Savanna Wrestlers Pull Together in Hard Times : High school: After Tom Caspari resigned as coach, Ken Stegall leads the Rebels to a 9-0 start.

It’s trying to decide what it wants to be when it grows up. The hitch is that it hasn’t much time, the course of the 1993-94 wrestling season, to be exact.

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It is a season of transition for the Savanna wrestling team. The program features a new coach, new attitude, and, over the summer, a new low.

When former Savanna Coach Tom Caspari resigned suddenly in June, the program lost a huge part of its identity.

“During the summer, we didn’t know what was happening, we were all confused,” said senior Randy Bowers, Savanna’s 125-pound wrestler.

Junior Danny Torres, who has compiled a 13-2 record at 103, was convinced the Rebels wouldn’t even field a wrestling team.

“I thought we’d break up. I thought everyone would just give up on each other,” he said.

If they didn’t give up, they might as well have quit, was the early contention of senior tri-captain Teak Sato, who felt the team would be so bad it would embarrass itself.

“I thought we’d be terrible, just so awful,” he said.

Perhaps in the most unsettling change of all, the Rebels are under a new and uncomfortable scrutiny. They feel they’re being watched for all the wrong reasons.

Even before the season, coaches around the county believed Savanna would be a contender, if . . .

“Traditionally Savanna’s good, it just depends on how they respond to the coaching changes,” coaches echoed before the season.

So far, the response has been mixed. Savanna, although undefeated (9-0), with victories over Kennedy and a championship effort in the Rio Mesa Tournament, is unranked. The wrestlers said they’re on a mission.

“A lot of people said because of the Caspari thing, we wouldn’t be focused,” Torres said. “I had my doubts in the beginning how good we’d be, but people are going hard. I’m pumped up.” As is Bowers: “A lot of people lost faith in us, so we’re out to prove ourselves.”

Problem is, they aren’t sure how to accomplish that mission.

Sato said the team lacks unity and a strong work ethic. Sato has agonized over whether he should focus on himself or on the team and is considering a team meeting to discuss ways to bring the Rebels closer.

“Last year everyone liked each other and no one argued,” he said. “This year you don’t think about the team as much as you think about yourself. Some days we’re real disciplined and some days we’re not. We know we have potential, but . . . “

Coach Ken Stegall, who wrestled at Cypress College and won a State title at 191 in 1990, and second-year assistant James Lopez, are doing their best to mold the talent successfully.

“We have some floaters,” said Lopez, “but most people have been stepping it up. We were a little disjointed when the season first started, but after we beat Kennedy, that gave everyone a lot of confidence.”

That confidence was earned the hard way.

Caspari had coached Savanna for six years and was well-respected by the wrestling community and by his team. The Rebels’ won the Southern Section Division 3-A title in 1991 and won or shared four consecutive Orange League championships under his auspices.

Caspari’s sudden resignation caught the team off guard and hit it hard. Wrestlers said they were confused and angered over the episode: confused about how they should answer their own questions and those of curious opponents, and angered at the accusers and at Caspari, who they said never said goodby.

Sato, a State finalist at 130 and recent weight-class winner of the Orange County Holiday Classic, said several teammates have yet to come to grips about what happened and admitted they might never.

“A lot of people felt he dogged us, ‘cause one day he left in his car and that was the last we saw of him,” Sato said. “But he couldn’t tell us anything. We can’t say what he should or shouldn’t have done. Guys on the team have different views (of what happened), but it doesn’t divide us, probably because no one will ever know the truth.”

School counselors met with the team to talk about Caspari and to help them sort their feelings. But counseling couldn’t replace what Caspari left behind. For some, he was much more than a coach. For Sato, he was a confidant and a counselor.

“When he left, I got scared,” Sato said. “He was the guy that told us what our goals could be, what our priorities should be. He helped us with everything, like picking the classes we needed for college. He talked to us about getting along with our girlfriends and family. Things like that.”

The process of replacing Caspari was almost as traumatic as losing him. Applicants came and went. One coach accepted then declined the job. Finally, Stegall filled the position only a month before the season began.

“Ken saw how good (Caspari) was,” Sato said. “But you can’t take over someone’s job and be better right away.”

Stegall, 23, doesn’t expect to replace or do better than Caspari, not immediately anyway.

“All I worried about was getting the kids ready for this season,” Stegall said. “They seemed a little rebellious at first, but now that the season’s coming along, it’s getting better. They know what to expect from me and I know what to expect from them.”

And in the process, everyone’s growing up.