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Stunning Reversal…Ex-Shark Adams Pins, Bears Win, 37-33

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By TONY CASTRO SPORTS EDITOR

Hernando Today

Published: January 12, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - In all likelihood, Central High's first-year wrestler, Tom Adams, will never forget his first-ever varsity pin in the Bears' 37-33 win Wednesday night at Nature Coast Technical.
Neither will his teammates, nor classmates.
You see, the Bears traveled to archrival NCT in what essentially was a final tune-up prior to the 18th annual Springstead Invitational this weekend.
There were, however, no guarantees for success.
Last season, Central solved the Sharks twice in dual meets, but in 2005-06, the teams split four meetings.
This time, the host Sharks erected an 11-point lead (17-6) after five bouts.
But the visiting Bears, under second-year Head Coach Roy Reyes, roared back capturing six of the next seven bouts.
The last of the six wins - Adams' match - loomed the largest.
Adams went to his back quickly at 152 pounds against Ryan McCabe. He was nearly pinned.
But he fought off his back, gained a reversal and with one second left in the first period disposed of McCabe with a critical pin.
His win clinched the dual meet triumph for the Bears.
Not bad for a guy who transferred from NCT to Central.
"Tonight was a big match," understated the 16-year-old Adams. "I knew I had to pull through. But a lot of our guys pulled out wins. I'm not the only guy to win.
"I've worked hard and I've pushed myself," added Adams, who improved to 3-6 overall. "It was a big match for me because I used to go to Nature Coast. My sisters went to Central."

Coach talk

But instead of the Sharks rolling over, Head Coach Mike Lastra - a Bear alumnus - watched as his club fought back.
First-year grapplers, Britt Langley at 160 and Jimmy Huang at 171, each etched pins over Mike Miller and Matt Thompson respectively to narrow the final gap to 37-33.
Besides Huang and Langley, Tyler Forand at 103 (5:19), JJ Baker at heavyweight (0:33) etched pins while David Simonson won via a 15-0 technical fall at 112 and Matt Lambert won via a major decision at 140, 10-2.
"I like the excitement we produced at the end," insisted Lastra, despite his team dipping to 1-2 overall. "We could have mailed it in, but we didn't. Our kids fought back. You gotta like that."
What was the key?
"Easy. The match at 152 was," shared Lastra, who is 13-54 lifetime in four seasons at NCT. "It all came down to 152. We've got to learn not to freak out if we get rolled. I was pretty confident that if we won that match, we'd win it. It was so close."
Biggest positives?
"When we opened against Lecanto, it was pinned or be pinned," replied Lastra. "Now, we're competing. Guys are going six minutes. We're starting to wrestle as the season progresses - that's a great sign. I don't feel bad, we just went toe-to-toe against a team that went 16-5 last year. Our guys just need to grow up more to win these types of matches."
From the opposing sideline, Coach Reyes sounded more like the coach that lost, rather than the one that won.
"The Adams match was huge. Big, big win. No offense to Nature Coast, but they're not running what we're running in practice," he lamented. "I'm disgusted about where we're at tonight. We went to Oviedo and the Citrus Duals against some good people and Nature Coast didn't wrestle anybody and then we get this performance?
"It seemed right after we lost the coin flip, they countered everything I had," added Reyes. "They've got my old assistant coach and I couldn't bump, they knew all my tricks. Give their coaches props; they did a good job tonight. Hopefully this will serve as a wake up call to our guys before Springstead."

Bear winners

CHS climbed to 4-2 overall behind eight individual wins. The Bears collected pins by Adams, Shaun Cadoret at 152 (2:57) and Antonio Zayas at 125 (0:34).
Cadoret's seventh pin of the season improved his overall record to a team-best 17-11 entering the Springstead Inv.
Sophomore Vince Ramirez, still hampered by a shoulder injury, did garner a forfeit at 135.
Other victors included Ken Supple's 16-4 major decision over Brenton Nuby at 130 and hard-earned decisions by Wayne Snell at 119, Daniel May at 189 and Nathan Brazeau at 215.
Though Brazeau's win helped him improve to 13-4, he wasn't particularly pleased with his performance.
"I've wrestled Brandon before in practice," remarked the 17-year-old Brazeau on his 4-2 win over Brandon Nuby. "Tonight, I just didn't wrestle my match. I was too careless out there. Maybe I was a little too tense."
How big was the team win?
"It's big. I've personally never lost to Nature Coast in anything," said Brazeau. "We've beat 'em in football, weightlifting, wrestling, track. Everything."
Though May climbed to 16-9 with a three-overtime 2-1 win over Rockkhem Greene, he too wasn't celebrating. Instead, May dittoed Brazeau's comments.
"I wasn't wrestling my tempo," explained the 16-year-old May. "I felt kinda out of it. Really I thought I wrestled really poorly. I know I need to keep improving."
And the team win?
"It's always important to beat Nature Coast in every sport I play," said May. "It's big for school pride."

Central 37, NCT 33
103 - Forand (NCT) pin Vega, 5:19
112 - Simonson (NCT) tech. fall D. Supple, 15-0
119 - Snell (CEN) dec. Cronin, 16-9
125 - Zayas (CEN) pin Richardson, 0:34
130 - K. Supple (CEN) major dec. Brenton Nuby, 16-4
135 - Ramirez (CEN) won by forfeit
140 - Lambert (NCT) major dec. Sieber, 10-2
145 - Cadoret (CEN) pin CJ Baker, 2:57
152 - Adams (CEN) pin McCabe, 1:59
160 - Langley (NCT) pin Miller, 1:10
171 - Huang (NCT) pin Thompson, 1:40
189 - May (CEN) dec. Greene, 2-1 (3 OT)
215 - Brazeau (CEN) dec. Brandon Nuby, 4-2
285 - JJ Baker (NCT) pin Scott, 0:33
Records- Central (4-2 overall), Nature Coast Technical (1-2 overall).

Sports Editor Tony Castro can be reached at (352) 544-5278 or online at acastro@hernandotoday.com

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