Top heavyweights see hopes dashed

Cam Granderson's moment came early in the Central Region tournament.

The Hopewell heavyweight caught Callen Larus in a rare awkward moment, taking the Midlothian standout to his back in the quarterfinals.

At first, Granderson couldn't quite believe his good fortune. He wouldn't call it luck exactly, because there's a lot of hard work that goes into being a lucky wrestler. But as he settled his body against the taller, leaner Larus, he was working only to earn near-fall points that would be a decided advantage in usually low-scoring heavyweight matches.

"I was just concentrating on leaning back so I could try to get back points," Granderson said. "And then he was flat."

Granderson's win by fall completed a near total shakeup of the heavyweight bracket.

Dominion District champion Ryan Powis lost 5-2 in overtime to Prince George senior LaRoyce Lewis.

Powis was one of host James River's strongest candidates for a spot in tonight's finals and was looking for a potential rematch of his district championship against Larus.

The flurry of heavyweight activity highlighted the first day of regional wrestling. The semifinals, starting at noon today, feature several highly-anticipated matches and will be key in determining a team champion. James River still led Hanover by five points in the team competition after last night's consolation round, with Deep Run lurking in third. But if the heavyweights demonstrated anything yesterday, it is that a wrestling match can change in a hurry.

"You can't look past anyone right now," Hopewell assistant coach Mike Henderson said. "Regardless of past results."

Granderson is all about shedding his past. Last year he left the regional tournament without qualifying for the Group AAA tournament.

"That's one of the real big things," he said. "That after this tournament, I wanted to get better. I wanted to win more."

For the first time in his wrestling career, he worked on wrestling in the off-season. He skipped baseball in favor of wrestling camp. The extra work seemed to be paying off.

Of course, in two earlier meetings with Larus this winter, Granderson lost the first time by fall. He said he learned from it, studied his mistakes with the coaches and tried to tweak his stance.

As he warmed up for his match with Larus, he halfway heard what his coaches were telling him: This is it, your last chance to be a regional champion. Lose any match between now and Saturday night and it's finished.

He watched a crowd gather around the mat he was waiting to wrestle on, all to see Lewis his own Central District rival slip past Powis.

"I think Cam fed off that," Henderson said. "He and LaRoyce get along pretty well."

So when the moment came, Granderson decided it was his.

RESULTS

Team scores and key: 1. James River (JR) 85.5; 2. Hanover (Han) 80.5; 3. Deep Run (DR) 72; 4. Hermitage (Herm) 67.5; 5. Cosby (C) 62.5; 6. Mills Godwin (MG) 58; 7. Hopewell (Hope) 55; 8. Thomas Dale (TD) 50; 9. Midlothian (Mid), Lee-Davis (LD) 46; 11. Dinwiddie (D) 43; 12. Varina (V) 38; 13. Clover Hill (CH) 36; 14. Henrico (Hen) 30.5; 15. Matoaca (Ma) 26.5; 16. Prince George (PG) 20; 17. Meadowbrook (Me) 19.5; 18. L.C. Bird (LCB), J.R. Tucker (JRT), Colonial Heights (CH), Highland Springs (HS) 19; 22. George Wythe (GW) 16; 23. Douglas Freeman (SF), Atlee (A) 12; 25. Manchester (Man) 11; 26. Armstrong (Arm) 9; 27. Huguenot (Hug) 6; 28. Monacan (Mon) 5; 29; Petersburg (P) 1; 30. Patrick Henry (PH) 0

FIRST ROUND

103: Brayden Manchester (JR) p. Riley Trent (DF) 1:30; Ricky Gambriel (A) tf. Wade Wallace (Hope) 2:58; Shawn Crawley (V) tf. Michael Peters (Ma) 4:45; Kasey Early (DR) p. Drew Mason (CH) :39; Joey Plutro (D) p. Nick Shaw (LD) 5:04; Tucker Proffitt (JRT) p. Desmond Gunn (GW) 1:07; Reed Harris (MG) d. Cory Garner (C) 10-8; Spencer Alexander (Ha) p. Jamar Hairston (Me) 0:44

112: Jordan O'Donnell (JR) tf. Odam Horn (DF) 5:02; Stevie Barlow (V) d. Drew Zoller (TD) 4-1; Jason Schrinel (PG) d. Kevin Keck (Ha) 6-0; Jack Walsh (DR) p. Brandon Lawson (LCB) 0:57; Jonathan Gay (Hope) p. James Lovett (HS) 1:40; David Newill-Smith (CH) p. Marty Van Peppen (Herm) 3:42; Matt Metzger (C) md. Matei Craven (JRT) 13-0; Charlie Lipford (Hen) p. Jacob Rhodes (Col) 1:06

119: Dominic Caiazzo (JR) md. Patrick Fleming (JRT) 15-2; Stuart Jefferson (Ma) d. Dylan Turner (V) 7-4; Josh Burch (PG) p. Marcus Hughes (LD) 3:53; Peyton Walsh (DR) p. James Allison (LCB) 1:35; Alex Turley (TD) p. Matt Perry (PH) 3:00; MJ Robeson (Herm) d. Blake Cooksey (C) 9-8; Charles Krug (Mid) p. Ritchie Holt (MG) 2:43; Connor Harrison (Ha) d. Flomoe Akoi (Hope) 11-4

125: Ryan Sams (CH) p. Tyler Workman (MG) 2:20; James Williams (Hen) forfeit Quainnare Shaw (P); William Hicks (HS) p. David Martino (Col) 1:05; Justin Dennis (Herm) md. Al-Jamar Jenkins (GW) 12-3; Tavaras Johnson (D) p. Trevor Talley (V) 2:36; Blake Dunn (Mid) d. Ben Occhiuto (DF) 4-2 (OT); Christian Evers (C) d. Tyler Kelly (DR) 7-0; Gabe LaVey (Ha) p. John Burton (PG) 2:36

130: Jordan Dix (JR) p. Kendall Olivo (JRT) 1:36; Brock Buchanan (Ha) d. Malcolm Gray (Me) 6-4; Don Lineberry (LD) tf. Jarrett Fields (TD) 3:46; John Kizer (Herm) p. Darrick Gore (GW) 2:57; Poncho Lyles (V) p. Matthew Blaszak (Col) :56; Andrew Kennedy (LCB) d. Steve Houtz (DR) 6-4; Brendan Crawley (C) tf. Ryan Wade (MG) 18-3; John Woods (A) p. Jamar Miles (P) 1:33

135: Jared Anongos (JR) p. Rusty Mack (Col) :34; Chad Seward (MG) p. Melecio Silva (V) 1:31; Carson Hogge (DF) p. Nick Green (LD) 1:28; Joshua Clark (Ma) p. Chris Brown (Hug) 1:57; Tom Kizer (Herm) p. Ketron Green (Hen) 1:44; Del Terrell Downey (Me) p. Patrick Rowe (Man) 2:32; Ethan Precourt (C) d. Paden Rudd (TD) 8-7; Ben Wilson (Ha) p. John Kim (DR) 2:48

140: Jordan Dibich (JR) p. Ondre Johnson (Hope) 1:06; Matt Lassiter (DR) p. Robert Winston (Hen) 4:35; Terrance Powell (V) p. Will Guthrie (JRT) 3:41; Brandon Diamond (TD) p. Jameel Neverson (GW) 4:54; Matthew Hatcher (MG) p. Akouko Frimpong (HS) 3:54; Junius Thorpe (Hug) md. Chad Arcenia (Col) 15-3; James Tuppince (Me) p. Aaron Wright (C) 1:27; Anthony Lineberry (LD) p. Malcolm Scott (DF) 1:27

145: Andrew Rose (Man) md. Kyle Felter (TD) 11-1; Zack Moore (Herm) p. Sean Hodge (V) 3:48; Brian Truong (JRT) p. Wadell Blackston Jr. (Arm) 3:47; Cody Allala (Hope) p. Carl Kenney (Mid) 1:58; Steven Russo (DR) d. Isaac Mackey (A) 8-1; Bruce Batson (D) d. Josh Wells (JR) 6-5; Blake Roulo (Ma) tf. Wolfgang Gohlke (C) 4:38; Randy Loving (LD) p. Ryan Greenwood (PH) 5:46

152: Austin Coburn (C) p. Shane Zuppo, (TD) 1:11; Chris Fano (Herm) p. ShaQuan Monroe (HS) 1:36; Balal Haidari (LD) p. Kyle Sherwood (DR) 1:25; Xavier Edwards (Ma) d. Michael Fields (Hug) 10-5; Matt Brunke (MG) p. Bitasame Mboe (V) 4:26; Jesse Wells (JR) p. Thomas Davis (P) 3:44; Kyle Seay (Mid) p. Jevonn Worsham (Me) 4:51; David Polson (Ha) p. Stuart Slusher (DF) 1:04;

160: Mike Birnbaum (C) tf. Cody Lasher (TD) 4:50; Blake Edwards (MG) p. Justin Beck (V) 5:04; Landon Casstevens (Ha) tf. Adam Stein (DR) 4:32; Clint Allala (Hope) p. Michael Harrison (GW) 3:00; Justin Barragan (JRT) p. Drakem Monroe (HS) 1:04; Zach Burkholder (CH) d. Dane Hess (D) 5-1; Christopher Coon (Col) d. Matt Provost (Mid) 9-2; Tyler Eastland (LD) d. Ben Yeaman (Herm) 2:06

171: Jacob Hutchinson (CH) p. Javionte Johnson (HS) :48; Micah Goodman (DR) p. Kevin Kidd (D) 1:00; Adam Regulinski (MG) p. Jamaal Worsham (Me) :33; Kyle Locke (Ha) md. Connor Sweeney (JR) 15-1; John Dommert (TD) p. Walker White (DF) 4:20; Chris Paul (LCB) md. Michael Bazemore (A) 10-0; Blake Hutchison (C) d. Taylor Griggs (LD) 3-0; Marc Heathcock (Herm) p. Cody Engle (PG) 1:09

189: Anthony Delano (C) forfeit Travis Miles (Arm); Aaron Berger (MG) forfeit Tony Venable (P); Josh El (Herm) p. Jerry Compton (D) 4:39; John Alexander (LD) p. Lonnie Allen (Hug) 3:28; Mike Edmunds (TD) p. Mike Ricketts (JRT) 2:35; Neil Mulvaney (Mid) p. Zach Nussbaum (Ha) 1:59; Alex Greene (Hen) md. Zac Blackwell (JR) 15-6; Cole Knapp (DR) p. Blake Barker (Ma) 1:40

215: Mark Howard (Mid) p. Tommy Bowen (V) 1:11; Montrel Coleman (PG) d. Joey Matt (MG) 9-3; Keith Winfield (Hope) d. Alex Loving (DR) 4-3; LaDontis Holland (Mon) d. Calvin Davis (LD) 4-3; Dylan Krupp (Col) d. Jacob Wright (DF) 8-2; Travis Earnshaw (LCB) p. Blake Jones (Ha) 3:13; Tim Brown (HS) d. Jamahl Gary (GW) 7-4; Denny Vaughan (D) p. Nic Fuerte (JRT) 5:26

285: Ryan Powis (JR) p. Devin Ford (V) :45; LaRoyce Lewis (PG) d. Mike Rosalez (PH); John Oakley (D) p. Broderick Hill (MG) 3:09; Khalid Johnson (HS) p. Frank Brown (GW) 1:15; Cam Granderson (Hope) p. Nathan Moneymaker (Herm) 1:30; Callen Larus (Mid) p. Johnta Everette (Arm) 2:40; Scott Matheny (CH) d. Shawn Rice (Hen) 1-0; Adam Atwell (DR) p. Shawn Mason (Ma) 1:50

QUARTERFINALS

103: Brayden md. Gambriel 13-1; Crawley d. Early 8-4; Proffitt d. Plutro 9-6; Alexander p. Harris (MG) 1:03

112: O'Donnell p. Barlow 5:41; Walsh d. Schrinel 8-2; Gay md. Newill-Smith 13-3; Lipford tf. Metzger 6:00

119: Caiazzo p. Jefferson 1:16; Walsh p. Burch 2:30; Turley p. Robeson 2:28; Harrison p. Krug 0:41

125: Williams p. Sams :55; Dennis tf. Hicks 4:43; Dunn d. Johnson 6-2; LaVey d. Evers 5-0

130: Dix tf. Buchanan 2:40; Kizer p. Lineberry 5:25; Kennedy d. Lyles 11-5; Crawley d. John Woods 8-4

135: Anongos tf. Seward 4:51; Clark tf. Hogge 4:00; Kizer p. Downey 4:49; Wilson p. Precourt 1:12

140: Dibich md. Lassiter 10-2; Diamond p. Powell 1:29; Hatcher md. Thorpe 15-5; Lineberry tf. Tuppince 5:10

145: Rose d. Moore 4-2; Allala p. Truong 1:30; Russo p. Batson 2:51; Roulo tf. Loving 5:02

152: Coburn d. Fano 4-0; Haidari d. Edwards 3-2; Brunke d. Wells 8-2; Polson p. Seay 2:14

160: Birnbaum d. Edwards 8-0; Allala p. Casstevens :59; Burkholder p. Barragan 5:13; Coon md. Eastland 20-8

171: Hutchinson d. Goodman 13-8; Locke p. Regulinski :36; Dommert tf. Paul 6:00; Heathcock p. Hutchison 5:14

189: Delano md. Berger 12-3; Josh El d. Alexander 10-4; Mulvaney d. Edmunds 16-12; Knapp p. Greene 5:47

215: Howard p. Coleman :59; Winfield md. Holland 12-4; Krupp d. Earnshaw 4-3; Vaughan p. Brown 3:37

285: Lewis d. Powis 5-2 (OT); Oakley p. Johnson 5:00; Granderson p. Larus 1:51; Matheny p. Atwell 2:32

Note: For complete results, go to
jamesriverwrestling.com.