Tigers compete at Beast of the East

During the Christmas break, Duke Pickett and Taylor Reuss competed in Delaware in the Beast of the East, a 64-man bracket with more than 120 teams represented. The Beast is touted as the toughest tournament in the country.

Taylor Reuss went 1-2 on the weekend with some very hard-fought matches. Duke Pickett went into the tournament unseeded, defeating the 10th-, 7th-, and 3rd-seeded wrestlers on his way to a 5th-place finish. Duke defeated Robinson High School's Roman Perryman, who is the #1 ranked 140-pound wrestler in the state of Virginia. Duke also defeated Taylor Walsh of Camden Catholic, the #5-ranked wrestler in the country.

Duke received the Hammer Award for his performance.

Two Champions at NOVA Classic

Woodberry took 2 wrestlers to the the Nova Classic, a large, 32-team tournament featuring mostly AAA public schools. Two of our teammates earned prestigious honors. Featured in the photo above are both Duke and Taylor with their fathers and Coach Close.

Duke Pickett 1st - Outstanding Wrestler Award
(voted on by coaches)
Taylor Reuss 1st place

Duke Pickett received the Hammer Award for his performance in the NOVA Classic tournament.

Tigers place 4 at Harisonburg Tournament

On December 11th and 12th the Tigers competed in the Harrisonburg Tournament, a 16-team tournament featuring mostly AA public schools. The team placed 8th and there were four Woodberry wrestlers who placed:

Josh Trudgeon 4th
Phil Rogers 2nd
Pierre Courpron 4th - his first varsity tournament
Cary Jones 4th Chad Kolumber 3rd

Phil Rogers was received the Hammer Award for his gutsy performance in this tournament.

Forest Park Duals

The Tigers opened their season at the Forest Park Duals. In our first match Woodberry dropped a close 30-42 loss to Woodbridge High School. Amos Jones scored his first varsity win with a second-period pin. Josh Trudgeon, Duke Pickett, Taylor Reuss, Adam Silva, and Cary Jones also recorded wins in the first dual.

In our second dual of the tournament we faced Kempsville High School, a very tough team from the Virginia Beach area. Woodberry’s inexperience hurt us in the match, which ended in a 20-55 loss. Taylor Reuss dropped a very close match at the buzzer, losing 5-6. Adam Silva won in an impressive 21-6 technical fall. Duke Pickett, Cary Jones, and Herbert Hernandez also recorded victories in this tough dual.

Finally, the Tigers faced Manassas Park High School, dropping a 36-37 loss in a very close match. Israel Arana, wrestling at 215 lbs., won 15-6, and Cary Jones continued his winning streak with an overtime win. Gordon McAlister had a hard-fought 2-7 loss to his opponent. Taylor Reuss won with a 16-1 technical fall.

We were not able to attend the matches on Saturday due to the snow and road conditions.

The Hammer Award for this week goes to Cary Jones for wrestling at 285 lbs. (up from his usual 215) and going 3-0 this weekend.

Next week Woodberry wrestlers will compete in the NOVA Classic tournament at Fairfax High School and at the Harrisonburg Tournament at Harrisonburg High School.