Springstead hits bumps, but delivers some bruises

By BRANT JAMES and GREG AUMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 21, 2001

Springstead coach Bob Levija said his team "hit a couple of bumps" in the Wal-Mart tournament last weekend, even though it captured the title by more than 80 points.

One of the major bumps was 135-pounder Matt Booker (27-1) losing his first match of the season. Booker dropped a 10-3 decision to Land O'Lakes' Derek Schiffer.

"Booker wasn't prepared," Levija said. "I mean (Schiffer) is really tough, but we did not wrestle the way we should have wrestled."

Levija said the Eagles seemed in an odd mood before the event.

"It seemed like everybody was (mad) at everybody else the whole weekend: coaches, everybody," he said.

TOPS: Senior heavyweight Jose Flores, who is 25-5, said theEagles are learning to handle their lofty Internet ranking.

"At first, we were all kind of looking at (the ranking)," Flores said. "Now, we just know it's there, and that's it.

"We know people are gunning for us," he said. "We have to grit our teeth, bear down and work harder. Everyone on the team understands."

HERNANDO: Sophomore Chris Malvesti improved to 24-7 on Wednesday night with a third-period pin of Central's Viet Lam in the 112-pound class.

Hernando got a pin from Billy Combs (23-11) in 2:31 against Chris Dyer in the 127-pound match, and Billy Woods (22-9) earned an 8-4 decision against Frank Anderson.

Some of Central's top wrestlers got the night off because of forfeit, but the Bears received a 14-1 major decision from Bobby Vasquez against Ryan Brown in the 191-pound division.

Josh Wogan earned a quick pin in 1:06 against the Leopards' Jack Duval, who recently was called up from the junior varsity. Mike Fiola earned a pin for the Bears against freshman Steven Pritz.

Bryan Parrott picked up an 8-2 decision against Charley Combs.

In perhaps the most closely contested match, Central's 171-pound Jason Signorille edge Thomas Lyle 7-5.

"Thomas is wrestling a lot tougher lately, and he's only a sophomore," Hernando coach Matt Smith said. "He lacks strength, but as he gets stronger, he's going to be very tough to beat."

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