Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 14, 1995 TAG: 9501160073
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWIGHT FOXX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Eagles accumulated 113.5 points Friday to take a 21.5-point lead over second-place William Byrd (92 points). Defending champion Northside stood in third with 74.5 points.
In this morning's semifinal round, Franklin County will have a wrestler in 10 of the 12 weight classes.
Top-seeded Eagles Donnie Hutchinson (103), Trung Nguyen (112), Bryan Jones (145) and John Muse (152) all advanced to today's final four in their respective weight classes.
Franklin County can win its eighth Big Orange title if it holds onto its lead today.
Barry Trent, Byrd's coach, says his team's chances of winning its first Domino's Big Orange title since 1979 appears very bleak.
``Franklin County has such a strong team,'' Trent said. ``Everybody they have is seeded fourth or better. They've been in some big tournaments, and they have already wrestled some of the best in the state. Our goal is to be in the top three. That would be a good goal for us.''
If the host Terriers reach their goal of finishing in the top three, it's a good chance that junior Matt Burton will have a hand in it.
Burton advanced to the semifinals in the 140-pound class by defeating Franklin County's Greg Amos 7-2 in the quarterfinals.
``Seeding is only on paper; that's why we have the tournament,'' Trent said. ``But that was a really big win.''
Amos at 140 and Scott Sink at 125 were the only two Eagles not to advance the semifinals.
Sink, seeded fourth, was upset 7-2 by Northside's Tommy Dickenson in the quarterfinals. Dickenson was seeded fifth.
There was another upset in the 140-pound class when Blacksburg's Jeff Ohm, seeded seventh, upset William Fleming's Shannon Wilson, seeded second, 6-4. Ohm and Burton will meet in one semifinal matchup.
There were few upsets as the top four seeds advanced in 10 of the 12 weight categories. All No.1 seeds advanced.
William Fleming's Herbert Kasey (135), Franklin County's Brian Jones (145), E.C. Glass' Breon Crennel (160) and Northside's Chad Nininger (189) will be looking to repeat as individual champions today.
Cave Spring, which stands in sixth with 55 points, received a valiant effort from heavyweight Keith Doolan.
Doolan, the team's trainer, was needed to replace Matt Berger who broke his fibula. He gained six pounds in three hours to make the heavyweight minimum of 188 pounds.
Doolan ate a Big Mac, six Chicken McNuggets, a large fries and four 32-ounce drinks - three glasses of water and a Dr Pepper - in order to make weight. He chugged the four drinks in 30 minutes.
He lost both of his matches, but his effort was appreciated by Steve Spangler, the Knights' coach.
``He helped us out, and we certainly appreciated that,'' Spangler said.
Doolan said he was bloated after digesting the food, and being outweighed by 80 pounds by his opponents, Northside's Jeff Painter (first round) and Brookville's Jason Cyrus (consolation), didn't help.
Both wrestlers pinned him.
``Coach told me not to let them get their weight on me,'' Doolan said. ``And that's what happened.''
The senior wrestled as a sophomore and junior but decided to concentrate on being an athletic trainer during his senior year until Berger's injury.
``I decided to focus on athletic training because that's what I want to do in college,'' he said.
by CNB