THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602110243
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MECHANICSVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Great Bridge punctuated its remarkable reign of wrestling team dominance Saturday with a championship-round shutout in the final Group AAA state duals tournament at Atlee High School.
The Wildcats' 66-0 victory over Franklin County - the only shutout in the tournament's seven-year history - gave Great Bridge its sixth state duals title.
``We were on today, no doubt about it,'' said Great Bridge coach Steve Martin, seconds before he was drenched with ice water.
The Wildcats (27-2), who also beat Franklin County in their season opener, appeared supremely confident heading into the final, kicking back in their chairs during the pre-match introductions and laughing heartily when 125-pounder Charlie Haltom was mistakenly announced as the injured Jimmy Hawthorne.
But the smiles masked a strong desire to put on a statement-making performance, an attitude fueled by another locker-room talk by defending state champion Carl Perry.
``He just talked about how we have a lot of seniors (10) wrestling in their last dual match, so they should go out there trying to win big,'' Wildcats 189-pounder Matt Small said. ``And the young guys, it's there last time in the state duals so they should want to show something, too.''
The Wildcats picked up bonus victories right from the start, as freshman Steve Bryant, in just his third varsity match, decisioned Stacy Menefee, 8-4, at 103 and Brian Childress, pinned by Trung Nguyen in early December, prevailed, 8-7, over the returning state placewinner at 112.
But it wasn't until victories by Bruce Fowler (119), Charlie Haltom (125), Perry (130), Travis Woodhouse (135) and John Young (145) followed that the Wildcats began dreaming about running the table.
``We started thinking about it midway through,'' said Perry, who notched three more victories Saturday to run his unbeaten string to 80. ``Someone (145-pounder Travis Woodhouse) mentioned something about a shutout and then I think it was something we wanted to go for.''
The last significant hurdle to a perfect match fell when Franklin County's Bryan Jones, third in the state a year ago, sat out with an ankle injury at 152. Great Bridge's Michael Harper pinned Jones' replacement, Brian Toney, in 1:25.
Franklin County's Shaun Ferguson gave Jason Byrum fits before dropping a 6-5 decision at 160, but from there, the Eagles went quietly. Christian Basnight (171), Small and Eric Leonard (215) all scored first period pins, and Shaun Curl closed things out with a second-period pin at heavyweight.
Great Bridge reached the final by whipping Northwest champion Stonewall Jackson, 55-14. It marked the fifth straight year the Raiders were eliminated by the Wildcats.
Franklin County (13-5) upended Mills Godwin in the semifinals. The Central champion Eagles had opened with the upset of the tournament, a 37-32 decision over Western Branch.
The Bruins (25-7) were hurt by the absence of returning state placewinner Richard Slocumb (119), who was nursing an illness. That caused a 9-12 point swing in the match, as Bruins freshman Roger Wells, making his first varsity appearance, got pinned at 119.
The Bruins still took a one-point lead into the 171-pound match, before Andy Preston lost by a point and Carl Wright fell in overtime. Nick Clary, a state qualifier a year ago, clinched the match for the Eagles when he pinned Marcus Edmunds in 215. by CNB