Curtains rise at Berkeley Prep

For a fifth straight season Hernando High's wrestlers open their season Saturday morning on the road in the same venue in Hillsborough County.
But this year, the Class 1A-8 Leopards will be joined by another Hernando County squad, Class 2A-7 Central High Bears, in Tampa.
Berkeley High hosts its annual 16-team individual tournament scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Today's event features a predominantly Class 1A field.

Tourney rewind

The tourney's defending champion is Tampa-Jesuit, which nipped Tampa-Robinson last winter, 206-201.5. Hernando finished third with 127.5 points.
In 2006-07, the Robinson Knights won this tourney twice while Hernando finished runner-up both years.
The Purple and Gold last captured this event in 2005.
The Leopards enter the first of 17 weeks of wrestling with four grapplers who've previously participated at the Berkeley Inv.
Senior Daniel Pritz, who is expected to compete at 145 points, has had mixed results.
He did not compete in this meet in either 2006 and 2008 (didn't make weight).
But in 2007, Pritz went 4-0 with two pins at 125 pounds.
Pritz, who enters the tourney ranked 10th all-time in wins at Hernando with 112, needs four to climb to ninth place tying Billy Combs (116).
Pritz is the most credentialed Hernando County grappler in the field. Daniel is a two-time state qualifier and two-time state placer.
His younger brother, Zach, went 2-1 last winter at Berkeley Prep, finishing runner-up at 145. This season, Zach is expected to compete at 152 and hopes to earn his second trip to the 46th annual State Championships in Lakeland.
Another sophomore, Jared Young, went 1-2 at 119 last winter.
Senior Spencer Weston, who did not wrestle last winter, but competed in 2006-07, went 1-2 in this event as a freshman.
For a team that is razor-thin on experience, what's the goal in week one?
"We want our young team to be aggressive," explained HHS' longtime assistant coach Bill Combs Sr. "We want to see them using the things we do in practice or at least trying them."
With such an inexperienced squad, who'll push the Leopards' two finest grapplers - the Pritz brothers?
"We're rotating (three former state qualifiers) Charlie, Billy and Michael (Combs) against the Pritz boys," admitted Coach Combs. "You will see a difference in their attack this year."

Central's corner

For the Bears, the trip to Berkeley Prep is their first ever.
Central is coming off Thursday night's nail-biting 36-35 dual-meet win in Citrus County at Lecanto.
With the Bears trailing 35-30 in their final match at 189 pounds, captain Zach Martin and his opponent went out of bounds. In the process, Lecanto's wrestler was knocked silly. Since the Panther could not continue, Martin won by injury default and earned six precious points for the Bears to win by a thread, 36-35.
"It's an odd way to win," explained a relieved Bears' Head Coach Roy Reyes. "I hadn't seen that one before. But a win's a win.
"And we lost to Lecanto in the preseason, so it was nice to comeback and win."
On Thursday, CHS collected seven individual wins highlighted by pins by Josh Marquez at 103, Anthony Marquez at 112, Rob Monsegur at 119, and Patrick Scott at 215.
What's the Bears' focus today?
"The emphasis this year is on dual-meet matches to give the boys more matches under their belt," explained Coach Reyes, who finished 7-9 in duals last winter. "With graduation, we lost the core group of our program, so basically we're starting over. Schedule-wise and budget-wise we're more frugal with our dollars, so we're staying local."


2008 Final Berkeley Prep Invitational Team Standings
PL Team PTS
1. Tampa-Jesuit (JES) 206.0
2. Tampa-Robinson (ROB) 201.5
3.
Hernando (HER) 127.5
4. Tampa Prep (TP) 107.0
5. Tampa Baptist (TB) 92.5
6. Plant (PLA) 90.0
7. Lakeland-Kathleen (KAT) 87.0
8.
McKeel Academy (MKA) 76.5
9. Mulberry (MUL) 76.0
10. Tampa-Berkeley Prep (BP) 69.0
11. Northside Christian (NSC) 45.0
12. Hudson
(HUD) 30.0
13. Admiral Farragut (AF) 22.0
14. Calvary Christian (CC) 0.0
Berkeley Prep Invitational Individual Finals Results
103 - Fugate (TB) dec. Dennis (NSC), 5-0
112 - Norstrem (TB) tech. fall
Ford (ROB), 20-5
119 - Boudreau (JES) dec. Rollins (ROB), 9-8
125 - Berridge (TB) dec. Baumann (TP), 9-2
130 - Gonzalez (JES)
pin Alonso (TB), 5:47
135 - Boyer (ROB) maj. dec. Alizzi (JES), 15-4
140 - Nichols (JES) dec. Murphy (ROB), 13-8
145 - Williams
(ROB) dec. Pritz (HER), 4-2 (OT)
152 - Radway (KAT) dec. Fontanet (TP), 6-3 (OT)
160 - Jarrell (TP) pin Hawthorne (ROB), 7-1
171
- Davidson (HER) pin Canchola (ROB), 4:42
189 - Smith (HER) pin Baldwin (ROB), 0:52
215 - Farmer (MUL) pin Lamoureux (JES),
0:42
285 - Benitez (ROB) dec. Jones (KAT), 6-1

Berkeley Prep Invitational Individual Consolation Finals Results
103 - Popp (JES) pin Elicier (HER), 2:18
112 - Wooten (MUL)
dec. Dominguez (JES), 9-2
119 - Bach (TP) pin White (MUL), 3:43
125 - Cimino (JES) dec. Ball (ROB), 8-2
130 - Pickeren (BP) won
by forfeit Barker (NSC)
135 - Malvesti (HER) dec. McCardle (HUD), 7-4
140 - Lopez (KAT) dec. Johnson (PLA), 9-6
145 - S. Vibbert
(MKA) pin Kirk (JES), 3:51
152 - Z. Vibbert (MKA) dec. Timmell (BP), 5-0
160 - Piloto (PLA) won by forfeit Warnock (JES)
171 -
Lombardo (JES) maj. dec. Paone (HUD), 13-2
189 - Weinberg (BP) pin Wilson (PLA), 1:47
215 - Hebert (PLA) dec. Turkel (BP), 7-4
285 - Sierra (AF) pin Gift (TP), 0:47
Berkeley Prep Inv. Outstanding Wrestler Awards
Kevin Norstrem, Tampa Baptist

2008 Hernando at Berkeley Prep Invitational Tourney Results
WGT Name W L Pins Pl
103
Elicier, Nelson 2 2 2 4th
112 Gunderson, Brandon 3 2 3 -
119 Young,
Jared 1 2 1 -
135 Malvesti, Shane 3 1 1 3rd
145 Pritz, Zach
2 1 2 2nd
152 Morrill, Max 2 2 1 -
160 Clark, C.J.
0 2 0 -
171 Davidson, James 4 0 3 1st
189 Smith, George 3 0
3 1st
215 Lamorte, Dillon 3 2 2 -
TOTALS 23 14 18

2007 Hernando at Berkeley Prep Invitational Tourney Results
WGT Name W L Pins Pl
112 Nazar, Elliot 0 2 0 -
119 Sanchez, Cristian 0 2 0 -
125 Pritz, Daniel 4 0 2 1st
135 Bishop, Chris 4 1 4 4th
140 Morrill, Max 3 2 3 4th
145 Graham, Jesse 4 0 3 1st
152 Ball, Tim 3 0 3 1st
160 Hill, Bradly 0 2 0 -
171 Davidson, James 2 2 1 4th
189 Gomez, Fernando 3 1 3 3rd
215 Rotunda, Taylor 3 0 3 1st
275 Hostetter, Casey 2 2 2 4th
TOTALS 28 14 24

2006 Hernando at Berkeley Prep Invitational Tourney Results
WGT Name W L Pins Pl
103 Weston, Spencer 1 2 1 -
112 Garcia, Irvin 1 2 1 -
130 Bishop, Chris 4 0 4 1st
135 Cieplenski, Nick 2 2 2 4th
140 Morrill, Max 1 2 0 -
145 Graham, Jesse 3 1 2 2nd
152 Ball, Tim 4 2 4 4th
160 Kuhn, Brandyn 4 0 3 1st
171 Iglesias, Ricky 1 2 0 -
189 Pauliot, Nick 2 1 2 2nd
215 Rotunda, Taylor 4 0 4 1st
275 Hostetter, Casey 0 2 0 -
TOTALS 27 16 23