Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501170085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It didn't take long for Franklin County to climb back atop the field in the Big Orange wrestling tournament.
The Eagles led all the way and all but sewed up the title over host William Byrd by winning the first two weight-class titles Saturday.
First, sophomore Donnie Hutchinson, in his second year of wrestling, defeated Byrd's Corey Walker 17-2 for a technical fall at 103, and then steady Trung Nguyen bested Salem's Drew Givens 10-6 at 112.
Franklin County scored 237 1/2 points to outdistance second-place Byrd (194 1/2), which hasn't won this tournament since 1979. Northside, which ended Franklin County's six-year reign last year, finished third at 159.
The Eagles led Byrd by 25 points entering Saturday's finals and had a 32-point edge with wins by Walker and Nguyen. That allowed Franklin County coach Kris Kahila to relax a little.
``Trung is going down to 103 this week. He had trouble because he should be down a weight class and his opponent was strong,'' said Kahila.
All weight classes will be increased by two pounds today. That means Hutchinson will have to try his luck at the next weight class.
``I just came out for wrestling when I didn't make the basketball team last year,'' said Hutchinson, who was a free safety in the Franklin County football program.
The Eagles' big guns - unbeaten Bryan Jones (145) and John Muse (152) - were hard pressed to win.
Jones had to go into overtime to beat scrappy David Higgins of Northside 7-2 on a late takedown and near fall.
In the night's most awaited matchup, Muse staved off William Byrd's Patrick Henderson 7-6.
Henderson had been named the first recipient of the Bob McLelland Award, honoring a wrestler with at least a 3.0 grade point average who finishes in the tournament's top four. The award was named for the late sports editor of the Roanoke World-News.
Henderson, a slight underdog, gave Muse all he wanted before the Franklin County wrestler went up 7-4 in the third period on a takedown. He made that stand up as Henderson fought back with a couple of late points.
Then Landon Cuff upset defending champion Chip Nininger of Northside 10-8 in overtime of the 189-pound title match to cap the Eagles' big evening.
It remained for Eagles' heavyweight Eric Ingram to give Franklin County a six-for-six sweep of title matches, and Ingram answered with a 5-3 upset of Bassett's John Miller in the 275-pound class.
After Franklin County took the suspense out of the title scrap, Brad Hungate gave defending champion Northside something to be happy about as he used a late escape to beat Cave Spring's Scott Salliss at 119, avenging his loss to Salliss in last year's Big Orange final.
``But I wasn't thinking about that,'' Hungate said. ``This wasn't for revenge.''
In the next match, the Vikings' Leland Keeling also reversed a loss by beating Lord Botetourt's Noah Michalski 5-1 in overtime at 130 with a late takedown and near fall. Michalski had beaten Keeling in a pre-Christmas tournament at Salem.
Fleming's Herbie Kasey might have been the most impressive wrestler in the tournament. After a fourth-place finish in the Group AAA state last year, Kasey pleased Big Orange fans by rolling to four easy victories in defending his 135-pound title.
Kasey finished by pinning Brookville's Jeff Woody.
``I'm working on my takedowns and doing real well riding people. Hopefully, if I keep it up, I can win the state,'' Kasey said.
see microfilm for scores
by CNB