DANBURY — East Surry won 11 of 13 weights to down North Stokes 66-12 in wrestling Thursday night.

With the threat of ice and snow Friday, the schools decided to move the match up one day.

“It was a good bounceback win after a loss to Surry Central last week,” said Coach Darrin Haywood.

The Cardinals, who improved to 13-11, tied with Surry Central 39-all, but lost on tiebreaker criteria.

“Maybe that will get us back to our winning ways,” said Haywood. “We have three matches left, and we’re looking to win all of those and get in a good position for the playoffs.”

On Thursday, Eddie Nunez (106) was out sick, but North Stokes didn’t have anyone either, so it was a double forfeit.

In the 13 matches that were held, East Surry won 11 weights with all of them coming by pin.

North Stokes has two seniors, and they came through with wins against a freshman and sophomore. East Surry is a young squad with only five upperclassmen starters.

Cody Bennett (16-6) pinned Colton Bruner at 170. Matt Chesnet (10-10) pinned Gage Edwards at 160. The rest of the matches went to the Cards.

At 113, Timmy Norman improved to 24-6 with a pin. At 120, Austin Bryant improved to 13-12.

Andrew Kozlow (16-9) won at 126. Freshman Eddie Scott got his seventh win of the season at 132.

Austin Jessup (138) had a good match, the coach said. He improved to 13-8 on the season.

Jimmy Speer (145) improved to 23-7, and Keanu Love went to 23-4 at 152. On Retro Rankings, Speer is rated the number six wrestler in 1A for his weight, while Love is seventh at his weight.

Two teammates are in the rankings as well. Nunez is fourth at 106. And Cody Gaskell, who finished third in the state last year, is now ranked first for 195. With his pin Thursday, Gaskell improved to 19-4.

Mitchell Flynt hasn’t had that many matches this season, but the junior had a good match Thursday to improve to 4-4, according to the coach.

At 220, Jacob Chattin went to 12-10 with a pin.

Heavyweight Joshua Stevens had one of his best matches to earn his seventh win.

The Cardinals’ last three matches come against South Stokes, West Stokes and Bishop McGuinness.

South Stokes has a nice record at 17-13, but the Cardinals already have defeated the Sauras twice this season in tournaments. In November, it was a close four-point win, then on Jan. 1, the Cards won by 21.

East hasn’t faced the other two yet in team duals, but West Stokes’ record is just 6-11 and Bishop 2-7. That gives the Cards a good chance to sweep the rest of the matches and be 16-11 at the end of the regular season.

East Surry is one of five teams knocking on the door of the 1A coaches poll. The poll only lists the top five teams, but the Cards are on the verge of cracking that listing and could with a strong finish.