In Franklin, the Colace brothers make their sport a tag-team match

FRANKLIN -- A veteran wrestling coach, Franklin High's Carmine Colace knows all about setting goals to motivate his grapplers.

Four years ago, Colace's oldest son, C.J., made a bet with his father. If he won a New England wrestling championship before he graduated, his father would have to buy him a new sport utility vehicle. His son was then a novice on the mat, so Colace accepted the bet without reservation.

In March, C.J. completed his end of the bargain by winning the New England championship at 160 pounds as part of one of the most successful high school wrestling campaigns in recent memory.

''Back when he first started, I figured he never had a chance," Colace said. ''I've since modified the deal and told him he has to finish college before he gets the Hummer he wants."

Now his 14-year-old son, Nick, is about to enter Franklin High, and he is looking for a similar motivational deal.

''No way I'm making that bet again," said Colace. ''C.J. really had to work to become the type of wrestler he is. But Nick got all the family's athletic genes. He's naturally talented, and, if he applies himself to the sport, he's going to be special out there."

Nick provided a glimpse of that potential by placing eighth in the 160-pound class in the middle school division of the National Open Wrestling Championships last month in Virginia Beach, Va.

Even C.J., who was named the Globe's Division 2 Wrestler of the Year after setting a state record for consecutive pins -- at 46 -- en route to becoming the New England and National High School Coaches Association national champion, acknowledged that his younger brother has a brighter future than he did.

''He's got a lot more talent than I ever had," said C.J., who is headed to Johnson & Wales University in Providence to study culinary arts and to wrestle. ''He has the potential to be even better than me if he works at it hard enough."

Their father is hoping that Nick catches the same wrestling bug that bit C.J. when he enrolled at Franklin High. For now, the young grappler is getting by on athleticism and what he has absorbed from his family.

''Nick learned very well through osmosis," said Colace. ''Some people don't believe in that, but he certainly picked things up from just being around C.J. Nick makes mistakes because we haven't really worked him that hard yet and we didn't want to push him too hard at a young age. If he decides to focus on wrestling at the high school level, we'll work with him on those things."

Nick certainly boasts the resume upon which to start a successful high school career. He won the middle school state and New England championships while losing just one match this past winter. This summer, he has traveled to Maryland with the Massachusetts All-Stars, where his team finished third in the country in dual-meet competitions. In Virginia Beach, he was part of a 17-wrestler field that included some very talented grapplers in grades 7-9 (including some who had just completed their freshmen seasons). He dropped a heartbreaking decision that could have propelled him to the medal round, but that gives him something to shoot for next year.

Not that the expectations aren't big enough already. Nick knows he will be stepping into the large shadow cast by his brother's exploits this past year, and he already seems to welcome the challenge.

''I think I'm ready for it," Nick said. ''It might take a lot of practice, and it's certainly not going to be easy, but I'm going to do the best I can."

For his father, Nick's arrival at the high school level could not have come at a better time, given C.J.'s graduation. It also helps that the future of Franklin's program looks incredibly strong. Sophomore-to-be Jamie O'Neill placed seventh in the 125-pound weight class in Virginia Beach.

''I really enjoyed having C.J. a part of the program for the past four years," Colace said. ''All those years I coached, I wondered what it felt like to have your kid be a state champion. I used to look over at the dads of the kids I coached and see how proud they were. I got to share that with my son as both a coach and a father. Now I get to watch C.J. go off to college, where he hopefully keeps competing, and I get to see Nick develop and hopefully share in all those same memories again."

And it might not stop with Nick. The Colace family boasts two more boys: Michael is in the sixth grade, and the youngest, David, is in the first grade.

So it's not a surprise when a wrestling match breaks out at the Colace household. But it raises the question: Who wins the match between Nick and C.J.?

''I take care of him whenever he gets out of line," C.J. asserted.

But Nick responded: ''I can take him. It's not easy, but I can take him."

Dad isn't taking sides.

''C.J. is bigger now, about 190 pounds, and he seems to have grown an inch," Colace said. ''Nick's so quick that he will tease his brother a bit in the ring, and C.J. will respond by beating him up.

''Fortunately, there's no jealousy, and when we do get them together, they do a good job of pushing one another."