MOCKSVILLE — Among the bevy of banners and team photographs hanging in the Davie County gymnasium that celebrate the War Eagles’ athletic history, there was one item in particular that stood out for members of the Cary wrestling team Saturday evening.

Just above one of the gym’s doorways hangs a large picture of the War Eagles’ 2005-06 wrestling team. This photo was in plain sight of every Cary wrestler as he sat on the bench, an ever present reminder of the Imps’ last trip to the Yadkin Valley.

On that evening, the Imps lost 41-23, their bid for a second straight dual team state championship dashed, along with their hopes of a second straight unbeaten season.

“That’s been in our minds every day in practice since we walked in the door,” said Cary senior Justin Koren, one of three current Imps to wrestle Davie that year.

Two days shy of two years ago to the day, Cary returned to Davie County with the same stakes.

This time, when it was all over, the Imps were in a far more celebratory state than the last.

Cary bulldozed the War Eagles 40-27 to claim its second straight NCHSAA 4-A dual team state championship and extend its unbeaten streak in duals to 67 matches.

“When we came back the second time, you have kind of a grudge,” said Lawrence White, the Imps’ senior 130-pounder who lost his match in 2006. “You remember losing, and you don’t want that to happen again.”

White did his best to ensure a loss wouldn’t happen from the evening’s first bout. After taking down Shelton Sales twice in the first period, White led 4-0 going into the second. Sales scored an escape point, but then White took him down again. This time, he didn’t let him up. White pinned Sales with 1:05 remaining in the second period.

“When Lawrence went out there and pinned, it brought everybody up and it started the momentum we needed,” Koren said.

Davie County’s Zach Vernon won the 135-pound match 7-4 over Cary’s Matt Colvard, but the Imps regrouped and won the next three matches.

At 140, Koren pinned Joel Barnett. Brendon Parker-Risk earned a 7-1 decision at 145 and Gabe Brotzman registered an 18-8 major decision at 152, putting Cary up 19-3.

Davie won two of the next three matches, both by decision at 160 and 189, to cut the Imps’ lead to 22-9. Cary’s Brett Colyer picked up a 6-2 decision at 171.

Cary’s Alec Snow, who normally wrestles at 189 pounds, was moved up in the lineup and wrestled at 215. It was a gamble that paid off. After falling behind 2-0, Snow managed to roll Davie’s Ricky Bell on his back and get a pin midway through the second period.

“I was happy for him,” said Cary coach Jerry Winterton. “He’s had some tough luck. That was a gamble. I knew if we got pinned there, [Davie] had some real tough lightweights and it was going to come down to the wire.”

Snow’s win put Cary ahead 28-9. With five matches still to wrestle, that result gave Eloheim Palma the chance to clinch the championship with a pin in the heavyweight match.

“Right before the match, coach looked me in the eye and said, ‘We need six,’” said Palma, who noted he wasn’t aware that he could wrap up the title with those six points. “So I was like, ‘I’ll get you six.’”

Palma, the top ranked heavyweight in the state, nearly pinned Aaron Peoples, the state’s No. 4 heavyweight, at the end of the first period, but Peoples fought him off. Midway through the second, Palma took down Peoples and never let him get back to his feet. Palma pinned him with 24.6 seconds remaining in the period.

Though Cary had the win wrapped up, they wrestled the 103-pound match anyway. Ben Creed, like Snow, overcame an early deficit and earned a pin in the second period. The Imps forfeited the remaining three matches for the final 40-27 score.

The expectation for Cary every year is to be the last team standing, both in the dual team and individual tournaments. This was the Imps’ seventh dual team state championship and third in the last four years. They have appeared in the final 13 times in the tournament’s 19-year history, including the last eight years in a row.

Each championship is significant in its own way. This one is fulfilling because it served as a resounding follow-up to last season’s landmark team, one that has its place among the best in Winterton’s 27 years with the Imps.

“Following up that team we had last year was going to be tough, we knew that,” Winterton said. “But the guys filled in the holes and worked hard in the offseason.”