Southfield High wrestling wins first title in 10 years By Christian Davis SOUTHFIELD — The memories and emotions came flooding back when Southfield High wrestling coach Vernon Burden hoisted the Oakland Activities Association Blue Division trophy Feb. 5 at home. The coach came back to his alma mater in 2005 and has helped transform the program from one that struggled to fill it’s 14 weight classes and literally trained in a classroom, to one that now boasts 30 grapplers and has its own training area above the gym. “Wow, we’ve come a long, long way,” Burden said Feb. 12 at practice. “All of those memories of when we first started came back — taking desks out of a classroom, placing two guys at leagues their freshman year to placing four the next year, to being league champs in our gym with families and friends there. … That was the best part.” The Blue Jays finished 6-0 in the Blue in dual meets and then won — Southfield finished with 176 points, while Birmingham Groves had 156 for second — the tournament Feb. 5 at home. The title was Southfield’s first since 2000, when Burden was a senior heavyweight for the Blue Jays. Seniors Kevin Lee (152 pounds) and Josh Pollard (145), and juniors Torez Collins (112) and Bernard Cheairs (130) won individual titles. “The last couple years, we’d get close,” said Pollard, as Southfield finished second in the division last season. “Last year, we had five guys in the championship match and only one won. This year, everyone went out and did what we had to do. It felt real good; we hadn’t won since Coach Burden wrestled here.” Burden said he was proud of the selfless acts that led to the title, including the sacrifice made by senior Damon Davis, who routinely took on opponents who weighed 35 pounds more than him. Despite the disparity in weight, Davis still finished fourth in the league. Being a champion himself, the coach knows the feeling his wrestlers had winning the title, and he couldn’t be happier for them. “They got to feel the success of accomplishing a goal,” he said. “I told the seniors, ‘Don’t go to sleep, go eat. Go do all of those things that you had sacrificed in order for us to be successful.’ I said, ‘Tonight, go enjoy being league champ.’” But the coach didn’t allow himself to bask in the glory too much. By the next morning, he and his assistant coaches were on the road with the younger wrestlers in the program to another tournament. “That’s why we went to the JV tournament. It was, ‘OK, what are we going to do to prepare for next year?’” Burden said. “By 8 a.m. the next morning, that was the focus.” You can reach Sports Writer Christian Davis at cdavis@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1062. |
