THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702071029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 53 lines
R.J. Davis, Pierre Pryor, Mohammed Youssofi and David Walker supplied the dynamite and freshman Bobby Ingram lit the fuse as top-ranked Cox blew away No. 4 Tallwood 40-16 Thursday night to clinch the Beach District dual-match wrestling title.
Cox (25-2, 9-0) won nine weight classes and posted the only three falls in clinching the Beach District championship.
Ingram, ranked No. 1 at 103 and the first Falcon to notch 30 victories this season,, got Cox rolling with a 9-3 decision over defending state runner-up Winston Escalante.
``I was kind of nervous,``Ingram said. ``He does some things I don't like; he's quick and shoots outside.''
Escalante (17-2) came out aggressively, but it didn't take Ingram long to solve the puzzle.
``I felt confident after about the first 30 seconds,'' Ingram said. ``He took a couple of shots and my defense was good. After that I decided the best defense was a good offense.''
Ingram scored four takedowns while limiting Escalante to three escapes.
That set the tone for the entire match. Tallwood (15-3) scored only five points on near falls, two by Jason Kraft and three by Aubrey Wilson.
``You can never be sure, but this is about what I expected,'' Cox coach Joe Boone said. ``Just like in our victories over Great Bridge and Western Branch, the top guys did the job and the others kept it close.''
Pryor (140), Youssofi (171) and Walker (215) are all ranked No. 1 at their weights and each won by fall. Davis, No. 1 at 135, was leading 10-0 when David Fawcett had trouble breathing and defaulted.
Pryor, Youssofi and Davis are undefeated.
Pryor scored a quick takedown on second-ranked David Pittman and never let it up in getting the pin in 1:39.
``He tried to intimidate me,'' Pryor said after Pittman went nose-to-nose in the center of the mat before the whistle. ``I just concentrated on what I wanted to do, be quick off the whistle.
``I always think that once I take a man down he's pinned.''
Youssofi scored the quickest fall, decking Erik Taylor in 43 seconds. Walker rallied from a 6-3 deficit to pin third-ranked Lawrence Chambers in 3:55.
Other victorious Falcons were third-ranked Brad Pond at 112, Nick Franzitta at 119, Jeff Kramer at 145 and Steve Mings at 275.
Tallwood got its points from Jason Kraft (125), Wilson (130), Andre Kemp (152), Joe Kerr (160) and Joe Monaghan (189). ILLUSTRATION: Photo by Mike Heffner/The Virginian-Pilot
[Tallwood's Jason Kraft bends back Cox's Ryan Pond...]