Cozart set for final prep match

Posted Mar 19, 2010 by Adam Adkins

Updated Mar 19, 2010 at 01:45 PM

Joe Cozart will represent the Brandon wrestling program for the final time Saturday, and he’ll do it on one of the biggest stages for prep wrestling.

The Eagles senior standout, who last month won his fourth consecutive individual state title, will wrestle for USA all-stars in the 36th annual Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic, which is billed as the Rose Bowl of Wrestling.

Team USA will square off against the Pennsylvania all-stars at the Fitzgerald Field House on the University of Pittsburgh’s campus at 8 p.m. The match will be preceded by the WPIAL all-stars against the New York all-stars at 6.

“I feel pretty overwhelmed and excited about the match,” Cozart said Friday afternoon after arriving in Pittsburgh.

Cozart, who finished his four-year career at Brandon with a 226-4 overall record and will compete at Iowa State next year, will be just the seventh wrestler from Hillsborough County to compete for Team USA at the event. Former Chamberlain standout Glenn Goodman (1980) and former Brandon standouts Dennis Kitko (1993), Franklin Gomez (2005), David Craig (2006) and Eric Grajales (2009) also received invitations to the prestigious event, while former Gaither standout Mike Patierno was a fill-in wrestler on USA’s 1991 squad after the wrestler at his weight got sick.

“I feel very honored that I got this chance,” Cozart said. “Eric’s done it, and David Craig’s done it and I feel happy that I am in the same classification as those guys, the same category.”

Cozart wrestled at 152 pounds this season for the Eagles, but he’ll compete at 145 for Team USA. His opponent is Central Mountain’s Andrew Alton, a two-time Pennsylvania state champion who is the nation’s top-ranked 145-pounder by InterMat.

“I’ve wrestled his twin brother (Dylan Alton, who is competing for Team Pennsylvania at 152 pounds) in a couple matches before,” said Cozart, ranked fifth nationally at 152 pounds by InterMat, “and now I get to wrestle the lighter one.”