THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702090221
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 88 lines
Saturday night's Western Branch-Great Bridge wrestling match had everything one could want - except a winner.
The second-ranked Bruins got falls from Marqus Edmonds at 215 and Marvin Urquhart at 275 to salvage a 28-28 tie before a full house at Great Bridge.
The draw gave Western Branch (25-3-1, 7-0-1) its first Southeastern District dual meet championship since 1990 and snapped the third-ranked Wildcats' 12-year home winning streak.
Great Bridge (26-3-1, 5-1-1) could have claimed a share of the championship with a victory, but finished third behind the Bruins and Oscar Smith.
Western Branch's championship celebration was subdued, however, since the Bruins were ranked higher and favored to beat the Wildcats for the first time in seven years.
``I'm a little bit disappointed,'' Western Branch coach Terry Perdew said. ``But we'll take the title. It was a great match.''
Perdew blamed himself for failing to weigh in freshman P.J. Neumann at 135. That forced him to send out Bryan Wilson and allowed Great Bridge coach Steve Martin to counter with Phillip Graham and bump Bart Sawyer to 140.
Graham beat Wilson 4-0 and Sawyer topped Neumann 20-7.
But in a match with so much star power - 15 ranked wrestlers, including six No. 1s - there was plenty of credit and blame to go around.
The Wildcats' Charlie Haltom (130) and Steve Sakis (145) each came in ranked second and knocked off the person ahead of them. Haltom bottled up Daniel Smith 3-0 and Sakis, growing stronger as the match progressed, whipped Chris Mendez 7-1.
``I feel good about the way both of those guys wrestled,'' said Martin, who otherwise was stinting in his praise.
``I thought we were going to win all week,'' Martin said. ``I laid it out on paper and didn't see how we could lose.''
Martin didn't figure on second-ranked Brian Childress losing at 112. But the Bruins' Daniel Moore, who only moved up to 112 when defending state 103 champ Matt Viola decided to move down, scored a reversal and a near fall in the last 11 seconds to beat Childress 5-0.
Childress beat Moore twice last year by technical fall.
``I was just trying to keep it close,'' Moore said. ``I knew we needed every point we could get.''
Western Branch had a window to victory going to 189 but Great Bridge's Eric Leonard pinned Reggie Bonney, opening a 12-point Wildcat lead. That forced Edmonds and Urquhart to win by fall to tie the match.
The top-ranked Urquhart decked Adam Swift in 23 seconds.
``I was mad,'' Urquhart said. ``We lost some matches we were supposed to win so when he stepped on the mat I had to take it out on him.''
In other matches: Ocean Lakes 38, First Colonial 26: Heavyweight Joe Gallant won by fall in the second period as the No. 9 Dolphins upended the No. 7 Patriots. Ocean Lakes opened winning the first bouts, including Brett Nichols' technical fall over Kyle Magyar at 119 pounds.
Tallwood 66, Green Run 3: The No. 4 Lions' second-ranked 152-pounder Andre Kemp dominated third-ranked Frank LaVoie, scoring a technical fall in 3:12. Kemp built a 15-3 first-period lead in cruising to the 21-6 victory.
First Colonial 43, Deep Creek 32: In a match between South Hampton Roads' top two 189-pounders, the No. 7 Patriots' Juskevich upended top-ranked Doug Norris 6-2 in a hard-fought battle. Following a scoreless first period, Juskevich scored a takedown in the second period, then held on with two escapes and a takedown in the third period. Joe Romano won by fall in the decisive 171-pound match.
Bayside 49, Kellam 25: Sparked by pins by John Buddles (145), Jose Araiza (171) and Cameron Michanowiz (189), the Marlins won six of the final seven classes to come from behind.
Green Run 32, Salem 30: The Stallions clinched when Cody McNabb (215) employed a double armbar to win by fall with a second left in the first period.
Granby 42, Gar-Field 26: Chris Lee's pin was key at 171.
Hickory 80, Greenbrier Christian 0: The Hawks recorded falls in 10 of the 12 divisions. Heavyweight Brian Smith was the fastest, winning in 18 seconds. Nansemond River 50, Lakeland 24: Michael Prince (135) and Clay Strickland (152) had pins as the Warriors won the Suffolk cross-city matchup. The Cavalier's Nathan Carr (No. 2, 275) finished the regular season unbeaten in the Southeastern District.
Catholic 60, Peninsula Catholic 20: Joey Leoncio (103), Brandon Miller (135) and Joe Kennedy (160) registered falls in under 30 seconds for the Crusaders.
Virginia Prep League tournament: Ryan Ingram (112) and Ryan Law (275) won individual titles as Norfolk Academy finished tied for sixth behind champion Woodberry Forest. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Great Bridge's Bruce Fowler takes down Western Branch's Willie
Evans. The Bruins didn't win, but ended 12-year Great Bridge home
win streak.