Injuries Sink Hernando In Second Day Of Titan Duals

NAPLES - As Hernando High prepared to leave Titans Arena Saturday night at Naples-Golden Gate High School, it took solace in the fact that it had scored more points than anyone else on defending state champion Naples-Palmetto Ridge.

Unfortunately, that point total was seven. So it went on the second day of the Titan Duals, where the injury-depleted Leopards stumbled to 0-4 after a 2-0 performance on Friday.

"Considering we didn't fill all the weight classes, we did fairly good. Especially in a dual tournament," Hernando Head Coach Joe McLain said. "I think scoring the most points against Palmetto Ridge in the tournament so far (was a positive).

"Other than that, it was pretty tough to come into a dual tournament undermanned. We went into Pool A. That was the toughest pool."

Rotunda, Ball out

Though Hernando (6-5 overall) got a boost in the return of state qualifier Nick Pauliot, who missed the Springstead Invitational the previous weekend while serving a suspension, it lost two other pivotal grapplers.

Taylor Rotunda, the top-ranked 215-pound wrestler in the state, didn't even make the trip nursing an injury. Senior Tim Ball, at 152 pounds, couldn't finish this tournament after getting hurt early in the second day.

The Leopards used Fernando Gomez in Rotunda's spot, but had holes at 103 and 119. Once Ball went down, that left Hernando with just an 11-man line-up.

Still they found themselves in the top pool because they went perfect during Friday's opening round preceding pool play. Hernando easily handled Immokalee, 56-18, and host Golden Gate, 51-30.

The competition level rose considerably on Saturday as the Leopards got blanked by the quartet of Miami-Monsignor Pace (46-21), North Port (51-25), Ft. Lauderdale-Archbishop McCarthy (50-27) and Palmetto Ridge (61-7).

Of course, all four of those teams finished in the top 10 in the state last year within their classification. Palmetto Ridge claimed the Class 1A state crown.

Though North Port would tally 15 against Palmetto Ridge in the tournament's final match, prior to that Hernando's showing looked impressive.

Palmetto Ridge (29-1 overall) shutout both Cypress Lake (83-0) and Monsignor Pace (62-0), and did nearly the same to North Ft. Myers (75-3) and Archbishop McCarthy (77-4).

Hernando managed two wins in its dual with the champs, Daniel Pritz (125) taking a 14-6 major decision over Joel Perez and Pauliot (189) earning a 12-8 nod over Troy Miller. Pauliot was the lone Leopard to finish 6-0.

Jesse Graham failed to win his 140-pound match against Palmetto Ridge's Anthony Phillips in a battle of two returning state placers. Phillips came in third at 119; Graham fifth at 140.

Graham, a senior, lost for only the second time all season, falling 9-4. He finished 5-1 in the tournament.

"I think I wrestled pretty good all the way until the last match," Graham said. "I wasn't shooting. I wasn't doing anything. I don't know what was wrong with me. I wasn't wrestling like I can.

"Palmetto Ridge is an all-around great school. I didn't know much about (Phillips). He was good, definitely strong."

James Davidson (171) also went 5-1, his lone loss a 14-7 decision against Clynt Hadley of Palmetto Ridge. Pritz, Max Morrill (135) and Gomez all went 4-2.

"I'm not happy by any means. At least from this we recognized a lot of things we need to work on prior to districts," McLain said. "Against Palmetto Ridge they showed a lot of guts. They were not intimidated. The boy showed a lot of guts. I felt they handled that pretty well."