Wrestling: Brandon takes home another county championship

By TERRY JONES, Times Correspondent
Published January 27, 2008

TAMPA - Although not as strong as many past Brandon teams, the Eagles still dominated the Hillsborough County wrestling championships Friday and Saturday at Wharton.

Brandon scored 367.5 points for the team title. Durant was second with 222, followed by Alonso with 203.5. The Eagles crowned eight champs.

Wharton coach David Mitchell was pleased with the outcome of the meet, especially with no one getting serious injuries.

"Although Brandon won big, there were some tough matches in the finals, which shows me other teams in our county are getting better," Mitchell said. "... I really was glad there were no serious injuries."

Capturing the individual titles for Brandon were Sean Padgett (103), Terry Dawson (112), Eric Grajales (130), Kevin Timothy (135), Joey Cozart (140), Zaq Berridge (160), Phil Uno (215) and Aaron Fullenwider (285).

Grajales and Durant's Christian Reed scored the only pins in the finals.

Wrestling Grajales is a tough assignment for anyone, but Bloomingdale senior Austin Figari went almost two full rounds before giving up the fall.

"He is one of the best there is, but he has earned all his honors," Figari said.

Other individual county champs include Robinson's Matt Willis (119), Gaither's Matt Roach (145), Alonso's Kurt Ivy (152), Plant City's Travis Vollick (171), Alonso's Reed and Kendall Ivy (189).

Berridge, a strong contender for an individual state title, hit his stride in the tournament. He scored an 11-2 major decision in his title match.

"We all had to work hard for everything we earned," Berridge said. "This was a very good warmup for states, starting with districts next weekend."

Durant, Alonso and Bloomingdale slugged it out for second. The Cougars placed 10 in the top six, Alonso placed nine and had two champions, and Bloomingdale also placed nine.

[Last modified January 27, 2008, 00:03:56]