THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 20, 1996 TAG: 9602200402
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Tallwood strung together three titles from 152-171 and held off Cox to win the Beach District wrestling tournament Monday at Ocean Lakes.
The Lions finished with 254 points. Cox tallied 242 points, followed by First Colonial with 202.
The Lions led by only a point heading into the finals, and victories by Brad Pond (103), Jeff Kramer (140) and Jesse Correll (145) had the Falcons ahead entering the 152-pound final.
Tallwood dominated from there, however, as Andre Kemp (152), Joe Kerr (160), Chris Brashers (171) delivered victories to produce the Lions' first tournament title in the team's four-year history.
Brashers' triumph was the key, as it came with the Falcons trailing by only two and snuffed out Cox's last chance. The Lions' 171-pounder scored a takedown with 13 seconds left in overtime to nip Cox's Mohammad Youssoffi, 3-1. Youssoffi had beaten Brashers three weeks ago in a dual match.
``When we got to overtime, my coach was telling me how big this would be if I won,'' Brashers said. ``Everything just clicked after that.''
Tallwood also got titles from 215-pounder Mike Mooney and Mike Mercado, who defended his 112-pound crown with a first-period pin over Kyle Magyar.
Mercado was named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler.
At 125, Salem's Romon Copeland also defended his title by fall over Princess Anne's Nate Parker.
In a mild upset at 135, Ocean Lakes' R.J. Davis also won for the second year in a row, besting top-seeded Pierre Pryor of First Colonial 11-7. And Tom Juskevich of First Colonial pulled off another stunner when he pinned top-seeded and area top-ranked Alvin Wilson of Tallwood at 189.
The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the Eastern Region tournament beginning Thursday at Churchland. Tallwood and Cox will each send 10 wrestlers, followed by First Colonial with eight.
PAUL WHITE
Just 4 Wildcat champs in
another Southeastern win
CHESAPEAKE - On a night when individual championships were hard to come by, Great Bridge managed to claim its 12th consecutive Southeastern District title.
The Wildcats, getting only four champions after putting 11 in the finals, registered 254.5 points in Monday's wind-up of the snow-delayed two-day matches at Great Bridge.
Runner-up Western Branch had 201 points while also grabbing four individual championships.
Great Bridge and Western Branch both qualified their entire 14-member squads for the Eastern Regional. It was the third year in a row Great Bridge qualified its entire team and the first time ever for Western Branch.
``We're very pleased,'' said Western Branch coach Terry Perdew. ``We had five in the finals and four won championships. And the whole team goes to the regional. Maybe we're closing the gap on Great Bridge a little bit.''
Deep Creek and Oscar Smith each had two winners. Churchland and Indian River had one.
Oscar Smith advances eight to the regional, Indian River seven, Deep Creek six, Churchland five and Wilson two. Only Norcom failed to get a qualifier.
Four champions repeated, three at different weights. Great Bridge's Carl Perry, now only two wins shy of becoming the all-time leading winner in the Virginia High School League with his 154th victory (40-0 this year), took the 130-pound title after winning at 125 last year.
His teammate, Travis Woodhouse, who won at 130 last year, was the 135 winner.
Western Branch's 152-pounder Sean Sanderlin, 37-1 this season, won at 145 last year.
The lone holdover winner at the same weight was 275-pound junior Rafael Butts of Oscar Smith.
Indian River's Keith Reynolds, undefeated in 17 matches, atoned for a loss to Great Bridge's John Young in the 140-pound final.
Also avenging a finals loss last year was Western Branch's Richard Slocumb, who beat Churchland's Tiree Murphy, 9-5, at 119. Last year Murphy upended Slocumb, 9-6.
Other winners were Great Bridge's Stacey Woodhouse (145) and Chris Basnight (171), Western Branch's Matt Viola (103) and Matt Peppers (125),Deep Creek's Doug Norris (189) and Nick Cuffee (215), Oscar Smith's Gary Lewis (112) and Churchland's Orlando Morton (160), a three-time Eastern District champion before transferring.
BILL LEFFLER First Eastern District title for Granby in 25 years
NORFOLK - Granby ended a 25-year Eastern District wrestling tournament title drought Monday as it rolled to a 56-point win over runnerup Lake Taylor at Lake Taylor.
``It feels great,'' said Comet coach John Cerminara, on winning the school's first title since 1971. ``There is no better feeling. It's good for the kids. What I really like is that we had a couple of suprise winners. And it was great to have 12 kids make the finals.''
Granby emerged with seven individual champions en route to ending Lake Taylor's three-year reign. The Comets scored 223 points, Lake Taylor 167. The Titans were followed by Maury (103), Norview (76) and Booker T. Washington (65).
Granby's 145-pounder Chris Martin clinched the tournament when he pinned the Titans' Richard Quales in 28 seconds.
KEITH POMPEY ILLUSTRATION: GARY C. KNAPP
Granby's Reuben Waites works on Norview's Linwood Hilton during a
win in the 119-pound Eastern District final.
by CNB