ESPN2 Documentary Reveals Emotion, Pride Surrounding Brandon Wrestling's 'Streak' By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

They called it, simply, "The Streak," and it was the most remarkable record in high school sports.

For 34 years, the Brandon High School wrestling team went undefeated through 439 consecutive dual matches. Defying all odds, The Streak began in 1973 and kept going, becoming legend.

It bonded fathers who had wrestled for the Brandon Eagles with sons who carried on the tradition. It inspired school and community pride. It put Brandon on the map.

But it also carried a heavy burden. After decades of victory, no team wanted to be the first to lose. When that loss finally happened in January, it made national headlines.

To fully appreciate how winning and losing builds character, check out "The Streak," which debuts at 9 tonight on ESPN2.

This two-hour documentary tells the story of Brandon's longtime wrestling coach, Russ Cozart, and the members of the 2007-08 team.

"The Streak" was produced by a former Brandon student, Mark Consuelos, who says he used to walk the school halls in awe of the wrestlers.

"They were larger-than-life heroes to me," he says.

That was back in the 1980s, before Consuelos transferred to Bloomingdale High, played soccer for Notre Dame, took up acting and became soap opera heartthrob Mateo Santos on "All My Children."

"The Streak" is the first project to air from Milojo Productions, which is owned by Consuelos and his wife, Kelly Ripa. (The company is named for their children, Michael, Lola and Joaquin).

"I knew that the Brandon wrestling team would make a great story," Consuelos said in telephone interview. "They have an amazing record, Coach Cozart does such a good job, and the general public doesn't know how hard high school wrestlers work.

"And they do it without any big professional contract waiting for them down the road."

When production began last fall, no one could know just how dramatic the film would be. "I thought it would be another winning season, and it was in many ways," Consuelos said. "But when they lost that one match, the film took on a new dimension."

Much of the film covers how the team trained under Cozart and how various wrestlers tried to live up to the legend. "We have to win; we have no choice," Cozart says at the beginning of the documentary. "We set the bar high because we have a destiny."

Cozart's son Joey, a sophomore wrestler, tells of how The Streak has always been a part of his life. His older brother Rocky was a three-time state champion, and Joey sees "an enormous mountain" to climb to be the third Cozart to continue The Streak.

The drama builds with each match and each player's profile. Then cameras record January's shocker, when the team lost to South Dade High of Homestead. The coach had to face a moment he had dreaded for years.

"I felt bad for a lot of people who worshipped The Streak," Cozart says. "It affected everybody in this town."

He says the loss will be something team members will carry with them all of their lives. And it does weigh most heavily on Brandon junior Kevin Timothy, who couldn't save the team from defeat. "I never thought we had a chance to lose," he says, fighting back tears. "I gave it everything I had, and it still wasn't enough."

Cozart has to console his team, bring Timothy out of his depression and get the wrestlers ready for another state championship.

"They're going to be 60 years old and still remember that night of the loss, but I've got to give them something to finish the season on," he says.

Film Review: Brandon Wrestling Documentary By JOEY KNIGHT

April 28, 2008

They're driven, obsessive, mildy mischievous and occasionally profane.

But in the end, the 2007-08 Brandon High wrestlers, subject of a documentary airing Tuesday night at 9 on ESPN2, likely will elicity your sympathy and cheers.

The Streak (92 minutes, 54 seconds) follows the team's season, marked by the historic loss to Miami South Dade that snapped the program's national-record dual match win streak at 459. ESPN's cameras had unabridged access to the program as well as the Brandon Kids' Wrestling Club, home of Coach Russ Cozart, and even the homes of several wrestlers.

What results are mini-character sketches of several wrestlers, most of whom seem driven by the desire to not only preserve the streak but live up to legacies forged by dads or older siblings.

That pursuit, at times, borders on the disturbing.

The opening credits appear over shots of the Eagles going through a nausea-inducing sequence of preseason workouts, and footage taken in the school cafeteria shows some wrestlers bypassing lunch to ensure they'll "make weight" for the upcoming matches. At a dinnertime scene in state champion Eric Grajales' home, the family partakes of what appears to be a meal of steak or pork chops while Grajales picks at a plain baked potato.

"Halfway through the season," state champ Joey Cozart (the coach's son) says at one point, "it's not even fun anymore. It's like hell."

Naturally, great attention is given to the Eagles' historic loss, in the finals of the Jim Graves "Beat the Streak" Invitational, and the emotions spawned by it. Director John Hock, however, does a delicate balancing act, conveying the significance of the defeat without exploiting anyone.

And it doesn't end there. After struggling to regain focus and, in some cases, questioning their desire to continue, the Eagles find a degree of redemption at the state tournament.

Ironically, that poignant finish makes The Streak, filmed in the very year in which the streak ended, a tale of triumph.

Brandon wrestling film: Your thoughts? By JOEY KNIGHT

April 30, 2008

The Streak is history. So, too, is its world premiere.

Now that you've had a chance to view (perhaps more than once) The Streak, ESPN's documentary about the Brandon wrestling team, we'd love to get your thoughts. Compelling? Poignant? Contrived? Anything that bothered you? Anything omitted from the program's history that you would've liked to have seen?

Let us know. In the meantime...

Our top five favorite scenes from the film:

5. The opening credits, displayed over footage of the Eagles going through their nausea-inducing early-season workouts. How can one watch that and not come away with a newfound appreciation for wrestling?

4. The prepubescent members of the Brandon Kids Wrestling Club crying after the Eagles' loss to Homestead South Dade that snapped the program's 34-year win streak. With a snap-out-of-it tone, Coach Russ Cozart tells the youngsters, "You'll be part of my next win streak." This brief scene conveyed the significance of The Streak to the Brandon community, young and old.

3. Senior 285-pounder Aaron Fullenwider pinning Bradenton Manatee's Richie Cunningham, who had earlier thrown him out of bounds, in the semifinals of the Graves Invitational. Fullenwider's win completely swung the momentum in favor of the Eagles, who went on to win 37-22. What the cameras didn't show: Earlier in the match, Cunningham needed a time-out to vomit.

2. Junior 135-pounder Kevin Timothy, who suffered the defeat that clinched the Eagles' team loss to South Dade, earning atonement with a victory in the state finals in Lakeland. Minutes before in the film, Timothy had openly questioned whether he wanted to keep wrestling after the loss.

1. The aftermath of the loss to South Dade. There's Russ Cozart, arm draped around the shoulders of son Joey, as they walk in a dark parking lot to their cars after the loss to South Dade. In the night's final match, after South Dade had clinched the team victory, Joey pinned his 140-pound opponent in the first quarter. When Russ recalls his son's on-mat display of pride and fortitude in the wake of the historic defeat, he clearly wells up. This is the most poignant sequence of the film.