Sharks limp home feeling dazed, confused

The venue — Michael A. Imhoff Gymnasium — was the same.

The circumstances — the seven-team Class 2A, District 7 Wrestling Tournament — were not.

Yet, Saturday evening's results were eerily similar to the meltdown the Nature Coast Technical Sharks suffered during the consolation and finals rounds of the Brooksville-Kiwanis Invitational at Hernando.

On Dec. 10, the Sharks wrestled well, sending a school-record seven grapplers into the Kiwanis finals with another battling for third.

Yet, the eight-year program literally hit the wall during that final round, dropping all eight matches.

That flat tire at the end permitted Springstead to capture the Kiwanis Invitational for the sixth straight season.

Now, fast forward ahead to Saturday.

The Sharks trailed second-place Inverness-Citrus by two points following the semifinals, 139.0-137.0

NCT, in its best-ever season, was desperately trying to unseat Citrus. But the Brooksville squad took a collar in the finals.

Citrus finished runner-up with 221.0 points while the Sharks finished third with 186.0 points. Still NCT advanced 12-of-13 grapplers to next week's torture test named the Class 2A, Region II Meet — or the "Region of Doom."

"We thought we had some chances to win, but things didn't go our way," lamented NCT Head Coach Mike Lastra. "Because of what happened, the good thing is our guys are going to be in the opposite brackets away from Springstead guys in the regionals."

Lastra didn't hide his dislike of third place.

"Third place here means we underachieved. We knew coming in we had to wrestle perfect to have any chance at Springstead. But they brought their 'A' game," recalled Lastra. "The whole deal was we thought we could still get second. We'll regroup on Monday. Our goal next week is the same, to beat Citrus and anybody else and get second."

Junior Sean Nguyen went in as the top seed at 106. Nguyen folded Hernando freshman Bailey Mosher in 27 seconds for his county-best 45th win to reach the finals.

Nguyen (45-6 overall), however, never stepped on the mats in a finals matchup against Springstead freshman Matt Landgraff.

Nguyen, who tweaked a knee during practice this week, was "held out as a precautionary measure" by Coach Lastra. Officially, the result was scored as an injury default.

Oddly enough, in December when the Sharks blew a fuse at Kiwanis, Nguyen, competing at 113 pounds, was wrecked by Springstead freshman Michael McDonald via a 10-2 major decision.

In both instances, the Sharks' leader — who typically sets the table with momentum-building wins — lost.

In the consolation match at 120, NCT's Shane Reeger (26-20 overall) decisioned Lecanto's Jon Fillinger (3-8) to capture third place, 6-1.

Certainly the most controversial match of the tournament arrived in the earlier wrestleback round and involved Reeger.

Reeger began the day like everyone else, weighing in just after 8 a.m.

According to Lastra, Reeger stepped on the scales weighing in at 122.0. Thinking he didn't make weight, he told his coach — who was not present in the room — that he failed to make weight. Lastra took the wrestler's word and went about his business.

What Reeger did not take into account was every wrestler in the state was given a two-pound weight allowance beginning Jan. 1. So actually the 120-pound grapplers on Saturday could weigh-in at 122.0 or less to compete.

Thinking he didn't make weight, Reeger sat in the stands when his name was called to compete in his opening match against Fillinger. Since he never checked in, Fillinger officially won the match by default.

Just prior to wrestlebacks, again Reeger's named was called to face Land O' Lakes sophomore William White.

Lastra frantically looked for and obtained the official weigh-in sheet.

That's when he realized Reeger actually made weight and was eligible to compete. He quickly motioned to Reeger to get out of his street clothes and into his singlet.

Reeger rushed into his uniform as his match was called. The mat was encircled by supporters and onlookers alike. Without much warm-up, Reeger went on to the mat and pinned White in 4:35.

His teammates exploded with celebration. In a few moments, Reeger went from a bystander to a regional qualifier.

"This was weird. I should have checked when Shane told me he didn't make weight," explained Lastra afterward. "That's on me. When they called his name again, that's when I realized something was up.

"You don't see that type of situation happen very often," shrugged Lastra. "I'm just happy that Shane's moving on."

The Reeger situation was probably the highlight of the tourney for the Brooksville squad.

At 126, second-seeded NCT senior Cameron Tull (35-10) flattened his first two opponents before dropping a 9-3 decision to 2011 state placer Jordan Rivera of Springstead.

Next, sophomore Luis Espinosa (27-14) registered a pair of impressive major decisions at 132 before being mugged by Eagle freshman Josh Herrera, 13-0.

Shark captain Carter Bolesta was seeking the school's first-ever back-to-back district championships. After solving Central senior Luke Walton, 5-2, Bolesta tangled with Eagle senior captain Sean Redman.

For the third time in three matches this season, Redman downed Bolesta (43-8), 8-0.

The Shark slide continued in the 152-pound consolation round, when Hernando captain Jared Young stuck junior Brandon Vovan in 4:44. In their previous meeting at Kiwanis, Young notched a 9-1 major decision.

Citrus junior Nick McLean's win at 160 wasn't a huge surprise; what was, however, was the margin of difference over NCT senior Mitch Lambert, 11-0.

Lambert (39-7) had dropped his previous two bouts this season against McLean (41-8), but felt he was closing the gap until Saturday night's rematch.

In the earlier wins, McLean won 10-3 and 6-4.

Many of the area fans were awaiting the much anticipated rematch at 170 pounders between Springstead freshman Conor Ross and NCT senior Carlos Carrasquillo.

Carrasquillo (27-7) surrendered a two-point takedown to Ross in the final 10 seconds of the pulsating Kiwanis finals' loss, 5-4.

This time, Ross led early and held on for a 6-5 decision.

NCT fans were pleasantly surprised at 182.

Senior Dylan Savoury (29-22) had dropped all three of his previous meetings this winter against Central senior Puerto Rico Nieves.

But in the consolation finals, similar to Nguyen's situation, CHS Head Coach Rich Drumheller opted against Nieves taking the mat.

According to Drumheller, earlier in the day Nieves tweaked the same knee he had injured at the season-opening Peter Barker Invitational at Dunedin.

NCT's good vibe continued into the next match as Shark senior Peter Holloman (32-16) solved Land O' Lakes senior Nick Stowers for third place at 195, 8-2.

At 220, NCT senior Tyquan Tyler (11-27) never took the mats in the 220-pound consolation final against Springstead senior Willie Smith (15-10).

The tournament's final match featured the Sharks' hottest grappler, senior Greg Jarque, in a rematch from the Springstead Invitational against Eagle senior and three-time state qualifier John Dreggors.

Earlier in the day, Jarque extended his winning streak to a school-record tying (with Carlos Carrasquillo) 16 in a row by pinning Lecanto's Christian Barber. The 78-second pin was Jarque's county-best 28th this season.

But in the finals, defending state runner-up Dreggors (21-0, 19 pins) pinned Jarque (38-6) in 4:34.

In summation, NCT went into Saturday evening seeking to add to its four previous district championships. But despite having its best-ever squad, those results never materialized.

Afterward, Lastra sought a silver lining.

"As far as positives, we had some individual matches where we looked good," Lastra said. "Jarque wrestled Dreggors the best he ever has. I don't know how much not having Sean (Nguyen) wrestle affected our team. He's the one that usually sets the table for us.

"This was a reality check," emphasized Lastra. "It should help us with our momentum. Some of our matches didn't go our way. As coaches we can only do so much. Our kids have to take some ownership. Hopefully, that starts next week at St. Cloud."