Sunday, February 22, 2009
Demons recapture gold
Christiansburg wins four individual titles and its eighth straight state team crown.
varsity.roanoke.com
Timesland on Twitter
For Christiansburg, eight was enough.
Do the Blue Demons plan to stop there?
Don't even think about it.
Placing eight wrestlers in the finals and winning four individual titles, Christiansburg extended its dominance of the VHSL Group AA tournament Saturday night as the Blue Demons captured their eighth consecutive state championship at Salem Civic Center.
Christiansburg wrapped up the title so early that many of the Blue Demons' finalists took the mat for introductions wearing hooded sweatshirts that read, "Virginia AA 8X State Champ."
By this time in 2010, those duds figure to be out of style.
"I hope so," Christiansburg coach Daryl Weber said.
None of the 14 Blue Demons who qualified for the trip to Salem broke out the new threads before Saturday evening, however.
"We make them up beforehand, but I won't let anybody break them out until it's for sure, until it's mathematically sealed," Weber said.
A first-grader could have figured this one out.
Christiansburg's eight semifinal victories blew away the field, and the Blue Demons eventually outpointed runner-up Poquoson 210 12 - 131 12. Weber could have spent the night kicked back in an easy chair, but he worked feverishly in the blue-and-gold corner.
"If it's close it makes it more suspenseful and probably keeps me on the edge of my seat," Weber said.
"It keeps the fans more interested. But my goal is to have 14 guys coming to the state tournament competing for a state title. Either way, if it's a big gap or it's close, I just want to see my guys wrestle good."
Devin Carter, the nation's No. 1 112-pounder, started the victory parade. He was followed to the top of the stand by sophomore Rich Eva (145) and seniors Derek Woody (160) and Jon Weber (215).
Four other Blue Demons -- freshmen Brady Epperly (130) and James Linkous (135), and seniors Braden Carter (171) and David Cheney (189) -- were state runners-up.
Blacksburg's Neal Kennedy (103) and Bassett's Andrew Miller (285) also won titles, giving Timesland schools six champions in the 14 weight classes.
Carter toyed with Grundy's Sean Vandyke in scoring a 25-9 technical fall to finish the season with a 52-1 record.
The Christiansburg junior repeatedly allowed Vandyke to escape in the first period, only to take him down seven times in the first two minutes and 12 times overall.
Carter violently face-planted Vandyke in the third period, dazing the Grundy wrestler and drawing blood.
"I just wanted to beat him up a little bit and dominate him, just in case I couldn't get a pin," Carter said.
Eva won the night's most thrilling final, a 3-2 decision in triple overtime at 145 over defending champion Bryce Kiser of Turner Ashby.
"It was a hard match, a real tough one," Eva said. "I don't even remember parts of it."
Kiser chose the down position in the final OT, meaning he had 30 seconds to escape. Eva (38-10) locked Kiser up, handing the senior his first loss of the season.
"I had to find a way to win," Eva said. "I held on to that cradle as hard as I could."
Woody (45-8) closed his career with a 7-0 decision over Brentsville's Wade Swede after placing second last year.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet, so I don't know what to say," Woody said. "I wanted to go out with a win. I didn't want to leave Christiansburg with a loss."
Weber easily scored a 10-1 decision over Monticello's Shawn Winfrey to finish 50-3 on the season. After the match, he leaped into to the arms of his older brother, Charles, a Group AA champion two years ago at 189.
Don't tell Weber he followed in his brother's footsteps.
"I say I kind of passed him," Weber said. "I always call him 'No. 2' because he finished second at the Beast [of the East] and I won the Beast. He always holds that state title over my head. Now he can't do that no more."
Christiansburg's four runners-up came up short in varied ways.
Epperly lost a heartbreaker 6-4 overtime decision to Poquoson's Louie Shearer. Linkous was stopped 17-2 in a technical fall by Tabb's Andrew Williams, a Virginia signee. Braden Carter fell 7-3 to Fluvanna County's Willy Crawford. Cheney was pinned in 1:27 by Millbrook's Derrick Borlie, a Wisconsin signee who finished the season 48-0 and 202-10 overall.
Bassett's Miller -- a Virginia Tech football signee who plans to wrestle for the Hokies -- backed up his 2008 championship at 285 with a 10-1 decision over Carroll County's Drew McCraw in a rematch of the Region IV final.
Miller (47-2) bounced back after a surprising fourth-place finish it the Beast of the East tournament in Newark, Del.
"I had to get in shape," Miller said. "It showed me I'm not as good as I need to be right now."
Kennedy became Blacksburg's second state champion in school history when the Bruins junior scored a 4-3 decision over Poquoson freshman Jeffrey Ogburn in the 103-pound final.
Kennedy (38-4) scored a late takedown and prevented Ogburn from making a last-second escape to join a very short list of Blacksburg state champs.
"Blacksburg hasn't had one since, maybe 1980," Kennedy said. "I don't even know who he is."
Magna Vista senior Tony Gravely's bid for a third straight state championship was derailed in the 119-pound final by Millbrook freshman Jake Crawford, who used a takedown with 10 seconds left in the third period en route to a 6-4 overtime victory.
Gravely, who finished 41-2 after going unbeaten as a sophomore at 103 pounds and a junior at 112, was despondent after the loss.
"I couldn't breathe good," Gravely said. "My mouth got dry and my throat closed up."
Northside senior Brady Craft came up short in his final career match. Craft (40-2) dropped a 4-1 decision to Poquson's unbeaten Chase McAdams, the same wrestler he lost to last year in the third-place match.
Craft was bidding to become the Vikings' first state champion since 1995.
"He accomplished a lot," Northside coach Mark Agner said. "He's a four-year starter and wrestled 152 all four years. I hated to see him lose here, but the other guy's better."
