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Four champs headline second-place HHS effort

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Published: November 21, 2007

Updated: 11/20/2007 06:11 pm

TAMPA - Hernando High debuted under its new head coach, Joe McLain, with four wrestlers winning gold medals and the team finishing second in Saturday's Berkeley Prep Invitational.

Tampa-Robinson won the tournament with 190.5 points. Hernando had 178 to overtake Clearwater Central Catholic (166) for the runner-up trophy.

"I think we had a pretty good night," McLain said. "Our young guys got a lot of experience. A lot of guys that lost early wrestled back strong. We had some perseverance from those guys.

"Overall it was a pretty good night. We were hoping to be in there like we were. Our goal was to be around toward the end. I think we accomplished that."

The Leopards won this tournament two years ago under longtime headman Matt Smith, then finished second in 2006 with Brian Flanigan as head coach.

Flanigan had originally replaced Smith, who resigned to concentrate on his head football coaching duties. However, Flanigan was let go giving way to Smith's brief return.

Smith, fired as football head coach at Hernando last year, has moved on to newly-opened Sunlake High in Land O' Lakes to work on Bill Browning's football coaching staff.

That once again left Hernando searching for a wrestling head coach to work alongside veteran assistant Bill Combs and continue the tradition Smith and Combs built during the past 11 years.

In stepped McLain, a conditioning expert and Hernando grad, ready to lead the program for which he once wrestled.

Four Leopards reached the respective championship final of their weight class, including Jesse Graham at 145, Daniel Pritz at 125, Tim Ball at 152 and Taylor Rotunda at 215.

As the top seed, Graham pinned his way to the finals, downing Geo Velasquez of Tampa-Leto in 59 seconds, disposing of Tampa Prep's Chase Harris in 2:29 and taking out Blake Esrey of Indian Rocks Christian in 1:47.

Graham, who finished fifth in the state meet last year, dominated the final versus Spencer Van Buskirk from St. Pete Catholic, capturing a 10-1 major decision.

The win was particularly sweet for the two-time state qualifier as he lost a semifinal match in overtime at this tournament in 2006. However, he had greater motivation.

"I lost my 20-year-old brother during the summer," Graham said. "He made it to all my tournaments. This whole year is for my brother. Every match is for him. It feels good when I do it. I'm going keep doing it for him.

"I feel like I wrestled pretty good. Last week (in the preseason) I had some sloppy matches. I'm learning to keep calm and wrestle my match. I need to stay calm and do what I know instead of wrestling how I don't.

"I'm looking for a state title. I want it so bad. It's going to be for my brother, too. I'm definitely going to win it for him."

Rotunda took a similar route to his final, though it only required two matches thanks to a first-round bye. It took just 29 ticks to pin Ryan Voss from Clearwater Central Catholic. Mulberry's Richard Thomas lasted 34 seconds.

In the final he used up only 1:11 to pin Matthew Jones of Lakeland-Kathleen, becoming Hernando's lone repeat champion at this tournament.

"I came out here after only a week of practice (because of football). I'm not out of shape; I'm just not in wrestling shape," said Rotunda, a state qualifier as a junior. "But it's a good way to start the season.

"...My brother (Wyndham) won at states. My dad (former professional wrestler Mike Rotunda) was a real big wrestler. I need to win states.

"I've got to work my butt off, nonstop nothing but wrestling. I really want to win states."

While those two seniors took care of their business, the sophomore Pritz pinned Chase Lee of McKeel Academy in 36 seconds and Tampa-Robinson's Michael Grimmett in 1:58.

The semifinals actually took a little more effort, though Pritz still defeated Tampa Bay Christian's David Alonso in a 9-1 major decision. He earned his first-ever gold medal when Berkeley Prep's Chaz Owens had to forfeit the final due to injury.

"It was going to be a good match. I don't know what happened, supposedly he was dehydrated," Pritz said. "I think I wrestled good, actually. I kept my leads goods and defended really good.

"It got me a six-minute match (in the semis). That showed me how much shape I'm in. I started off undefeated, so I have more confidence."

Ball, another senior, received a first-round bye before taking down Charles Flowers of Indian Rocks Christian in 47 seconds. It took 1:43 to beat Shane Bowling from Plant in the semifinals.

Like Pritz, Ball celebrated his first tournament championship, pinning Mark Timmel of Berkeley Prep in the final in 3:22.

"I've been training real hard. I come in every day. There are only a couple of practices I've missed," Ball said. "Every time I'm in there I hit it hard. What you do in the wrestling room shows up on the mat. I'm happy this year I'm more committed. Hopefully placing at states is in the future.

"I feel I should have been more committed in past years than I was. I'm working toward that goal now."

Another potential medalist, returning state qualifier Nick Pauliot, missed the tournament as he recovers from knee surgery.

Gomez takes third

Among five Leopards who reached consolation finals, only Fernando Gomez, at 189, finished in third place.

He pinned St. Pete Catholic's Mike Davis (3:16), got pinned by Mulberry's Damon Farmer (3:45), then dropped Shea Hughes of Berkeley Prep in 2:14 and Derrick Wilson of Plant in 1:47.

Chris Bishop, who earned a gold medal at this tournament last year, advanced to his consolation final at 135. Unfortunately he did not get the opportunity to wrestle that final, as he had already met the FHSAA limit of five matches in one day.

He got there by beating John Liggieri from Hudson in 1:05 and pinning St. Pete Catholic's Kyle Funk in 48 seconds, sandwiching a 1:26 loss to Joe Shatto of McKeel.

He followed with pins of Plant's Kevin Stipe and Leto's Danny Torres, both in 59 seconds.

Max Morrill (140) lost to Tampa Bay Christian's Kyle Koziel, 12-5, then pinned Mulberry's Zach Capadici in 2:37, Clearwater Central Catholic's Chris Owens in 2:27 and Plant's Sheldon Towne in 1:57.

In the consolation final, Koziel got him once more, winning via 7-2 decision over Morrill.

At 171, James Davidson earned a major decision over Miguel Bravo of Kathleen, 19-6, but dropped a 7-2 semifinal nod to Hudson's Devin Brown.

He rebounded to take out Mulberry's Cody Delapaz in 4:02, though fell in the consolation final to Jaycee Re of Tampa Prep, 9-0

The 285 wrestler, Casey Hostetter, lost to Hudson's Dan Burns (1:30) and beat Kathleen's Steven Smith (3:19) and Dustin Farmer of Mulberry (3:23).

Elliot Nazar (112), Cristian Sanchez (119) and Bradly Hill (160) all went 0-2.

"The guys are working hard," McLain said. "There's a lot more to expand on. With the addition of Nick (Pauliot) back in the line-up that'll be a huge lift.

"We have some improvements to make. But I think for a first tournament, it was a huge learning experience coming to this and doing all that."

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