Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994 TAG: 9402170177
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Even Kris Kahila, whose Franklin County team won its seventh consecutive RVD title with a near-dominant performance, felt bad about seeing Miller's William Fleming squad go home as runner-up.
Sort of, anyway.
"I really have mixed feelings about this," said Kahila, the Eagles' coach. "I think the world of Coach Miller. . . . But we needed to prove something to ourselves, too."
Franklin County took a commanding lead heading into the final round, then held off an emotionally charged Fleming squad to win the tournament 183 1/2-171 1/2. Cave Spring was third with 120 1/2 points, followed by Pulaski County (78 points) and Patrick Henry (34).
The Eagles, who lost a regular-season match to William Fleming this season, placed 10 wrestlers in the finals and won five individual championships. Franklin County will seek its third consecutive Northwestern Region title next week at Woodbridge.
"We've got all the pictures of the championship teams on the wall of our wrestling room, and I was wondering if we were going to put one up there this year," Kahila said.
William Fleming extracted some satisfaction from the finals by beating the Eagles in four of five head-to-head matchups.
"I'm proud of the way the kids hung in there," said Miller, who is stepping down as wrestling coach after 20 years in the Fleming program, the last 15 as head coach.
After the match, Miller received goodbye hugs and handshakes from his wrestlers and from Franklin County's entire squad.
"It's all hit me just now, after the heavyweight match," Miller said.
Franklin's Brian Saul won the 103-pound title by beating Pulaski County's Lee Pannell 17-8, then the Eagles' 112-pounder, Trung Nguyen, beat Cave Spring's Scott Salliss 9-4 in overtime despite nearly not completing the match in regulation time because of a stomach ailment.
"In overtime, the other guy is just as tired as you are, so I just sucked it up," Nguyen said.
Fleming defeated Franklin County four times in the finals: Mosi Coleman beat Scott Sink 13-0 at 119; Shannon Wilson edged John McPhail 9-6 at 125; Herbert Kasey nipped Brian Jones 4-3 at 135; and Derrick Bryant pinned Shaun Ferguson in 5 minutes, 49 seconds at 145.
"We never gave up hope, but we pretty much knew we had to win them all to have a chance," said Kasey, who improved his record to 29-1.
Fleming's Edward Jones also moved to 29-1, beating Patrick Henry's Richard Mason 7-0 to win the 189-pound title.
Franklin's Darren Wray defeated Cave Spring's Robert Kaczmarek 7-6 at 130, and the Eagles' Daniel Gearhart beat Fleming's Shannon Allmon 10-6 at 140. Franklin's Landen Cuff defeated Cave Spring's Tim Carter 13-5 at 171.
Cave Spring got victories when Barry Link beat Fleming's Jonathan Rosser 2-0 at 152 and when John Richardson pinned Franklin's John Muse in 3:05 at 160. Fleming's Michael Brown beat Patrick Henry's Mark Anderson 3-2 in the heavyweight division. \
See microfilm for complete scores
by CNB