Leopards win on Pasco error

By JAMAL THALJI

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 11, 2001

DADE CITY -- Ugly. Ugly. Ugly.

Ugly.

Writing it once, and without the italics, just doesn't do justice to Wednesday afternoon's in-school Pasco-Hernando wrestling match.

For that's the only way -- well, the only polite way -- to describe how the rivals struggled through six combined forfeits, three of them double-forfeits, then the confounding five minutes that followed.

The end result: An inexplicablePasco error handed a 32-28 victory to the Leopards.

That was the score entering the final match at 275 pounds. All the Pirates had to do was send a wrestler who weighed the requisite 210 to the mat to accept Hernando's forfeit of the class.

Only a miscommunication between coach Mark DeAugustino and usual 215-pounder Jason Dorman resulted in Dorman taking the mat instead of heavyweight Chris Taylor.

The ref raised Dorman's hand, signaling an apparent Pasco victory. Right?

Wrong. Upon further review, the Leopards realized that Dorman didn't meet the minimum weight requirement for 275. He weighed in at 198.

At the time, DeAugustino and the ref thought 188 was the minimum to wrestle at 275.

The third double-forfeit of the night gave Hernando the victory, in which it used just nine wrestlers.

Coach Matt Smith had a hard time mustering any excitement for the win. His young wrestlers got some quality mat time, and in the end, it was all that counted.

"We're down, we're young, we've only got 10 kids left," Smith said. "But we came out here and we wrestled hard. The important thing is that we got some experience."

It was just another disappointment for Pasco coach Mark DeAugustino.

The return of Alvaro Moreno from a long disciplinary suspension was overshadowed by the Pirates' thin roster, which was depleted even more by the loss of 140-pounder Jonathan Hancock to a finger injury.

"We lost because I made a mistake," DeAugustino said.

Moreno showed he has a way to go to regain his pre-season form, when he was No.1 at 152 in Class A. In a higher weight class at 160 against a heavier foe, he quickly tired and was called for stalling, which gave Drew Innes the decisive point in a 5-4 win.

Pasco's Jeremy Alford earned the first forfeit of the day at 103. Then Hernando rattled off six consecutive victories.

After the double-forfeit at 112, Chris Malvesti pinned Michael Graham in 3:25 at 119. Robert Wingbigler pinned Steven Wilkins in 3:23 at 125.

Weston Ward earned a technical fall against Billy Combs, winning 16-1. The Leopards' Billy Woods then earned a forfeit at 135. Teammate Charley Combs pinned Devon Bryant in 2:45 at 140.

Pasco's Brad Alford pinned Steven Pritz in 37 seconds at 145. Both sides forfeited 152, then the Pirates' Moreno fell 5-4 to Innes at 160.

Matt Herron gave Pasco a 16-5 major decision over Thomas Lyle at 171. Roger Carroll moved up to 189 and pinned the Leopards' Ryan Brown.

The Pirates' Tye Reedy moved up to 215 to accept the forfeit, then the heavyweight confusion ended the match.

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