Grassfield finishes the regular season as the top team in the 757Teamz.com rankings, completing a wire-to-wire victory march that aims to end with a repeat of last season’s VHSL Class 6 championship.
Aside from a narrow defeat to Nansemond River in which the Grizzlies were resting most of their top wrestlers, Grassfield has been untouched in dual meet and tournament competition this season.
Case in point. They faced the #2 team, Cox, on January 28, and walked away with a 50-18 win. Not to take away from the Falcons, who won the Region 6A tournament las weekend by 62.5 points and are a favorite to earn their third consecutive Class 5 state crown at the VHSL state meet for Class 4, 5, and 6, which will take place at the Virginia Beach Sports Center on February 20-21.
Great Bridge was second to Cox in the Region 5A match, and finish #3 in the final rankings, while Landstown, a top five team in Class 6, is #4.
Poquoson, a Class 2 state contender sits at #5. This season, Grassfield, Cox, and the Islanders have a realistic chance to earn three state titles for Hampton Roads teams.
The Beach District is well represented throughout the rest of the top 10, with Kellam (#6), Ocean Lakes (#7), First Colonial (#8), and Tallwood (#10) all representing, based on their finish at the Region 5A match. First Colonial’s inclusion was unique as the Patriots had only two wrestlers make the region championship, with Ryan Stoddard winning the 132-pound crown. Yet, seven FC grapplers wrestled back to reach the third-place bout, with Emery Bryan (106), Ian Szewczak (144), Cecil Miller (150), and Jacob Throckmorton (175) each earning third-place finishes. Adding three fourth-place finishes pushed First Colonial into a fifth-place team finish with 172 points after the third-place bout results were added to the team scores shortly after the conclusion.
Western Branch (#9) will compete at the Region 6A tournament this weekend at Oscar Smith High, while Nansemond River (#11) and Granby (#12) are the favorites to win the Region 5B championship in Norfolk. Last season, Granby topped the Warriors 261-235.5 at regionals, but NR defeated the Comets 52-25 last week in a dual match.
Cape Henry, with their TCIS title in hand, finish as the #13 team in the rankings. At TCIS, the Dolphins’ Townsend Winans was named the TCIS Wrestler of the Year, and teammate Conner Walck was the tournament's Most Valuable Wrestler.
Grafton and Phoebus round out the top 15 based on their 1-2 finish at the Region 4A tournament last weekend. The Clippers’ outpointed the Phantoms 219.5-205.5 to win the title.
For Grafton, Isaac Agustin (120), Harrison Kent (144), and Gabriel Crowe-Aguilar (190) won individual championships. For Phoebus, standout Branden Romero (285) earned first in the heaviest weight class.
Top 15 (last week)
1. Grassfield (1)
2. Cox (2)
3. Great Bridge (3)
4. Landstown (4)
5. Poquoson (5)
6. Kellam (7)
7. Ocean Lakes (6)
8. First Colonial (8)
9. Western Branch (9)
10. Tallwood (11)
11. Nansemond River (12)
12. Granby (10)
13. Cape Henry (NR)
14. Grafton (NR)
15. Phoebus (15)
Teams to Watch: Norview, Gloucester, Warhill, Tabb, Peninsula Catholic
Comments
Post a Comment