Devils finish strong

The Avon Park wrestling team, which graduated two state champions and a state qualifier off last year's outstanding team, continues to gain valuable experience with each meet the Red Devils compete in this season.

This year's youthful Avon Park grapplers went up against some very tough competition in the two-day, 16-team Polk County Duals at Tenoroc High School in Lakeland over the weekend.

Avon Park's Charles Hubbard, who made it to the second round at last year's state meet, wrestled well during the two-day competition at Tenoroc, but the Red Devil junior suffered his first loss of the season in the 160-pound weight class.

"The competition was tough as nails and Charles lost to a kid that finished third in the state last year," said Avon Park co-coach Ed Brown. "It was a real learning experience for Charles because he learned he has to wrestle and not street fight or brawl.

"We couldn't do anything right in Friday's opening matches, but we bounced back with a much better effort on Saturday to go 3-2 and even in our losses, we were doing much better than on Friday."

Avon Park junior Cody Schonek showed a lot of promise in the 215-pound weight class, while freshman Johnny Baldridge (103), senior Ray Arango (285 pounds) and senior John Chittum (125 pounds) displayed great resolve and tenacity in battling hard against top-notch and more experienced wrestlers.

"Cody and Johnny looked real good," Brown said. "Johnny went 7-1 and got better with each match he wrestled. "Cody continues to improve and we're a young team and the kids are working hard and I'm encouraged because a lot of them are starting to put things together.

"Coaching only goes so far because it's in the matches where you gain the experience that's necessary to become a better wrestler."

Red Devil freshman Chris Snider won his first high school match in the 189-pound weight class.

"It's a great feeling winning your first high school match," said Brown. "Chris has been working hard and the light is starting to come on for him on the mat."

Avon Park is off until after the Christmas break and continuing to improve is high on the Red Devils list.

"We lost so much talent and experience off last year's team," said Brown. "As young and inexperienced as we are this year, our goal is to wrestle top competition, take our lumps early in the season and be peaking when the district tournament comes around in February."

After dropping all four matches on Friday, the Red Devils finished strong by going 3-2 on Saturday by knocking off Frostproof, Lake Wales and Tenoroc to finish the meet on a positive note.

"Our kids are like a sponge and they are just trying to soak up what we tell them during practices and apply it during their matches," said Brown. "We're going to practice over the holidays so the kids don't get out of shape and we're going to come out strong and ready to wrestle come January."