Thorn Brown (103) and Leonard Bridgeforth (171) won their second straight city titles and Richard Johnson (145) and heavyweight Terrell McClaurin their first as Patterson routed the 13-team field for its second straight Baltimore City tournament crown.
Brown (31-2) was selected the tournament's outstanding lowerweight wrestler, and Bridgeforth (28-1) shared outstanding upperweight honors with Mervo's Rashaan Torian (189, 17-2).
Bridgeforth routed City's James Thaxton, 14-5, for his title, and Brown had an 18-3 technical fall over Northern's Melvin Randall (26-2).
Johnson had a pin in 1: 20, a 16-1 technical fall and a 12-1 decision to improve to 26-5. McClaurin (28-1) avenged his only loss, 3-2, over Poly's Dennis Scott.
"We had more pressure as defending champs," said Bridgeforth. "But we set out to win the city championship this year and we came out and did it."
Patterson finished with 206 points. For runner-up Northern (142 points), Corey Rideout (130) improved to 30-2, Victor Ghee (135) to 26-6 and Obin Robinson (112) to 26-4 as all three won their second straight city crowns. Teammate Alphonso Whitworth (119, 27-6) won his first crown.
Dunbar's sixth-ranked Dennis Perry (140), a two-time region runner-up, improved to 20-0 after edging Patterson's Ed Kempa, 4-1, for his third straight city title. Perry's teammate, Jihad Hayward (125), ran his overall record to 18-4, 15-0 against city opponents.
Torian's 5-2 decision over City's Desmond Foster avenged an tTC earlier loss for his second straight city crown, and teammate Taven Phillips (152) moved to 14-1 with a 21-10 win over Davon Fowler.
Phillips' victory was sentimental. "He was a total loss last year, didn't want to come to school or anything. Seeing him win makes my heart feel good," said an emotional Mervo coach Dwight Warren.
Lake Clifton's sole champion, Charles Faulkner (160), moved to 14-4.
Pub Date: 2/22/98
