Up & Coming Weekly

January 09, 2018

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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24 UCW JANUARY 10-16, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS The Boneyard Bash at Jack Britt High School, always one of Cumberland County's biggest regular-season wrestling events, is scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 13-14, in the Britt gymna- sium. This is the 18th annual version of the tournament started by former Buccaneer wrestling coach John DeWeese, who, though retired, is still helping out behind the scenes with setting up this year's event. There will be a slight change in the starting time of the tournament to help schools taking part in testing this week. Although gates are scheduled to open at 4:30 p.m., weigh-ins may begin as late as 5:30 p.m., and some opening matches might not start until 6:30 p.m. or later. Three rounds will be wrestled Friday. Gates will open at 7:30 a.m. Saturday with wrestling beginning at 8 a.m. The finals are tentatively scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $8 for Friday and $10 for Saturday. A two-day pass can be purchased for $15. The tournament will feature some familiar faces from Cumberland County, including host Jack Britt, Gray's Creek, Pine Forest, Terry Sanford and Seventy-First. Traditional state power Cary is entered along with a traditionally strong program from the western part of the state, Lake Norman. "It's great having teams from outside our region coming in,'' said first-year Jack Britt wrestling head coach Byron Sigmon. "Different parts of the state have different styles and coaching strategies. It's great to see those kids now rather than wait until the state tournament.'' Among the top wrestlers competing from county schools are the following. Records are through Jan. 1 as posted on NCPrepSports.net: 106 - Kevin Wanovich, Jack Britt, 11-1. 113 - Pierre Young, Terry Sanford, 11-1; Kyle Cunningham, Gray's Creek, 20-3. 120 - Tre Sousa, Gray's Creek, 20-4. 138 - Andrew Esterly, Gray's Creek, 22-2; Christian Govan, Pine Forest, 20-8. 145 - Andrew Grierson, Gray's Creek, 12-1. 152 - Daniel Peede, Pine Forest, 24-0. 160 - Keith Jalen, Gray's Creek, 16-7. 170 - Ferris Allen, Terry Sanford, 10-1; Darius Govan, Pine Forest, 21-4. 182 - Daniel Ogunwo, Jack Britt, 9-0; Finley Allen, Terry Sanford, 11-0; Luke Roberson, Jack Britt, 11-2. 220 - Tony Tyndal, Gray's Creek, 17-4. Britt ready for 18th Boneyard Bash by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Byron Sigmon, Jack Britt wrestling head coach Heath Wilson, Cape Fear High School wrestling coach Michael Vernagallo, defending state wrestling champion Daniel Peed, a top Cumberland County wrestler EARL VAUGHAN JR., Sports Editor. COMMENTS? EarlUCWSports@ gmail.com. 910-364-6638. Cape Fear wrestlers have happy holidays by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Cape Fear High School wrestling coach Heath Wilson wanted to give his team a test over the Christmas holiday break, but even he was shocked at the grade the Colt squad recorded. The Colts traveled to Raleigh and Charlotte to take part in two major tournaments, the annual WRAL-TV tournament in Raleigh and the Holy Angels Invitational at Bojangles Arena in Charlotte. Cape Fear faced formi- dable opposition in both tournaments and came away with the team championship in both events. "We want to follow where the talent goes,'' Wilson said. The WRAL tournament was more than just a matter of seeking good oppo- sition. During the 1980s when Wilson was a state champion wrestler at Cape Fear, the Colts never won the Raleigh tournament as a team. "That's a bucket list item,'' Wilson said. "If I didn't win it as a wrestler, I wanted to win it as a coach. It was icing on the cake.'' The Holy Angels tournament doesn't have the history WRAL does, but it's grown into one of the state's biggest holiday events over the last several years, Wilson said. "When they got from 32 to 50 teams it started peaking my interest,'' Wilson said. "We had four of the top-ranked teams in the state from 4-A to 1-A.'' In both tournaments, Cape Fear got solid efforts from a quintet of wres- tlers, Jared Barbour at 152 pounds, Dallas Wilson at 132, Josh Jones at 285, Triston Chapman at 126 and defending state cham- pion Michael Vernagallo at 170. Heath said Dallas and Vernagallo have been pushing each other in prac- tice as partners. Although he's got four losses, Barbour is still ranked among the top five wrestlers in the state in his weight class. Through Jan. 1, accord- ing to records posted at NCPrepSports.net, Vernagallo is 20-0, Chapman 21-3, Wilson 17-1, Jones 11-0 and Barbour 17-4. The next big tournament challenge for Cape Fear comes this weekend when it travels to Eden Morehead High School for the annual Sarah Wilkes Invitational. "That is the trifecta,'' Heath Wilson said of the Eden tournament. "(Hillsborough) Orange will be in it, the defending 3-A state champion.'' Wilson added that the Colts haven't had their full regular lineup on the mat yet this season. The key to success moving forward, he said, will be the ability for his wrestlers to be flexible and compete at different weights. "That's going to be a good factor if I can get that versatility,'' Wilson said.

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