LAKELAND - Brandon won its seventh consecutive state team championship and 18th overall Saturday at The Lakeland Center.
The Eagles captured the Class 2A title with four individual champions and 219.5 points.
Sean Joyce (145 pounds) won his fourth individual championship. Teammates Eric Grajales (112), Joey Cozart (125) and Tommy Timothy (160) also won titles.
Kevin Timothy (130) and Keith Koziel (152) took second at their weights.
Tampa Baptist's Clark Glass scored a 6-3 decision over Naples Palmetto Ridge's Cody Singletary to win the Class A 103-pound title. He became the first seventh grader in Hillsborough County to win an individual championship.
"My prayer was answered," Glass said. "I felt I was doing well when I got the first takedown. With a lead, I could just wrestle my match and not have to force anything and make mistakes."
One of the big upsets was at 152, where Chamberlain's Patrick Spano scored a 4-3 decision over Brandon's Keith Koziel.
""He beat me three times last year and again in regionals last week," Spano said. "I was really pumped up after my semifinal win and was determined no one was going to take this championship from me."
Spano was Chamberlain's first individual state champ since heavyweight Wade Kirkpatrick in 1983.
Ruben Perez of Armwood scored a 9-2 decision over his Manatee opponent to capture his school's first state championship.
"When I went out on the mat, the state medal was not on my mind," he said. "I was thinking I had to go full force for six minutes and everything else would line up right. "
Brandon coach Russ Cozart was pleased with his team.
"This will go down as one of Brandon's best," he said.
Eric Grajales thrilled the crowd with some of his spectacular throws before scoring a pin at 3 minutes, 18 seconds.
Joey Cozart defeated a two-time state champion, Anthony Jorge from Lake Gibson, 6-3.
"My dad said he would not want to win states as a freshman, because it could put too much pressure on him," Cozart said. "Then he said I was wrestling a senior, so just go out there and don't back down. That is what I did."
Joyce joined David Craig and Cesar Grajales Jr. as the only Eagles to win four state titles.
"I was thinking, I want this bad and I am not going to let anyone take it away from me," he said. ""As a sophomore, I lost in the finals after winning in the eighth and ninth grades. That was a terrible feeling, and I was not going to allow it to happen again."
Tommy Timothy won his second state championship, finishing undefeated at 49-0. He has signed with the University of Pennsylvania .
[Last modified February 17, 2007, 23:22:34]
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