THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603030221
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
The Great Bridge Wildcats led a parade of Eastern Region wrestlers through the championship round, then marched off with their sixth straight state title Saturday at the Group AAA tournament at Oscar Smith.
Although they couldn't match the blistering pace they set during the semifinals - when they won 20 of 26 bouts - Hampton Roads wrestlers claimed eight championships, including the second in a row for Tallwood's Mike Mercado and Great Bridge's Carl Perry.
Perry, holder of the state record for most victories, closed out his remarkable career with his 90th straight win, a 3:28 technical fall over Woodbridge's Jimmy Dutrow in the 130-pound final. He then basked in the first of two standing ovations and later spent time manning a camera for local cable television.
Perry (48-0 this season) finishes with a 162-14 career record.
Mercado, unbeaten in his weight class since 1994, held off Oscar Smith's Gary Lewis 8-6 to defend at 112.
``This feels twice as good as last year,'' he said.
Western Branch's Matt Viola (103), First Colonial's Jason Bernd (119), Granby's Chris Martin (145) and Great Bridge's Christian Basnight also won their divisions, as did Gloucester's Jason Beach (189) and Hampton's Eric Thompson. Thompson, like Perry, Mercado and Lee-Davis's Aaron Bradley, was a repeat champion.
Great Bridge finished with 162 points. Stonewall Jackson took second with 85 points, followed by Western Branch (71).
Viola, who lost in overtime to Tallwood's Winston Escalante in the Eastern Region semifinals eight days ago, said he went into the Saturday's final motivated by the chance to avenge that decision. Escalante started fast, scoring two takedowns in the first 40 seconds to grab a 4-1 lead. But Viola dominated from there, outscoring the Tallwood junior 7-1 the rest of the way to bring another state title to the Viola household. Chris Viola, who came back from the University of Michigan to watch the tournament, won for the Bruins at 119 in 1994.
``He helped me warm up, and he beat me up some last night,'' Matt Viola said. ``It helped a lot.''
Mercado then took off on a technical-fall pace against Oscar Smith's Gary Lewis before fading late and settling for an 8-6 decision. The Lions senior lost two stalling points down the stretch, and Lewis narrowly missed beating the third-period buzzer for a match-tying takedown.
In another matchup of Eastern Region finalists, Bernd reversed an 11-10 loss last week to decision Western Branch's Richard Slocumb at 119 and win what many considered the tournament's toughest weight class.
``I knew it was a strong class, but I've gotten a lot of support from my teammates and the people around me,'' Bernd said. ``I wasn't nervous at all.''
Bernd's twin brother, Jeff, placed third at 130.
Martin, a state runner-up a year ago, beat Great Bridge's Stacy Woodhouse 8-2 to claim Granby's 74th state title but the first since 1979 (William Almond).
``The last 10 seconds of the match were the best 10 seconds of my life,'' said Martin, who improved to 35-0 this year. ``I felt the greatest feeling. It's just indescribable.
A few months ago, Basnight wondered if he'd ever know such a feeling. The Wildcats senior broke his right shinbone during Great Bridge's third football game.
``It took me a long time to get over that,'' he said.
Basnight still had a cast on his leg when he resumed wrestling workouts, and didn't compete in a match until late December. But none of that stopped him from rallying past Churchland's James Worrell in yet another rematch of an Eastern Region final.
Western Branch's Sean Sanderlin and Churchland's Orlando Morton were runners-up for the second straight year, and both lost finals in heartbreaking fashion. Sanderlin, second at 145 last year, was taken down at the buzzer by Franklin County's Bryan Jones, then taken down again 32 seconds into overtime for a 4-2 loss at 152.
Morton, who fell to Western Branch's Byron Tucker in last year's 152-pound final, gambled for a match-winning takedown trailing by one but was also taken down with just seconds left in an 8-5 loss to Stonewall Jackson's Kris Bishop at 160.
A Stonewall Jackson wrestler was also involved in the most exciting bout of the championship round, the 125-pound final pitting Mike Pereira against Great Bridge's Jimmy Hawthorne. Hawthorne had pulled to within a point late in the third quarter and, with the capacity crowd imploring him on, shot on Pereira's left leg and jacked it in the air. But Pereira used his hips to force Hawthorne backwards and the two landed chest-to-chest.
Pin time: 5:52.
``I'm taking a real deep breath now,'' said Pereira, a state runner-up a year ago who has gone 79-2 the past two seasons, with both losses coming to Perry.
In other finals involving area wrestlers, Bradley defeated First Colonial's Pierre Pryor, 9-6, at 135; Thompson controlled Indian River's Keith Reynolds, 9-2, at 140; and Ben Fisher pinned Oscar Smith's Rafael Butts in 1:46 at heavyweight.
State AA wrestling: Nansemond River's Damond Hill (171) defeated Chris Thompson of Poquoson 10-4, to finish third in the State AA Wrestling Tournament. Hill was 4-1 in the tournament and has a overall season record of 24-2.
Nansemond River's Sam Tep (103) and Lakeland's James Temple (215) both finished sixth. Michael Merrill (119) and Chris White (Heavyweight) both finished eighth for Nansemond River.
Mike Sheline (112), Tommy Woods (130) and Nathan Carr (Heavyweight) each finished in the eighth place spot for Lakeland.
Going into the finals Nansemond River was ranked ninth in the state and Lakeland No. 20. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Aaron Bradley of Richmond's Lee-Davis has the edge over First
Colonial's Pierre Pryor.
Photo
Great Bridge's Carl Perry, left, takes control against Woodbridge's
Jimmy Dutrow at 130. Perry won to close out a 48-0 season.
by CNB