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Division tourney holds no surprises

BRANDON -- The favorites dominated the first Western Conference division tournaments last Saturday. Bloomingdale, Brandon, Plant and Sickles all went 4-0 in capturing division titles.

Five teams were in each division contest using an Olympic pool draw format, giving all teams an opportunity to compete with each other.

Brandon, the top ranked team in the state, won the Federal Division. The Eagles lost only five of their 70 individual matches.

Following Brandon were Armwood 3-1, King 2-2, Wharton 1-3 and Tampa Bay Tech 0-4.

"This is the first time we have used this format to determine division championships," Brandon coach Russ Cozart said.

Bloomingdale won the Congressional Division. With the four additional dual wins, the Bulls ended the weekend 11-1.

The Bulls were followed in order by Durant 3-1, Riverview 2-2, Plant City 1-3 and East Bay 0-4.

Except for a 71-6 win over East Bay with only one individual loss, Bloomingdale stayed throughout the tournament. The Bulls beat Durant 45-23, Riverview 43-23 and Plant City 50-21.

Sickles pulled off an upset, 39-24 over Chamberlain in the first round of the American Division. The Chiefs were the the defending division champions, but this year the Gryphons have put together their best team in school history.

The Gryphons beat Leto 75-6, Gaither 45-15 and Alonso 77-0. In the battle for second place, Chamberlain scored a close 35-29 decision over Gaither.

Chamberlain finished second at 3-1, followed by Gaither 2-2, Alonso 1-3 and Leto 0-4.

"Our kids did a great job in the first round in knocking off Chamberlain," Sickles coach Terry Brockland said. "They beat Bloomingdale by more than 10 points early in the season and Bloomingdale beat us. I thought we could do it, but I knew it would be a tough match and it was."

In the Federal Division, Plant gave up only one individual match in 70. The Panthers shut out every team but Hillsborough.

Twenty-two forfeits helped the Panthers. Plant will be forced to prove itself in the conference meet Feb. 2.

Plant defeated Hillsborough 73-3, Robinson 84-0 (a maximum-point match), Jefferson 81-0 and Blake 82-0.

Hillsborough placed second at 3-1, followed by Jefferson 2-2, Blake 1-3 and Robinson 0-4.

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