Suffolk News-Herald

Perhaps it was fate that the King’s Fork (KF) wrestling team had gone winless before Saturday afternoon. Maybe the people that wrote the schedule for Suffolk’s newest group of matsters took a glance into the future before giving Fork the 2004-05 Suffolk Duels.

We’ll never really know. But in any case, the Bulldogs made history. Not just in front of their classmates. Not just in front of their faculty and parents. They brought home their first victory ever in the presence of seven other schools’ worth of visitors, including local rivals Lakeland and Nansemond River.

Indian River (IR) opened their match with the host school by taking the 103 match, but David Cromis tied things back up with a pin in 112. KF didn’t field a wrestler for 119, but Steve Wyatt got a free 125 victory. The Braves pulled ahead 15-12, and a double-forfeit occurred at 135.

Dustin Burkey gave the Suffolkians the lead with a pin at 140, but the Braves tied the score at 145, and no one came out for 152. Tim Dugan got a pin at 160, and KF got one forfeit and IR two in the remainder, leaving the score knotted at 30. Because KF had three pins to IR’s one, they got the tie-breaking point and the historical win.

In other action, Dugan and Cromis went unbeaten for the day as their team finished the meet at 1-3 for sixth place. They opened the meet with a 54-24 loss to Northampton (NH), with Dugan, Wyatt, Cromis and Steve Ishak winning. Dugan and Cromis won in a 58-12 loss to Smithfield, and they and Andrew Simonsen got wins in a 66-15 defeat by Lakeland.

The Cavaliers had the most success, wrapping up a 3-1 record for their second-consecutive third-place finish.

David Adams started off Lakeland’s match against Smithfield by winning at 103. The Packers won the next two, but Cody Wiand held down his 125 opponent, and Channon Brinkley got the first pin of his varsity career at 130 for a 16-12 lead. Smithfield again took two for a 24-16 lead, but Colt Eason and Mark Verschneider won on points at 145 and 152 to cut the lead to two.

Lakeland was just getting started, as C.J. Gregory (160), Kyle Gilbertson (171), Kyle Gibbons (189), Kelly Sims (215) and Alex Goodman (heavyweight) all snared pins to break a close match open for a 52-24 lead.

Next came the KF match, as Adams, J.P. Sanchez, Wiand, Cody Jones, Brian Ehrenfried, Eason, Gregory, Gilbertson, Gibbons, Sims and Goodman all won. Sanchez, Eason, Verschneider, Gilbertson and Sims won in a 49-30 loss to Norfolk Collegiate, leaving Lakeland battling Northampton for the bronze.

The Jackets won the 103, and a double-forfeit occurred at 112. Sanchez won on points and Wiand scored a pin to go up 10-6, but NH took the next three for a 21-10 lead.

Eason cut into the lead with a pin, and Verschneider got it back with one of his own. Gregory held down another for a 27-20 lead, but NH won the 171 match, leaving Lakeland up just 27-26 with three matches to go.

No matter. Gibbons and Sims made short work of their opponents for a 39-26 insurmountable lead. The final score was 39-32.

It took a bit of time, but Nansemond River managed to end the meet with a win. They started off slowly with a 60-17 loss to Collegiate, as Vernell Woods (103), Matt Yandle (130), Sam Primkulov (145) and Vance Barskile (152) won. Yandle, Brent Christie (135) and Daron Scott (heavyweight) won in a 60-15 loss to Smithfield, and the Warriors took on IR for seventh place.

Woods won at 103, but the Braves got two wins for a 12-6 lead. Yandle tied the score, and a double-forfeit occurred at 135. Christie gave the Warriors their first lead at 140, but IR tied the score. Primkulov, Barskill and Jake Guertin scored pins for a 36-18 lead, and Quentin Hoggard and Scott won to end things at 48-18.