TAMPA - The Eagles were not looking to make a statement, but they made one anyway.
In a season in which Brandon routinely handled opponents with ease, the Eagles opened district play with a performance dominant by even their standards.
The defending Class 2A champion, Brandon won the 2A-7 tournament at Middleton by sweeping all 14 weight classes. The Eagles outdistanced second-place Armwood 308-151 and recorded pins in 10 of 14 matches. Brandon competes Friday at the 2A regional meet. "We just came in here wanting each guy to do his best, go as far as he could go," Brandon coach Russ Cozart said. "We're wrestling well and coming together. We realize what time of year it is."
Armwood had seven wrestlers place second. East Bay was third with two individual second-place finishers, followed by host Middleton, Wharton, King and Tampa Bay Tech.
Brandon's Franklin Gomez (119), Cesar Grajales (125), Brandon Ray (130), Ryan Joyce (135), Ed Hutchinson (140), Rocky Cozart (160), David Craig (171), Jarrod Thompson (189), Rashard Goff (215) and Keith Simmons (275) all won by pins. Ken Keller (103), Sean Joyce (112), Tom Hutchinson (145) and Marco Toldeo (152) were major decision winners for the Eagles.
"This team is more powerful than last year's," said Cozart, who had six individual state champions on that squad. "We have more tough kids and they might be the best ever here. I don't know. But they'll have to do it at the state tournament to find out."
2A-8: Chiefs fall short twice in win
TAMPA - Chamberlain coach Jeff Duncan told his team he wanted it to win by 100 points. Arrogance was not the motive. Rather, it was a goal he believed was attainable and motivated a young squad.
The Chiefs fell short but still won handily.
Chamberlain scored 224 points, 62 more than second-place Plant. Alonso finished third with 114 and Hillsborough fourth with 113. The Chiefs, with only three seniors, had five champions, matching the school record.
"We set (the goal) because we wanted to push the kids," Duncan said. "We were comfortably ahead (going into the finals), and we wanted to push the kids and give them something to strive for. They fell a little short, but they did a great job nonetheless.
"I was looking for six (champions) to set the school record, but there was some outstanding competition."
Lowell Topham (112), Ian Garland (130), Ricardo Topham (140), Joseph Haddad (215) and Garrett Gibbons (275) won titles for the Cheifs. Garland and Gibbons were involved in the tournament's most exciting matches.
Garland led 1-0 in the final 30 seconds when Jefferson's Greg Stallworth was awarded a point because of Garland's stalling. But in the second overtime, with Stallworth in the top position, Garland shook loose for an escape and 2-1 victory.
"Garland can pretty much get away from anybody when he's on the bottom," Duncan said. "It was very smart wrestling on Garland's part to just escape and not try to reverse the hold."
Leading 5-0, Sickles' Joseph Russell appeared to be in control against Gibbons. But Gibbons scored a reverse and rolled Russell's shoulders for the pin at 3:39.
- BRANDON WRIGHT
3A-5: Sharks rally to defeat Cougars
RIVERVIEW - Durant and Riverview have battled each other since the first month of the season, with the Sharks edging the Cougars in two previous tournaments and the Cougars winning a few weeks ago.
The neighborhood battle continued in the Class 3A, District 5 duals Saturday. Entering the consolations, Durant was ahead 190.5-174.
Ryan Cabrera moved the Sharks in position to strike a decisive blow at 160 pounds. Durant was up by 4.5 points when Cabrera scored a 14-3 major decision against Bloomingdale's Steven Matamoros to put Riverview up by one.
Brian Johnson put the Sharks out front to stay, clinching a 212-207.5 championship win over Durant.
"Before the consolations and finals, I had conceded the win to Durant in my mind and told my guys to just get as much personal glory as they could in the last matches," Riverview coach Willie Sargable said. "Then they started winning and other teams knocked off some of Durant's better wrestlers. Brian Johnson's pin actually turned it around for us."
Johnson trailed Matt Stwan 6-1 late and looked exhausted. Then, with 30 seconds left, he had a lateral throw from neutral and scored a pin with 21 seconds remaining.
The pin actually was a 10-point swing. Johnson took a four-point victory score from the Cougars and added six for the pin.
"This was a great battle, but we won only three of eight in the finals," Durant coach Dennis Kitko said. "We were just one match short of a district title. We will have to work much harder at regionals."
Though the district battle was tough, the Cougars qualified 13 and the Sharks 12 for regionals. The top four from each weight class compete Friday and Saturday at East Lake.
Lakeland finished third with 149 points, followed by Bloomingdale (108), Plant City (106) and Gaither (42). The Riverview champs were Ralph Iglesias (135), Nick LoBello (140), Cabrera (160) and Johnson (171).
Winning championships for Durant were Tim Burdine (103), Matt Caraballo (119) and Hamilton Jordan (130).
