THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502250372
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
After weeks of absorbing punishment Great Bridge-style, a handful of Eastern Region wrestlers showed the Wildcats Friday they can dish it out too.
The result has been some uncharacteristic bumps along the road to Great Bridge's fifth straight regional title.
Four of the Wildcats eight semifinalists tasted defeat on Day Two of the regional tournament Friday at Oscar Smith, a surprising development for a team which just two weeks ago was being lauded by coach Steve Martin as perhaps his best ever.
The Wildcat victims included returning regional champ Aaron Beatson, who was stunned, 5-2, by Granby's Chris Martin in a 135-pound semifinal.
``It's always been Great Bridge beating the rest of the region. Now the rest of the region is catching up with Great Bridge,'' said Maury's Lewis Wallace, who pinned Great Bridge's John Young in a 140-pound semifinal.
``They're a great team, but there's a lot of great individuals here.''
Great Bridge's performance Friday can hardly be classified a disaster. The Wildcats are still the runaway team leaders, 61 points ahead of second-place Western Branch, and appear certain to collect a fifth straight regional title.
Still, the day's effort was far from vintage Great Bridge.
Tallwood's Mike Mercado set the tone for the evening when he rolled past Great Bridge's Bruce Fowler, 11-4, in a 112-pound semifinal. In the other 112-pound semifinal, Oscar Smith's Gary Lewis rode out Cox' Andy Simons in overtime.
There was no Wildcat whipping at 125, where Carl Perry punished Granby's Trip Nofplot in a six-minute technical fall to move into the final against First Colonial sophomore Jeff Bernd, who turned back Lake Taylor's Lionel Davis, 4-1.
But at 130, Hampton's Randy Devlin caught and pinned Great Bridge's Travis Woodhouse in 5:38. Martin followed with his victory over Beatson. Then Wallace decked Young in 3:11.
Billy Allred pulled the Wildcats out of their nosedive at 160 by shutting out Princess Anne's Bobby Julian. He'll face Western Branch's Cory Bauswell in a rematch of the Southeastern District final.
The 171-pound final, pitting Great Bridge's Joey Guth and Deep Creek's Ryan Baker, is also a reprise of the Southeastern District final in which Guth handed Baker his only defeat.
Great Bridge's fourth finalist, Josh Fannon, prevailed over returning state placewinner Daemon Schultz of Salem at 189.
Western Branch, in second, also has four finalists: Lee Butler (103), Sean Sanderlin (145), Byron Tucker (152) and Cory Bauswell (160).
The unbeaten Tucker will take on undefeated Orlando Morton of Maury in one of Saturday's most anticipated finals. The two tuned up Friday with matching pins - Morton in 3:12, Tucker in 3:13.
The move of the night was executed by Ocean Lakes' R.J. Davis, who pinned Bethel's Daniel Cannon in a spladle at 3:51.
``He did the same move against C.J. Franzitta of Cox,'' said Davis, who will face Hampton's Randy Devlin in today's final. ``I thought I'd give him a taste of his own medicine.''
Salem 119-pounder Chip Reyes, bidding to become a three-time regional champion, was also spectacular Friday, executing a Granby out of a cross-body ride and shifting to a headlock to pin Churchland's Tiree Murphy in 1:04.
Reyes will meet Gloucester's Joey Legg in the 119-pound final.
Action resumes today at 2:30 p.m. with the consolation semifinals. The finals are scheduled for 7:30.
In the VIS tournament:
Cape Henry's Robert Gautreaux (145 pounds) and Nick Gomez (130) and Catholic's Ben Scotece (135) won two matches each to advance to the semifinals of the Virginia Independent Schools tournament at Fork Union.
Gautreaux won by fall twice, including a 11-second pin the first round. Gomez scored a 3:43 fall over Norfolk Collegiate's Jim Beck in the first round, before winning a major decision in the quarterfinals. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Western Branch's Lee Butler, top, works on Kempsville's Kevin
Richardson in their 103-pound Eastern Region semifinal. Butler won,
5-0.
by CNB