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CLASS A, DISTRICT 11: Runner-up St. Petersburg Catholic has record 11 region qualifiers.
By BOB PUTNAM, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 15, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG -- After Steve Hubbard pinned Admiral Farragut Academy 189-pounder Aaron Bernard in the finals, he followed the rest of his St. Petersburg Catholic teammates to accept the school's first team trophy at a district meet.
Hubbard's victory put the final touch on a runner-up finish for the host Barons, who edged Bradenton Southeast 151-140.
While the race for the runner-up spot offered some down-to-the-wire dramatics, the tournament champion was not a surprise.
Osceola, which had won the district title the past two seasons, racked up 215 points to make it three in a row.
"We knew we had a chance of finishing in the top two, and an outside chance of winning," St. Petersburg Catholic coach Bob Damron said. "But Osceola is tough. It didn't take long before we knew our battle was for second place, not first."
Wrestling with a full lineup, Osceola played its numbers to near perfection. The Warriors had 13 of 14 wrestlers advance to the region tournament at Avon Park next week, including five district champions.
James Balch (103 pounds), Dan Smalley (140), Michael Houle (171) and Michael Shammos (215) won by pins, and Zachary Newcity (125) won by decision in the finals for Osceola.
Houle's pin over Bradenton Southeast's Jason McDade sealed second place for St. Petersburg Catholic.
"We got ahead of everyone pretty quickly, which was surprising," Warriors coach Ron Spataro said. "We knew that St. Petersburg Catholic had improved quite a bit and Bradenton Southeast is strong.
"I thought our kids wrestled real well and it was a good tournament for us. The biggest thing was we had the numbers. St. Petersburg Catholic was the only other team that had a full lineup, and that helped both of us."
By fielding a full lineup for the first time, the Barons achieved other district firsts with a school-record 11 region qualifiers and three district champions.
Besides Hubbard, Kevin Roche (112) and Alex Sanchez (145) also won their weight classes.
"I don't think anybody believed we could do this well but ourselves," Damron said. "We've really started to build the program, and everybody returns next season so we'll only get better."
Clearwater Central Catholic's Brian Hoar (119) and Admiral Farragut's Jason Silveus (135) were the county's other district winners.