Next to winning, Strawberry Crest’s wrestlers and coaches want nothing more than for their sport to get back in the spotlight. On Thursday, Jan. 5, they gave local fans something to buzz about.
After honoring seniors D.J. Tice, Josh Muniz, Harry Combs, Christina Font, Zack Lastinger, Taylor Coleman and Isabella Chaudhry, the Chargers scored a 72-6 win over the Lennard Longhorns on their own football field.
Dubbed “Grapple on the Gridiron,” the dual meet saw Crest set up a mat near the middle of the home sideline and let the grapplers walk out of the tunnel to entrance music of their choosing.
“The kids thought it would be a good idea to publicize the team and get more recognition in the area,” head coach C.J. Gittens says. “It was a good way to show the town who we were.”
In fact, Gittens says, it was entirely the kids’ idea. The wrestlers, who thought of the outdoor meet idea over the summer, had some convincing to do before they could get the idea off the ground. But the coaches and administrative staff were sold after a plan was fully formed, and Lennard’s program agreed that it would be a good look.
“(Lennard) was on the same page,” Gittens says. “We lost to Lennard last year and, not that we’re trying to create rivalries, but we want to show the city of Tampa that wrestling needs to be recognized. I think it’s the hardest high school sport.”
Crest’s biggest challenge of the evening may have been dealing with the weather. Although the cool temperature and lack of strong wind was ideal, the humidity wasn’t. Condensation formed on the mat, covering it almost entirely after nearly every match. The Chargers quickly learned that rather than having fans blowing directly at the surface, keeping the temperature neutral was the best way to keep things from getting too slick.
Perhaps the only group more anxious than the kids to put on a good show was the coaching staff — even though the coaches weren’t initially sold on the idea. Gittens and his staff worked hard to make everything worked out as planned, allowing the kids to focus more on the wrestling.
“When you’re a coach, I feel that part of it is showing the kids that you respect them and their ideas,” Gittens says. “I think that’s why the team is doing so well. There is an understanding that we respect them as much as they respect us.”
The event was a success for Crest on all counts: the team won big, the fans showed up and got loud, the kids and coaches had fun and no one got an injury from slipping on the wet mat.
While there are no set plans for the event to return next year, Gittens isn’t ruling out the idea of another outdoor meet. He believes that hyping up the duals, which have been largely surpassed by six and 10-way meets in terms of frequency, is a good way to get kids interested in wrestling — “bringing wrestling back,” he says.
What better way to put duals in the spotlight than putting them under the Friday night lights?
“It’s a good way to bring wrestling back,” Gittens says. “It’s a dying sport, and it doesn’t need to be.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.