THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512140147
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The Virginia Beach Middle School League wrestling season concludes Saturday with its marquee event - the citywide tournament.
This year's event will be a one-day affair at Larkspur Middle School, starting with first-round action at 9:30 a.m. Finals are scheduled for 5 p.m.
Brandon and Great Neck enter as the favorites based on their unbeaten records (middle schools don't wrestle everybody during the regular season), but tournaments and dual meets are two different animals.
``I think it will come down to wrestle-backs and third-place finishes,'' Brandon coach David Bridger said. ``We have a lot of wrestlers with 6-2 records and we'll need a lot of them to finish at least third if we're going to win.''
This is the second straight season the Chargers have finished unbeaten. They outscored opponents by 546-94 this season.
But Great Neck has an equally strong reputation.
Brandon and Great Neck finished one-two in last year's tournament.
Saturday's event will feature 17 undefeated wrestlers. Princess Anne's Josh Eldredge - the defending champion at 71 - won all seven of his matches by pin, but will be challenged by Brandon's Winfred Escalante who is also unbeaten in the weight class with six pins.
Great Neck's Bobby Ingram is the only other defending champion who is unbeaten. He has moved from 77 to 98 and - like Eldredge - has won all his matches by fall.
Independence 126-pounder Bobby Hudson has also won all seven of his matches by fall, as has Virginia Beach 132-pounder Jeremy Haskell.
Six wrestlers have won six of their seven matches by fall. by CNB