THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020413
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Four wrestlers who tasted victory at last year's Group AAA wrestling tournament came back to Oscar Smith Friday for seconds.
The four returning champions in the 224-wrestler field devoured everyone placed before them and blitzed into the semifinals on the opening day of the 48th annual tournament.
The reigning team champions also marched confidently toward a successful defense, as Great Bridge placed a tournament-high six wrestlers in the semifinals and racked up 67 points (results from the second consolation round were not available at press time). Stonewall Jackson (five semifinalists) is second with 43 points.
The semifinals begin at noon today. The finals are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Upsets, or at least near-upsets, are usually an opening-day staple when the state's best wrestlers get together.
But Tallwood's Mike Mercado, Great Bridge's Carl Perry, Lee-Davis' Aaron Bradley and Hampton's Eric Thompson, all champions from a year ago, ignored the event's reputation for providing the unexpected as they combined to produce two pins, three technical falls and two major decisions.
``I just think we know we have to work harder than we did last year if we want to get the same results,'' said Thompson, last year's 135-pound champ who ran his unbeaten string to 54 Friday with two more victories at 140 pounds.
Perry, a winner at 125 a year ago, made it 88 straight victories with a pin and a technical fall at 130. Bradley (last year's 130-pound champ) notched back-to-back falls at 135 to move to 66-0 the past two years.
And Mercado (35-1) also won twice as he began his defense of the 112-pound crown.
``I guess we're just used to being in big-match situations,'' said Bradley, who will take on Hylton's Benji Main in one of today's most anticipated semifinals.
``We know what we have to do.''
Some finalists from a year ago also dominated.
Granby's Chris Martin (145, 34-0) notched a pair of technical falls, including one which lasted just two minutes.
Stonewall Jackson's Mike Pereira (38-0), a runner-up to Perry at 125 last year, decked two opponents in a combined 1:49.
And at 160, Churchland's Orlando Morton, sporting a Mohawk hairstyle, scored a pair of first-period pins. The Truckers' senior placed second at 152 a year ago.
The only returning runner-up encountering any difficulty Friday was North Stafford's Justin Baker.
Wrestling in what's considered to be the tournament's toughest division (119), Baker outdueled Churchland's Tiree Murphy, 7-4, in the first round, then added an 8-5 decision over Fairfax' John Eastman in the quarterfinals.
Baker will meet Western Branch's Richard Slocumb in today's semifinals. Slocumb (38-2) won twice by technical fall Friday.
The other 119 semifinal will pit Stonewall Jackson's Seth Cameron, who opened with a 7-4 victory over Great Bridge's Bruce Fowler, against First Colonial's Jason Bernd.
Friday was also a big day for the traditionally powerful Eastern Region, which has 30 semifinalists, 10 more than the next two regions - Northwest (13) and Central (7) - combined.
``I think a lot of the (Eastern Region) coaches are surprised at how well this region did today, because I don't think most of us believe this is a real strong year for this region,'' Cox coach Jud Stokes said.
Gloucester's Darryl Graham, Tallwood's Winston Escalante, Western Branch's Matt Viola and Cox' Brad Pond all reached the 103-pound semifinals, which guarantees an Eastern Region champion in the tournament's lightest weight class for the 12th straight year.
Escalante, who won two overtime bouts Friday, has needed the extra period in three of his last four bouts.
Hampton Roads also has three semifinalists at 125, 171 and 189, and at least one semifinalist in every other weight class except 215. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Tallwood's Winston Escalante, left, has his hands full en route to
an overtime win over North Stafford's Scott Grzybowski at 103.
by CNB