By TERRY JONES, Times Correspondent
Published November 16, 2005
BRANDON - David Craig, Eric Grajales, Joey Cozart and Terry Dawson won individual championships in the National High School Coaches Association National Championships on Saturday and Sunday in North Carolina.
Craig, a three-time tournament winner, pinned all of his opponents at 171 pounds until the final match, where the Brandon senior scored a 16-1 technical fall.
Grajales, an Eagles freshman, picked up where his brother, Cesar, left off last year. He won the 103-pound class title.
Cozart and Dawson, both eighth-graders at Temple Heights, won middle school titles.
Cozart beat long-time rival Frank Pettineo 8-4 in the 112-pound class. Pettineo is a freshman at Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons. Dawson, a veteran national youth champion with the Brandon Wrestling Club, won the 103-pound weight class.
Sean Joyce, a junior and two-time Eagles state champion, placed fourth at 145 pounds. Joyce already is on the watchlist of numerous college coaches. His brother Ryan, another Brandon state champ, is a sophomore starter for the University of Missouri varsity team.
Zaq Berridge, another veteran national youth champion with the Brandon Wrestling Club, placed sixth at 140 pounds. Berridge earned a starting spot on the Eagles varsity squad this season as a freshman, a tough accomplishment at Brandon.
