By BRIAN J. FRENCH
Special to The Virginian-Pilot
When Billy Curling scored a technical fall against Eastern Regional’s Bob Price at 215 pounds of Friday’s second-round National Division contest, it gave Great Bridge a four-point lead with one match left, and it should have given it a serious momentum boost as well.
Problem was, the fourth-seeded Wildcats needed to clinch the team win before the heavyweight match, because they’re lacking at that weight.
Great Bridge sent Jim Carter, who has wrestled at 189 and weighed in at 194 Friday, against the Vikings’ Kris Deichert, who appeared to be pushing 270.
Deichert pinned Carter in 40 seconds, and the No. 5 Vikings of Voorhees, N.J. defeated the Wildcats 34-32, giving them their first loss on the first day of the Duals since 1994.
“Against a team as good as Eastern Regional, you’ve got to wrestle perfectly,” Great Bridge coach Norman Smith said. “Out of our 14 wrestlers, maybe a couple wrestled up to their ability. We’ve got to fix that, and rock and roll (today).”
The Wildcats, who beat Kingsway Regional (N.J.) 45-28 in the first round, trailed 28-17 when T.J. Snukis couldn’t complete a last-second attempt to score a takedown on Daymein Scott and lost 7-5 at 160.
Great Bridge got a first-period pin from Robbie Mello (171), a major decision from Alan Clamp (189) and Curling’s win to briefly regain the lead.
They Wildcats face Fauquier at 10 a.m. in a consolation round matchup today.
“We’re still in the tournament,” Smith said. “We’ve got to forget it and move on. We’ve got to fix some mistakes and focus on competing.”
Cox, the only other South Hampton Roads team in the National draw, had an even rougher first day, losing 44-24 to sixth-seeded Phillipsburg (N.J.) in the opening round and 37-23 to Fauquier in the consolations.
Fauquier held a 28-15 lead before Jackson Rust (8-6 decision against Nick Holbert at 171) and Chris Penny (technical fall against Josh McGuinn at 189) cut it to 28-23. But Kevin Friend’s pin of Russ Burbank at 215 ended the rally and sent Cox to the loser-versus-loser bracket, where it’ll face Chantilly at noon today.
“We’re young, and they capitalized on our mistakes,” Cox coach Corey Williams said. “We’ve got to work harder. Nothing’s a given.”
Kellam, Western Branch, Hickory advance to semifinals
When the referee emerged from the scorer’s table and declared Poquoson the winner of their 33-33 American Division quarterfinal against Kempsville by virtue of the Islanders winning more falls, that left Kellam as the lone local team to reach the semifinals.
But forgive Knights coach Mike Benzel if he’s a little disappointed that he didn’t get a second crack at the Chiefs, who trailed 30-3 before coming back to beat Kellam on the road 34-30.
Wins against Osbourn Park and Hermitage (coached by former Ocean Lakes state champion Dalton Head) on Friday helped, though. No. 3 seed Kellam faces second-seeded Grundy in a 2 p.m. semifinal Saturday.
Would he have liked for his team to be included in the American draw?
“I just like wrestling,” Benzel said. “And I’d rather be still wrestling than maybe going two and out and be done (in the National).”
Chesapeake accounts for half of Saturday’s Black and Blue semifinalists. Western Branch, the top seed, routed Grafton and Riverbend to advance. No. 4 Hickory beat Smithfield in the first round, then provided one of the more dramatic endings of the day when Hawks heavyweight Grant Chapman pinned Dan Overstreet in 1:44 to beat Blacksburg 39-36.
Old Dominion makes it to National College semifinals
Steve Martin doesn’t need a lot of prodding to recall his first experience with the Duals as the Old Dominion coach. The Monarchs lost to Tennessee-Chattanooga 44-0 in the opening round of the 2005 tournament.
“I definitely remember that one,” Martin said.
Martin and his team shouldn’t require much help remembering Friday, but for far happier reasons. ODU rolled over Lock Haven (30-3) and Virginia Tech (31-3) to advance to its first National College semifinals.
Nick Pullano, the only wrestler left from the 2005 team (and oddly enough, a UT-Chattanooga transfer), upset Virginia Tech’s Eric Decker, ranked 19th at 174 pounds, 3-1 to cap a day in which ODU won 18 of its 20 matches.
“This is a big stepping stone,” Martin said. “One of our goals was to be able to compete nationally.”
They’ll get that chance at least once today. The Monarchs, ranked 23rd in the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA coaches poll, face 17th-ranked Illinois at 2 p.m.
Check Lucia Grant's blog for more details.
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