Knights surprise coach in tourney

Entering his first season as head coach, Carlo Parente wasn't sure what to expect from a River Ridge wrestling team that won a conference championship last year but graduated eight seniors.

The young Knights made a good impression Saturday, tying Springstead for third place out of 10 teams at the Land O'Lakes Swamp Classic.

"I was very surprised. We're not looking bad as a dual-meet team," said Parente, who got second-place showings from sophomore A.J. Agazarm (119) and junior Seth Perry (160). "A lot of teams there had three or four studs who are really good, but overall, we're pretty solid at every single weight class."

Agazarm, a first-year wrestler, benefited from two byes in his weight class, but went 2-0 before losing in the final. Perry, who earned a conference title at 145 at Mitchell last year, went 4-0 before losing 10-7 in the final.

Zephyrhills finished fifth, 21/2 points behind River Ridge, led by defending state champion Shane Hand, who won the heavyweight title. The county's other tournament champs were Land O'Lakes' Chris Bowen (171) and Wesley Chapel's Bill Zeranski (130). The Wildcats finished sixth, one point ahead of the host Gators.

Other county wrestlers who won their pools, only to lose in the finals included: Zephyrhills' Josh Calhoun (103), Nick Spine (125) and Doug Burden (152), along with Wesley Chapel's Andrew Cleek (112), and Gabe Lopez (135). The Wildcats' Kevin Boyd, a state qualifier at 103 last year, finished third at 119.

In addition to Bowen, Land O'Lakes got third-place efforts from sophomores Scott Mays (189) and Devon Kearney (215). Two more sophomores, Kenny Stivers (145) and Luke Novak (125) went 3-2 to finish fifth. "We had eight guys who had never wrestled varsity before, so I wasn't planning on too much," Land O'Lakes coach Brett Murray said. "I thought we did well, in that we won more matches than we lost and pinned more people than we got pinned. I think the tournament served its purpose for our kids of opening their eyes to what they really don't know yet."

THIS CLOSE: Three county teams competed at the East Lake Invitational, with Ridgewood edging Gulf by a single point to take seventh out of 16 teams. Gulf heavyweight Cameron Neptune was the lone county wrestler to win his weight class. Teammate Tim Tracy (189) and Ridgewood's Keith Coghlan (140) and Shane Higgins (103) finished second.

"With early-season tournaments you're not sure where you stand, but I was quite happy," Rams coach Vinnie Lowe said.

Higgins' showing was a "nice surprise," Lowe said, highlighted by an upset of the tournament's top seed, Orlando Lyman's Bryan Hise, in the second round. Coghlan nearly won his weight class, losing crucial points late in the final period when he was called for an illegal headlock.

The Bucs and Rams were just as close two days earlier when Gulf edged Ridgewood 40-39 in an in-school dual meet Thursday. They will do the same Jan. 15 at Ridgewood.

"We match up really well with Gulf," said Lowe, noting Gulf's strength is in the higher weight classes, while some of his best wrestlers are in the lighter classes.

UP NEXT: Seven county teams -- Gulf, Hudson, Pasco, Ridgewood, River Ridge, Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills -- will compete in this weekend's Kiwanis Invitational at Hernando. Land O'Lakes is competing in a dual-meet tournament at Lakeland Jenkins.

Next weekend, the Gators are in a tournament at Lyman, while most of the county is at Gulf.

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