Month: August 2017

Sometimes as we’re looking toward the future of a new season, it’s helpful to look back at the past.

We did that for a couple of months in the spring with our “The Season” recaps. No one in Florida recaps every team within their given coverage area, and we even learned a couple of additional lessons along the way there.

But one thing that often informs any preview of an upcoming season — even one as crazy as this one promises to be, between the impact of the FHSAA state duals series and the impact of “open” enrollment — is the tradition of what has gone before.

Area bragging rights are one such thing.

With that said, who — or better yet, which district — won 1A-Region 3? (our fourth of eight non-local posts, and I decided I would keep the same format as for the ones closer to me).

There are a few ways to figure this out. I’ve tried a couple in the past. This year, I’m going to try to keep it simpler. Maybe. I’ve been told I over-complicate things at times, most often by myself.

1. Points scored at the region (staged in Bradenton). In a solid battle for the top, having host school Southeast, the team champion, was a substantial lift for District 11, which outpointed District 12, 506-451, for first place in the region. The 11s’ point total was the third-highest in Class 1A, behind only 1A-7 and 1A-15 (which we highlighted on Wednesday). Although District 9’s two strongest teams outperformed District 10’s, the 10s’ overall balance (six teams with 40+ points) was enough for a 337.5-300 cushion for third place over the 9s.

2. Region champions. Again, the 11s held the advantage using this indicator, if not even more so. District 11 picked up half of the brackets from this tournament (120/132/138/145/160/182/220). However, it was District 10, this time, that finished second, with four champs (106/113/152/220). District 12 had two champions (126/285), while District 9 picked off the title at 195.

3. State qualifiers. The 11s’ strength in the first two categories might have suggested they weren’t going to share top honors. But they did, as both District 11 (three runners-up, four 3rds and four 4ths) and District 12 (four runners-up, six 3rds and six 4ths) each had 18 state qualifiers to tie for first. District 10 had a slight advantage over District 9, with 11 qualifiers (two runners-up, three 3rds and two 4ths) to the 9s’ nine (five runners-up, one 3rd and two 4ths).

4. Wins earned at the region. I checked each kid’s region performance. Wins were based upon contested matches (brackets that gave kids byes meant those kids did not receive wins, but brackets that listed forfeits, where the forfeiting wrestler was still on the bracket, did get a +1 for those). Kids that did not compete for whatever the reason but qualified out and were listed on the bracket were given 0-2 records. Here, District 11 did hold off District 12, but just barely in terms of total wins, 110-109. The 11s did have a substantially better win percentage, going 110-87 to the 12s’ 109-98. District 10 finished at 80-83, while District 9 was 66-98.

In a competition between areas, the evidence almost universally suggested that District 11 “won” the region, but certainly in equaling 11’s number of state qualifiers and almost equaling the number of wins, District 12 was in the hunt. Here’s a couple of notes on each district:

District 9
Best weight class: Region 3 was a tough weekend for most of the District 9 wrestlers, but one weight where the group shone, as a whole, was 195, where the 9s were 10-5. District 9 wrestlers went 1-2 there, with Lake Wales’ Lucny Jean as champion and Victory Christian’s Stetson Smith as the runnerup, plus a blood-round appearance for Lake Placid’s Tyler Steedley.
Toughest struggle: Twelve of the 14 weight classes had less than a .500 record, but the 145s couldn’t find a win in their eight matches on Friday.

District 10
Best weight class: I would go with 170 as District 10’s strongest weight, where the trio of wrestlers that qualified for regions went 7-4 as a group. Of those three, two got out for states, including champion Jacob Safee of Berkeley Prep and fourth-place finisher Amneous Chambers of Spoto.
Toughest struggle: At two different classes, the 10s were 4-8 as a group, but one of them had a wrestler with a chance for state, so I’ll go for the other one — 182 — where the 10s had one Saturday qualifier on the weekend.

District 11
Best weight class: There were two weight classes where the 11s were 10-5 — from a win-percentage standpoint, the district’s best of the weekend — but one saw three qualifiers get out to states. That was 160, led by champion Jake Ross of St. Stephen’, runnerup Mitchell Kerr of Northside Christian and fourth-place finisher Jonathan Locke of Southeast.
Toughest struggle: It’s a testament to the strength of the 11s as a whole that their weakest weight resulted only in a 6-8 overall record, at 285, but even here they had two wrestlers get to Saturday, with Southeast’s Chevaughn Rose qualifying out by taking fourth.

District 12
Best weight class: There are a couple of possibilities for the 12s where they had a pair of qualifiers, but I will go with 126, where District 12 had a 9-5 overall record and were led by region champ Gabriel Ramirez of Immokalee and runnerup Brad Fuson of Lemon Bay, plus an additional Saturday qualifier as well.
Toughest struggle: As a group, the toughest weight class for the 12s might have been 195, where the group as a whole went 4-8, with one Saturday qualifier — Lely’s Kevin Chery, who finished fourth and had three of those four wins.

Special mention
It’s tough for any kid to lose a match in the blood round, but the seniors who fell in the blood round deserve a special bit of kudos — particularly since many of them are now off doing other things (college, work, military, and the like). So this space will give props to them, in order of ascending weight class:
Kyle Garoutte (Imagine, 120)
Andrew Hoffman (Berkeley Prep, 132)
Dominic Luna (Fivay, 145)
Haowen Li (Admiral Farragut, 152)
Joshua Berenson (Lake Placid, 160)
Tanner Oxer (Lake Placid, 170)
Johnny White (Southeast, 195)
Samuel Hawthorne (Lake Placid, 285)

We have our 17th schedule overall, came in today. Arnold is our third schedule from the Tallahassee/Gulfside part of the coverage area, and second one from 1A-District 1 thus far.

The Marlins will begin the 2017-18 season with a first appearance at district rival South Walton’s Border Wars on December 1st-2nd, a two-day pooled competition & IBT event. They’ll stay in the IBT format on December 8-9, when Arnold will take part in the Capital City Classic in Tallahassee.

Arnold will have its first dual on December 15, a Friday in-school dual at home against Rutherford, but that won’t be the last of their December duals (no word on the schedule when and where FHSAA district duals will be held), as the Marlins will return to the Beast of the Beach, a two-day duals tournament hosted by Ft Walton Beach at the Emerald Coast Convention Center. The Marlins will close out 2017 by competing in Tate’s two-day IBT tournament on the 28th and 29th.

Arnold will have its only out-of-state competition on January 5-6, as they’ll compete in the Scott Rohrer Invitational, a two-day roundrobin hosted by Alabama’s Hoover HS. After another home Friday dual (not listed as an in-school this time) against Bozeman on the 12th, Arnold will be off — pending any FHSAA duals competition — until the 19th, when the Marlins will compete in Wewahitchka’s Gator Brawl.

Arnold will close out the regular season with a trek across the state to Palm Coast for the Flagler Rotary on January 26-27, a second cross-state trek to Clay for its Green Cove Springs Rotary on February 2-3, and then wrap up by hosting the Bay County Championships on February 9.

That puts us at 17 schedules in hand. Who’s NEXT??

Sometimes as we’re looking toward the future of a new season, it’s helpful to look back at the past.

We did that for a couple of months in the spring with our “The Season” recaps. No one in Florida recaps every team within their given coverage area, and we even learned a couple of additional lessons along the way there.

But one thing that often informs any preview of an upcoming season — even one as crazy as this one promises to be, between the impact of the FHSAA state duals series and the impact of “open” enrollment — is the tradition of what has gone before.

Area bragging rights are one such thing.

With that said, who — or better yet, which district — won 2A-Region 4? (our third of eight non-local posts, and I decided I would keep the same format as for the ones closer to me).

There are a few ways to figure this out. I’ve tried a couple in the past. This year, I’m going to try to keep it simpler. Maybe. I’ve been told I over-complicate things at times, most often by myself.

1. Points scored at the region (staged in Jensen Beach). This is now our fifth one of these (that are published, I have #NotesToSelf on all 12) and this one so far is the most even from first to last, but in the end it was having three teams in the top six that propelled District 13 to top honors, with 493 overall, third-most among 2A districts statewide. With two top-six teams, District 15 narrowly outpointed District 14, 415.5-392.5, with host Jensen Beach putting up a little more than half of the 14s’ points. District 16 was fourth, with 306.

2. Region champions. With only 14 to go round, one would expect this race to be tighter, and it was, but it ended again in District 13’s favor, as the 13s picked up firsts at 120/126/132/160/170/220. District 15 was close behind, with five champions at 106/113/138/152/285, and District 14 picked off the other three at 145/182/195, with no champions coming out of District 16.

3. State qualifiers. This wound up being a three-district horserace of sorts, with the 13s edging out both 14 and 15. District 13 finished with 17 state qualifiers (four runners-up, four 3rds and three 4ths), while both District 14 (four runners-up, five 3rds and three 4ths) and District 15 (four runners-up, three 3rds and three 4ths) each earning 15 state berths. District 16 advanced nine qualifiers (two runners-up, two 3rds and five 4ths) to states.

4. Wins earned at the region. I checked each kid’s region performance. Wins were based upon contested matches (brackets that gave kids byes meant those kids did not receive wins, but brackets that listed forfeits, where the forfeiting wrestler was still on the bracket, did get a +1 for those). Kids that did not compete for whatever the reason but qualified out and were listed on the bracket were given 0-2 records. Based upon that, while District 13 wasn’t the only district with better than a .500-record, it did have the most wins (111) and best winning percentage (111-88 win-loss record). District 14 edged out District 15 in both as well, with 89 wins to the 15s’ 86 and both had 85 losses. District 16’s win total wasn’t that far back in fourth, as they finished with 79 on the weekend.

All told, in a competition between areas, District 13 definitively “won” Region 4. Here’s a couple of notes on each district:

District 13
Best weight class: The 13s had quite a few solid weights, but none perhaps more so than the 120 group, led by champion Seth Adeclat of Heritage and third-placer Zachary Robertson of Sebastian River (who won four on the backside), with all four kids contributing at least one win to a 12-5 overall weekend.
Toughest struggle: There weren’t many weights where the 13s struggled, but one where the group had some setbacks was 145, where the four wrestlers went 4-8 as a quartet, with district champ Mike Alberico of Palm Bay reaching the semis and blood round.

District 14
Best weight class: There were two weights where the 14s were 8-5 as a group, but the one where they achieved the most on the weekend was 145, where Jensen Beach’s Kyle Kirkham and Okeechobee’s Kallen Pinerio swept the top two spots for seven of those eight wins.
Toughest struggle: As a group, the 132s had the toughest weekend, going 3-8 as a foursome. Okeechobee’s Austin Scee picked up all three of those wins in taking fourth to qualify out.

District 15
Best weight class: The 15s had just two wrestlers at 106, but the tandem of South Broward’s Anthony Valverde and Olympic Heights’ Michael Butler combined to go 1-2, respectively, as a pair, leading the district to finish 6-1 on the weekend.
Toughest struggle: As a group, the 120s probably had the toughest weekend, finishing 3-8, with just one Saturday qualifier in 2016 Region 4 runnerup and eventual state placer Paul Steger of Olympic Heights, who got to the semis and reached the blood round.

District 16
Best weight class: The 16s had a few weights where they had one more win than loss, but the most hardware was collected at 195, where the group was 8-7, with a pair of qualifiers in runnerup Deznel Addison of Norland and fourth-place finisher Devonte Wellons of Northwestern, with all four wrestlers contributing at least one win.
Toughest struggle: 106 was probably the most uphill part of the weekend for the 16s, as the district had a 1-8 weekend.

Special mention
It’s tough for any kid to lose a match in the blood round, but the seniors who fell in the blood round deserve a special bit of kudos — particularly since many of them are now off doing other things (college, work, military, and the like). So this space will give props to them, in order of ascending weight class:
Jose Monterrey (Stranahan, 113)
Paul Steger (Olympic Heights, 120)
Adrian Gill (Mourning, 126)
Drayton Billie (Okeechobee, 138)
Kevin Martinez (Doral Academy, 138)
Mike Alberico (Palm Bay, 145)
Dylan Pereira (Olympic Heights, 145)
Andrew Hansen (Eau Gallie, 152)
Tyree Parks (Heritage, 152)
Daniel Shelley (Okeechobee, 160)
Aslet Jean (Norland, 160)
William Bazin (Boyd Anderson, 170)
Bryce Hess (Sebastian River, 182)
Jermaine Anderson (Northwestern, 182)
Ricardo Edwards (Dwyer, 285)
Sharod McBride (Boyd Anderson, 285)

Sometimes as we’re looking toward the future of a new season, it’s helpful to look back at the past.

We did that for a couple of months in the spring with our “The Season” recaps. No one in Florida recaps every team within their given coverage area, and we even learned a couple of additional lessons along the way there (h/t to a Lincoln parent for that).

But one thing that often informs any preview of an upcoming season — even one as crazy as this one promises to be, between the impact of the FHSAA state duals series and the impact of “open” enrollment — is the tradition of what has gone before.

Area bragging rights are one such thing.

With that said, who — or better yet, which district — won 3A-Region 1? (our second of four local posts — we’ll also bring you the same posts on the other eight regions, with two more coming later today/tonight).

There are a few ways to figure this out. I’ve tried a couple in the past. This year, I’m going to try to keep it simpler. Maybe. I’ve been told I over-complicate things at times, most often by myself.

1. Points scored at the region (staged in Palm Coast). Thanks in significant part to team champion Fleming Island and third-place (and host) Flagler Palm Coast, District 1 enjoyed a substantial lead over the other three districts, with 561 points. The 1s had the fourth-highest point total of the 48 districts surveyed, and second-highest in 3A (only 3A-16 had more points). District 3, with a pair of top-five teams itself, was second with 453.5, with a substantial gap between it and third-place District 4 (285), with District 2 fourth at 201.

2. Region champions. The gap between districts closed significantly, with the same two districts that set the pace on points doing so again here. District 1 had a slight advantage over District 3, with seven champions (106/113/120/126/152/182/195). The 3s, for their part, answered with a very solid six (132/138/145/160/170/220). District 2 picked off the only other available title, winning at 285, while District 4 had none.

3. State qualifiers. District 1 enjoyed a solid advantage over the rest of the region, qualifying 24 wrestlers out for states (five runners-up, five 3rds and seven 4ths). Only 2A-District 7 (Brandon/Lake Gibson) had more state qualifiers from its district. District 3 was a bit further back, but also significantly ahead of the rest of the field with 17 qualifiers (five runners-up, five 3rds and one 4th). While District 4 had no champs, it did advance 10 out to states (four runners-up, three 3rds and three 4ths). District 2 struggled, with just five qualifiers (one 3rd and three 4ths).

4. Wins earned at the region. I checked each kid’s region performance. Wins were based upon contested matches (brackets that gave kids byes meant those kids did not receive wins, but brackets that listed forfeits, where the forfeiting wrestler was still on the bracket, did get a +1 for those). Kids that did not compete for whatever the reason but qualified out and were listed on the bracket were given 0-2 records. Based upon that, District 1 enjoyed substantial advantages in both total wins (138) and win-loss percentage (138-88 overall). District 3 was also solidly over the .500 mark, going 104-90. Next was District 4 at 84-105, with District 2 going 62-107.

So, I think the evidence is pretty clear. In a competition between areas, the Atlantic coastal teams in District 1, our coverage area, “won” Region 1. Here’s a couple of notes on each district:

District 1
Best weight class: There were a lot of solid ones, and even though the 195s didn’t have the most wins for the 1s (that honor went to 106), the group at 195 went 1-2-4, with all four wrestlers winning at least one contested (or potentially contested) match en route to an 11-5 weekend. Leading the path were region champ (and eventual state runnerup) Narek Stepanyan of Fletcher, runnerup and 2x state placer Ryan Smenda of Fleming Island (switching spots from their district finishes), and fourth-place David Johnson of Robert E. Lee.
Toughest struggle: Just two weight classes were sub-.500, and I’ll go with the 138s here, where the 1s were 5-7 as a group. Even here, though, Flagler’s Michael Martins was the runnerup and Fleming’s Vince Hauser was a Saturday qualifier.

District 2
Best weight class: The 2s had three weights where they had one more win than loss, but the overall impact was best at perhaps 182, where Evans’ George Schanck took third and Apopka’s Logan Celella was fourth (that’s 40% of the state-qualifying roster for the district). As a group, the 2s were 8-7 at this weight class.
Toughest struggle: Has to be 113, where District 2 sent three wrestlers to Palm Coast. The group went 0-6 on Friday.

District 3
Best weight class: The 3s had many solid efforts, but 170 was its strongest weight, where the district went 1-2-3 on an 11-4 weekend, paced by champion Cole Mitchell of Winter Springs, runnerup Justin Segarra of Lake Howell and third-place Nate Ferkovich of Lake Brantley, who combined for all 11 wins.
Toughest struggle: This result was partially due to injury to one wrestler, but the 195 group had a tough weekend at Palm Coast, going 3-8 as a quartet, with just one Saturday qualifier.

District 4
Best weight class: 113 and 120 were both pretty solid for the 4s, but the 113s were 10-6 on the weekend, with two qualifiers in runnerup Corban Arana of Timber Creek and third-place Michael Ortega of Cypress Creek; the district’s 4th, Freedom’s Amstrong Lubin, picked up three wins and reached the blood round on Saturday.
Toughest struggle: Friday was a tough day for the District 4 170s, as the group went 2-8 on the day, with none advancing to Saturday’s competition.

Special mention
It’s tough for any kid to lose a match in the blood round, but the seniors who fell in the blood round deserve a special bit of kudos — particularly since many of them are now off doing other things (college, work, military, and the like). So this space will give props to them, in order of ascending weight class:
Trent Dalldorf (Fletcher, 120)
Brian Rosa (Apopka, 132)
Adam Spikes (Mandarin, 152)
Owen Beining (Fletcher, 160)
Chandler Bell (Sandalwood, 160)
Ikzac Dixon (Evans, 170)
Eddie Bryant (Flagler Palm Coast, 182)
Hagen Salickram (West Orange, 195)
Vincent Ebanks (Flagler Palm Coast, 285)

Sometimes as we’re looking toward the future of a new season, it’s helpful to look back at the past.

We did that for a couple of months in the spring with our “The Season” recaps. No one in Florida recaps every team within their given coverage area, and we even learned a couple of additional lessons along the way there.

But one thing that often informs any preview of an upcoming season — even one as crazy as this one promises to be, between the impact of the FHSAA state duals series and the impact of “open” enrollment — is the tradition of what has gone before.

Area bragging rights are one such thing.

With that said, who — or better yet, which district — won 3A-Region 3? (our second of eight non-local posts, and I decided I would keep the same format as for the ones closer to me).

There are a few ways to figure this out. I’ve tried a couple in the past. This year, I’m going to try to keep it simpler. Maybe. I’ve been told I over-complicate things at times, most often by myself.

1. Points scored at the region (staged in Lake Worth). In a fairly solid three-team battle for the top, what carried the day for District 12 was the presence of team champion St. Thomas Aquinas and its 195-point total, which was enough for the 12s to overcome District 10, 465-442 for first among the four districts in the region. The 12s had the fifth-highest point total among all 16 3A districts. Though the 10s had only six teams, one of them was runnerup Wellington and another was third-place Forest Hill, and those three teams were the only ones to go over 100 points. District 9 was third, well ahead of District 11, 392.5-273.

2. Region champions. This measuring stick led to a less clear result, as both District 12 and District 10 had six champions apiece. The 12s bagged titles at 113/120/132/138/152/195, while the 10s took firsts at 106/126/170/182/220/285. On this measurement, then, it’s a bit less clear. District 9 picked up the other two titles in the region, with firsts at both 145 and 160, while District 11 did not win a region championship.

3. State qualifiers. Looking at this indicator, the waters get muddied a bit more. As it turned out, District 10 came away with the most qualifiers for states, with 17 overall (in addition to the six champs, the 10s had four runners-up, four 3rds and three 4ths). And, as the math broke down, District 9 had the second-most qualifiers (15 total, six runners-up, two 3rds and five 4ths) with District 12 moving 14 to states (two runners-up, three 3rds and three 4ths). I would say that’s due to the 12s’ ability to rack up maximum bonus points. District 11 finished with 10 qualifiers (two runners-up, five 3rds and three 4ths).

4. Wins earned at the region. I checked each kid’s region performance. Wins were based upon contested matches (brackets that gave kids byes meant those kids did not receive wins, but brackets that listed forfeits, where the forfeiting wrestler was still on the bracket, did get a +1 for those). Kids that did not compete for whatever the reason but qualified out and were listed on the bracket were given 0-2 records. Here, District 12 re-asserted itself, outpacing the other three districts in terms of total wins and winning percentage, as the 12s had an overall contested-match record of 111-95. Both District 9 and District 10 had positives as well. District 9 had the next most wins (101), but District 10’s win-loss record of 97-90 was better than 9’s 101-100. District 11 finished at 73-97, the only district in the group under .500.

In a competition between areas, the teams in District 12 “won” Region 3, but Districts 9 and 10 both had some things they could take away for themselves. Here’s a couple of notes on each district:

District 9
Best weight class: The 9s had three weights finish with 10-6 tournament records, so I’ll break the tie by picking the one with two qualifiers and a champ. That would be 160, led by champion Jared Fleitas of Ft. Pierce Central, and fourth-place finisher Nicholas Schmidt of Jupiter. Treasure Coast’s Chris Durette added a blood-round appearance as well.
Toughest struggle: 182 was a tough weight for the 9s, as the four reps at that weight were 3-8 overall, with just one Saturday qualifier.

District 10
Best weight class: The 10s had three weight classes crack double-digit wins, but the group that did so with the fewest losses was at 170, with Eric Saber of Wellington and Mitchell Clark of Seminole Ridge going 1-2 and reprising their district final. Palm Beach Central’s Rohan Richards also got to the blood round, advancing to the championship semis.
Toughest struggle: Despite three wins and a blood-round appearance from Wellington’s Robert Saldarriaga, the district champ, the 10s at 120 were 4-8 as a group.

District 11
Best weight class: While 120 was a struggle for District 10, it was District 11’s best performance, with two state qualifiers in runnerup Sean Campbell of Park Vista and third-placer Damian Swint of Atlantic Community. All four wrestlers contributed and created a 10-6 weekend.
Toughest struggle: 170 was probably the 11s’ biggest challenge, as the quartet advancing out of districts finished 3-8 as a group, with one Saturday qualifier.

District 12
Best weight class: The 12s didn’t struggle often, but their best weight was 138, where all four wrestlers survived into Saturday, led by St. Thomas’ eventual state champion, Region 3 champion Grant Aronoff. Monarch’s Zain Cruz also had three wins, reaching the blood round in the process, as the 12s finished 11-6 at this weight.
Toughest struggle: 106 was probably the one weight where the 12s ran into some trouble, with just two collecting wins (Douglas’ Jason Wolk did get to the blood round, however) in a 5-8 weekend.

Special mention
It’s tough for any kid to lose a match in the blood round, but the seniors who fell in the blood round deserve a special bit of kudos — particularly since many of them are now off doing other things (college, work, military, and the like). So this space will give props to them, in order of ascending weight class:
Robinson Cid (Wellington, 113)
Mike Medio (Santaluces, 126)
Leo Cusumano (Martin County, 132)
Hunter Carrithers (Ft Pierce Central, 132)
Zain Cruz (Monarch, 138)
Jiovanni Clarke (Taravella, 145)
Jonathan Roger (Monarch, 152)
Ethan Bennett (Royal Palm Beach, 160)
Rohan Richards (Palm Beach Central, 170)
Ryan Maine (St. Thomas, 182)
Julio Mirambeaux (Forest Hill, 195)
Dylan Berman (Boca Raton, 195)
Andrew Dennis (Plantation, 285)

Sometimes as we’re looking toward the future of a new season, it’s helpful to look back at the past.

We did that for a couple of months in the spring with our “The Season” recaps. No one in Florida recaps every team within their given coverage area, and we even learned a couple of additional lessons along the way there.

But one thing that often informs any preview of an upcoming season — even one as crazy as this one promises to be, between the impact of the FHSAA state duals series and the impact of “open” enrollment — is the tradition of what has gone before.

Area bragging rights are one such thing.

With that said, who — or better yet, which district — won 1A-Region 4? (our first of eight non-local posts, and I decided I would keep the same format as for the ones closer to me).

There are a few ways to figure this out. I’ve tried a couple in the past. This year, I’m going to try to keep it simpler. Maybe. I’ve been told I over-complicate things at times, most often by myself.

1. Points scored at the region (staged in Fort Lauderdale). It was a pretty spirited battle for both individual team and district top honors, but the team that was narrowly outpointed for first place — Somerset Academy — led the charge for District 15, which had 523 points to District 14’s 463.5. From there, it was a pretty sizable gap to third place, where District 16 finished with 309 points. District 13 was a shorter gap back of the 16s in fourth, with 281. As it turned out, District 15’s overall total was the fifth-highest statewide, second-highest in 1A (only Lake Highland’s turbocharged 1A-District 7 scored more).

2. Region champions. With half of the champions in the tournament (seven), District 15 matched the performance of the rest of the region, taking titles at 113/120/126/152/170/220/285. As would have been projected from the overall points scored list, District 14 came out second, with four champs (145/160/182/195). District 16 had two champions at 106 and 132, while District 13’s lone champion was at 138.

3. State qualifiers. This wound up being a little bit closer at the top, but District 15 held serve (I tend to mix metaphors a bit) here as well, with 20 state qualifiers (3 runners-up, seven 3rds and three 4ths) in all. District 14 again took the second spot, with 17 qualifiers (five runners-up, four 3rds and four 4ths). Surprisingly, given the points standings, District 13 moved more kids out to states, with 12 qualifiers to District 16’s seven.

4. Wins earned at the region. I checked each kid’s region performance. Wins were based upon contested matches (brackets that gave kids byes meant those kids did not receive wins, but brackets that listed forfeits, where the forfeiting wrestler was still on the bracket, did get a +1 for those). Kids that did not compete for whatever the reason but qualified out and were listed on the bracket were given 0-2 records. Based upon that, in terms of numbers of wins, District 15 had the most, with 98, but District 14’s win/loss percentage was better (91-73 to 98-84 for District 15). This difference was partially due to District 14 having fewer kids compete at regions. Likewise, District 16 had more wins than District 13 (67-60), but District 13’s win-loss percentage was significantly better.

All told, in a competition between areas, the teams in District 15 “won” Region 4. Here’s a couple of notes on each district:

District 13
Best weight class: The 13s had a few weights do better than .500, but in terms of best performances, I might go with 170, where they had a full set of Region 4 qualifiers, led by Canyons’ Sam Cannova’s runnerup effort, as well as a fourth from Prince Hall of Jupiter Christian. As a group, the 13s picked up eight wins at this weight, most that any group of District 13 wrestlers would win.
Toughest struggle: 152 was a weight where there was tough sledding, as the group went 1-8 on the first day of competition.

District 14
Best weight class: With individual team champion (and host) Cardinal Gibbons carrying the day, there were a few solid weights, but I’ll go with 113, where the 14s got three kids out (Calvary’s Michael Sarron 2nd after taking third at districts, the Chiefs’ Jed Huercamp 3rd and Coral Springs Charter’s Alek Chitty 4th) and put together a 10-6 weekend, the most wins at any weight for the district.
Toughest struggle: There were not many weights where the 14s struggled as a group, but one that kind of stood out was 126, where they were 2-6, with one blood-round qualifier.

District 15
Best weight class: With three qualifiers and a 12-5 overall performance on the weekend, it’s tough to argue with the effort at 126, led by region champ Hector Candelaria of Somerset Academy, third-place finisher Derrod Walker of Pace (who had to win four on the back to take that third), and fourth-place finisher Devon Smith of Jackson.
Toughest struggle: Although the 106s did get champion Chase Gillis of Archbishop McCarthy (fourth) out, the group as a whole had a 3-8 weekend.

District 16
Best weight class: The 16s got their strongest performance at 106, with an 11-6 weekend, all four kids winning at least twice and getting to Saturday. Region champ Jacob Delgado of Keys Gate led the way, with a pair of blood-round advancements by Coral Shores’ Zack Rodriguez and Pinecrest’s Christian Guzman.
Toughest struggle: 160 was a bit of a tough slog for the 16s, as the group as a whole went 2-7. Key West’s Jodael Deralus picked up both of those contested wins en route to reaching the final and finishing second.

Special mention
It’s tough for any kid to lose a match in the blood round, but the seniors who fell in the blood round deserve a special bit of kudos — particularly since many of them are now off doing other things (college, work, military, and the like). So this space will give props to them, in order of ascending weight class:
Brandon Molina (Keys Gate, 132)
Kameron Maynard (Hallandale, 145)
Ray Taltoan (Keys Gate, 152)
John Morin (St. Andrew’s, 160)
Armando Vanderbrook (Jackson, 160)
Johnathan Campos (Cardinal Gibbons, 170)
Vladimir Rochebrun (Monsignor Pace, 170)
Jerrell Hobor (Chaminade-Madonna, 182)
Josh Hettel (Key West, 182)
Curtis Brown (Ft Pierce Westwood, 195)
David Small (Cardinal Gibbons, 220)
Jose Santiago (Keys Gate, 220)
Malik Mosley (Ft Pierce Westwood, 285)
Jake Goldberg (Calvary Christian, 285)

Sometimes as we’re looking toward the future of a new season, it’s helpful to look back at the past.

We did that for a couple of months in the spring with our “The Season” recaps. No one in Florida recaps every team within their given coverage area, and we even learned a couple of additional lessons along the way there (h/t to a Lincoln parent for that).

But one thing that often informs any preview of an upcoming season — even one as crazy as this one promises to be, between the impact of the FHSAA state duals series and the impact of “open” enrollment — is the tradition of what has gone before.

Area bragging rights are one such thing.

With that said, who — or better yet, which district — won 2A-Region 1? (our first of four local posts — we’ll also bring you notes on the other eight regions, although not sure I’ll be as detailed just yet).

There are a few ways to figure this out. I’ve tried a couple in the past. This year, I’m going to try to keep it simpler. Maybe. I’ve been told I over-complicate things at times, most often by myself.

1. Points scored at the region (staged in Tallahassee). With two teams scoring 100+ by themselves (Pace 112, Tate 106.5), District 1 had 509 points to lead the four districts in competition. Districts 2-4 were fairly closely bunched up behind the 1s, with 54 points separating second (District 2, paced by Lincoln’s team title effort, with 378) from fourth (District 3, 324.5), with District 4 third at 356. Only seven districts statewide scored more than District 1’s 509, and just one in Class 2A (that would be District 7, the Brandon/Lake Gibson district).

2. Region champions. This packs the four districts a little bit closer, but District 1’s five champs (106/145/152/195/285) were the most, followed by four from District 2 (126/160/182/220), three from District 4 (113/132/170) and two from District 3 (120/138). That conclusion tracks a similar path that total points generated.

3. State qualifiers. Again, District 1 had a clear advantage, with 20 kids getting out to state (six runners-up, three 3rds and 6 4ths) from that district. As would be expected from the previous points, District 2 had a slight advantage (13 qualifiers) over the other two districts, with a slight flip-flop for third and fourth, in that District 3 had one more qualifier (12) than did District 4 (11).

4. Wins earned at the region. I checked each kid’s region performance. Wins were based upon contested matches (brackets that gave kids byes meant those kids did not receive wins, but brackets that listed forfeits, where the forfeiting wrestler was still on the bracket, did get a +1 for those). Kids that did not compete for whatever the reason but qualified out and were listed on the bracket were given 0-2 records. Based upon that, District 1 carried the day there, with a win-loss record of 115-93. None of the other three districts were over .500 as an entire group, but as it turned out, District 4 had the most wins (91-100), followed by District 3 (85-94) and District 2 (81-85).

So, I think the evidence is pretty clear. In a competition between areas, the Gulfside teams in District 1 “won” Region 1. Here’s a couple of notes on each district:

District 1
Best weight class: Tossup between 145 (title from Bailey Howes of Niceville, a third from Diego Calonje of Crestview, plus Kishma Davis of Pace reaching the blood round, the group as a whole going 11-5) and 285 (title from Joseph Pearson of Ft Walton Beach, a fourth from Murphy Bennett of Pace, and a blood-round appearance from Crestview’s Weston Tew, group as a whole going 12-6).
Toughest struggle: Only two classes were below .500 as a group, but the 170s were 5-7 (despite a runnerup showing from Chase Cleveland of Ft Walton Beach).

District 2
Best weight class: From a win-loss standpoint, the two-man group at 220 had the highest percentage, as Josh Martin of Lincoln took 1st and Bobby Williams of Chiles reached the blood round. Combined, the pair went 6-2 on the weekend.
Toughest struggle: The 152s were 4-7 as a group, with district champ Jeremy Burke of Lincoln picking up all the wins in finishing third and qualifying out of regions.

District 3
Best weight class: The 182s, by virtue of having one less loss, just edged out the next-best group, with three state qualifiers in Orange Park’s Reed Danielson (2nd), Englewood’s Michel Augustin (3rd) and Middleburg’s Bryan Heflin (4th); as a group, the four 182s were 12-6.
Toughest struggle: The 3s sent three wrestlers at 113; as a group, they were 1-6 in contested matches.

District 4
Best weight class: The 113s carried the strongest group effort, going 10-5 and sweeping the top two spots behind district/region champ Sean Arnold of Nease and district/region runnerup Nicholas Vugman of Bartram Trail, plus a blood-round effort from Matanzas’ Josh Bower.
Toughest struggle: Three groups went 4-8, but I’ll go with the 220s, who were 3-7 as a quartet. Runnerup Kolton McDaniel of Bartram Trail had all three wins for the 4s.

Special mention
It’s tough for any kid to lose a match in the blood round, but the seniors who fell in the blood round deserve a special bit of kudos — particularly since many of them are now off doing other things (college, work, military, and the like). So this space will give props to them, in order of ascending weight class:
Sullivan Gerlits (Pace, 152)
Cody Eastwood (Middleburg, 160)
Dylan Hanna (Middleburg, 170)
Jordan Hines (Niceville, 182)
Seth Martin (Milton, 182)
Bobby Williams (Chiles, 220).

We have our fourth schedule from 2A-District 4! I got a Facebook history mention that said I had 14 schedules this day a year ago, so I’m happy to report that this year we now stand at 16 overall (14 for the Northeast side), as Matanzas has reported in.

For most (more on this a couple of paragraphs down) of the Pirates, their season will begin at home on Saturday, December 2, with the one-day Matanzas Duals event in their home gym. From there, Matanzas will compete in the Capital City Classic, a two-day IBT hosted by Chiles, on December 8-9.

The Pirates will engage in 2A-District 4 FHSAA competition on the 13th, at Creekside, and then will travel south to Merritt Island for that school’s one-day duals event on Saturday the 16th. That won’t be all for the Pirates in December; Matanzas will travel away to Oakleaf for a dual on the 20th and then return to Clay County on the 22nd and 23rd for the St Johns River Conference tournament, hosted by Fleming Island at the Clay Fairgrounds.

With the possibility of region dual action being the first January date, what is scheduled as of now as the first date is the #BattleForFlagler, this year at Flagler Palm Coast on the 17th. The Pirates will host Atlantic on the 24th, then go back to FPC for the Flagler Rotary on the 26th and 27th. Matanzas will close out its regular season at Clay’s Green COve Springs Rotary, on February 2-3.

Pirate girls — and a couple stronger ones return this year — will begin with the Titan Clash on December 1 in Orange City. The Pirates have a girls’ tournament at Dr Phillips in Orlando on the 9th, the South Florida Girls’ Championship on January 6, as well as girls’ state, again at Dr Phillips, on February 9-10.

That’s 16 schedules! Who’s NEXT????

At Palm Bay HS, Melbourne
Back 2 School Bash

Saturday’s Results (locals only, all from Knights Attack)

High School
132: 4. Killian Prentice.
138: 3. David Parkes.
145: 2. Ethan Gustilo.

Middle School
70: 5. Hayleigh Turner.
80: 2. Egan Gustilo.

Grades 3-5
60: 3. Carter DeLosSantos. 6. Brianna Turner.

Grades K-2
45: 2. Ezekiel Rackley. 4. Estin Rackley. 5. Madison Garofolo. 6. Shian Gustilo.
50: 3. Carter DeLosSantos. 4. Estin Rackley.

We now have 15 schedules, a little more than 20% of the overall total, going into the end of August and the beginning of September. Fleming Island, our fourth schedule out of 3A-District 1 and 13th on the Atlantic side, came in earlier this afternoon.

The Golden Eagles aren’t going to spend a lot of time in the greater Jacksonville area, but will open at home on December 1st and 2nd, with the two-day Robert Northway “Keystone” Classic (not sure what format they’re going to follow, whether roundrobin or IBT) at this point. On the 8th and 9th, Fleming Island will be at Osceola’s Danny Byron Invitational, a two-day dual tournament that typically features several of Florida’s stronger teams. Then, on the 15th and 16th, , the Golden Eagles will go out-of-state to the St. Nic Invitational, hosted by Richmond Hill HS in Georgia.

Fleming Island will return home for what looks to be a massive two-day hosting job on December 22 and 23, when the Golden Eagles will host the St Johns River Conference tournament, the Bob Jordan Duals, and FHSAA district duals competition for 3A-District 1. If that wasn’t enough for their holiday time, Fleming Island will be returning to the Knockout Christmas Classic, again at Osceola, on December 29-30.

With the potentiality of region duals action on January 11, that would begin the Golden Eagles’ journey in that month. They’ll also be at Terry Parker’s Army Duals on the 12th and 13th, with possibly state duals the following weekend back at Osceola, on the 19th and 20th.

Uncivil War this year will be at Clay at on the 24th, but there won’t be much resting time after that, as Fleming Island will travel to Boca Raton to compete in the Tri-County Invitational, hosted by Olympic Heights, on the 26th and 27th.

But that’s not all! In a preliminary dual to a Southeastern University dual in Lakeland on February 1, the Golden Eagles will square off against 1A defending champion Lake Highland Prep in the Fire Pit. From there, the Golden Eagles will travel to Brandon for its annual two-day IBT, the Tony Ippolito Invitational, on February 2-3. Fleming Island will close out its regular season on February 7, with Senior Night against Lee.

We stand at 15. Who’s going to make us 16? Will it be YOUR school?