THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501270778
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY DAN COOLEY, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Indian River, after winning the last three regular-season Chesapeake Middle School League boys' basketball championships, is off to a 1-4 start. Oscar Smith, winners of the last two girls' titles, is 2-3. And now Great Bridge's wrestling team is 1-2 after dominating the CMSL for the past three years.
Mark 1995 as the year of the underdog.
Deep Creek and Western Branch are on top of the wrestling standings at 3-0 with two matches left. The Wildcats and Indian River are next at 1-2, followed by Crestwood and Oscar Smith, who are both 0-2-1.
Barring any major upsets, Deep Creek and Western Branch will square off for the CMSL regular season title in the last match.
Against the Wildcats, Deep Creek coach Richard Capps said he was ``so much into each individual match that I wasn't even aware of the team score. It wasn't until the next to last match that I realized we had a chance to win.''
At that time, Deep Creek held a 42-40 lead. With a match to go, Rashad Cuffee's pin at 175 gave the Hornets an insurmountable 48-40 lead.
In another recent match, Indian River scored a slim 43-42 win over Oscar Smith. These days any win is big for the Braves, since even coach Mike Dodd-O is unsure of the last time they had a victory.
``Halfway through at 129 it was our big gun against their big gun, and our guy got pinned. That put us down by six and I was thinking, well, at least we wrestled well,'' said Dodd-O. ``But then we got an unexpected win two matches later and that was the key to the match.''
That unexpected win came from first-year wrestler Alex Winston, who trailed throughout his match but came back to pin his man with 30 seconds left.
EVEN IF THEIR wrestling team has been sub-par, the Wildcats girls' basketball team has given the school something to shout about. Great Bridge is unbeaten at 5-0 and is outscoring the opposition by 21 points per game. The team leads the CMSL in scoring offense (45.6 ppg) and scoring defense (24.6 ppg).
The Wildcats have a two-game lead over Indian River and Deep Creek, who are 3-2. Oscar Smith and Western Branch are both 2-3, followed by Crestwood at 0-5.
According to Great Bridge coach Mickey Wheeler ``a big key is that the girls play really well together. It's a well-disciplined team. They know when to shoot, when not to shoot, and they press well.''
The Wildcats have shined the most when the pressure has been on them. Last Wednesday, the team broke a first-place tie in the CMSL with a convincing 41-18 win over Deep Creek.
First place was on the line for Great Bridge in the very next game. This time the Wildcats took to the road and disposed of Indian River, 48-34. A win by the Braves would have put them in a tie for first.
``We're in good shape now, but we're not looking past anyone. The second half is what determines the season,'' Wheeler said.
THERE IS A BATTLE going on in CMSL boys' basketball. Just one game separates the top four teams, and five of the six games between those teams have been decided by a total of nine points.
Deep Creek and Western Branch lead the pack at 4-1. Right behind are Great Bridge and Oscar Smith, at 3-2. Indian River is 1-4; Crestwood 0-5.
Western Branch forced the first-place tie with a 60-58 win over Deep Creek that went right down to the wire. The Bruins led by 10, 56-46, with just two minutes left before the Hornets put on a furious rally and outscored Western Branch 11-3 to set up a frantic finish.
Trailing 59-57 with 19 seconds left, Deep Creek had a chance to tie the game, but Terrell Ricks hit only one of two free throws to draw the Hornets within one. Deep Creek had two separate chances to tie the game but turned the ball over.
Surging into first place has been especially sweet for the Bruins, who were winless last year. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Great Bridge Middle School's girls basketball team is unbeaten at
5-0.
Denita Griffin goes for a layup during the Great Bridge team's
practice. The team has been outscoring opponents by 21 points per
game.
by CNB