THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502120236
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CENTREVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
The best keep getting better.
One week after putting on a wrestling clinic to win the Eastern Region duals wrestling championship, Great Bridge climbed to an even higher level Saturday, whipping Centreville and Franklin County to claim its fifth straight Group AAA state duals title at Centreville High.
The Wildcats (23-1) began Saturday's onslaught by pounding Centreville, 49-9, in the semifinals. It was the Northern Region champions' first home loss since 1990.
``I've never been beaten like that before,'' Centreville coach Dan Foglio said. ``They just crushed us.''
And in the final the Wildcats manhandled Northwest Region champion Franklin County, 49-16.
``It was like wrestling a college team,'' Eagles heavyweight Eric Ingram said.
In winning their three matches in the two-day tournament, the Wildcats took 31 of the 39 individual bouts, 15 by pin or technical fall. So thorough was Great Bridge's domination that Wildcats coach Steve Martin, rarely given to superlatives, had to concede that the show his wrestlers put on was indeed something special.
``This is probably the best team I ever had,'' he said.
Centreville (20-1) was supposed to be the team most likely to stand up to the Wildcats, but the Northern Region champs' status as a legitimate threat vanished after the first seven weight classes, a string of matches that produced a 32-0 Great Bridge lead.
``Once they get on a roll, boy, they're tough to stop,'' Foglio said.
The roll stopped briefly at 145, where Centreville's Jeremy Ferry won his 115th straight match with a two-minute, 31-second pin of Jason Byrum. But Christian Basnight got Great Bridge rolling again with a 3:41 fall over Dennis Sugrue at 152, and the Wildcats didn't stop winning until the heavyweight.
Centreville's loss closed out the dual-match coaching career of Foglio, who will step down to concentrate on coaching the school's football team. In 16 seasons at Marshall and Centreville, Foglio teams compiled a 204-22-1 dual-match record.
``But I never could beat Great Bridge,'' he lamented.
Franklin County (16-2) earned its berth in the final with an exciting 34-25 victory over Central Region champion Douglas Freeman, a match which followed the same pattern as the Eagles' quarterfinal victory Friday over Cox. In both
matches, Franklin County built a small lead through the first eight bouts, then got pins from 152-pounder John Muse and 160-pounder Shaun Ferguson to break into the clear.
But those matches apparently took something out of the Eagles, leaving them ill-suited for the in-your-face, ``six minutes of hell'' fury unleashed by Wildcat after Wildcat.
Trung Nguyen provided a glimmer of hope for Franklin County when he caught Aaron Anton in a headlock and pinned him at 103. But what followed was primarily a succession of Eagles being contorted like practice dummies, all the while wearing helpless, pained expressions, as if to say, ``Can someone get this guy off me?''
``We actually went through two-a-day practices to get ready for this match,'' Ingram said. ``Then to come out here and to have this happen, it really hurt.''
At 145, Great Bridge's Michael Harper did a number on Eric Pierce, then pinned him at 2:48. An alternate official then waved off the pin, ruling that Harper had used an illegal headlock. Wildcat fans hooted the call, but the real victim was Pierce, who was forced to endure another period of Harper's punishment before getting pinned again.
But the best example of Great Bridge's physical superiority came one bout later, when Basnight took apart Muse so thoroughly that after two periods, Muse had to struggle to raise his head to tell the referee whether he wanted to start the next period on the top or the bottom. Midway through that period, Muse defaulted.
``I never had a guy quit on me before,'' Basnight said.
Franklin County took home the tournament's sportsmanship award.
As for Great Bridge, wrestling at such a high level Saturday was only half the battle. The goal now is to continue peaking through the individual tournament season over the next three weeks.
``We've got a lot of guys on a roll right now,'' Martin said. ``I want to keep them on that roll.'' by CNB