Springstead: fifth in Brandon's Graves Tourney

BRANDON - Going into this past weekend's Brandon High Jim Graves 'Beat The Streak' wrestling tournament, the Springstead Eagles were seeded fifth in the 14-team tournament.

And in the end, that's where the Eagles finished despite some of the most up and down fortunes a Springstead wrestling team has had in a long time.

In a tourney that was highlighted by the end of Brandon High's 459 dual match win streak when it lost in the final to Hialeah-South Dade (31-28), the Eagles beat Camden County (N.J.) 42-26 Saturday to place fifth overall.

Rough start

The tournament, created by Brandon as a challenge to its incredibly long win streak, started off very poorly for the Eagles.

Three weeks ago, Springstead lost in the final of the Gulf Holiday Duals Tournament by 11 points to Bradenton-Manatee. But after getting a bye in the opening round, the Eagles were dominated by Manatee and suffered a 52-18 loss to the Hurricanes.

Despite that setback, Springstead came back Saturday and defeated Venice (59-9) and Stoneman-Douglas (45-20) before losing to second-seeded Naples-Palmetto Ridge (43-27).

Then the Eagles took fifth place in the tournament by solving Camden County (42-26).

"The mind is a powerful thing," Springstead Head Coach Eric Swenson said. "Last night we weren't very mentally tough and we were making some errors. But our seniors stepped up. Against Palmetto Ridge, all the seniors won and that's what's supposed to happen."

Springstead, who came into the tournament with an 8-1 record and seeded fifth in the tournament, began poorly on Friday.

After receiving a bye in the opening round, Manatee High plucked the Eagles.

"We didn't wrestle well against Manatee at all. We were terrible, we were flat, we had a bye," described the fourth-year Coach Swensen. "And we don't match up well against them at all and they took advantage of it.

"They had a huge fan base, they got loud, they got rowdy and we didn't have an answer for it," he said.

But Springstead came back Saturday morning and beat Venice and Douglas before taking on Palmetto Ridge, last season's Class 1A State Champion before moving up this year to Class 2A.

And with three matches left, the Eagles were just one point behind, 27-26.

"Against Palmetto Ridge, our seniors stepped up," commented Swensen. "All our seniors won and that's what they're supposed to do. We lost to Palmetto Ridge because we had three matches left and had two freshmen and a sophomore and they got beat.

"We have to be ready," stressed Swensen. "We've got five or six weeks left until the state tournament and it's kids like these at Palmetto Ridge that our kids are going to see in the state quarter and semifinals."

Unbeaten trio

At the conclusion of the two-day tournament, three Springstead wrestlers went unbeaten in their five matches including: 112-pound senior Schuyler Swanton, 125-pound senior C.J. Cook and senior heavyweight senior Carlos Ramirez.

In the end, Swensen came back to the match against Palmetto Ridge in trying to describe how his team preformed over the weekend. "I don't believe in good losses, I don't buy into that. But we wrestled them. They could have put some serious damage on us."

After Friday night's loss to Manatee, Swensen said he didn't tell his team anything afterward.

"I think they were waiting for us to do that," suggested Swensen. "I think they knew we didn't have anything positive to say.

"They knew they were embarrassed and I knew a pep talk or a browbeating wasn't going to help. They came in this morning and I told them to take it one match at a time and everyone wrestled well today, things worked out."