THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702211021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 45 lines
Great Bridge assumed its accustomed spot atop the Eastern Region wrestling tournament by avoiding any major upsets or altercations through two rounds Thursday night at Churchland High School.
The Wildcats, seeking a seventh consecutive championship, qualified eight wrestlers for today's semifinals and scored 84 points. Western Branch is second with 74 points and seven semifinalists, followed by Cox (64 and 6), Tallwood (48 1/2 and 5) and Denbigh (30 1/2 and 2).
Action resumes today at 2 p.m. with first-round consolations. the semifinals are at 7.
``If we wrestle to our ability and don't let any of that pressure stuff bother us we'll be fine,'' Great Bridge coach Steve Martin said.
The Wildcats handled the pressure better than most Thursday. Only Eric Leonard (189) lost a match he had a reasonable chance to win and that was tinged with controversy.
Leonard lost to Lafayette's Jason Brady, the Peninsula District champ, on overtime criteria in the quarterfinals. The match was stopped with 1:18 left in the extra period when both wrestlers were warned for stalling on their feet. Leonard won a coin flip and took down, but couldn't escape.
Overtime proved just as fickle for Western Branch, which went 1-2 in extra periods. Daniel Smith, the Southeastern District 130-pound champ, and Marques Edmonds (215) lost and district heavyweight champ Marvin Urquhart won.
Norcom's Lionel Weathers scored a takedown 42 seconds into overtime to stun Smith 4-2. Weathers' victory put a positive spin on a difficult week for the Greyhounds, who wrestled without coach Buddy Sharpe and two teammates who were ejected at last week's Eastern District tournament.
Edmonds lost to Denbigh's Max Yates on overtime criteria in the oddest quarterfinal matchup. Yates advanced after Lake Taylor's Albert Johnson was disqualified for biting him in the first round.
Edmonds also advanced on a disqualification after Cox's David Walker was penalized twice for unsportsmanlike conduct. Originally it was ruled flagrant misconduct, which would have removed Walker from the tournament and penalized Cox two team points.
Referee John Nowland changed it to unsportsmanlike conduct allowing Walker to remain in the tournament and saving Cox one team point.
``That definitely hurt us,'' Cox coach Joe Boone said. ``We counted on him winning that match (and possibly another).''