Month: May 2018

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2017-18).” Your donation dollars at work, folks.

This year, we’re not following a rotation scheme. We’re keeping it a bit more random this go-round. Using a highly scientific line of inquiry (our future Lady Matmen is making the random selections the rest of the way), our next installment in the series is Ft Walton Beach, our last team in 2A-District 1 and our second (kind of third, with the partial set of 1A-District 5 all in the books) completed district thus far.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past four seasons. At the request of a reader last season, we will note the accomplishments of each team’s senior class that will be moving on to new goals as graduates.

FT WALTON BEACH

You can see everything I have on the Vikings in 2017-18 here –>  FT WALTON BEACH

Win/loss record: 7-18 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Vikings’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: Ft Walton Beach opened the 2017-18 north Florida wrestling season with a loss to Choctaw on November 28, then took 20th in a very strong 23-team field at Border Wars that first weekend of December. Duals would be FWB’s format for the rest of December and a little bit into January. The next event would be the Vikings’ “Snow Day” event at Auburn HS in Alabama, aptly named because of, well, snow that shut down most teams from coming. After an 0-4 day there, FWB took a loss to Niceville in the inaugural 2A-District 1 duals tournament on December 16, then got busy with hosting their two-day Beast of the Beach event on December 21-22, where the Vikings picked up their first dual win over nearby rival Arnold, adding wins over Bozeman, North Bay Haven and Mosley for a 4-5 tournament. FWB avenged its loss to Choctaw on January 4, taking a dual victory to kick off 2018, and then was off until the 12th-13th, where it was 14th at the two-day Southeastern Pools roundrobin. The Vikings rallied for a midpack finish at Wewahitchka’s Gator Brawl (10th out of 20 teams), and then closed out their dual season with a 2-6 weekend at the North Bay Haven Bash in the final weekend of January. FWB took sixth at districts and then was 15th at Region 1, with one state qualifier. The Vikings…

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2018-19 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Weston Burbidge (sophomore, 23-29 at 106, district 3rd, 2-2 at regions); Brandon Mallin (sophomore, 33-20 at 113, district runnerup, 1 match from states); Caleb Tourgee (sophomore, 14-10 at 132, 1 match from regions); Tino Muniz (sophomore, 14-8 at 138, did not compete in post-season); Walker Robinson (sophomore, 8-19 at 138, 1 match from regions); Eddie Alexis (junior, 20-18 at 160, 1 match from regions); Corban Ferguson (junior, 7-9 at 170, did not compete in post-season); Kaleb Williams (sophomore, 13-9 at 182, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Owen Yancy (senior, 7-15 at 220, did not compete in post-season); Valentin Tristan (junior, 10-16 at 285, 1 match from regions).

Graduation losses (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) from this year’s team: Sterling Glover (12-19 at 120, 1 match from regions); Colwyn Mason (12-19 at 132, did not compete in post-season); Nick Woodward (39-9 at 170, district champ, 1 match from states); Connor Cleveland (22-6 at 195, district champ, region runnerup, 0-2 at states).

2017-18 MVP: We didn’t see a lot of Connor Cleveland this year, as he had a partial tournament only at Border Wars, and only appeared otherwise at Beast of the Beach in December, but Cleveland would wind up being the Vikings’ only state qualifier in 2017-18, winning his first 16 matches. He was second at the Southeastern Pools tournament, losing only to a very solid Tennessee wrestler. Cleveland then was out for the rest of January, returning only for Wakulla, where he had a tough tournament, finishing 1-2. But he would then finish off with a nice run in the post-season, with five consecutive wins that propelled him to a 2A-District 1 traditional title and a finals berth at Region 1, where he went six minutes and gave up only a simple decision to an eventual state placer and fellow Matmen MVP. Cleveland had a short state tournament on Friday in Kissimmee, but battled well, with two losses by decision.

2018-19 captain: With four multi-year starters — including both present and former state qualifiers — having moved on due to graduation, the Vikings are going to need leadership on the mat wherever they can find it in 2018-19, and one surprising source was the performance of freshman Brandon Mallin this past year. Mallin struggled at the start with the competition of Border Wars and Snow Day, losing his first three matches and getting a 5-11 start halfway through Beast of the Beach. But, from there, Mallin would go 28-9 the rest of the way, including a seven-match win streak that began at Southeastern Pools and continued through Gator Brawl, and an 11-match win streak that included an 8-0 performance at North Bay Haven Bash and an appearance in the finals at Wakulla. Mallin got to the finals at the 2A-District 1 traditional tournament, losing to one of the top 113s in north Florida, and had two bonus-point wins at Region 1. His recovery will be a good path to follow for the younger Vikings in 2018-19.

Heaton’s Hero: It’s not the same, quite, as being a senior and losing in the blood round at regions, but being a senior and losing in the blood round of districts is pretty dang close to just as horrific, and that was the fate for Sterling Glover this past season. After an 0-5 start, Glover won six of his next seven matches, but then struggled to establish any momentum in the second half of the season, going 6-13. He won one match at Southeastern Pools, but rallied to pick up five pins at Gator Brawl. That would be Glover’s highlight of the season, as he would not find a win in February, going 0-2 at both Wakulla and at the 2A-District 1 traditional tournament. For battling through the adversity of a senior year that didn’t go according to plan, Sterling Glover is the Heaton’s Hero for Ft Walton Beach.

Please support our independent journalism by going here and donating to our website: https://www.gofundme.com/north-florida-matmen

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2017-18).” Your donation dollars at work, folks.

This year, we’re not following a rotation scheme. We’re keeping it a bit more random this go-round. Using a highly scientific line of inquiry (our future Lady Matmen is making the random selections going forward), our next installment in the series is Marianna, our seventh team out of 1A-District 1.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past four seasons. At the request of a reader last season, we will note the accomplishments of each team’s senior class that will be moving on to new goals this summer.

MARIANNA

You can see everything I have on the Bulldogs in 2017-18 here –>  MARIANNA

Win/loss record: 8-10 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Bulldogs’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: Marianna began the season a hair outside of a midpack finish at Border Wars, finishing 15th out of 23 teams at the South Walton-hosted two-day roundrobin/IBT event. Week 2 saw the Bulldogs in a similar finish at Capital City Classic in Tallahassee, taking 16th out of 25 teams. The Bulldogs would rally in the dual format, however, sweeping four district opponents in the inaugural 1A-District 1 duals tournament to move on to the region level. Next up was Ft Walton Beach’s Beast of the Beach, where Marianna was 3-5 to take 11th place overall. The Bulldogs opened 2018 with a trip to the Scott Rohrer Memorial in Alabama, finishing 21st there in a 26-team roundrobin event. Marianna then fell to Florida High in the 1A-Region 1 quarterfinals on January 11, but rallied for a midpack finish at Lincoln’s Trojan Invitational on January 14 (10th out of 17 teams). Marianna then would finish in the top half at district rival Wewahitchka’s Gator Brawl on January 19-20 (8th out of 20 teams), and the illness-plagued Bulldogs would go 1-4 in the first day of competition at the North Bay Haven Bash on January 26. Marianna would come back for a midpack finish at the Clay Rotary on February 2-3 (18th out of 33 teams), and would post solid finishes in the post-season, with a third in the 1A-District 1 traditional tournament and an eighth at Region 1, scoring a very nice T-17th at states behind a third-place finisher. Marianna will lose that multiple-time placer, and another 2018 state qualifier, to graduation, but most of its depth in the starting lineup will return, so it should be another solid season for the Bulldogs in 2018-19.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2018-19 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Joshua Myers (sophomore, 11-9 at 106, did not compete in post-season); Neal Smith (senior, 34-21 at 113, district champ, 1-2 at regions); Dustin Arnold (junior, 6-26 at 120, 1 match from regions); Chris Calhoun (junior, 8-28 at 126, 0-2 at districts); Trenton Faust (senior, 11-32 at 132, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Jacob Crenshaw (sophomore, 0-16 at 138, 1 match from regions); Hunter Suggs (junior, 4-11 at 138, did not compete in post-season); John Maddox (junior, 34-24 at 152, district runnerup, 1 match from states); Christian Cossan (sophomore, 8-31 at 160, 1 match from regions); Jared Kyle (sophomore, 0-16 at 160/170, did not compete in post-season); Corey Davis (junior, 34-26 at 170, district 3rd, 1 match from states); Jonah Mercer (senior, 19-24 at 182, district 3rd, 0-2 at regions); Noah Johnson (senior, 5-13 at 220, district 4th, 0-2 at regions); Jason Rudd (junior, 11-14 at 285, district 3rd, 2-2 at regions).

Graduation losses from this year’s team (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience): Ethan Ellis (25-15 at 145, district 4th, region 4th, 1-2 at states); Dillon Melvin (17-19 at 160, did not compete in post-season); Cole Maddox (55-3 at 195, district champ, region runnerup, state 3rd);

2017-18 MVP: Cole Maddox made this selection the obvious choice for Marianna this past year, with his near-perfect run through the regular season, a District 1 championship, a Region 1 runnerup position and second state medal, parlaying all of that into a signing with NCAA Division I Campbell University beginning in the 2018-19 academic year. Maddox rolled through 47 matches without a loss, 40 of those via fall, en route to titles at Border Wars (7-0, 5 pins), Capital City Classic (4-0, 3 pins), Scott Rohrer Memorial (6-0, 5 pins), Trojan Invitational (4-0, 4 pins) and Gator Brawl (8-0, 8 first-period pins), plus unbeaten appearances in non-IBT events as well. His only losses on the season were to wrestlers who finished above him on the state podium, and even in the post-season Maddox picked up seven pins, with at least one in every round of competition (districts, regions & state). He did the work, after his freshman year, to put himself in this position, and if a wrestler ever embodied the phrase “hard work pays off,” Cole Maddox does.

2018-19 captain: Neal Smith had had his stretch of difficulties earlier in his career, so the way his post-season went down was a big improvement. After tough early matches at Border Wars and Capital City, in which Smith was 4-6 through the first two weeks, he would go on to win 11 matches in a row at 1A-District 1 and at Beast of the Beach, then, after the Trojan Invitational, won seven matches in a row at Gator Brawl, placing second at that tournament. After good tuneups at both North Bay Haven Bash and the Clay Rotary, Smith was well-positioned for a good tournament run in the post-season, and 2:04 later within the 1A-District 1 traditional tournament, he was the district champion, pinning his way through the field with three first-period falls. Smith then took a win at Region 1 as well, adding to Marianna’s eighth-place team finish. He’s known successes and some hardships, and that should be a good attribute to bring in 2018-19.

Heaton’s Hero: Freshman 160 Christian Cossan got thrown in against some pretty tough competition right from the jump in December, facing off against a defending state champion in his very first high school match. His only victory at Border Wars was a forfeit win, and he didn’t pick up a contested win until Beast of the Beach, but after dropping six in a row at Scott Rohrer, the Region 1 duals quarterfinal and at Trojan Invitational, Cossan started to figure some things out, with four pins at Gator Brawl, his best event of the season. He did add to Marianna’s team score at the 1A-District 1 traditional tournament as well, with a win by fall in the consis, but lost by just one point in the district tournament’s version of the blood round. For persevering in the face of much adversity this season, Christian Cossan is the Heaton’s Hero for Marianna.

Please support our independent journalism by going here and donating to our website: https://www.gofundme.com/north-florida-matmen

We also have results from the Southeast Regional, held last weekend at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Those follow here:

SE REGIONAL FOLKSTYLE RESULTS

SE REGIONAL FREESTYLE RESULTS

SE REGIONAL GIRLS’ FREESTYLE RESULTS

SE REGIONAL GRECO-ROMAN RESULTS

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2017-18).” Your donation dollars at work, folks.

This year, we’re not following a rotation scheme. We’re keeping it a bit more random this go-round. Using a highly scientific line of inquiry (our Lady Matmen, going forward, is making the random selections), our next installment in the series is Bradford, our sixth team out of 1A-District 4.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past four seasons. At the request of a reader last season, we will note the accomplishments of each team’s senior class that will be moving on to new goals later this summer.

BRADFORD

You can see everything I have on the Tornadoes in 2017-18 here –>  BRADFORD

Win/loss record: 2-7 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Tornadoes’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: Bradford opened the season with an appearance at a loaded Keystone Invitational the first weekend of December, taking 16th out of 18 teams. The Tornadoes stayed in the roundrobin format for Week 2, traveling to Titusville for the MyHouse Southeastern Classic, hosted by Space Coast, where they were 10th out of 11 teams. Next up for Bradford was the Tiger Duals, hosted by Columbia on the Saturday of Week 3, where the short-handed Tornadoes were 0-5. From there Bradford was off until Suwannee’s Billy Saylor Invitatonal, where they were eighth out of 12 teams. The Tornadoes had one of their better team evenings of the year in mid-January, taking two of three duals in their quad meet on the 17th. After a dual season-ending loss at Gainesville, Bradford followed that up with a 10th-place team finish at Yulee’s Battle of the Border IBT on January 26-27 and a 29th-place team effort at Clay’s Rotary IBT on February 2-3, which wrapped up the regular season. Bradford then used its star power to generate a fourth-place team finish at the 1A-District 4 traditional tournament, tying for 11th at Region 1, with two state qualifiers securing a T-56th place finish at states.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2018-19 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): James Smith (sophomore, 4-11 at 126, district runnerup, 0-2 at regions); Tyler Lussier (junior, 3-18 at 132, did not compete in post-season); Kelsey Cole (sophomore, 2-13 at 138, did not compete in post-season); Dylan Mead (senior, 152, 1 match from regions); Jordan Glover (junior, 145/152, did not compete in post-season); Elijah Langille (sophomore, 8-8 at 152, did not compete in post-season); Michael Porchiazzo (sophomore, 5-20 at 285, district 4th, 0-2 at regions).

Graduation losses from this year’s team (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience): Logan Montemurro (38-6 at 160, district champ, region runnerup, 1-2 at states); Jesse Burch (22-10 at 170, district champ, region champ, 0-2 at states).

* Not all results available due to partial missing results from Billy Saylor Invitational.

2017-18 MVP: With two state qualifiers, two district champions and two very solid seniors in the lineup in Logan Montemurro and Jesse Burch, Bradford — particularly down the stretch of the post-season — had a strong presence in IBT events. But we only pick one MVP per team, and based upon the entirety of the body of work of the entire year, Logan Montemurro emerges as the choice. After a solid 7-2 performance at Fleming Island, Montemurro won the MyHouse Southeastern Classic title at 160, was 5-0 at Columbia, 5-0 at Billy Saylor (where he took first) and 4-0 at Battle of the Border, where he also won the title. Montemurro won 28 straight matches before falling in the finals of the Clay Rotary. After that loss, Montemurro pinned his way through the 1A-District 4 traditional tournament, reaching the finals of Region 1 at 160, and picked up a victory in consi round 1 at states.

2018-19 captain: Junior Dylan Mead had some major struggles early in the season, with a 3-6 start at Keystone, just one win at MyHouse Southeastern Classic and one at Tiger Duals. But after an unknown performance at Billy Saylor, Mead seemed to start to pull some things together, going from a 5-17 start and wrapping up with a 5-7 finish, including three wins at Battle of the Border, where he placed third at 145 pounds. Mead had a tough finish to the season, dropping his last four matches, but his senior status will put him in good position, plus he will have gained some good experience watching what Montemurro and Burch were able to do down the stretch of the season.

Heaton’s Hero: We’ve had a string of upper-weight freshmen get the nod here at various schools, and Bradford will be no different, as freshman heavyweight Michael Porchiazzo got to see some of the state’s best 285s over the course of the season, and between inexperience and strength disadvantages, the outcome generally wasn’t favorable. Porchiazzo didn’t pick up a win until Tiger Duals, and didn’t pick up a contested win until Billy Saylor, where one victory by fall would be his only contested win of the year. But Porchiazzo kept plugging away and stayed in the lineup through districts and regions, and for that, Michael Porchiazzo is the Heaton’s Hero for Bradford.

Please support our independent journalism by going here and donating to our website: https://www.gofundme.com/north-florida-matmen

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2017-18).” Your donation dollars at work, folks.

This year, we’re not following a rotation scheme. We’re keeping it a bit more random this go-round. Using a highly scientific line of inquiry (our own Lady Matmen is making the random selections the rest of the way), our next installment in the series is Paxon, the sixth of seven teams in 2A-District 4.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past four seasons. At the request of a reader last season, we will note the accomplishments of each team’s senior class that will be moving on to new goals this summer.

PAXON

You can see everything I have on the Golden Eagles in 2017-18 here –>  PAXON

Win/loss record: 2-10 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Golden Eagles’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: Paxon opened the season on the first Saturday in December with a 10th-place finish at Terry Parker’s Arlington Optimist Invitational, but then rallied with what was its best night of the season, a pair of dual wins over FSDB and Raines on December 6. Those would be Paxon’s lone dual wins for the season, as they had a pair of losses at a Wolfson double dual on the 11th to close out December, then were 0-4 in the first day of Army Duals on January 12, then finished 14th at Gateway Conference on January 19-20. The Golden Eagles closed out the regular season with an 0-4 day at the Terry Parker Duals on January 27, and a short-handed team — just one wrestler suited up for districts — finished seventh at 2A-District 4 and 27th at 2A-Region 1. Based on eligibility, Paxon would lose a couple of seniors that have had prior match experience, will retain a few kids that have a solid dose of experience, but with just wrestler competing in the post-season this past spring, it’s very difficult to tell.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2018-19 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Corey Jones (senior, 11-14 at 145, district 4th, 1-2 at regions); Jason Rivera (sophomore, 6-10 at 220, did not compete in post-season).

Graduation losses from this year’s team (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience): None.

2017-18 MVP/2018-19 captain: As the only wrestler to suit up for every part of the 2017-18 season, junior Corey Jones was the effective MVP, and, given that his eligibility is not used up, Jones will be the Golden Eagles’ effective captain for 2018-19. Jones finished fourth at Arlington Optimist on the first weekend of the season, and was in the lineup the rest of the way for Paxon, going 2-2 at Army Duals, taking a win at Gateway, 2-2 at Parker Duals, and serving as the Golden Eagles’ lone representation at the Region 1 tournament after placing fourth at the 2A-District 4 traditional tournament. Jones’ record took some hits this year, but he was clearly the standout on the Paxon roster.

Heaton’s Hero: Freshman Jason Rivera showed some signs of promise during the course of the season, though — as it often does for freshman upper weights — progress was slow and hard-won. Rivera’s first three wins were all by forfeit, and those were the only ones he would have going well into January, with two quick losses by fall at Arlington Optimist, five more at Army Duals and another two at Gateway. But, at Parker Duals, Rivera was 3-1, with all three wins by pin. He didn’t compete in the post-season, but as the only other wrestler besides Jones with 15+ matches, his experience would be useful. Jason Rivera is the Heaton’s Hero for Paxon.

Please support our independent journalism by going here and donating to our website: https://www.gofundme.com/north-florida-matmen

Before I start to work on Paxon — and I have lines of inquiry out on some of the weekend wrestling as well — I wanted to post a recently-updated thank you to two new sponsors.

• Dustin Johnson. Parent of Jack. Thank you for your support on the Gulfside, and thank you for your service (Yes, I know I’m late for Armed Forces Day and way too early for Veteran’s Day, but still), as for that of Jack’s, as he’s signed his name on the line. Having done so myself back in the day — at a surprisingly much-safer time to do so — I know how much this means.
• Marie Leavitt. I don’t know which team gets your allegiance, or just my site generally, but I truly am grateful for your donation to our websites.

Our fundraising project continues.

Please support our independent journalism by going here and donating to our website: https://www.gofundme.com/north-florida-matmen

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2017-18).” Your donation dollars at work, folks.

This year, we’re not following a rotation scheme. We’re keeping it a bit more random this go-round. Using a highly scientific line of inquiry (our future Lady Matmen is making the random selections the rest of the way), our next installment in the series is Terry Parker, our sixth team out of 2A-District 3.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past four seasons. At the request of a reader last season, we will note the accomplishments of each team’s senior class that will be moving on to new goals in the coming months.

TERRY PARKER

You can see everything I have on the Braves in 2017-18 here –>  TERRY PARKER

Win/loss record: 6-31 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Braves’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: The Braves hosted the Arlington Optimist Invitational on the first Saturday of December, their only IBT appearance through December and early January, finishing seventh in the 10-team event. Duals — with several weights going unrepresented — were even more challenging for Parker, and the result was an 0-5 night at the Raider 6-Way hosted by Orange Park on December 8 and an 0-7 weekend at the Yulee Duals on December 15-16. The Braves picked up their first dual wins at Harmony just before Christmas, going 2-6 at the Longhorn Christmas Duals, and competed in the inaugural 2A-District 3 duals tournament just after the new year. Parker struggled to find a win at its own Army Duals two-day tournament, going 0-8 there, but did perform more strongly in an IBT environment, tying for ninth at Gateway Conference on January 19-20. The Braves had two wins at their Parker Duals on January 27, going 2-3 on the day, and then finished in the top half at the Florida girls’ state tournament, hosted by Dr Phillips in Orlando, on February 2-3. Parker finished the regular season on a winning note, with two dual wins, and then took sixth at the 2A-District 3 traditional tournament it hosted, with a 19th-place finish at Region 1 and a top-half showing, behind one state placewinner, at states (41st out of 84 teams). The Braves are losing just one regular starter from last year’s team and have a substantial number of girls returning, so their chances to fare well at girls’ state are on the upswing.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2018-19 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Amber Goodbread (senior, 11-15 at 106, 0-2 at girls’ state, 1 match from regions); Catheryn Penn (junior, 3-6 at 113, 1 match from regions); Andrew Hodges (sophomore, 2-18 at 138, 1 match from regions); Danielle Farmer (senior, 10-22 at 145, 1-2 at girls’ state, 1 match from regions); Ashley Saddler (junior, 23-16 at 152, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Mina Gibson (sophomore, 5-15 at 152, 0-2 at girls’ state); Darius Farmer (junior, 13-26, 1 match from regions); Landon Dains (senior, 43-4 at 170, district champ, region runnerup, state 6th); Emily Mills (junior, 13-13 at 182/195, girls’ state 4th); Ben Sabella (senior, 22-17 at 195, district 3rd, 0-2 at regions); Evan Blackman (sophomore, 13-15 at 220, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Evan Jefferson (senior, 23-18 at 285, district 3rd, 0-2 at regions).

Graduation losses (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) from this year’s team: Jalicia Hooper (6-15 at 120/126, did not compete in post-season); Jason Reed (16-12 at 182, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions).

2017-18 MVP: Without question, junior Landon Dains was the Terry Parker MVP this past season. Competing for most of the season at 170, Dains was undefeated in the regular season, with IBT titles at Arlington Optimist and Gateway Conference along the way, going 4-0 at Orange Park, 7-0 at Yulee, at least 8-0 at the Longhorn Christmas Duals and 8-0 at Army Duals. He only missed the home Parker Duals date on January 27 during the course of the season, and picked up a pair of first-period falls in winning the 2A-District 3 traditional title at 170. It would take a multiple-time state placewinner, and fellow Matmen MVP for his team, to remove Dains from the list of the state’s unbeaten wrestlers, in the Region 1 championship match. However, Dains rallied at states for two Friday wins and reached the semifinals in Kissimmee. He did take three losses on Saturday, by a combined total of seven points, but, in reaching the state semis, Dains proved himself worthy of being listed among the state’s best wrestlers this coming year — at whatever weight he’ll compete.

2018-19 captain: Along with Dains truly breaking out at the statewide level, one of the stronger surprises this year was the emergence of Ashley Saddler as a capable #2 points option for the Braves this year. Saddler had some struggles midway through the season — his competition at Yulee Duals and Harmony’s Longhorn Christmas Duals probably had the most to do with it — but after a 7-9 start, Saddler won 13 of his next 17 matches to eclipse the 20-win barrier. He placed third at Arlington Optimist and fourth at Gateway, with his highest IBT finish of the season coming at the 2A-District 3 traditional tournament, where he was third after going six minutes with one of the area’s highest-ranked wrestlers in the opening round. Saddler had two falls at districts and also won his opening-round match at regions by fall. He’ll be another senior that should be relied upon for a solid 2018-19 season by the Brave coaching staff.

Heaton’s Hero: High school wrestling can be tough on a lot of inexperienced freshmen, and that toughness factor only goes up as the weight goes up. Freshman middleweight Andrew Hodges certainly saw that this past season, with all 18 of his contested matches winding up in losses by fall, and just two wins — and both of them by forfeit. The first of those was in his first appearance in the varsity lineup, against Atlantic Coast at the Raider 6-Way, and the second came in the last week of the season, in a dual. But Hodges kept battling, with several appearances at Yulee Duals, a couple at Harmony and at Army Duals, a starting gig at Gateway, and he finished the year in the lineup at districts. For that stick-to-it-iveness, Andrew Hodges is the Heaton’s Hero for Terry Parker.

Please support our independent journalism by going here and donating to our website: https://www.gofundme.com/north-florida-matmen

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2017-18).” Your donation dollars at work, folks.

This year, we’re not following a rotation scheme. We’re keeping it a bit more random this go-round. Using a highly scientific line of inquiry (our future Lady Matmen is making the rest of the random selections), our next installment in the series is Rickards. The Raiders are our fifth team out of the district to be completed and this makes 1A-District 2 the first district to be completely finished.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past four seasons. At the request of a reader last season, we will note the accomplishments of each team’s senior class that will be moving on to new goals later this month or in June. EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to the truncated nature of the Rickards season, there will only be a partial post.

RICKARDS

You can see everything I have on the Raiders in 2017-18 here –>  RICKARDS

Win/loss record: No dual meets contested. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Raiders’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: Rickards only had three wrestlers on the Trackwrestling roster and participated in just three events this year, finishing at the back of all three of them. The Raiders had appearances at the Cam Brown Seminole Classic and at the Capital City Classic in December and also at the Billy Saylor Invitational in January. Two of their three roster members participated at Cam Brown, combining to go 1-6. One wrestler — the lone returner from last year’s team — was in the brackets at Capital City, but defaulted in his first round of action, and one wrestler went 2-3 at Billy Saylor in January, competing at 145. No wrestlers finished the year with double-digit matches and no Raiders competed in the post-season. We’re hopeful that Rickards will be able to compete in 2018-19, but with just one possible returner from the roster this past season, it’s clear that a reorganization is necessary if that is to occur.

Please support our independent journalism by going here and donating to our website: https://www.gofundme.com/north-florida-matmen

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2017-18).” Your donation dollars at work, folks.

This year, we’re not following a rotation scheme. We’re keeping it a bit more random this go-round. Using a highly scientific line of inquiry (our own Lady Matmen is making the random selections the rest of the way), our next installment in the series is Mandarin, our sixth team from this district.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past four seasons. At the request of a reader last season, we will note the accomplishments of each team’s senior class that will be moving on to new goals this summer.

MANDARIN

You can see everything I have on the Mustangs in 2017-18 here –>  MANDARIN

Win/loss record: 13-5 in duals. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Mustangs’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: The Mustangs opened the season in fine fashion, taking the team title at Terry Parker’s Arlington Optimist Invitational on the first Saturday of December, following that up with a solid fourth at the Westside Kiwanis Invitational, at Bishop Snyder, on December 8-9. After a pair of midweek wins in Week 3, the Mustangs were sixth at the Yulee Duals on December 15-16, going 4-3 in the two-day duals tournament. That was it for competition from Mandarin until the second week of January, at Terry Parker’s Army Duals, where the Mustangs were second with a 7-1 record. The Mustangs followed up with a runnerup team effort at Gateway Conference, finishing near mid-pack at the Flagler Rotary to close out January (T-17th out of 29 teams). Mandarin followed that up with a 20th-place finish at the Clay Rotary (33 teams). After a regular season-ending dual loss, Mandarin was seventh at the 3A-District 1 traditional tournament and 30th at Region 1 (38 teams). The Mustangs are expecting to return most of their nucleus of wrestlers, with just two seniors getting 15+ matches this past year, and should be in position to be solid in the city once again in 2018-19.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2018-19 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Nathan Bremer (sophomore, 17-20 at 106, district 4th, 0-2 at regions); Beson Hoxha (sophomore, 4-14 at 113, 0-2 at districts); Gunner Stier (senior, 20-14 at 120, 1 match from regions); Mitchell Conover (junior, 8-7 at 120, did not compete in post-season); Luke Hopkins (senior, 38-4 at 126, district runnerup, 1 match from states); Jamison Harris (senior, 26-11 at 132, 1 match from regions); Julian Trerotola (junior, 24-11 at 138, 2-2 at districts); Zach Nelson (year in school not noted on Track, 6-11 at 138/145/152, did not compete in post-season); Jake Kamins (senior, 22-9 at 145, ID’d out of districts); Dylen Worthington (senior, 17-13 at 160, district 4th, did not compete at regions); Kevin Castro (senior, 18-14 at 182, 1 match from regions); Triston Herndon (junior, 26-14 at 195, district 4th, 0-2 at regions).

Graduation losses (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) from this year’s team: Noah Colbert-Santana (10-16 at 152, 1-2 at districts); Max Beavor (19-4 at 170, did not compete in post-season).

2017-18 MVP: When junior Luke Hopkins came into the Mandarin room at the start of the year, he gave the Mustangs a lock-down wrestler that would be in the finals of nearly every tournament he entered this season. Hopkins won his first 15 matches of the season — including titles at Arlington Optimist and Westside Kiwanis, plus six wins at Yulee Duals before a one-point loss to a fellow MVP — and then won 20 in a row after that loss. That included a 6-0 weekend at Army Duals, a Gateway Conference title at 126, Flagler and Clay Rotary titles, and an appearance in the 3A-District 1 traditional tournament final at the same weight. No Mandarin wrestler had ever won five regular-season titles in the same season, at least since Matmen was founded. Hopkins hit a couple of roadblocks at 3A-Region 1, losing by a single point in the blood round there, but the season he had was full of accomplishments nevertheless, as he gave the Mandarin program much more visibility this year.

2018-19 captain: The way that junior Jake Kamins‘ post-season came to an end was particularly heartbreaking, given that Kamins had done so much off-season work to prepare for his junior year (and, from what I’ve heard, is doing so again already this year for his senior season upcoming). Kamins began with a runnerup effort at Arlington Optimist and a fourth at Westside Kiwanis, but it was at Gateway Conference that Kamins had the highlight of his season, where he had two pins and an 8-7 win to win the title at 145. Kamins did have some struggles at the Rotaries, 0-2 at Flagler and 2-2 at Clay, but was back in the lineup for districts…where he had to injury-default out. However, just his work ethic alone makes Kamins an example to emulate, and his Gateway title proves the work matters, and that will be key for the Mustangs in 2018-19.

Heaton’s Hero: We saw freshman Beson Hoxha make an immediate appearance in the Mustangs’ lineup at Arlington Optimist, showing up at 120. He was there at Westside Kiwanis, again at Yulee Duals, and for a portion of Army Duals and also Flagler Rotary. But eventually a post-season lineup was going to have to be determined, and Hoxha had to make the drop to 113 in order to compete in the post-season. He made his first appearance at the lower weight at the Clay Rotary, in the Mustangs’ regular season-ending dual, and again at districts, where he dropped a pair of 68-second falls to two eventual region qualifiers — one of those the eventual district, region and state champion. For making a late drop to help the team out, Beson Hoxha is the Heaton’s Hero for Mandarin.

Please support our independent journalism by going here and donating to our website: https://www.gofundme.com/north-florida-matmen

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2017-18).” Your donation dollars at work, folks.

This year, we’re not following a rotation scheme. We’re keeping it a bit more random this go-round. Using a highly scientific line of inquiry (our future Lady Matmen is making the random selections the rest of the way), our next installment in the series is Ed White, our fifth team out of 2A-District 3.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past four seasons. At the request of a reader last season, we will note the accomplishments of each team’s senior class that will be moving on to new goals in the coming months.

ED WHITE

You can see everything I have on the Commanders in 2017-18 here –>  ED WHITE

Win/loss record: 0-7 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Commanders’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: Ed White opened the season with an appearance on the first Saturday of December, a midpack finish (5th out of 10 teams) at Terry Parker’s Arlington Optimist Invitational. A week later, at nearby neighbor Bishop Snyder for the Westside Kiwanis Invitational on December 8-9, the Commanders were 13th out of 16 teams. Ed White would close out December as a short-handed group for the Yulee Duals on December 15-16, having its only duals of the season at that event. January onward was all IBTs and roundrobins for the Commanders, beginning with a mid-pack finish at Episcopal’s Rob Bierbaum Invitational on January 6 (5th out of 10 teams), then an 11th-place finish at Gateway Conference two weekends later. The Commanders closed out January with a 12th-place finish at Yulee’s Battle of the Border, then finished third at the Westside Roundrobin on the first Saturday of February. Ed White took fifth at the 2A-District 3 traditional tournament, with a 23rd-place finish at Region 1 and no state qualifiers. The Commanders will get back everyone except for one senior moving on, and if they can find some middle weights to represent the lineup, they could return to some prominence.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2018-19 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Bruce Harting (senior, 18-9 at 106, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Tyler Stoddard (junior, 6-10 at 120, district 3rd, 0-2 at regions); Austin Bustion (junior, 11-18 at 126, district runnerup, 1-2 at regions); Walter Goodman (senior, 8-11 at 160, 1 match from regions); Jackie Dinh (junior, 6-19 at 170, 1 match from regions); Antwon Jones (junior, 9-12 at 182, 1 match from regions); Landon Wilder (junior, 7-7 at 195, district runnerup, 1-2 at regions); Anthony Jones (senior, 12-12 at 220, district runnerup, 2-2 at regions); Larry McCurde (junior, 0-15 at 285, district 4th, 0-2 at regions).

Graduation losses (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) from this year’s team: Justin Stoddard (17-7 at 138, district 3rd, did not compete at regions).

2017-18 MVP: Junior Bruce Harting was the Commanders’ most consistent wrestler over the course of the year, with titles at Arlington Optimist, Rob Bierbaum and Gateway Conference over the course of the year. Harting won his first four matches of the hyear, with another four-match win streak over Gateway and part of Battle on the Border. What made Harting particularly successful this season was his ability to wrap up every win over wrestlers he would have been expected to defeat, and by season’s end he had closed significant gaps against kids that would have been considered heavy favorites against him. As Ed White’s only Gateway Conference champion this year, with two pins and a tech fall, Harting dominated the city scene at 106 this year.

2018-19 captain: Junior Anthony Jones showed some flashes of ability at a couple of points, though he struggled early on, losing six of seven matches at one point. But Jones righted the ship, particularly at Battle of the Border, where he won the 220-pound title en route to a five-match win streak. Jones was second at Westside Roundrobin and again at districts, and was the only Ed White wrestler to reach the second day of the 2A-Region 1 tournament. Along with Harting, Jones is going to be a key contributor in any steps forward that the Commanders take in 2018-19.

Heaton’s Hero: We didn’t see sophomore Larry McCurde until January, when he made his first appearance of the season at Rob Bierbaum. McCurde had appearances at seven tournaments for the Commanders, never getting more than two matches at any of them except for the Westside Roundrobin, and in every match he did have, the result was the same — a loss by fall. But McCurde kept coming back, even getting a chance to compete in the Region 1 tournament, despite there being a few different kids that could have competed at 285 for Ed White. For continuing to keep coming back, Larry McCurde is the Heaton’s Hero for Ed White.

Please support our independent journalism by going here and donating to our website: https://www.gofundme.com/north-florida-matmen