THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300615
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Top-ranked Great Bridge, powered both by its usual stars and some surprising heroics in the 112-pound division, rolled up another victory Thursday in the Hornet Holiday Classic at Deep Creek.
The Wildcats finished with 250 1/2 points to easily outdistance second-place Paulsboro (N.J.), which tallied 188 1/2. North Carolina's Cary (136 points), Western Branch (130 1/2) and South Carolina's Rock Hill (119) rounded out the top five.
Great Bridge wins so often it's sometimes hard to keep track. It was reported that the Wildcats were gunning for their fifth straight Hornet Holiday Classic title. In fact, Great Bridge athletic director Wayne Martin pointed out that Thursday's victory was the school's seventh in a row.
The Wildcats finished with five individual champions, led by freshman Bruce Fowler, the tournament's most outstanding wrestler who stunned onlookers by downing 1994 Group AAA state runner-up Mike Mercado of Tallwood in the 112-pound final.
Fowler (9-2) had proven he could hang with Mercado on Dec. 3, when he dropped a 9-8 decision to the Lions junior. Mercado attributed some of his sluggishness in that match to the fact that he was wrestling for the fourth time in less than 24 hours. But any fatigue Mercado felt Thursday was due to the relentless assault engineered by the Great Bridge freshman. With Great Bridge coach Steve Martin screaming ``Stick to your gameplan!'' from the sideline, Fowler wore down Mercado with tactical efficiency and came away with a decisive 8-4 victory.
The capacity crowd, of which nearly half appeared to be Great Bridge supporters, was still buzzing about Fowler's performance well into the 119-pound final. But the man of the hour was more interested in keeping a December victory in perspective and chose to decline comment.
``The thing you have to remember is, these guys will probably see each other four of five more times this season,'' Steve Martin said. ``This means a lot for Bruce's confidence, but otherwise it's kind of insignificant. We're more concerned with what happens in March.''
Had Fowler not been named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler, teammate Carl Perry would have been an appropriate choice. The junior, like Mercado a 1994 state runner-up, improved to 13-0 with a 2:41 technical fall victory over First Colonial's Jeff Bernd in the 125-pound final. Perry won all four of his tournament matches by technical fall, and only one of his opponents made it into the third period.
Jimmy Hawthorne (119), Aaron Beatson (135) and Billy Allred (160) were Great Bridge's other tournament champions. Hawthorne and Allred also won here last year.
The best match of the night came in the 145-pound final, where North Carolina state champion Joel Dramis of Cary nipped Western Branch's Sean Sanderlin, 5-4, after six minutes of intense on-the-mat wrestling.
Sanderlin engineered an escape with 11 seconds to go to take a 4-3 lead, but Dramis scored a controversial takedown with three seconds remaining.
Both Sanderlin and Western Branch coach Terry Perdew argued that Sanderlin (17-1) had latched onto Dramis' leg and also that Dramis (21-0) didn't have control. But Sanderlin also talked about missed opportunities he'd squandered earlier in the match.
``There were times when I should have had him on his back, but I didn't use enough technique,'' he said. ``I think this will make me better. I'm mad now.''
The Bruins still finished with two champions, although the crowd was denied another look at Western Branch's exciting Byron Tucker when Poquoson's Forrest Holloway defaulted because of injury prior to the 152-pound final.
Lee Butler got the Bruins' other title when he downed Great Bridge's Aaron Anton, 7-1, in the 103-pound final.
The lone other local champion came from the host school. Deep Creek's Ryan Baker (10-0) successfully defended his 171-pound title by pinning Kempsville's Kris Poston in 3:22.
In other finals, Paulsboro's Mike Robostello defeated Car's Ethan Jarvis at 130; Paulsboro's Jason Brown topped Gloucester's Beau Dickerson at 140; Poquoson's Jimmy Jones pinned Great Bridge's Josh Fannon at 189 and Paulsboro's Jermaine Ruffin downed First Colonial's Pat McDowell at 275. ILLUSTRATION: D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, Staff photo
Bobby Julian of Princess Anne looks for instructions from his coach
as Great Bridge's Billy Allred wrestles him to a 16-5 loss.
by CNB