Bears easily topple county foe

Rebuilding program takes another step forward

By DEREK LaRIVIERE Times Correspondent
Published January 11, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Central, a rebuilding program in its own right, easily took care of a conference and county rival having its own troubles at the moment.

Nature Coast, missing three key grapplers, fell 54-24 to the Bears.

Led by wins from its two state hopefuls, 145-pounder Gilbert Perez and 152-pounder Miguel Molina, Central continued its momentum from a strong performance at the Citrus Hurricane Cup Duals last weekend.

"I am as surprised as anyone at the progress this program has made over the past few months," Central coach Roy Reyes said.

Molina moved up to 160 for the dual, while Nature Coast was without key starters Matt Thompson (275), David Simonson (112) and Taequan Griffin (130).

The Bears took 10 of the 14 weight classes, including close decisions at 103 and 130 pounds. At 103, Nature Coast's Anthony Fuzz, outweighed by at least 10 pounds, fell 8-4 to Central's David Supple.

Matt Lambert lost to Central's Shane Ralph at 130 in a controversial decision. In the 6-5 match, Lambert dominated most of the match. After losing points for stalling and unnecessary roughness, he found himself down 4-3.

The Nature Coast middleweight immediately responded with a takedown for the 5-4 lead. The controversy came in the two deciding points awarded to Ralph after the closing buzzer.

He was given the points for a reversal that was never clearly made.

[Last modified January 11, 2007, 00:01:44]