I think this kid has his PRIORITIES in line. He said he will wrestle Senior Nationals if Grajales goes.But 1st he has something else to do, and I like that! He is a great kid, and all this talk about him backing down is just talk. What more does he have to do?
who cares who called each other out just wrestle and then will see who gets bragging rights and even then no one needs to brag because wrestling is a sport of honor strength speed and endurance talking doesnt fly in my world
Grajales Gets Dapper Dan Invite
Posted Jan 28, 2009 at 09:33 AM
Updated Jan 28, 2009 at 09:48 AM
Brandon’s Eric Grajales is headed to the nation’s most prestigious high school wrestling event.
Cesar Grajales, Eric’s father, confirmed Wednesday that the Eagles senior standout has accepted an invitation to compete at the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic, an event billed as the “Rose Bowl of Wrestling.” The 35th annual event will be held March 15 at the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.
Grajales will wrestle at 140 pounds for the USA All-Stars, a collection of the nation’s top high school senior wrestlers. The USA All-Stars will compete against the Pennsylvania All-Stars in the event’s premier match. The Western Pennsylvania (WPIAL) All-Stars will face the West Virginia All-Stars in the event’s other match.
Grajales is just the fifth Hillsborough County wrestler to be selected for the USA All-Stars, joining former Chamberlain standout Glenn Goodman (1980) and former Brandon standouts Dennis Kitko (1993), Franklin Gomez (2005) and David Craig (2006). Each of the five wrestlers were coached by longtime Brandon coach Russ Cozart, who started his county coaching career at Chamberlain before coming to Brandon.
One additional county wrestler, Gaither’s Mike Patierno, competed for the USA All-Stars in 1991 as a replacement when the wrestler at his weight got sick, according to Cozart, who was a coach for the Florida All-Star team that competed against the WPIAL All-Stars that year. Patierno was on the Florida All-Star team that year, as were Brandon’s John Heyman and Ken Urquhart.
Grajales is a three-time state champion for the Eagles. On Saturday night in the 135-pound finals at the 25th annual Tony Ippolito Memorial Tournament, Grajales earned his 200th win in a Brandon uniform, improving to 200-0 for his career with the Eagles. He has signed to wrestle next season for the University of Michigan.
Cesar Grajales added he and his son have asked the Dapper Dan committee for the opportunity for Eric to wrestle Ohio prep standout David Taylor following the Dapper Dan team matches. Grajales and Taylor are considered two of the nation’s best high school wrestlers. It is unknown whether the match will get the go-ahead.
765 said: “kids a stud
hope he gets a shot at eric”
The word out of Florida is Eric wants to wrestle Taylor. This was posted on scout.
Eric Grajales wants to wrestle David Taylor
I just had a long conversation from a fan in Brandon who is in a position to know and he told me that Eric Grajales wants to wrestle David Taylor.
Apparently, when he watched the video on flowrestling of the bout between Taylor and Palmer, on the video after the bout, Taylor appeared to call out Eric.
Grajales would like the bout to occur as part of the Dapper Dan event and it would be best for both if they would weigh-in at 140 as there is a plus 5 pounds allowance for the 135-pound class where they are both ranked with Taylor as Number 1 in a couple of polls and Grajales as Number 1 in some other polls.
One of the rankings gurus, Bob Preusse who does the prep rankings for Amateur Wrestling News where he has Taylor as #1 and Grajales #2, says, "No one is happy where they are ranked, only one can be # 1,...settle it on the mat."
Grajales would love to wresle Taylor. If they can't wrestle as part of the Dapper Dan, then he'll wrestle him on a mat in the corner of the gym, or anywhere at a high school in Pittsburgh during that time.
Apparently, some want Grajales to wrestle against Taylor in the NHSCA Senior Nationals scheduled to take place in early April in Virginia.
The situation is that Grajales plans to switch over to the international styles, specifically to concentrate on Greco-Roman, as Grajales has been invited to participate in a USA Wrestling trip overseas to Bulgaria from March 2-9. Plus Grajales wants to compete for the USA FILA Junior World Team again, where he hopes to medal and he wants to compete in the USA Wrestling Senior Nationals in Las Vegas during early April.
Thus, he has agreed to extend his folkstyle season competition for a month after the end of the Florida high school season which ends with the State Finals in Lakeland on February 21 but he can't extend it beyond the time frame of the Dapper Dan event.
These were Eric's exact words as told to me,
"We are both going to be in Pittsburgh at the same time. I'd like to wrestle him in the Dapper Dan. If not on a mat in the corner of the gym, or in the freaking parking lot or out on the street. Lets just strap on our shoes and get it on."
"Well Let's Be Real," You're an idiot. Don't trash talk the best high school wrestler in the country. David Taylor is going to find success in college. You can tell he has the right mentality. There aren't to many kids who would bump up a weight to wrestle a guy that is statistically just as good as him and who everyone says is going to muscle him around, not to mention he won that match after being behind early in the match.
But you know, I always here, ever since his freshman year, how great palmer is.
I seriously believe he's overated and will be an ameuter wrestler in college. I think David taylor will have a rude awakening in college.
Lets be real, Taylor didn't just decide to go up in weight. Taylor was forced to move up because he couldn't stop growing. So I don't think he really knew what weight he was going to go until the year started or late summer. I am not saying he didn't think about the match after he decided to skip fargo and train with cael all summer. But after Grajales beat alton and people were putting in question taylors number 1 it went from a thought to a must happen situation. The kid is great, he wanted to do whatever he could to tell everyone he is the best. I love it, the only thing left is for the real match to happen.
I LOVE THAT HE WANTS TO WRESTLE GRAJALES!!!! JUST A GREAT WRESTLER!!! And that's funny he heard a guy yell "lets go Taylor!" during the match, that fired him up!
This kid is everything that is great about high school wrestling. His desire to lay it on the line against the best. His courage to test himself to the limit. What a special talent and I think we all know that the best is yet to come for Taylor. I sure wish I could have been there. These are the matches that are great in the promotion of wrestling and I hope this encourages others to step out of their comfort zone and dare to do something great.
Great win David and classy interview! Collin Palmer is all class too. It's too bad someone has to lose but Collin took the loss as good as anyone and has earned my respect. I'll be cheering for both kids in college. Speaking as a huge cyclone wrestling fan we can't wait to see this guy in cardinal and gold.
You all should thank Grajalas for helping make this match happen. If he hadn't went and beat the #1 140 pounder in the country maybe Taylor wouldn't have thought about having to make a statement himself.
hes a real good wrestler and from the interviews ive seen he seems like a real good kid aswell. As for grajales hes a real good wrestler to and a real good kid, well i actullay should say grajales is a real good man lmao. Grajales is freaking almost 20 lmao
anyway being a nj native a dream match for me would be taylor vs anthony baldosaro now that would be epic
David Taylor on Collin Palmer match up
Posted Jan 28, 2009 at 09:33 AM
Updated Jan 28, 2009 at 09:48 AM
Brandon’s Eric Grajales is headed to the nation’s most prestigious high school wrestling event.
Cesar Grajales, Eric’s father, confirmed Wednesday that the Eagles senior standout has accepted an invitation to compete at the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic, an event billed as the “Rose Bowl of Wrestling.” The 35th annual event will be held March 15 at the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.
Grajales will wrestle at 140 pounds for the USA All-Stars, a collection of the nation’s top high school senior wrestlers. The USA All-Stars will compete against the Pennsylvania All-Stars in the event’s premier match. The Western Pennsylvania (WPIAL) All-Stars will face the West Virginia All-Stars in the event’s other match.
Grajales is just the fifth Hillsborough County wrestler to be selected for the USA All-Stars, joining former Chamberlain standout Glenn Goodman (1980) and former Brandon standouts Dennis Kitko (1993), Franklin Gomez (2005) and David Craig (2006). Each of the five wrestlers were coached by longtime Brandon coach Russ Cozart, who started his county coaching career at Chamberlain before coming to Brandon.
One additional county wrestler, Gaither’s Mike Patierno, competed for the USA All-Stars in 1991 as a replacement when the wrestler at his weight got sick, according to Cozart, who was a coach for the Florida All-Star team that competed against the WPIAL All-Stars that year. Patierno was on the Florida All-Star team that year, as were Brandon’s John Heyman and Ken Urquhart.
Grajales is a three-time state champion for the Eagles. On Saturday night in the 135-pound finals at the 25th annual Tony Ippolito Memorial Tournament, Grajales earned his 200th win in a Brandon uniform, improving to 200-0 for his career with the Eagles. He has signed to wrestle next season for the University of Michigan.
Cesar Grajales added he and his son have asked the Dapper Dan committee for the opportunity for Eric to wrestle Ohio prep standout David Taylor following the Dapper Dan team matches. Grajales and Taylor are considered two of the nation’s best high school wrestlers. It is unknown whether the match will get the go-ahead.
“kids a stud
hope he gets a shot at eric”
Eric Grajales wants to wrestle David Taylor
I just had a long conversation from a fan in Brandon who is in a position to know and he told me that Eric Grajales wants to wrestle David Taylor.
Apparently, when he watched the video on flowrestling of the bout between Taylor and Palmer, on the video after the bout, Taylor appeared to call out Eric.
Grajales would like the bout to occur as part of the Dapper Dan event and it would be best for both if they would weigh-in at 140 as there is a plus 5 pounds allowance for the 135-pound class where they are both ranked with Taylor as Number 1 in a couple of polls and Grajales as Number 1 in some other polls.
One of the rankings gurus, Bob Preusse who does the prep rankings for Amateur Wrestling News where he has Taylor as #1 and Grajales #2, says, "No one is happy where they are ranked, only one can be # 1,...settle it on the mat."
Grajales would love to wresle Taylor. If they can't wrestle as part of the Dapper Dan, then he'll wrestle him on a mat in the corner of the gym, or anywhere at a high school in Pittsburgh during that time.
Apparently, some want Grajales to wrestle against Taylor in the NHSCA Senior Nationals scheduled to take place in early April in Virginia.
The situation is that Grajales plans to switch over to the international styles, specifically to concentrate on Greco-Roman, as Grajales has been invited to participate in a USA Wrestling trip overseas to Bulgaria from March 2-9. Plus Grajales wants to compete for the USA FILA Junior World Team again, where he hopes to medal and he wants to compete in the USA Wrestling Senior Nationals in Las Vegas during early April.
Thus, he has agreed to extend his folkstyle season competition for a month after the end of the Florida high school season which ends with the State Finals in Lakeland on February 21 but he can't extend it beyond the time frame of the Dapper Dan event.
These were Eric's exact words as told to me,
"We are both going to be in Pittsburgh at the same time. I'd like to wrestle him in the Dapper Dan. If not on a mat in the corner of the gym, or in the freaking parking lot or out on the street. Lets just strap on our shoes and get it on."
hope he gets a shot at eric
But you know, I always here, ever since his freshman year, how great palmer is.
I seriously believe he's overated and will be an ameuter wrestler in college. I think David taylor will have a rude awakening in college.
Just great for Ohio wrestling !!
Thanks Flo
anyway being a nj native a dream match for me would be taylor vs anthony baldosaro now that would be epic