Northeast Florida Matmen staff report
TALLAHASSEE — As of right now, if one were to ask the experts, Tallahassee Lincoln and Wakulla might be the odds-on favorites to win Region 1 titles in Class 2A and 1A, respectively.
Good thing, perhaps, for those teams at least, that they do not have to go through #2 Clay to win those titles.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils hammered both of them, and the rest of the 17-team field, to win the inaugural Trojan Invitational with 242.5 points, far outdistancing runnerup Lincoln (188) and third-place Wakulla (173.5).
Orange Park was fourth with 118 points, with Columbia eighth at 85, Bishop Snyder 14th at 47 and Ridgeview 15th at 29.5 points.
The tournament, though, was a Blue Devil-dominated day, and leading the charge for Clay was a familiar name and also a fresh face, as senior Adam Breindel and freshman Dylan Fabiani brought home brackets for the Blue Devils.
Breindel was victorious at 152 pounds, collecting two pins, a technical fall in the semifinals, and winning over South Walton’s Cody Pickren, 13-8, to take the title.
Fabiani pinned his way through the bracket at 106 pounds, with three pins on the day, all in the first period, including a fall over Lakeland’s Payton Stewart in the finals.
Clay had three other wrestlers reach the finals, with two losing to local rivals.
At 138, Columbia’s Kaleb Warner — who finished off the Trojan Invitational unscored upon — defeated the Blue Devils’ Julian Summa by a 9-0 major decision.
Later, at 170, Ridgeview’s Devon Farrar — who’d had an overtime win over the top seed in the bracket in the semis — wound up defeating Clay’s Tristain Sichmeller, 5-3, in the title match. Farrar was named as the tournament’s OW for the upper weights.
Also reaching the finals for Clay was 160-pound Trevor Larson, who lost to the hosts’ Jaycie Rudd, 1-0, in the title match.
Clay had eight other placewinners over the course of the tournament, with thirds for Cody Taylor (120), Jon Whiting (182), Kaleb Collins (195) and Roland Samec (285), with fourths from Chris Merring (113) and Jeremy Beaulieu (220), a fifth from Caleb Steinmetz (170) and a sixth from Christian Downs (126).
Four other local wrestlers reached the finals Saturday night.
Orange Park had two of those finalists, and a total of seven placewinners in the tournament.
At 113, the Raiders’ Marcus Reid lost in the finals to the hosts’ Jacob Geiger, 4-3, in a match that was a rematch from a year ago at the 2A Region 1 tournament.
Then, at 126, OP’s Tyrese Germain fell, 16-6, to Wakulla’s Dy’Juan Carney.
Skyler Taylor took fourth at 160 for the Raiders, while Frank Sawyer added a fifth at 106 and Jordan Harbin (145), Ricky Torres (152) and Eric Tejada (220) all were sixth in their weight classes.
Columbia had one other finalist besides Warner, as Josh Walker (220) also reached the finals, where he fell to Nature Coast’s Anthony Contegiacomo in the title match. Walker and Warner were joined as medalists by Robert Lynch (fifth) at 113.
Bishop Snyder’s Teddy Guillory rounded out the list of local finalists, reaching the title match at 132, where he also fell to a Nature Coast wrestler, Mark Espinosa, 13-6.
Guillory was joined by teammate Nathan and Nick Cleland, both of whom claimed fourth-place finishes at 170 and 195, respectively.
Brackets from this tournament are now posted on the website.
George Jenkins IBT: At Lakeland, Buchholz had two individual champions and Sandalwood had one, as both teams finished in the top 10 in the 24-team, two-day tournament Saturday.
The Bobcats finished seventh with 145 points and the Saints were 10th, with 93. Osceola won the meet with 231 points, outpointing North Port (213.5) and the hosts (203).
At 120 pounds, Buchholz picked up its first title, as Gant Moore had a fall, a technical fall and two decisions, including a 4-3 decision in the finals over Freedom’s Christopher Maldonado.
At 132, Daniel McNeil gave the Bobcats their second championship, with two pins on the tournament and two decisions. McNeil took down Osceola’s Tyler Schultz, 4-2, in the finals.
285-pounder Jacob Covington reached the finals for the Bobcats, falling only to state-ranked Colton Rausch of Auburndale. Other Buchholz placewinners were Myckel Hutchinson (3rd at 152), Anthony Moore (6th at 145), Andrique Broughton and Tommy Howell (7th at 113 and 126, respectively) and Erik Kverneland (8th at 160).
Sandalwood’s lone champion was 170-pound senior Daniel Folkner, and Folkner tore through his bracket, with four pins and a technical fall, pinning the hosts’ Luke Robertson in the finals for his victory.
The Saints had one other placewinner in the tournament, as Jacques Hale took fourth at 113.
Brackets from this IBT tournament will be posted to the website on Monday.
Diamondback Duals: A short-handed Raines team went to Belleview over the weekend, taking eight team losses in duals, but each of the individual Vikings who competed posted at least a .500 record.
Jaquan English (120), Demonta Bell (145) and Tyrann Baxter (195) all were 6-2 for the Vikings, with Jermaine Oliver (220) going 3-1 and Jeremiah Prince (170) going 2-2.
Information on Eastside’s weekend at Belleview is still being sought.