Purple Dogs welcome 11 teams for wrestling meet
Posted on Thursday, January 24, 2008
The weather outside might be chilly, but the wrestling action will be hot inside the gyms at Fayetteville High this weekend.
Around 220 wrestlers are expected to attend the second-annual Fayetteville Invitational, hosted by Tony Travis' Bulldogs on Saturday.
Eleven teams are slated to participate, including Bentonville, Springdale, Har-Ber, Rogers, Gentry, Mountain Home, Union Christian, Central Arkansas Christian (CAC ), Des Arc, Little Rock Catholic and Little Rock Hall.
A couple of those schools will not field enough wrestlers for full teams. Considering the FHS and Bentonville contingents will each be divided into two squads, the total number of teams taking part in the invitational rises to 14.
The event will be spread across four mats in two gyms, FHS assistant coach Steve Gordon said. The meet will begin at 10 a. m., with championship matches set to start at 5 p.m.
The Fayetteville Invitational is open to the public. Admission is $ 3.
"People with a wrestling background will enjoy it," Gordon said. "And people new to the sport will find it interesting, I think. "
The Bulldogs have high aspirations for the future of the tournament.
"Like in most states, someone's eventually going to come up with the big Arkansas tournament with big sponsorship at a big venue," Gordon said. "That's what we're hoping will eventually happen with the Fayetteville Invitational."
Fayetteville is developing a strong wrestling rivalry with Bentonville. The Tigers bested the Purple Dogs at the Tiger Classic in Bentonville on Jan. 12.
Health-wise, the loss was costly for Fayetteville.
"The team's coming along, barring the injuries that we've had," Gordon said.
Fayetteville's Cappy Leaf suffered a mild concussion and a hairline skull fracture in his match against Bentonville's Drew Cobble. Amazingly, Leaf was able to hang on to win the match.
"That kid stepped it up and wrestled really hard," Gordon said.
Leaf, a returning state champion, should be back in the lineup sometime this season, but will not wrestle at Saturday's invitational.
Adam Brown (neck ) and Justin McCash (ankle ) are two other Purple Dogs sidelined with injury. Ben Scharfenberger (toe ) and Paul Banderant (back ) are ailing but should wrestle Saturday for FHS.
Senior Michael Gordon (152 lb. ), who has been a state champion in Oklahoma and Arkansas, will lead the charge for the Purple Dogs.
To say Michael has been dominant as an Arkansas wrestler would be an understatement. He's currently 27-0 and has pinned every Arkansas opponent he's faced.
Michael also has no problem competing in states with rich wrestling tradition like Oklahoma and Missouri. He won his weight bracket at the 30-team Mid-America National Tournament at Tulsa Union last December.
Last weekend, the Bulldog varsity took part in the Black Diamond Classic in Sallisaw, Okla. Michael went 8-0, pinning all eight opponents in the first period.
Michael, who wasn't taken down the entire tournament, won the championship match in just one minute.
Junior Markies Eubanks (145 lb. ) placed fifth at Sallisaw, losing a tough 6-5 decision to Nick Coppland of Sallisaw.
"He competes well out of state, too," Steve Gordon said of Eubanks.
FHS also sent a contingent to a tournament at CAC last weekend. Bulldogs T. J. Beringer (112 lb. ) and Matt Brasko (140 lb. ) each came home with fourthplace medals.
"They wrestled hard and they're getting better every day," Gordon said.
Bentonville won the CAC Mustang Tournament with a total of 247. 5 points. Powerful heavyweight Nick Stewart will be one of the Tigers to watch on Saturday.
The tri-meet between Fayetteville, Springdale and Har-Ber scheduled for last Tuesday was canceled due to inclement weather and will be rescheduled, Gordon said.
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