THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702160267
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 52 lines
Lake Taylor displayed efficiency and effectiveness Saturday night in easily claiming the Eastern District wrestling championships at Lake Taylor High. The Titans beat runner-up Granby by nearly 100 points, 251.5 to 158.5 and all eight Titans who made it to the finals won.
Included in that bunch was Paul Jimenez, South Hampton Roads' top-ranked 112-pounder. But even Jimenez, who won by fall over Maury's Cory Jordan in 1:36, was upstaged by the Norcom Greyhounds in the finals.
The night's closing round took on an ugly air in the 135-pound match between Norcom's Donell Blount and Booker T.'s Cameron White.
Norcom head coach Elijah ``Buddy'' Sharp, hotly protesting a stalling penalty point in the third period, bumped referee Kevin Beardsley twice, the second time from behind, then took a boxer's pose. Beardsley then shot low on Sharp and the two had to be separated by tournament officials.
When Blount lost the match 5-4, he refused to shake hands, threw his headgear into the rafters and was ejected from the tournament by Beardsley, costing Blount his berth in the upcoming Eastern Region tournament.
Then Norcom 275-pounder Ayrban Parker, who had earlier secured a regional spot, charged the four-man refereeing crew and got a police escort off the mat, then later out of the building. Several participants and spectators also poured onto the mat. Parker was also ejected and won't wrestle at region.
Lake Taylor advanced 12 wrestlers to the region meet, and erased any doubt of the district title outcome with pins in the first three weights. Brothers Check Y. Kam and Check C. Kam won by fall at 103 and 119 around Jimenez.
Ernesto Vera (130), Jesse Pearce (140), Brandon Wilson (160), Albert Johnson (215) and Chris Kriz (275) also won for Lake Taylor.
In one of the more competitive matches of the evening, Churchland's Nathaniel Parker, ranked third in the area at 125, took a 5-3 decision over Wilson's Victor Jackson. He came back in the third period, escaping early, then scoring a takedown with 23 seconds left.
The tournament's other ranked wrestler, Maury's Xavier Bell (14-1), also won at 145, pinning Booker T.'s Jemaine Burston in 1:29.
Churchland's Michael Allen won at 152, and Maury's Jeff Firks won at 189.
The other dominating performance of the tournament came from the Bookers' Duwyne Williams, who beat Granby's Darryl Evans 10-0, upped his record to 22-0. Williams remains unranked at 171 pounds in the area.
``I'm used to it now,'' Williams said. ``It used to bother me, but I know now that it'll all come out in the end. What really matters is how I finish in the region and overall.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Check Y. Kam, center, rolls Churchland's Matthew Scott in 103-pound
Eastern District final. All eight Titans who made it to their finals
won.