Poquoson v. Tabb Rivalry

[BRD25836]

Is there a rivalry between Poquoson and Tabb?

Does Poquoson hate Tabb and Tabb hate Poquoson?

Wrestling is a competition and with competition everyone supports their team. If everyone can remember, the Poquoson wrestling team out scored Tabb last year in the Region I tournament, but was out scored by Tabb at the state tournament, placing 3rd behind Tabb and Christiansburg. If you don't think scenerios like this keep a rivalry brewing; you need to climb back under your rock and go back to sleep. Basketball and football players from both schools were spotted in the stands supporting and cheering for their classmates. Parents, and local supporters from both schools also packed the stands, and during any Poquoson v. Tabb match they were as loud as I have ever heard...the noise from chants would rival a Duke v. North Cakalaky basketball game.

However; As far as hatred for the other school, not even close, and in response to the article in the Daily press; I was in Tabb's gym all fricken day and I never heard an "I hate Tabb" chant. The wrestlers from each team have more than just respect for each other, they want to see the other succeed; they drill together before matches and actually cheer for each other (as long as they aren't wrestling each other's school) As far as the fans go; as I recall, the cheers for Andrew Williams in the finals were louder from the Poquoson section than they were from the Tabb section, and when Tabb's Ryan Blanchard stepped on the mat against Smithfield's Chris Collins, the Poquoson fans were cheering for Ryan just as loud as the Tabb fans. The two communities boarder each other, and after losing to Tabb on the football field, finishing behind Tabb in the BRD boy's basketball regular season, not to mention finishing behind Tabb last year at the State Wrestling Tournament...you can bet that Poquoson fans want to see their wrestling team beat Tabb (as if we needed a reason)

Make no mistake; Poquoson and Tabb fans alike are going to try to get louder and more obnoxious than their rival, but "hate" word does not apply. My son wrestles for Poquoson and will be wrestling in the state wrestling tournament in two weeks, and I know that much of his time between matches will be spent in converstation with and drilling with wrestlers from Tabb. The fans will be loud and you can bet that if a Poquoson wrestler is going head to head with a Tabb wrestler, we will let the Tabb wrestler and his fans hear how much we love our Poquoson wrestlers; however, if a Tabb wrester is on the mat against Christiansburg or some other school, it will be hard to find a Poquoson fan who is not cheering for him (as long as they are beating us in team points; "pride" does come into play in a rivalry).

It feels great to be a part of such a great rivalry and maybe the word "hate" will come back into play in the future; however for this year, I have to say that the bonds created during years of youth wrestling and summer PWA practices and tournaments are stronger than traditional views on rivalries, and we will have to wait at least another year to use the word "hate" in this context.

Good luck Del, Colton, Stephen, Kayton, Chase, Jonathan, Cody, Louie, and Brian. Kick some but at States!!

[Jason Bryant]

Tabb and Poquoson is a heated rivalry in every sport. It always gets festive, not sure what it amounts to now, but it was always heated when I was in school, before I was in school and I'm sure the same.

Political correctness has made a mockery out of rivalries.

[football fan]

The DP Correspondent hears PHS and thinks he hears "We Hate Tabb". I can understand that, but to write it in the DP......what an *****!!! I would be job searching if I was him.

[Crabbull]

I am a Poquoson fan. I am not a hater. Many thanks to Tabb High School and to your dedicated wrestling family for your time and energies to host the regional wrestling tournament again this year. Your efforts each year make it so convenient for me to support the Bulls. And thanks to so many New Kent and Smithfield fans who drove a longer distance to pack a part of the Tabb gym and add to the excitement of the day. Go BRD wrestlers!

[Joe Pack]

the daily press writer made a mistake they make mistakes all the time for him to lose his job over one article that still praises poquson is maybe a little off the wall.
everytime i read baout wrestling most of its poquson. last weeks about sectionals did not even praise the suprise matches like gibson beating number 5 ranked todd this week all that was taked about is a heated rivalry between poquson and tabb so what?

the talked about tabb as i said in another post reacting like this makes your reputations proceed you even more.

wrestling is a sport of dedication,strengths, weakness, egos and pure down right hard work. poquson is a riavl to every school in the bay rivers district congradulations on your 5 champoins i pesonaly wrestled with kayton marshall last year when he was attending york high school but the attitude of coaches fans and the egos of wrestlers have a negative effect when they go to talk about you in public media.

somone who has no affiliations with wrestling would see that as a strong rivalry.

guys come on we are better than this. praise your wrestlers and let them show what they are made of on the mat!

sitting here wanting a writer to lose his job becuase he put poquson hates tabb!

shoot i think alot of schools in the BRD hate poquson, i have nothing but respect for poquson i have family that are alumni and they are very disappointed in this reaction. rivalarys were the same as they are now. THEY ARE RIVALRYS

- joe pack

[football fan]

joe pack,
I'm having a hard time understanding your point, if there is one. Yes wrestling is a competitive sport. Yes other wrestlers deserve credit for their accomplishments. Yes there are many people jealous of Poquoson. No, Poquoson fans did not yell "we hate Tabb" and that is my point, period. I'm sure if he had made a point to say that the York fans were chanting "we hate Poquoson" your feelings would be different and that is my point.

[Joe Pack]

joe pack,
I'm having a hard time understanding your point, if there is one. Yes wrestling is a competitive sport. Yes other wrestlers deserve credit for their accomplishments. Yes there are many people jealous of Poquoson. No, Poquoson fans did not yell "we hate Tabb" and that is my point, period. I'm sure if he had made a point to say that the York fans were chanting "we hate Poquoson" your feelings would be different and that is my point.

i mean i understand your point im a reporter for my school and i did a piece on a match when our wrestler richie gibson wrestled andrew williams and i got in the same position when somone posted my article on hrvarsity containing a picture of andrew on his back that was pretty convincing to some that he was actualy pinned

my point being sayin we hate tabb is only a natrual rivaly that was going when my family attented to poquson im just saying for somthing so simple he shouldnt lose his job.

when the daily press praises tabb opn a daily basis.

im sorry your so upset with this but i feel that by saying the guy lived in york county was like you being accused of saying your fans chanted we hate tabb

thats all im saying but the reaction of some of your other fans is why poquson has a bad reputation for there attitude towards other schools in the BD true or not your reaction is making that reputation proceed your team. and your point being that if we screamed we hate poquson we probably did say it

thats my opinion

[football fan]

what did you say? And you are a reporter? For what, The Bedrock Chronicles? I can't understand a word you are attempting to say. Check your spelling/grammar. Time for bed, you have school tommorow!

[cheerlord]

i would like to add...being at the regional tournament i must say i never once heard a chant from POQ that they hated TABB. If i do remeber correctly they actualy cheered for Williams, Blanchard and Bresnan in the finals. There might be a rivalry between POQ and TABB but as far as wrestling is concerned, off the mat most of us are friends. Most if not all of the POQ wrestlers atend PWA and the same goes for TABB wrestlers. On the mat, agianst eachother there are chants and cheers but as shown at the regionals, there is also a certain level of respect. When all is said and done, friends will be friends even if they are at rivalry schools.Good Job POQ at winning regionals and TABB for getting fourth, i wish ALL the BRD wrestlers the best at the state tournament which i will be attending in two weeks!

[football fan]

well said. Good night all!

[greeleyfan]

It's obvious that the "stringer" the DP chose to assign to cover the Region I Tournament, had very little knowledge of what wrestling is all about. Thus, he neither knew what he was seeing or what he was hearing. It's a real shame because I thought that it was one of the best "Finals" that we have ever had. For the most part, the matches were close, hotly contested and kept my interest the entire match. At the same time, all weight classes had State ranked wrestlers and several had two ranked wrestlers facing each other in the finals.
You can't asked for more than that.

The "reporter" chose to spotlight the Holt-O'Donnell match at 119 lbs. It was a great match; one of many. In the finals, there were two pins, one default because of illness and no major decisions or tech falls. Great wrestling! We had everything you could ask for. Eleven matches went into the third period with both competitors having a chance to win. Not mentioned in the article were a couple of one point matches at 140 lbs. (MacGregor-Chancellor and Cody Silva-Poquoson) and 171 lbs. (Chris Collins-Smithfield and Ryan Blanchard-Tabb). In both cases you had ranked wrestlers putting it on the line. Though the 285 lb.
matched was mentioned, the article failed to report the exciting finish. With 4 seconds left, the score was 1-1 and headed for overtime. With one second left, it was 3-1 and the match was over. Now folks, you just don't see that kind of finish at 285.

At 125, Colton Crabtree of Poquoson, lost a hard fought 5-2 decision to Chris Smith of Chancellor. Smith is probably the best 125 pounder in the state and a difficult person to wrestle but Colton pressured him for six minutes. In trying to pull out a win at the end, he gave up a takedown that kept the score from showing just how close the match was.

And finally, the much anticipated match at 130 lbs. Two great athletes. Two great wrestlers. Both with great skill and mat imagination. It was worth the price of admission. The 11-4 win by Williams (Tabb) over Robinson (Smithfield) is no indication of the show that those two young guys put on. If you weren't there, try to get a copy of somebody's DVD and treat yourself to entertainment at its' best.

In answering the call to have the "reporter" fired, he's a stringer. He not a full time staff member. You didn't really think that the Daily Mess was going to send a legitimate, full time reporter to a lowly group AA Regional meet, did ya? They had to send him to Chesapeake to cover the three Peninsula District wrestlers who were still alive in the Group AAA State meet. If you want to put forth a real effort to fire somebody, aim higher.

[BRD25836]

Greeleyfan,

Very good post, this is the kind of information that should have been added to the article. Many young wrestlers worked their tails off this past weekend, so thanks for highlighting there accomplishments.

Congrats and good luck to every Region I wrestler who will be completing in the state tourney.

[Jeff Cunningham]

Greeleyfan,

I'm not a full-time reporter (though that would be nice), I am a stringer as well. I covered the Region I tournament last year, but this year it coincided with the Group AAA state meet, which this year was in Chesapeake. I can't speak for the stringer who did cover the Region I meet, as I wasn't there and can't speak to the validity of what he wrote, but I can say that wrestling is one of the tougher sports to cover and write about.

I sometimes think the only reason I've been able to cover it as I have was because I count Jason Bryant as one of my friends. His help last year made a lot of difference and I found it got easier the more I wrote. I'll give the stringer who covered Region I a bit of a break, since it very well could've been the first time he'd covered wrestling.

[BullsFan]

I don't call for the reporter's firing, but I am thoroughly disappointed that there have not been greater efforts to clear up the whole "we hate Tabb" mess. I've yet to hear anyone claim to actually hear that "chant" in the gym. Mr. Gates added fuel to this fire with his own comments in the feedback section recently. That was an excellent time to bring clarity and it was missed.

I support wrestling AND sportsmanship. Poquoson is targeted because of success but this hatred label is really off-base.

I respect all athletes and agree wrestlers from our district deserve more attention in print. Do I love to read about our wrestlers? Absolutely. I also know the dedication and commitment that all of these kids exhibit to perform at a high level and this is the highest high school honor.

We can only hope the coverage gets rectified for this weekend's showcase event.