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Preps
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 28, 2003
LAKELAND -- If Zephyrhills senior Shane Hand is going to avenge his only loss, it will come in the last bout of the season.
Hand, the defending state heavyweight champ who was 32-0, lost in the region final to Gulf's Walter Truzack 5-3.
The wrestlers are paired on opposite sides of the 275-pound bracket at the Class A state tournament at the Lakeland Center. To square off, the two will have to meet in the finals.
Each took a step toward making that a reality in Thursday's preliminary round.
Hand needed just 1 minute and 23 seconds to pin and advance to the quarterfinals. Truzack had a harder time, squeaking by with a 2-0 decision.
The quarterfinals will start at 10 a.m. today and the semifinals are at 7 p.m.
TOUGH ROAD: Hand isn't the only North Suncoast wrestler who had his undefeated season squashed in the region final.
The same thing happened to Central's Sergio Matos (45-1) and Springstead's Fabien Lewars (40-1), both of whom lost to Brandon wrestlers last week. Just like Hand, neither will be able to exact revenge until the finals.
To get there, though, Matos and Lewars will have to get past two of Countryside's top wrestlers in the quarterfinals today.
Matos faces Wes Walker in the 145-pound class and Lewars goes up against Dominic DeNunzio at 130. Walker and DeNunzio were both region champs.
TOP-RANKED: Hernando, ranked No. 5 in Class A by Floridakids.net, scored 121/2 points and is in sixth place, the highest among North Suncoast schools.
Five of the the Leopards' seven state qualifiers won their preliminary bouts on Thursday. They were: Chris Malvesti (130), Billy Combs (135), Charles Combs (152), Addison Chipoletti (171) and Thomas Lyle (189).
REPRESENTING: Crystal River's Brady Pratt (160) and Lecanto's Cole Heitt represent Citrus County's best hopes of winning a state title.
In fact, they're the only hope.
Both won in the quarterfinals and are the last remaining from the county in the winner's bracket.