State series arrives for area mat men

The great equalizer arrives this weekend.

No matter what any of the state's potential 5,222 varsity wrestlers have achieved to date – across 373 campuses from Pensacola to Key West – there's a reset button in place.

Five Hernando County mat programs are included in this weekend's first step of the Florida High School Athletic Association's state series.

Four teams – F.W. Springstead, Nature Coast Technical, Central and Hernando – will be participants in the seven-team Class 2A, District 7 Tournament beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Michael A. Imhoff Gymnasium at Hernando High.

Semifinals follow the opening round of action. There will be a short lunch break before wrestlebacks. Following wrestlebacks, the consolation round (third/fourth) and finals (first/round) will take place simultaneously on two mats.

Meanwhile, Hernando County's fifth program – first-year Weeki Wachee – will compete in the nine-team Class 1A, District 8 Tournament at Hudson-Fivay.

Both events are individually bracketed tournaments utilizing double-elimination formats.

Going in, the stakes are high. Any grappler that finishes in the top four of any of the 14 weight classifications advances to next week's two-day regional round.

Only the top four placers in Feb. 11's regions advance to the Jenkins Arena at The Lakeland Center for the state's ultimate litmus test – the 48th annual FHSAA Finals set for Feb. 17-18.

The finality of districts weighs heavily.

NCT fans have enjoyed the school's best-ever run. The Sharks not only captured the Ocala-Forest Invitational but have finished runner-up in four other tourneys.

Going into districts, 11 Sharks have garnered at least 24 individual wins or more. NCT has savored over 400 individual wins.

In the Sharks' wake, school and county standards are being reset at record clips.

For Springstead fans, the team's 7-0-0 dual meet mark means nothing. So what if the defending Class 2A state champions have captured four tournaments and finished runner-up in two other events?

To date, nine Eagle grapplers have collected 25 or more wins.

For a Central fan who may lament the Bears' 3-15 season or a Leopard fan who believes the Purple and Gold somehow underachieved at 10-13 – there's hope.

The reality of the state series is every grappler walking into districts starts 0-0 and has just as much of a chance as his first opponent to advance.

Here's a snapshot of each team.

The North Suncoast's most dominant mat program – Springstead – is in the catbird seat.

Under eighth-year Head Coach Eric Swensen and Assistant Coach Sal Basile, the 14-member Eagle squad seeks its eighth straight and county-record 26th district championship.

To put that stat into perspective, most high schools don't have 25 district championships in their 21-sport resume.

Last year, SHS pushed 14 grapplers into regionals for a county record third straight year. The Spring Hill mat men scored 262.5 points – just one point away from 2009's county record of 263.5 points.

The Mariner Boulevard crew won the event with 10 district champions. The county record is 11 by Hall of Fame skipper Robert "Bob" Levija's 1996-97 squad.

In SHS' 32 district tournaments, the Eagles have produced a county record 154 champs – highlighted by 49 under Swensen.

Six Eagle starters return from last year's tourney in Spring Hill, including: sophomore Jordan Rivera 126 pounds, junior Stephen Pavao at 120, and seniors Sean Redman at 145, Cody Ross at 152, Thomas Gupton at 195 and John Dreggors at 285.

Unlike the other five, only Pavao has not captured a first-place blue ribbon at districts.

Ross, 33-2 this winter, enters districts with a county record of 175-13 (93 percent) for his lifetime slate, featuring 92 pins. He needs 10 pins to leap past Richie Bliss for the county record in pins (101).

Ross, who is 9-0 with six pins at districts, is seeking his fourth district title. Across the last 31 seasons, only Corey Hill, Jimmy Stevenson and C.J. Cook have ever captured four district titles for the Eagles.

Dreggors, who enters 107-11 lifetime at SHS, is 18-0 this winter featuring 16 pins. Dreggors is seeking his third straight district crown in arguably the toughest bracket in 2A-7.

Rivera (25-5), Redman (32-4, 25 pins) and Gupton (31-2) are each searching for their second straight blue ribbon.

According to Swensen, the team's health at the season's most critical juncture is a moot issue.

"Right now we're good," said Swensen, who sat out the team's final two dual meet wins over Gateway and Hernando due to an FHSAA violation at Ippolito. "Had we wrestled at say, the Palm Harbor Duals, we would have been short at least five starters. A flu bug ravaged the team last week. Thank goodness, we're all over it now."

As far as the team's focus, Swensen didn't mince his words about the 2A-7 Tourney.

"It's great for any team to get excited to win districts, I get that," he said. "But for our guys winning districts can't be our main objective. We have bigger aspirations. Districts can't be our main objective – it's our next objective.

"We'd like to get 14 guys into Saturday's finals," Swensen said. "This may not be our best-ever individual team, but to me, this is our best team depth-wise."

Swensen commented on the addition of NCT and Hernando to this year's 2A-7 field.

"It's a much better tournament," noted Swensen. "We do better when there's a lot of good teams. With Nature Coast and Hernando, that just makes our semifinals a lot harder not only for us and Citrus, but for everybody else involved."

Nature Coast went 6-3 in the Palm Harbor Duals last weekend to conclude the dual-meet portion of its schedule at 22-7. Ironically, both Coach Swensen (101-11 lifetime) and NCT skipper Mike Lastra (104-102 lifetime) – both eclipsed the 100-win plateau last week.

In the process, Lastra became the first NCT mentor to collect his 100th win in a sport.

The Sharks enter their seventh district tournament seeking their first-ever district title. NCT has finished as district runners-up the past two seasons in Class 1A.

NCT enters Hernando High with 13 grapplers – no 138-pounder – including nine with district experience: juniors Sean Nguyen at 106, Brandon Vovan at 152 and Dylan Savoury at 182, and seniors Cameron Tull at 126, Carter Bolesta at 145, Mitch Lambert at 160, Carlos Carrasquillo at 170, Peter Holloman at 195 and Greg Jarque at 285.

Of the nine, only Bolesta has ever earned a first-place blue ribbon.

Bolesta, Nguyen, Holloman and Carrasquillo are all seeking to place at districts for the third time.

Nguyen enters as the county leader in wins (44) followed by Bolesta (42). Meanwhile, Jarque paces the county in pins (27) – two more than Redman's 25.

Jarque enters the meet as the hottest Shark, winning his last 15 matches in a row.

Health-wise, the lone concern is Nguyen. He tweaked his knee in practice and missed a couple of days. According to Lastra, "No way is Nguyen not wrestling at districts. He's a warrior. There's nothing to stop him from wrestling."

Besides Nguyen, the remainder of the team, according to Lastra, is fine.

"Honestly, this is a veteran team. They know what's at stake," noted Lastra on his team's plight. "The coaches haven't had to bark much this week. Our theme this week is 'Why not us?'

"To reach the next level, you have to knock down a few walls," said Lastra. "This is our best-ever team in our best-ever season. We've seen all these guys before. What we're stressing is if you want a different result from before, you can't go out there and wrestle the same way you did.

"From here on out it's a chess match," added Lastra. "To get different results our guys understand they have to change their game."

Just how will the Sharks fare?

"We're like everybody else, who doesn't want to win?" Lastra said. "Springstead is as tough as nails, but teams are closing the gap on them. If we can't win it, second place is attainable. To me, this is the hardest district in the state. We have to wrestle a perfect match to make it closer."

The Leopards enter with an 11-man roster.

Like NCT, the Leopards have nine grapplers with district experience including: Sean Thornton at 113, Ricky Swain at 138, Jared Young at 145, Brennan Ertl at 152, Tical Miller at 160, Zach Sullivan at 182, Blaine Day at 195, Jesse Gaudin at 220 and Austin Neff at 285.

Young is the team's most experienced wrestler at this level. He enters his fourth district tourney with a career 9-2 slate with six pins. Young has placed in the past three districts. He is the lone returning district champion from 2011.

Young comes in with a career 107-62 won-lost slate with 52 pins. Young paces the Leopard squad with a 31-7 mark this winter.

Gaudin, a sophomore, arrives 29-2 overall.

"Typically, our goal each week is team-oriented," commented HHS Head Coach Bill Combs Sr. "It would be nice to win, but our goal (this week) is to push as many guys into the next round as possible."

Combs, a Hall of Famer, believes as many as six Leopards could reach the 2A-7 finals under ideal scenarios, including: Swain, Ertl, Young, Sullivan, Gaudin and Neff.

According to Combs, wrestling at home is also to the Purple and Gold's advantage.

"When you wrestle at home, you're more comfortable with your surroundings," noted Coach Combs. "Guys are a little more relaxed. I definitely think competing at home will help us."

Nine Bears are expected to take part in the 2A-7 Tournament. The Bears placed fourth in 2011.

Seven Bears are expected to arrive with previous district experience featuring: Josh Marquez at 113, Jesus Nieves at 132, Josh Cleveland at 138, Luke Walton at 145, Anthony DeFranco at 160, Puerto Rico Nieves at 182 and Taylor Cromwell at 220.

For Puerto Rico Nieves and Cleveland, this will be their team-leading fourth district tournament. Nieves has placed twice including finishing runner-up in 2011.

Cleveland, who has been bothered by a bum knee, has placed three times at districts but has never reached a district final.

Marquez and Walton have each placed twice in districts. Walton enters with a team-best 29-9 slate featuring 21 pins.

"We've got nothing to lose," explained second-year Bears skipper Rich Drumheller on his team's approach. "I don't mind our guys matching up against any 50-0 guys. Those 50-0 guys might be ready to lose by overlooking us."

With the addition of NCT and Hernando into 2A-7, Drumheller remarked, "We're already in the regional from hell, now we're in the district from hell. If we survive both, states won't be a picnic either."

First-year Weeki Wachee (5-15 overall) enters the Class 1A, District 8 Tourney at Fivay with nine grapplers.

"Some of our kids are fired up and ready to go," described first-year Hornet skipper and former Springstead state qualifier Joe Felice. "We've got some guys who want to be the first person to do something for this program (in districts). I think we'll get 2-3 kids seeded in the top four."

The Hornets' two main threats to reach the finals include Dante Padilla at 113 and Andrew Vreeland at 145.

Padilla arrives with a team-best 16-6 slate with nine pins. For his part, Vreeland arrives 14-12 overall with a team-high 10 pins.

"Our kids are not afraid of hard work and they want to advance," acknowledged Coach Felice. "But navigating through eight teams won't be easy. There are some unknown factors. A few of these teams we haven't seen yet."

Coach Felice makes no bones about who'll win Saturday night.

"If Fivay doesn't win it, it might be the biggest surprise of the season," said Felice. "I think Pasco could give them a little bit of a fight. But Fivay is the deepest team in our district."