Wrestlers slam competition in Coppell

Centennial wrestling coach Mike Eaton’s stocking has been stuffed for nearly a week now.

Christmas arrived early for Eaton and the Titans on Saturday when his teams nearly pulled off a rare trifecta. While he was in Coppell for the Santa Slam, Eaton received a picture message on his phone alerting him that the Frisco Bombers youth team he coaches had just taken the title at the Grappler Duals in Southlake. Minutes later, his varsity boys team gift-wrapped a championship trophy, which accompanied a runner-up finish from the Lady Titans at the Mrs. Claus Slam.

“It wasn’t a bad weekend,” Eaton said. “We’re starting to put it together.”

The boys held off hosting Coppell by 7.5 points for the victory, one that Eaton called the biggest tournament win in the program’s seven-year history. It was forged in the middle weights and brought home by heavyweight Trey Neal.

Neal, Cody Curtiss, Alex Scheer and Dalton Caudell all won their respective class, and Phillip Obenshain earned a consolation championship by placing third at 145.

“We kind of like our run of middleweights and Trey as a closer,” Eaton said. “We’ve got five or six guys that can kind of wrestle just about anybody.”

That was made clear in the finals when Neal, Curtis and Caudell all recorded falls to end things prematurely. Neal stopped Keller Central’s Jeff Jenkins at the 5:43 mark, while Curtis (125) and Caudell (135) both got the job done in less than five minutes. Scheer earned a 4-3 decision at 130 over Greg Sanders of San Antonio MacArthur.

The Titans should only get stronger as the season goes on. Senior Ryan Garner, the district runner-up at 135 last season, sat out the tournament with an injury suffered in practice, but will return in January. And unlike many other area teams, Centennial prefers to start its season after Thanksgiving in order to hit its stride at the right time. As of Saturday’s meet, the Titans had wrestled for only two weeks.

“A lot of these teams get hot early. We feel we’ll be wrestling our best in February. The last few years we’ve started moving that way. It’s paid off,” Eaton said. “Our kids are a lot fresher in February. They peak at the right time. Our goal is to be wrestling best at district, region and state. We’ll sacrifice some of those individual awards, as far as records and lots of wins, for the wins in February.”

Another factor come February could be conditioning. When other wrestlers are looking to cut weight before the string of postseason meets begin, Centennial should be in good shape. Curtiss, who placed fourth at the 2009 state meet at 112 pounds, is undefeated at 125 this season. It was a move he made out of necessity as he looks to continue his career in college. Caudell is up 10 pounds from 125 and Obenshain is up 15 pounds from 130.

“It’s a natural progression. Most of those middle weights want to wrestle in college so they need to get their weight up. Prove to college coaches that they can wrestle at those weights,” Eaton said. “We’re not cutting weight, which also helps us come February. Most of our kids haven’t gained bad weight I don’t think. They’ll be stronger and will be wrestling better in tournaments. Not going to have that diet factor weighing in on them.

“It definitely keeps them fresh and they’ll feel a lot stronger late in these tournaments, whereas the guy that’s been dieting and cutting weight, his stamina and strength isn’t going to be there. If it comes down to the third period, we like our odds. We’re going to have a little more in the tank than these guys that are cutting weight.”

As for the Lady Titans, they finished second to Lamar in the Mrs. Claus Slam even without reigning district champ Paloma Baptista. Jeantry Prather placed first at 215 with a pin in the first minute and Mayra Gonzalez took second at 185. Yasmine Zaman (119) and Lindsey Modawell both retrieved third by winning the consolation bracket.

“As soon as we put the full team together and get everybody in the right spot, I think we’ll be pretty tough,” Eaton said. “We’ve got some new names, but some kids that will be pretty tough. Come February I like our chances.”

Centennial, as well as the rest of the Frisco ISD teams, will be off until January. The Titans will compete in the state dual qualifier Jan. 2 in Allen before hosting the district dual tournament Jan. 8-9.