THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 18, 1995 TAG: 9502180752
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Great Bridge, waltzing its way toward an 11th consecutive Southeastern District wrestling tournament championship, qualified wrestlers in every title bout tonight except one.
Competing in their own gym where banners strung from wall to wall attest to their mat supremacy, the Wildcats racked up 228 points after the semifinals Friday night.
Western Branch stands a distant second with 100 1/2. Oscar Smith is third with 80 1/2, followed by Deep Creek (60 1/2), Indian River (54), Churchland (45), Wilson (29) and Norcom (9 1/2).
The championship matches tonight start at 7 o'clock. Consolation matches start at 2 p.m., followed by fifth and third-place bouts.
The Wildcats advanced wrestlers to 12 of the 13 finals. Only a loss by sophomore Brian Childress, who was pinned by Churchland's Tiree Murphy, marred a sweep through the semifinals by the state dual meet champs. Ironically, Childress had the fastest pin in the tournament when he registered a fall in 11 seconds of his match against Oscar Smith's Chris Amerson.
Western Branch advanced five to the finals. Oscar Smith and Deep Creek have three finalists. Indian River has two, Churchland one.
Perhaps the most elated of the Great Bridge finalists was Billy Allred, the top seed in the 160-pound division. Victories are generally routine for Allred, who is now 35-1 for the season. But he was top-seeded in the district meet a year ago and failed to win when he defaulted to Wilson's Mustafa Muhammad, slamming him to the mat.
In the opening round Allred won by technical fall over Deep Creek's Randy Snodgrass. Muhammad defeated Oscar Smith's Michael Phelps, 9-2, to set up a semifinal rematch which Allred won, 12-4.
``I made up my mind that it wasn't going to happen again,'' Allred said. ``I definitely wanted this match.''
Allred faces second-seeded Cory Bauswell of Western Branch in the final. Bauswell ousted Indian River's Nelson Anderson in the other semifinal, 9-8.
Only some minor upsets occurred in the early rounds as every top seed reached the final.
Third-seeded Darnell Bell of Deep Creek defeated No. 2 seed James Surace of Western Branch, 3-1, in the 125-pound division. Indian River's Luke Armagost, another No. 3 seed, upended No. 2 seed Cory Sloane of Western Branch, 6-5, at 130 pounds. Deep Creek's second-seeded 275-pounder Thomas Rapier, battling a shoulder injury, bowed to Great Bridge's third-seeded Shawn Curl, 5-2.
Three 1994 winners are seeking to repeat although Great Bridge's Aaron Beatson won at 125 last year and now is seeking the 135 crown.
Great Bridge's Michael Harper, the defending champ at 145 pounds, undoubtedly has the toughest assignment. He goes against Western Branch's Sean Sanderlin, the area's top-ranked at 145. Sanderlin coasted into the final with pins over Oscar Smith's Thomas Schucker and Indian River's Calvin Sutton. Harper was equally impressive in pinning Deep Creek's Shawn Langley and taking a major decision over Wilson's Andre Kemp, 13-0.
The other holdover champ, Deep Creek 171-pounder Ryan Baker, tangles with Great Bridge's Joey Guth in another promising crowd pleaser. Guth sports a 27-3 record.
In last year's 171 final, Baker beat Great Bridge's Josh Fannon. Fannon is a finalist this year at 189 and will be colliding with top-seeded Anwar Sparrow of Oscar Smith.
The 152-pound final also should be an eye-popper. Top-ranked Byron Tucker of Western Branch, No. 1 ranked in the area, goes against Great Bridge's Chris Basnight, 32-4 this year. by CNB