
"In the third period, Dameon gets tired and holds his handdown," said the coach. "That sets him up for possible trouble. He needs to improve on setting up his shots in the third period so he can stay on the offensive."
Davis said that he allows his hands to "lock up" sometimes in ththird period and that resulted in his loss to Miller Tuesday night.
"Miller beat my brother last year and finished third in the states, said Davis. "He's a good wrestler, but I didn't have a good match. I had been working so hard to cut weight and just wasn't into the match. I need to get in a good groove and stay there."