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Durant Victorious On Senior Night

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By ADAM ADKINS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 17, 2008

PLANT CITY - Everything bounced Durant's way Wednesday night against Bloomingdale in a dual meet featuring two of Hillsborough County's best wrestling teams. And it started with the coin flip.

The Cougars won the prematch coin flip, which meant Coach Dennis Kitko would control the matchups by being able to send his wrestlers to the mat last. His strategy worked as Durant earned a 43-30 home victory on the Cougars' senior night.

"It came down to the flip of a coin," Bloomingdale coach Donny Peek said. "We knew the matchups weren't going to be in our favor after the flip, so we knew we were going to have to pull off a couple upsets. We just didn't get them."

Both coaches agreed two of the most pivotal matches occurred at 160 and 189 pounds. Durant scored pins in each match; Tyler Shepherd at 160 and Billy Whitcomb at 189.

"I thought we had an opportunity to pull it off," Peek said. "We had a chance to win in two or three matches that we ended up getting pinned in. That's just a motivation killer."

Making the win even better for the Cougars was all three Durant seniors in the lineup - Christian Reed (125), Derrick Hudson (135) and Yamil Crespo (152) - won by pin in their final home contest. "Three pins by that group," Kitko said. "They definitely did their job tonight."

Alex Hamm (103), Tykie Mastorides (112) and heavyweight Nick Hadick also won for the Cougars. Bryce Lawson (119), Austin Figari (130), Jeff Whitaker (140), Chris Figari (145), Chase Douglas (171) and Keith Mooney (215) posted wins for the Bulls.

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