Knocked out in his previous match, Mooresville senior Dalton Pierce rose to the occasion to finish first-place at 145 pounds in Saturday's I-Meck wrestling tournament.
It was an especially sweet victory for Pierce, who got another shot at Lake Norman standout Mike Hayes.
A junior, Hayes is ranked No. 4 in the state. The two had a big showdown last week when Lake Norman hosted Mooresville for the I-Meck title.
During the first period, though, Pierce smacked his head and was briefly knocked out. Coaches and medical staff decided he should not continue, and awarded the match to Hayes.
"When he brought me back down, I hit my head on the mat," Pierce said. "But the part that got me, when I came back up, his head hit the back of my head. Yeah it hurt, but I wanted to wrestle. I understand people were looking out for my safety."
Pierce was cleared to wrestle at Saturday's I-Meck tournament.
He advanced to the finals, where Hayes was waiting on the other side of the bracket.
An inspired Pierce took control early and won 7-5 for perhaps his biggest individual win of the season.
"When I got knocked out on Wednesday, I was pretty upset emotionally," Pierce said. "I told myself that when I see him in the finals, I was going to give him all he could handle. When I wrestled Hayes today, he knew I was going to come after him, and that's exactly what I did.
"And I don't want to take anything away from him, because overall, Hayes is a great wrestler. I'm sure I might see him at Regionals again if we both do well."
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