Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Up the road from Brandon High School, the original Beef 'O' Brady's restaurant on Kings Avenue pays tribute to the school's storied wrestling team and its individual state champions.
Travis Berridge this weekend became the 60th wrestler in Brandon High School history to take home a state crown, in a 2013 contest that featured as well the school's seventh wrestler to take home an individual title for all four years of high school. In achieving that milestone, Kevin Norstrem also became the school's third wrestler to win five state titles, having won a title as well in the eighth grade. Last year, two wrestlers achieved that accomplishment as well: Rossi Bruno and Clark Glass. A table at the Original Beef O' Brady's restaurant in Brandon, on Kings Avenue, pays tribute to these and other state champions representing Brandon High School since 1974, when Tony Ippolito won the school's first individual state title. A …
Monday, February 11, 2013
It’s another storied achievement for the powerhouse Brandon High School wrestling team under legendary coach Russ Cozart. The team this weekend took home the 2013 FHSAA Class 3A-Region 2 title.
It's another milestone in the storied life of the powerhouse Brandon High School wrestling team, as legendary head coach Russ Cozart sends his squad to state competition in Lakeland after winning yet another region title. The 2013 Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) state competition is scheduled for Feb. 15-16 at the Lakeland Center in Lakeland. En route to that competition, the Eagles scored a 294-point victory Feb. 9 at the Class 3A-Region 2 tournament at Osceola Kissimmee. ______________ Were you at the tournament? Share your thoughts in the comment box below and post your photographs with the link above. ______________ "Hosting the toughest region in the state, Osceola wrestlers knew they'd get a good test of what was …
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Brandon wrestlers hosted and won the 29th annual Tony Ippoltio Memorial Tournament at Brandon High School this weekend, under hear coach Russ Cozart.
Brandon wrestlers again dominated at the Tony Ippolito Memorial Tournament, which this weekend was held for a 29th time at Brandon High School. The wrestlers under Hall of Fame coach Russ Cozart won the tournament for a 27th time. Including the host Brandon Eagles, who tallied 371 points, six of the top 10 teams in the event were from the Tampa Bay region, according to a Tampa Bay Times report. Springstead (155 points) and Pasco (91) reportedly placed third and ninth, respectively. Jesuit (142.5) took sixth, Lennard (120) seventh and Robinson (85) 10th. "It was a very competitive tournament," Cozart told the Tampa Bay Times. "That's what it's all about, getting good matches, being tested." The Ippolito tournament is named in honor and …
Saturday, July 14, 2012
For the first time in U.S. history, three wrestlers from the same club will be competing on the same team at the Fila Cadet World Championships, said Russ Cozart, the Brandon coach behind the qualifying efforts of Kyle Norstrem, Dylan Lucas and James Flin
With three wrestlers sitting with him at Beef 'O' Brady's on Kings Avenue, Russ Cozart, the head coach of the Brandon High School wrestling team and of the Brandon Wrestling Club, talked about an upcoming trip to Baku, the largest city and capital of Azerbainjan, a former member of the Soviet Union. There, wrestlers Kyle Norstrem, an incoming freshman, Dylan Lucas, an incoming sophomore, and James Flint, an incoming junior, will compete at the Fila Cadet World Championships, having qualified with wins at the national tournament in May, at the University of Akron, in Ohio. That this is another notch on the belt for world-class wrestling in Brandon is not lost upon the world-renowned, Hall of Fame coach, Cozart, whose team this year at …
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
With his team's 23rd state championship on the books, head coach Russ Cozart takes a moment to talk about his job at Brandon High and the town he has called home for 33 years.
You would think it would get old for Russ Cozart, the streaks that are beyond reason except for the fact that they are real. His Brandon High School wrestlers went 34 years without losing. That streak ended in 2008, but still on the books is the string of state championships, now at 12, thanks to the team's decisive win at the 2012 FHSAA Class 3A State Championship in Lakeland on Feb. 18. For Cozart, it was his 22nd state championship as the head coach of the Eagles, which this year won the team's 23rd state title. And this year two of Cozart's wrestlers — Rossi Bruno and Clark Glass — each broke a state record when each wrestler won his fifth individual state title. In all, seven Brandon wrestlers took home state titles, the second year …
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Brandon has no trouble breaking wrestling records and extending streaks. This year at states, Rossi Bruno and Clark Glass each win a fifth individual state title. That breaks not only a Brandon record, but a state record as well.
Rossi Bruno and Clark Glass have forged a childhood bond that promises to take them from the mats to graduation and beyond as forever they will be remembered as the first Brandon High wrestlers — and the first in the state — to each win five individual state titles. “They are record-setters, and record-setters don’t always come by,” said Brandon High head coach Russ Cozart, who should know. He leads a team that for 34 years wrestled without a loss and this weekend staked claim to its 23rd state title, including 12 in a row and 22 under Cozart’s leadership. Bruno and Glass “are part of a great alumni that we have here at Brandon,” Cozart said Feb. 18 at the Lakeland Center, at the conclusion of the 2012 FHSAA Wrestling State Championship…
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Two wrestlers make Florida history when they each won their fifth individual state title. Brandon comes home with seven championship wrestlers and the team's 12th state title in a row and 22nd title under Head Coach Russ Cozart.
LAKELAND — The deed is done and the Brandon High School wrestling legacy grows. At the Lakeland Center on Feb. 18, seven Brandon wrestlers entered the championship round and all seven wrestlers earned state titles. Brandon as a team took home its 23rd state title and its 12th state title in a row. For the record, all but one of those 23 state titles came under the leadership of Head Coach Russ Cozart. It's the second year in a row that seven wrestlers earned seven individual titles and the third time Brandon has achieved that accomplishment. As for a new record, the team ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 5 in the nation didn't disappoint. No wrestler has ever won five state titles, Cozart said. But now they have: Brandon seniors Rossi …
