FIRST TEAM UPPERWEIGHTS (171-275)
Joe Dinzeo Bloomingdale 11 33-4 Third in state
Nick Ferrario Brandon 11 33-5 Fifth in state
John Kontakos East Bay 12 29-6 State qualifier
Phillip Marshall Plant City 11 39-1 3A champion
Sean McLawhorn Temple Heights 12 34-6 State qualifier
Brandon Molina Berkeley Prep 12 33-2 Fifth in state
Jared Reber Gaither 12 35-1 Second in state
East Bay second East Bay finished second and had two
wrestlers win titles at Sarasota. Scott Daniels at 171 pounds
and John Kontakos at 275 pounds won district titles. The Indians, who scored 137 points, 104 behind Punta Gorda Charlotte, advanced 10 wrestlers to the regional meet. Riverview finished fifth with 86 points and advanced eight wrestlers to regionals, highlighted by Dan Jones, who won at 189. - SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
The best against the best, plus it is another good warmup for the state run." "Hard matches get wrestlers better prepared for districts and the state run, which starts next week," Bloomingdale coach Scot Tipton said. "We really like this new tournament format for the conference championships." Aaron Weiss (112 pounds), Brian Burgman (130), David Emch (135), Curtis Bristol (140) and Jonathan Toomer (152) won championships for Brandon. Robert Hagin (103), David Mason (119), Justin Diaz (160) and Joe Dinzeo (189) won for Bloomingdale. Other conference champions were Bryant, Cornelius Wiggins (125) and Phillip Marshall (215) of Plant City, Jared Reber (171) of Gaither
and John Kontakos (275) of East Bay.
East Bay senior John Kontakos tries to develop a killer instinct that he hopes will help him at state. As a second-grader, John Kontakos attended the matches of older brothers James and Alex. While his brothers and the East Bay Indians wrestled from 1989-1995, he played around and under the bleachers. James wrestled from 125-135 pounds while Alex was a 119-pound freshman and 171 as a senior. In the 1996-97 season, little John became an Indian wrestler at 275 pounds. He had only one varsity match in his freshman season but hasn't missed a starting role as the Indian heavyweight since his first day as a sophomore. He went 24-8 as a sophomore and 28-8 as a junior. He qualified for the state tournament last season but didn't do well there. From his brothers, coach Tom Lota and assistant Paul Noble, Kontakos learned to be a skilled heavyweight, but he lacked the killer instinct. He was not consistently aggressive. Last season, Kontakos found that determined aggression in a dual match with Bloomingdale. The Bulls and Indians were in a battle for recognition as the third-best team in Hillsborough County behind Brandon and Jesuit. With only the heavyweight match remaining, Bloomingdale was in charge as East Bay needed a pin by Kontakos to win. Kontakos had lost to John Fawk, the Bulls' heavyweight, each time they had met. "Normally, I get to thinking about how good a wrestler like Fawk was and I would wrestle defensively until I lost, trying not to get pinned," Kontakos said. "I just went after him and scored the pin. A lot was at stake, and I couldn't just score a decision. I had to get the fall. "I am not very strong like some of the heavyweights. I have to rely on my endurance and the moves I have learned. Consequently, I think too much. I am working on my aggression this year. That will be the element I need to become a state champion. I have dreamed about being a state champ since I watched my brothers wrestle. I must attack." Noble said Kontakos has put that lesson to work in just about every match this season. "He has maintained his focus and aggression except for one match in the Christmas tournament," Noble said. "He had a comfortable lead in that match, too. He just lost his focus and stopped attacking for a moment, and he was on his back. He still went on to place third. "What he does is up to John. He has a lot of skill for a heavyweight." Most heavyweights are just large athletes wanting to stay in condition in a contact sport between football season and spring football practice. Some are very strong, have few have wrestling skills and usually run out of gas by the second period. Kontakos is big, but until this season, he avoided the weights and said he is not very strong. He does have skills, though, and when he throws caution to the wind, he is unafraid to use them. The big problem in moving large opponents around on the mat comes when a mistake is made. When one big guy falls on another big guy, the one on the bottom normally cannot get up. "I believe I could make it to the state tournament where I am now and even place fifth or sixth," Kontakos said. "To go any higher, I will have to work some on the weights to get more strength because I am not very strong. Then I have to take each match one at a time and keep each opponent on the defensive. "I will have to stop thinking and worrying and just attack."
East Bay dominated the Cougar Invitational, scoring 266 points and capturing three of Saturday's individual championships.
Durant placed second with 206.5 points, followed by Plant City with 152.5.
Twelve of the 14 Indians placed in the tournament.
"We came here because we expected to meet some good Class 5A competition and we did," East Bay coach Tom Lota said.
Juan Edwards (160 pounds), Ryan Garis (189) and
John Kontakos (275) won championships for the Indians
Tampa Tribune - Tampa, Fla.
Date: Jan 16, 1999
Start Page: 3
Section: SPORTS
Text Word Count: 567
Abstract (Document Summary)
GIBSONTON - The mob of East Bay wrestlers swallowed John Kontakos as he came off the mat Friday night the hero of a win which seemed unlikely just minutes before.
Needing nothing less than a pin in the final match,
Kontakos delivered 2:27 into his 275-pound match against Bloomingdale's Scott Fawk and lifted the Indians (7-1) to a 37-36 upset. Bulls coach Scot Tipton declined comment after the match as Bloomingdale hurried to the bus.
Trailing 30-6 to the undefeated Bulls (7-1), the Indians charged back to within 33-31 heading into the final two matches. But the upset seemed out of reach when Bloomingdale's 215-pounder Frankie Cruz outlasted Robby Garza for a 5-3 decision in double overtime.
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East Bay battled hard to give its coach Tom Lota his 200th win as mentor for the Indians.
With only three pins and a major decision included in its nine individual victories, East Bay scored a 37-24 upset over one of the most experienced teams in the county.
"We wrestled a great match against a very good Gaither team to get No. 200," Lota said. "This was a hard-fought match and a tribute to our kids. They had to upset a super team to get this win."
The Indians went on the attack from the opening whistle when Spike Stafford scored a pin in 20 seconds over Brian Chevelier at 103 pounds.
Two of the most exciting matches were at 140 and 145, where East Bay knocked off two of Gaither's best.
Scott Klein wrestled his first varsity match when he challenged the Cowboys Justin Byczek at 140.
Inexperience didn't slow Klein or interfere with his aggression. After two periods he had a 6-1 lead and closed out with an 8-3 decision.
At 145, both teams had undefeated wrestlers - East Bay's Jake Lenegar (6-0) and Gaither's Luis Pereiro (6-0).
In the second period, Lenegar put Pereiro on his back and scored the fall with only 2 seconds remaining in the round.
"This was a big match for our team," Lenegar said. "We knew it would be close, but everybody did what they had to do."
Gaither won at 152 with a major decision by Jay Silver and at 160 with a decision by Keith Henneke to close the score to 31-19.
The Cowboys won at 215 with a technical fall by Mack Houston, but Gaither needed pins in the final two matches to earn a draw, so the result sealed the win for East Bay.
Sophomore John Kontakos put the icing on the cake with a pin over Robert Crane at 275 pounds in 4:25
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AMERICAN DIVISION ALL-STARS (Wrestlers are listed in order of first team, second team and honorable mention for each weight)
103 - Alfred Flores (EB), Wolten Bostran (R), Geoff Leighly (TBT); 112 - Thomas Reedy (TBT), Ray Flores (EB), Doug Vetromile (P); 119 - Hyon-Yu (P), Brian Denny (A), Darel Crooks (TBT); 125 - Donnie Coleman (TBT), Henry Faircloth (EB), John Blair (J); 130 - Jeff Jensen (A), Jeremey Hughes (EB), Steve Otero (H);
135 - Lawrence Smith (TBT), Alex Kontakos (EB), Craig Crifield (A); 140 - Chris Woods (A), Jareem Kennedy (J), John Furby (EB); 145 - Daniel Cassity (TBT), Larry King (A), Derek Phillips (EB); 152 - Xavior Johnson (J), Charlie Doutt (A), David Shaar (EB); 160 - Todd Gobbi (EB), Jim Mellman (P), Greg Primsley (TBT); 171 - Justin Amiro (P), Tim Stark (TBT), Elijah Heath (A); 189 - Tony Roman (R), Benny Campbell, no honorable mention; 220 - Rodney Bell (EB), Brent Rudeman (A), Jeff Caron (P); 275 - Fred Wright (EB), Jeff Ogles (H), Dafvid Pasquerelli (P).
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Who says consolation-round wins are worthless?
Certainly not the Bloomingdale Bulls, who won the Class 6A, District 7 team title on the strength of three wins in the consolation round. Despite winning only one individual championship, the Bulls were able to secure the first district wrestling title in the school's eight-year history.
"We won this tournament in the semifinal round," Bloomingdale coach Scot Tipton said. "We wrestled outstanding, winning three out of four in that round. That spearheaded us into the finals."
Eight Bloomingdale wrestlers qualified for the finals, with Mason Phillips picking up the team's lone individual win in the 142-pound class. Phillips scored a decision over Winter Haven's Steven Hall and improved to 21-1.
Phillips won his title 14 seconds into an overtime period, taking down Hall for a 9-7 victory.
"I expected we could have done a little better in the finals, but the point is we won, and are going to regionals," Phillips said. "That's the next step to state."
Terry Payne (114), Will Hollingsworth (127) and Martin Van Buren (173) picked up consolation wins for Bloomingdale, which outpointed Lakeland 163 1/2-145 1/2 for the team honors.
Lakeland won five championship matches and Lake Gibson had four. Plant City's Robert Powell (132) and Jason Carlisle (277) and
East Bay's Alex Kontakos (173) won the other titles. 6A-6: Brandon rolls to title
In case that helps any...
