Month: September 2018

I want to know things. Always have, always will.

I want to fix things. So long as I can do it with just my brain. If I’ve got to use hands, I’m in trouble.

So for the next 12 days/two weeks or so, we’re going to take a deep dive into the 12 regions — today’s focus comes back to the First Coast area, along with its Orlando opponents, with 3A-Region 1 — and figure out which district “won” the region and also offer a fix solution to something we saw kind of statewide last year: the problem of forfeits in the region tournament.

The 12 region tournaments ought to have 16 kids in each of the 14 weight classes.

3A-Region 1 had eight full weight classes, and the six that did not also didn’t have many huge gaping holes in the bracket, so the solutions we’ve been posting for the past few days will make a re-appearance here today. We’ll start by walking through which district won the region, though there were several weights needing some alternates to fill in the gaps.

Who won 3A-Region 1? Let’s use the methods we applied a year ago.

1. Points scored: With two teams (champion Fleming Island and third-place Flagler Palm Coast) in the top three, and three more in the top 13, District 1 made a powerful case, scoring 530.5 points overall. Only one other district we’ve looked at so far scored more points in finishing second than District 3, which picked up 460.5. There was quite a gap from second to third, as District 4 had 267.5 points, with District 2 scoring 213.

2. Region champions: As they did in terms of points scored, the 1s also had a substantial hold on this category, picking up half of the weight-class titles (seven in all). District 3 had a solid five-champion performance, while District 2 and District 4 each had one.

3. State qualifiers: I wasn’t sure who was going to hold the upper hand in terms of numbers of state qualifiers, but District 1 carried the day, but only just, holding off District 3, 20-19, for a third category win. District 4 had nine qualify out for states in Kissimmee, with District 2 scoring eight.

4. Wins earned at the region: This also was touch-and-go for a bit, particularly as we went through the middle weights where District 3 is very solid, but strength at the top pulled District 1 through for a fourth victory, as the 1s finished with an overall record of 124-88. District 3 had a very nice 117-91 composite effort, while District 4 was third at 72-101 and District 2 fourth at 67-108.

I can’t quite call it a tech, but sweeping each category counts for something. I would call this a major, something like 15-3 or 16-3, with efforts to get that extra bonus point just running out of time, in favor of District 1 “winning” 3A-Region 1. Here’s the breakdown of each weight class, with a few additional notes on building a 16-wrestler bracket in the weights where that wasn’t present:

106
District 1: 7-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Flagler Palm Coast’s Trent Burke in 3rd and Fleming Island’s Louie Gagliardo in 4th).
District 2: 2-8, four wrestlers.
District 3: 13-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Hagerty’s Ryan Rowland as champ, Lake Howell’s Luis Pasarell as runnerup), plus blood-round appearances from Winter Springs’ Caleb Desroches and University-OC’s Zion Gonzalez.
District 4: 4-6, three wrestlers.
Fixing the open spots: With the bye produced by District 4 sending three to region, there would need to be a three-way play-in among first alternates to fill that 16th spot. District 1’s first alternate would be Buchholz’s Christopher Brown, by virtue of a head-to-head win earlier in the tournament. District 2’s would be Ocoee’s Isaiah Gomez, the only non-region qualifier in the district. There would need to be a match in District 3 between Lake Brantley’s Chris Labrecque and Lake Mary’s Ethan Garcia to determine the first alternate for that district. The three first alternates would then engage in a round-robin, prior to region start (either Thursday night or Friday at, say, 10 a.m., to determine a winner. Assuming all three show up and make weight.

113
District 1: 13-5 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Fleming Island’s Briar Jackson as champ, Flagler Palm Coast’s John Johnson in 3rd).
District 2: 2-8, four wrestlers.
District 3: 8-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Oviedo’s Gabe Rendon in 4th), plus blood-round appearances from Lake Mary’s Jared Purcell and Lake Howell’s Angel Giraldo.
District 4: 3-5, three wrestlers, one state qualifier (Freedom’s Christian Fields as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: Same as at 106. Earlier head-to-head wins in the district tournament would determine first alternates in Districts 1 and 2, with Sandalwood’s Leon Cruz and Windermere’s Paul Oslacky manning those spots. District 3 would come down to an additional match, with Lake Brantley’s Joseph Thomaston and University-OC’s Brian Santiago facing off.

120
District 1: 9-5 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Oakleaf’s Ryan Rosano as champ, Fleming Island’s Albie Snedaker as runnerup).
District 2: 3-8, four wrestlers.
District 3: 7-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Hagerty’s Dylan Kohn in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Winter Springs’ Allen Maxwell.
District 4: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Boone’s Jayden Bradshaw in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Freedom’s Amstrong Lubin.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers qualified, but 15 competed with District 2’s champion not wrestling. We would look to move up the District 2 first alternate, if there is one available, in this instance. Here, there could be two, with Olympia’s Raphael Seabra and Windermere’s Nicholas Donnelly positioned to wrestle off for that spot.

126
District 1: 9-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Fleming Island’s Jacob Sandoval as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Mandarin’s Luke Hopkins.
District 2: 2-8, four wrestlers.
District 3: 5-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Hagerty’s Carl Patrick.
District 4: 12-5, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Freedom’s Smaill Saint Pierre as champ, Timber Creek’s Corban Arana in 3rd, Boone’s Noel Soto in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

132
District 1: 10-5 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Flagler Palm Coast’s Avery Holder as champ, Fleming Island’s Jaquan English as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Buchholz’s DeAngelo Fletcher.
District 2: 4-8, four wrestlers.
District 3: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Winter Springs’ Matt Phillips in 3rd).
District 4: 8-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Boone’s Andrew Fletcher in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Cypress Creek’s DJ Dean.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

138
District 1: 9-6 overall record, with four wrestelrs and two state qualifiers (Flagler Palm Coast’s Michael Martins as champ, Fleming Island’s Dalton Williams in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Oakleaf’s Ethan Gustilo.
District 2: 7-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Apopka’s Dwight Parker.
District 3: 9-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Hagerty’s Ethan Woods as runnerup, Winter Springs’ JJ Contreras in 3rd).
District 4: 3-8, four wrestlers.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

145
District 1: 5-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Fleming Island’s Vince Hauser.
District 2: 7-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (West Port’s Jonathan Rodriguez), plus a blood-round appearance from Edgewater’s Jordan Albrecht.
District 3: 11-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Hagerty’s Devin Kohn as champ, Oviedo’s Dominic Isola in 3rd).
District 4: 5-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Timber Creek’s Carlos Matos as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

152
District 1: 6-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Flagler Palm Coast’s Curtis Brock as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Fleming Island’s Luke Chop.
District 2: 5-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Apopka’s Roody Edouard in 4th).
District 3: 12-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Hagerty’s Logan Perkins as champ, University-OC’s Kale Moore, the district 4th, in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Lyman’s Zion Trent.
District 4: 3-8, four wrestlers.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers qualified, but 15 competed (missing the 4th from District 1). As we did at 120, we would move up the first alternate from District 1 in this instance, meaning that Oakleaf’s John Descargar and Fletcher’s Tyson Petrie would wrestle off to determine that spot.

160
District 1: 6-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Buchholz’s Jordan Mobley as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Fleming Island’s Trace Insalaco.
District 2: 7-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Apopka’s Thanks Alcius in 3rd, Olympia’s Muib Akinyele in 4th).
District 3: 8-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Oviedo’s Wyatt Forsberg as champ).
District 4: 5-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Freedom’s Jordan Grant.
Fixing the open spots: Just like 152. 16 wrestlers qualified, but 15 competed (missing the 4th from District 1). Here, it would be First Coast’s Austin Mims and Robert E. Lee’s Ahmad Denmark wrestling to determine the first alternate position.

170
District 1: 11-6 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Fleming Island’s Paul Detwiler as champ), plus blood-round appearances from Buchholz’s Armando Acosta and Oakleaf’s Isaiah Graham.
District 2: 6-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Apopka’s Keyshon Talley in 4th).
District 3: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Hagerty’s Justin Segarra in 3rd).
District 4: 3-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Timber Creek’s Brian Santiago as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: Same as at 152 and 160, 16 qualified, 15 competed, with only the 4th missing from District 2. Wrestling for that open position in-district as first alternate possibilities are West Orange’s Shane Kelly and Wekiva’s Brien Palmer.

182
District 1: 11-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Buchholz’s Lawrence Smith-Jackson in 3rd, Flagler Palm Coast’s Wilbur Thomas in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Fleming Island’s Anthony Breeden.
District 2: 5-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Apopka’s Kendrik Koller as champ).
District 3: 10-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Winter Springs’ Bobby Williams as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Hagerty’s Ethan Lopez.
District 4: 2-8, four wrestlers.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

195
District 1: 6-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Atlantic Coast’s Jamari Broussard.
District 2: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Apopka’s Matthew Simms in 3rd).
District 3: 10-5, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Winter Springs’ Jessiah Contreras as champ, Deland’s Raymond Haverty in 3rd, Hagerty’s Matthew Kaplan in 4th).
District 4: 5-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Freedom’s Marc Dillard.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

220
District 1: 12-5 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Fleming Island’s Ryan Smenda as champ, Robert E. Lee’s Leo White in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Flagler Palm Coast’s Tyler Irigoyen.
District 2: 6-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Apopka’s Michael Handy in 4th).
District 3: 4-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lake Mary’s Will Litsey as runnerup).
District 4: 6-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from University-Orlando’s Wals Edmond.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

285
District 1: 10-5 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Fleming Island’s Jose Concepcion as champ, Fletcher’s Stanley Hollenbach as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Buchholz’s Aaron Menden.
District 2: 4-8, four wrestlers.
District 3: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lake Mary’s Ben Moxley in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Winter Springs’ Matt Saint John).
District 4: 6-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Freedom’s Darrell Lowe in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

So there you go. Nothing too crazy, but where there were holes in brackets, those are now problems solved. At least that problem; we’re not even getting into the really murky waters of a “true fourth” or a “true second.” I said I liked to fix things. I didn’t say I liked to fix everything, although I am intrigued by both. Keep in mind, my solutions WOULD make districts run longer. A couple of them WOULD require an earlier start to regions (either a Thursday night for the play-in matches, or a 10 a.m. start on the Friday, two hours before the rest of the competition begins). So there’s all that to consider, too. In my mind, a 16-man bracket is a really desirable thing to have, though.

Thanks for reading through to the end. Said it would be a deep dive. We’re going to go back to 1A on Monday, going back down to south Florida for Region 4. We are halfway done with this process, and we will look at who “won” states as well (I am guessing there will be very few alternates needed there, but we will have analysis if there needs be.

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

I want to know things. Always have, always will.

I want to fix things. So long as I can do it with just my brain. If I’ve got to use hands, I’m in trouble.

So for the next 12 days/two weeks or so, we’re going to take a deep dive into the 12 regions — today’s focus is on Southeast Florida and 2A-Region 4 — and figure out which district “won” the region and also offer a fix solution to something we saw kind of statewide last year: the problem of forfeits in the region tournament.

The 12 region tournaments ought to have 16 kids in each of the 14 weight classes.

Compared to the 1A regions we’ve looked at so far, this one was a bit more complete. Four weight classes had 16 kids right from the jump, but with the ideas we’ve been putting out there the past few days, all 14 weight-class brackets could be filled with 16 kids.

Who won 2A-Region 4? Let’s use the methods we applied a year ago.

1. Points scored: Like 2A-Region 3, the race for first place was a tight one, with District 14 champion Jensen Beach’s repeat performance providing enough oomph at the top to carry the 14s past a determined effort from District 15, 468-440, an average of just two more points per weight class. Not only was the race for first competitive, but 2A-Region 4 also was the tightest from first to fourth, as District 16 was third with 388.5 points and District 13 fourth with a solid 305.5-point total.

2. Region champions: The district leaders also pushed the pace in terms of champs, but this time it was District 15 that won the day, with six weight-class champions to District 14’s five. District 16 had two and District 13 had one.

3. State qualifiers: As would be expected given the comparative lack of point spread, the grouping was pretty even in this measurement indicator as well. District 14 just edged out District 15, with 17 qualifiers to the 15s’ 16. District 16 finished with 13 and District 13 had 10.

4. Wins earned at the region: If you look at wins alone, District 15 would take this category, with 101 to District 14’s 94. BUT. I also look at win percentage. Here, District 14’s record of 94-87 resulted in a win percentage of 51.9%, while District 15’s record of 101-96 was good for a win percentage of 51.3%. District 16 was 91-101 on the weekend, while District 13 was 76-98.

I’m not sure that, if this was an actual match, it would have gone into overtime, but I would say it would be something like a 6-5 or 8-7 decision, ever so slightly, in favor of District 14, but perhaps the District 15s might argue — discreetly and respectfully, of course — that one of the takedowns was out of bounds, or something.

So here’s the breakdown of each weight class, with a few additional notes on building a 16-wrestler bracket in 12 of the 16 weight classes:

106
District 13: 6-6 overall record, with three wrestlers and one state qualifier (Merritt Island’s Elijah Lusk in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Palm Bay’s Dominick Carter.
District 14: 9-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Suncoast’s Anthony Limauro as runnerup, Jensen Beach’s Nick Davenport in 3rd).
District 15: 8-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Archbishop McCarthy’s Jaden Villalobos as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from South Broward’s Moses Diaz.
District 16: 3-8, four wrestlers.
Fixing the open spots: There was one open spot due to the bye because District 13 sent just three kids to regions, so there would be an open competition for the 16th spot from the other districts among their first alternates. Each has one non-qualifier that would be that first alternate. From District 14 is Dwyer’s Coby Weiss, while Dillard’s Calvin Smith represents District 15 and Sunset’s Jorge Ramos would represent District 16 in that three-way play-in open competition.

113
District 13: 3-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Palm Bay’s Rocco Senia as runnerup).
District 14: 4-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Jensen Beach’s Kenny Hauck in 3rd).
District 15: 7-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (South Broward’s Anthony Montanez in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Olympic Heights’ Joshua Castillo.
District 16: 10-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Sunset’s Sebastian Calmet-Madone as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from Goleman’s Alexander Martinez.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers qualified for regions, but only 14 competed (the runner-up from both District 13 and District 14 were missing). We have the ability to apply in-district first alternates for each. District 14’s first alternate would be Dwyer’s Thomas Impoco, while District 13 would be determined in a head-to-head matchup between Bayside’s Kala Elwood and Heritage’s Austin Jones, who did not meet earlier in the tournament.

120
District 13: 4-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Eau Gallie’s Weston Blalock.
District 14: 3-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Jensen Beach’s Joey Tufo as runnerup).
District 15: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Olympic Heights’ Fabian Jaramillo in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from South Broward’s Joshua Rodriguez.
District 16: 8-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Hialeah-Mater Lakes’ Alexander Godinez as champ, Northwestern’s Jedidiah Herring in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers qualified, but only 13 competed at regions (4th place from District 13 and 3rd/4th from District 14). The District 13 slot could stay in district, with Sebastian River’s Gerardo Lemus and Viera’s Ryken Torgenson battling for first-alternate honors. There were no other kids available from District 14, so those would go into open competition from Districts 15 (pitting Archbishop McCarthy’s Brooks Hernandez against Blanche Ely’s Christian Moore) and 16 (Belen Jesuit’s Luis Gonzales-Pella against Doral Academy’s Gavin Roberts for first-alternate honors).

126
District 13: 7-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Palm Bay’s KeShawn Percy in 3rd).
District 14: 6-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Jensen Beach’s Luke Sopotnick.
District 15: 5-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Olympic Heights’ Michael Butler as champ).
District 16: 8-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Doral Academy’s Dylan Mira as runnerup, Norland’s Gabriel Duhart in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Goleman’s Ernesto Enrique.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers qualified, with 15 competing (missing only the District 15 runnerup). That would be replaced in-district, with an earlier head-to-head victory for Archbishop McCarthy’s Rhys Willenborg making him the first alternate.

132
District 13: 8-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Sebastian River’s Zachary Robertson as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Heritage’s Francois Ba.
District 14: 5-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Jensen Beach’s Wyatt Kirkham as champ).
District 15: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Olympic Heights’ Marcus Rivera in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from South Broward’s Alex Bazan.
District 16: 6-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Sunset’s Alejandro Gonzalez in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers qualified, with 15 competing (missing only the District 14 4th). As there are no in-district wrestlers available, that would lead to a three-way play-in, similar to that discussed at 106. District 13’s first alternate would be Merritt Island’s Dillin Cockheyt, while West Boca’s Elijah Castillo would advance as District 15’s first alternate by virtue of an earlier head-to-head win in the tournament. District 16 would see a face-off between Norland’s Elijah Salley and Central’s Schnieder Prevalus for its representative.

138
District 13: 9-6 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Palm Bay’s Chris Patterson as champ, Heritage’s Skyler Lammers in 4th).
District 14: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Jensen Beach’s Jake Tuschman as runnerup).
District 15: 4-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Olympic Heights’ Nick Kratka.
District 16: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Goleman’s Christian Rodriguez in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Springs’ Keith Ramos.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

145
District 13: 10-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Heritage’s Brandon Gregg in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Sebastian River’s Jordan Haraldsen.
District 14: 4-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Jensen Beach’s Caelin Cascione as champ).
District 15: 8-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Dillard’s Alexander Dixson in 4th).
District 16: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Mourning’s Breno Silva as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Goleman’s Raul Chavarry.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

152
District 13: 3-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 14: 9-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Port St. Lucie’s Montavious Yearby as runnerup, Jensen Beach’s Chris Williams in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Okeechobee’s Kallen Pineiro.
District 15: 8-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (South Broward’s Justin Maynard as champ, Olympic Heights’ Kevin Marroquin in 4th).
District 16: 4-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Hialeah-Mater Lakes’ Darien Unzueta.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers qualified, with 14 competing (missing 4ths from both Districts 14 and 15). District 15 can furnish its replacement in-district, with West Boca’s Jean Exavier as first alternate. There are no alternates available from 14, so that would be an open-competition play-in between Districts 13 and 16, with 13 sending either Heritage’s Jynien Dormevil or Viera’s Gavin Arevalos and 16 repped by either Central’s Chase Bland or Sunset’s Joshua Carrera.

160
District 13: 5-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Merritt Island’s Darren Higgins in 3rd).
District 14: 10-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Jensen Beach’s Hayden Zehe as champ), plus blood-round appearances from Okeechobee’s Travis McKenna and Palm Beach Lakes’ Cameron Durr.
District 15: 9-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (West Boca’s Gabriel Perez, the original district 4th, as runnerup, Olympic Heights’ Joao Ize in 4th).
District 16: 2-8, four wrestlers.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers qualified, with 15 competing (missing the 4th from District 14). 14 can furnish its replacement in-district, as South Fork’s Nic Lamb would be the first alternate.

170
District 13: 5-8 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Palm Bay’s Lewis Sergile in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Sebastian River’s Derek Babcock.
District 14: 9-4, three wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Jensen Beach’s Jack Sopotnick as runnerup, Port St. Lucie’s Emmanuel Noel in 3rd).
District 15: 6-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Olympic Heights’ Ethan Davis as champ).
District 16: 6-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Hialeah-Mater Lakes’ Reynaldo Rivera.
Fixing the open spots: 15 wrestlers qualified and competed. With District 14 having just three, that creates a three-way play-in for the other districts, all with head-to-head matchups for first-alternate status: Viera’s Dalton Hongell v. Heritage’s Sam Jean for District 13, Blanche Ely’s Lorenso Sanchez v. South Broward’s Alex Gutierrez in District 15 and Mourning’s Simon Rave v. Norland’s Deon Robiou in District 16.

182
District 13: 4-4 overall record, with two wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Merritt Island’s Brent Dansbury.
District 14: 6-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Jensen Beach’s Blake Wiswell as champ).
District 15: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Olympic Heights’ Roger Leon in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Northeast’s Jordan Sylla.
District 16: 6-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Goleman’s Massimo Fernandez as runnerup, Hialeah-Mater Lakes’ David Pozo in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 14 wrestlers qualified and competed. To fill in the byes for the missing two District 13 wrestlers, there would be an open-competition, three-wrestlers-for-two-spots play-in. District 14’s first alternate would be South Fork’s Luke Sheridan, while South Broward’s Travis Sutton repping District 15 in that same role. There would need to be a head-to-head in District 16, with Norland’s Archibald Pinder and Mourning’s John Ruiz squaring off for first-alternate status.

195
District 13: 3-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 14: 5-5, three wrestlers, one state qualifier (Jensen Beach’s Chad Nix as runnerup).
District 15: 10-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (West Boca’s Alex Bordeau as champ, Northeast’s Devyn Ricks in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Dillard’s Darius Paul.
District 16: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Norland’s Christopher Smith in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Hialeah-Mater Lakes’ Anthony Fernandez.
Fixing the open spots: 15 wrestlers qualified and competed. To fill in the bye for the missing District 14 wrestler, there would ordinarily be an open competition for the spot, but only District 15’s Patrick Robinson, of South Broward, would stand as a first alternate.

220
District 13: 1-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 14: 12-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Port St. Lucie’s Gavin Johnson as runnerup, Okeechobee’s Justin Drawdy in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Jensen Beach’s Sean Fitzgerald.
District 15: 6-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Olympic Heights’ Troy Jaffy as champ).
District 16: 9-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Belen Jesuit’s Joseph Schultz in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Norland’s Micha’el Wilmot.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

285
District 13: 8-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Viera’s Giovanni Allen as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Palm Bay’s Marquez Gordon.
District 14: 5-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Jensen Beach’s Jeret Harvey as champ).
District 15: 8-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Olympic Heights’ Brandon DiPrima in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from South Broward’s Kareem Crawford.
District 16: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Sunset’s Jonathan Esquivel in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

So there you go. Not too many thorny problems or wacky brackets in this one, but where there was a problem with holes in the bracket, it’s a problem solved. At least that problem; we’re not even getting into the really murky waters of a “true fourth” or a “true second.” I said I liked to fix things. I didn’t say I liked to fix everything, although I am intrigued by both. Keep in mind, my solutions WOULD make districts run longer. A couple of them WOULD require an earlier start to regions (either a Thursday night for the play-in matches, or a 10 a.m. start on the Friday, two hours before the rest of the competition begins). So there’s all that to consider, too. In my mind, a 16-man bracket is a really desirable thing to have, though.

Thanks for reading through to the end. Said it would be a deep dive. We’re going to jump over to 3A on Sunday, and get truly local to our area for the first time, with a look at Region 1.

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

I want to know things. Always have, always will.

I want to fix things. So long as I can do it with just my brain. If I’ve got to use hands, I’m in trouble.

So for the next 12 days/two weeks or so, we’re going to take a deep dive into the 12 regions — starting with 1A-Region 2 — and figure out which district “won” the region and also offer a fix solution to something we saw kind of statewide last year: the problem of forfeits in the region tournament.

The 12 region tournaments ought to have 16 kids in each of the 14 weight classes.

1A-Region 3 would not have had that this past year, even with the very well-meaning ideas I’ll be adding to the mix. 138, 220 and 285 would still have been short of kids, because there were not enough alternates to fill the open slots.

But otherwise, there were kids in the region who could have wrestled to create a 16-man bracket.

So first, who won 1A-Region 3? Let’s use the methods we applied a year ago.

1. Points scored: Like their larger-school counterparts and regular-season opponents in 2A-Region 3, the district “team” race was pretty hotly contested. Ultimately, the depth found in District 12 was just enough — and having region champ Lemon Bay within the district helped — for the win, as the 12s narrowly outpointed District 10, 471-458.5. That’s less than one point per weight class. District 11 was a solid third at 359 and District 9 was fourth, but posted the strongest fourth so far, scoring 293 points.

2. Region champions: This measurement indicator favors star power, and District 10 had that in spades, with nine weight-class titles to dominate this statistic. District 9 pulled together three upperweight champs to surge past District 12’s two for second place, with District 11 going gold-less.

3. State qualifiers: District 12 re-emerged as the leader, with 19 overall qualifiers. Despite just the two champs, the 12s had a solid four runners-up and seven thirds. The nine champs carried District 10 to second place, with 16 qualifiers, but depth proved to be an issue. District 11 had seven runners-up and a total of 12 qualifiers, while District 9 had nine.

4. Wins earned at the region: I have District 12 wrestlers with the most wins and best percentage on the tournament, going 106-91. District 10 just peeked over the .500 line, at 87-84, while District 11 was 80-100 and District 9 was 64-93.

The match would go a full six minutes, and I don’t think there’d be bonus points in play, but I would give a 10-6 “win” to District 12 as the winner of Region 3.

Here’s the breakdown of each weight class:

106
District 9: 10-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Tenoroc’s Darrell Page in 3rd and Avon Park’s David Rodriguez in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from McKeel Academy’s Guy Yodock.
District 10: 1-6, three wrestlers.
District 11: 3-6, three wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Sarasota Military’s Sammy Varley.
District 12: 6-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lemon Bay’s Bryce Taranto as champ, Imagine School’s Gannon Wertz as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: There were two byes in the field, plus two additional District 12 slots opened up prior to the opening of competition on Friday. One of those two slots ought to go to the only non-qualifier and automatic “first alternate” of the district, Clewiston’s Ashfak Chowdurdy. The other three spots would all have to be filled by District 9 kids, as they had eight wrestlers in that bracket. You’d have, using the approaches I’ve outlined in the previous 3 installments, a battle for first alternate between Frostproof’s Daiveon Pittman and Mulberry’s Skylar Dangle. For the first time, there’d be a match for third alternate that would be determined via head-to-head, with Lake Wales’ Amy Espinoza and Lake Placid’s Isaac Genho wrestling for that. Then, depending on outcomes, you might have to sort through prior matchups to get a “true” second alternate. Here’s an example based STRICTLY on records submitted to the district. If Dangle and Espinoza won, then Pittman would be second alternate and Espinoza third, because they would have wrestled earlier in the tournament. There are other outcomes here, but like you, I want to move on.

113
District 9: 4-6 overall record, with three wrestlers. Blood-round appearances from McKeel Academy’s Cody Brown and Victory Christian’s Justin Lewis.
District 10: 6-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Tampa Prep’s Ben Buhler as champ).
District 11: 10-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Ste Stephen’s Jake Manning in 3rd, Admiral Farragut’s Guillaume Chevrier in 4th).
District 12: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Immokalee’s Roche Pierre as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: Just one open slot due to 9 sending three kids. Would have a round-robin “play-in” between the other three districts to determine the 16th kid. District 12’s first alternate would be Oasis’s Logan Rood. District 10 would have a faceoff for first alternate between Spoto’s Jose Leon and Fivay’s Dominick DePerno, while District 11 would see Gibbs’ Sanchez Maltsby and Bradenton Christian’s Colt Lewis square off.

120
District 9: 3-5 overall record, with three wrestlers and one state qualifier (McKeel Academy’s Marlon Benavidez in 3rd).
District 10: 3-4, two wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Zephyrhills Christian’s Antonio Spencer.
District 11: 7-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Admiral Farragut’s Caleb Lemmons as runnerup and Clearwater CC’s Will Amamuah-Mensah in 4th).
District 12: 7-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lemon Bay’s Albert Werden as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from Immokalee’s Jean St. Fleur.
Fixing the open spots: There were three byes in the tournament, and a fourth wrestler from District 12 who did not compete. That spot should be filled by a 12er, with Imagine School’s Tyler Rodriguez against Labelle’s Zach Mann for first alternate. The other two spots would have to be filled by District 11. Would see Lakewood’s Hope Sherman vs. Booker’s Anthony Perez; with a Perez victory, Sherman would face Bradenton Christian’s Wyatt Nelson for second alternate status.

126
District 9: 4-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearances from Avon Park’s Timothy Ferreira and McKeel Academy’s Cole Friend.
District 10: 8-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Zephyrhills Christian’s John DeAugustino as champ, Tampa Prep’s Alan Morano as runnerup).
District 11: 4-8, four wrestlers.
District 12: 8-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Immokalee’s Gabriel Ramirez in 3rd, Lemon Bay’s Tyler Brady in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 16 advanced and 14 competed, with one each from Districts 10 and 11 missing. Can be replaced within district, as Berkeley Prep’s Anthony Broome would face Spoto’s Jasee Austin in District 10 and Bradenton Christian’s Liam Emmons would wrestle Booker’s Anastasia Pollak in District 11, both for first-alternate status.

132
District 9: 1-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 10: 14-5, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Carrollwood Day’s Jonathan Conrad as champ, Zephyrhills Christian’s Javan Smith in 3rd and Berkeley Prep’s Robert Heyck in 4th).
District 11: 5-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearances from Booker’s Adrian Guzman and Admiral Farragut’s Erik Sokolowski.
District 12: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Immokalee’s Neverteson Lahens as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: One open spot due to a District 9 wrestler (the champion) not competing at regions, we would replace with the only non-qualifier from the district, first alternate Justin Daniels of Lake Wales (after shuffling the order of the District 9 kids so that Daniels would be slotted to face, in this case, Lahens in round 1).

138
District 9: 2-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 10: 5-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Tampa Prep’s Troy Nation as champ).
District 11: 8-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Northside Christian’s Nick Carbone as runnerup, St. Stephen’s Maxwell Manning in 4th).
District 12: 9-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lemon Bay’s Tripp Lytle in 3rd), plus blood-round appearances from Imagine School’s Lance Schyck and Clewiston’s Jesus Fonseca.

Fixing the open spots: This one would have an open slot no matter what happens, as there were two District 9 competitors (runnerup and 4th) that did not compete at regions. First alternate Parker Carney of Lake Placid would take one of those two open spots, the third spot, as the third-place finisher would move up to the runnerup spot.

145
District 9: 2-4 overall record, with three wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Mulberry’s Marcos Pecina.
District 10: 7-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Carrollwood Day’s Grayson Fisher as champ, Zephyrhills Christian’s Johnny Casarez in 4th).
District 11: 4-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Clearwater CC’s Jake Mitchell as runnerup).
District 12: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lemon Bay’s Derick Dagg in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Immokalee’s Nicolas Turrubiartez.
Fixing the open spots: There were 15 qualifiers to regions, but only 12 competed in the tournament. Two of the qualifiers that didn’t wrestle were from Districts 10 and 12, respectively. District 12 could fill in with first alternate Adrian Faircloth of Dunbar, while there would be a head-to-head for first-alternate status between Berkeley Prep’s Tucker Hurst and Spoto’s Tiernan Eutsey. One of the two remaining spots could be filled by first-alternate candidates Cole Zsido of Tarpon Springs or Jakob Shepherd of Lakewood from District 11, with perhaps the other one coming from one of the two second alternates from Districts 10 or 11.

152
District 9: 3-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 10: 9-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Tampa Prep’s Anthony Artalona as champ, Berkeley Prep’s Alexander Romanowski as runnerup).
District 11: 3-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Bradenton Christian’s Zach Mayer.
District 12: 13-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lely’s Herlan Henriquez in 3rd, Imagine School’s Luke Hefner in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Lemon Bay’s Marshall Locke.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

160
District 9: 7-8 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Mulberry’s Christian Dangle in 4th).
District 10: 8-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Tampa Prep’s Colin Nation as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from Spoto’s Tyrus Lee.
District 11: 5-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Sarasota Military’s Jovan Cine as runnerup).
District 12: 9-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Dunbar’s Ellottra Figueroa in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Immokalee’s Miguel Vidaurri.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

170
District 9: 4-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 10: 6-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Carrollwood Day’s Jacob Conrad as champ).
District 11: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Sarasota Military’s Mason Gordon as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from St. Stephen’s Jake Ross.
District 12: 10-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Oasis’ Alex Sacramento in 3rd, Lely’s Marlon Moreta in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Lemon Bay’s Payton Binns.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

182
District 9: 6-6 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Victory Christian’s Zachary Wendle as champ).
District 10: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Spoto’s Amneous Chambers in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Fivay’s Justin Miranda.
District 11: 8-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (St. Stephen’s Parker Lansberg in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Sarasota Military’s Jacobe Scott.
District 12: 4-5, three wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lely’s Jacob Stephensen as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: Just one open slot, for Districts 9, 10 and 11 to play into. First-alternate slots would be manned by Mulberry’s Chance Marvin from District 9 and Lakewood’s Thomas Davis from District 11. In District 10, there’d be a faceoff between Middleton’s Marcell Martinez and Berkeley Prep’s Jonathan Hayden, with the three firsts squaring off in the playin.

195
District 9: 4-6 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Victory Christian’s Stetson Smith as champ).
District 10: 5-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Zephyrhills Christian’s Jalen Spencer in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Fivay’s Jessy Schooler.
District 11: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Southeast’s Cameron Rosario as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Sarasota Military’s Nico Gyorgy.
District 12: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Labelle’s Leland Wilson in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: We had 16 qualifiers, but only 14 competitors in the tournament, with one from District 9 and one from District 10 missing. The first alternate from 10 could fill the one spot, and that would be Spoto’s Marcus Sims. The other spot could see first alternates Leo Campbell of Bradenton Christian (District 11) and Evangelical Christian’s Dylon Nelson (District 12) squaring off in a play-in.

220
District 9: 7-6 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Lake Wales’ Lucny Jean as champ, Tenoroc’s Sean Monday in 4th).
District 10: 3-6, three wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Middleton’s Marc Joseph.
District 11: 5-5, three wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lakewood’s Wallace Neal-Williams as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Bradenton Christian’s Aaron White.
District 12: 5-5, three wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lemon Bay’s Brock Lavallee in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: There were three byes in the field, with a District 9 wrestler additionally missing. District 9’s first alternate, Mulberry’s Anthony Albright, could fill that spot, but unfortunately the byes would otherwise remain.

285
District 9: 7-5 overall record, with three wrestlers and one state qualifier (Mulberry’s Willie Lampkin as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Victory Christian’s Marckeith Holloway.
District 10: 4-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Zephyrhills Christian’s Malik Jones as champ).
District 11: 3-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Tarpon Springs’ Filaretos Filaretou.
District 12: 8-7, four wrestlers, two sttae qualifiers (Dunbar’s Judas McKenzie in 3rd, Lemon Bay’s Michael Morales in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: There was one bye in the tournament, but two additional slots opened up with District 10’s runnerup and fourth-place finisher both not competing. Those slots could be filled by first/second alternates out of District 12, Southwest Florida Christian’s Collin Duncan and Labelle’s Jeriel Thomas, but the bye, unfortunately, would remain.

So there you go. Problem solved. At least that problem; we’re not even getting into the really murky waters of a “true fourth” or a “true second.” I said I liked to fix things. I didn’t say I liked to fix everything, although I am intrigued by both. Keep in mind, my solutions WOULD make districts run longer. A couple of them WOULD require an earlier start to regions (either a Thursday night for the play-in matches, or a 10 a.m. start on the Friday, two hours before the rest of the competition begins). So there’s all that to consider, too. In my mind, a 16-man bracket is a really desirable thing to have, though.

Thanks for reading through to the end. Said it would be a deep dive. We’re going to jump back over to 2A on Saturday, staying south but moving from Gulf to Atlantic with Region 4. Time permitting; I do have several things to complete and a promise to keep in the evening.

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

I want to know things. Always have, always will.

I want to fix things. So long as I can do it with just my brain. If I’ve got to use hands, I’m in trouble.

So for the next 12 days/two weeks or so, we’re going to take a deep dive into the 12 regions — today’s focus is on Dade and southern Broward Counties and 3A-Region 4 — and figure out which district “won” the region and also offer a fix solution to something we saw kind of statewide last year: the problem of forfeits in the region tournament.

The 12 region tournaments ought to have 16 kids in each of the 14 weight classes.

3A-Region 4 didn’t have as many holes as 1A-R2, but had a few more than did 2A-R3 in Wednesday’s deep dive. We’ll start by walking through which district won the region, though there were several weights needing some alternates to fill in the gaps.

Who won 3A-Region 4? Let’s use the methods we applied a year ago.

1. Points scored: Thanks to a powerful performance from District 16 champion South Dade (which won both the region and state titles), the 16s carried the day, and did so almost entirely with three teams in the top five overall, finishing with 604 points as a district (South Dade’s 303.5 points very nearly outpointed the entirety of District 13 and the top two teams in the runnerup district, District 15. The 15s had 494 points, with five in the top 15. District 13 outdistanced District 14, 304-184.5, for third.

2. Region champions: District 16 was the class of the field here, with 10 weight-class champions. Each district had at least one champion, with District 13 — with its two Cypress Bay champs — edging both Districts 14 and 15 for second place.

3. State qualifiers: Not only did the 16s have champions, they had depth as well, finishing with 24 state qualifiers — nearly half of the available list. While District 15 had just one champion, the 15s did have some pretty good depth, bagging six runners-up, six 3rds and six 4ths en route to a 19-region medal haul. District 14 was well back of District 13 in points and behind the 13s for state champs, but edged the 13s in terms of qualifiers, 7-6.

4. Wins earned at the region: In terms of wins, the number of wins the 16s picked up was only slightly ahead of the 15s, but the 16s’ win percentage was much better, as District 16 was 118-81, a +37 margin, while District 15 was 115-98, at +17. Solid upperweight performances propelled District 13 to third place at 75-106, while District 14 was 52-97.

Based on the available information, District 16 techs the field en route to “winning” 3A-Region 4. Here’s the breakdown of each weight class, with a few additional notes on building a 16-wrestler bracket in the weights where that wasn’t present:

106
District 13: 3-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 14: 3-4, two wrestlers.
District 15: 9-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Columbus’ Gavin Buck in 3rd), plus blood-round appearances from Southwest Miami’s Nicholas Rios and Coral Park’s Omar Corrales.
District 16: 9-5, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (South Dade’s Luis Peraza as champ, Southridge’s Christopher Busutil as runnerup, Palmetto’s Corey Gallivan in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: There were two byes/forfeits/IDs in the bracket. First alternates from District 13, 15 and 16 could face off in a round-robin play-in competition to fill those two spots. District 15’s alternate would be Coral Gables’ David Mora and District 16’s would be Coral Reef’s Anthony Madriz. In District 13, you’d need a match between McArthur’s Dayan Rodriguez and Flanagan’s Tedaine Pierre.

113
District 13: 5-6 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Cypress Bay’s Santiago Portilla as champ), plus blood-round appearances from Cooper City’s Joseph Riestra and Miramar’s Eric Young.
District 14: 0-4, two wrestlers.
District 15: 4-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifer (Ferguson’s Nery Caceres, the district 4th, in 4th).
District 16: 7-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Southridge’s Anthony Siplin as runnerup, South Dade’s Isaac Duran in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: This bracket wound up being a bit of a mess, with 14 entered but only 10 competing. So there are six open slots to fill. Districts 14 and 16 do not have available alternates, so needing to determine first through third alternates (see our 1A-Region 2 post for an introduction of this concept) will have to take place. In District 13, Everglades’ Camryn Bharath will face South Plantation’s Jayson Perez for first alternate; if Perez wins, Bharath would face McArthur’s Muhammed Jawad for second alternate (Perez beat Jawad at districts). In District 15, Coral Gables’ Braulio Quintana would wrestle Coral Park’s Livan Curbelo for the first alternate slot. Both wrestlers defeated Miami Senior’s Darion Aguiar earlier in the tournament, so Aguiar would be third alternate — which usually wouldn’t make it into the field. This time, at this weight, the two third alternates would compete at region.

120
District 13: 6-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Cooper City’s Nicholas Luna.
District 14: 1-8, four wrestlers.
District 15: 11-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Columbus’ Charles Huffman as runnerup, Coral Gables’ Fashawn Renejuste in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Southwest Miami’s Jose Gonzalez.
District 16: 10-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (South Dade’s Bretli Reyna as champ, Southridge’s Ervin Bryant in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

126
District 13: 2-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 14: 11-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Miami Beach’s Daishaun Felton as champ, North Miami’s Angel Sanchez in 4th).
District 15: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Columbus’ Sebastian Melguizo as runnerup), plus blood-round appearances from Southwest Miami’s Zack Luis and Ferguson’s Fredy Rizo.
District 16: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (South Dade’s Tyler Khawly-Orta in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: There was one open spot due to a missing District 16 competitor. Districts 13 and 16 had no alternates, so first alternates from 14 and 15 could battle for that spot. In District 14, the candidates would be Dr. Krop’s Ran Meshulam vs. Hialeah Gardens’ Andrew Quirch, while Coral Park’s Caleb Mashburn would face Coral Gables’ Leandro Sierra.

132
District 13: 4-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 14: 8-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Mater Academy’s Jonathan Ley in 3rd, North Miami’s Jackson Wenberg in 4th).
District 15: 9-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Southwest Miami’s Julian Hernandez as runnerup), plus blood-round appearances from Coral Gables’ Angel Perez and Columbus’ Ryan Doll.
District 16: 5-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (South Dade’s Joshua Swan as champ).
Fixing the open spots: There was one open slot due to a missing District 14 wrestler; that district had no alternates with which to fill in the gap. So there would be a three-way playin for that one spot. District 13 contestants for first alternate would be South Plantation’s David Hernandez vs. Nova’s Jeremie Veitch, while Ferguson’s Jensen Caceres faces Coral Park’s Hector Diaz in District 15 and Homestead’s Mekhi Gardner takes on Killian’s Christopher Grijales in District 16.

138
District 13: 2-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 14: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Mater Academy’s Steven Villalobos in 3rd).
District 15: 10-5, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Southwest Miami’s Alex Urquiza as champ, Columbus’ David Milton as runnerup, South Miami’s Brandon Ochoa in 4th).
District 16: 7-8, four wrestlers. Two blood-round appearances from Palmetto’s Charles Veliz and Southridge’s Cyrus Williams.
Fixing the open spots: There was one open slot due to a missing District 14 wrestler, with no alternates to fill in the gap, resulting in another three-way playin. Nova’s Zachary Siff is the only available wrestler from District 13. In District 15, Coral Gables’ Joseph Arroliga would face off against Coral Park’s Marcelo Saldarriaga, while Coral Reef’s Nicholas Espinal would wrestle Homestead’s Omari Byrd for first alternate status in District 16.

145
District 13: 2-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 14: 3-8, four wrestlers.
District 15: 11-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Columbus’ Ryan Gonzales in 3rd), plus blood-round appearances from Southwest Miami’s Andy Dematas and Coral Park’s George Llanes.
District 16: 12-5, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Southridge’s Johnny Lovett as champ, Palmetto’s Kane Vandemark as runnerup, South Dade’s Mike Flores in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

152
District 13: 4-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from South Plantation’s Austin Eason.
District 14: 3-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from North Miami’s Rivaldo Valmy.
District 15: 10-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Southwest Miami’s Sergio Valdes in 3rd, Coral Park’s Chris Ordonez in 4th).
District 16: 9-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (South Dade’s Brevin Balmeceda as champ, Palmetto’s Cardeionte Wilson as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: There was one open slot due to a missing District 14 wrestler, so a District 14 wrestler — if available — should fill it first. As it happens, there may be two, as American Senior’s Alexis Sully and Reagan/Doral’s Mohamed Bandar can face off for the first alternate slot (District 14’s runnerup was missing; if this were done as Illinois does it, the third-place wrestler would move into the runnerup slot, fourth-place into the third slot, and the alternate into the fourth slot).

160
District 13: 9-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearances from Cypress Bay’s Thomas Spurlock and Western’s Daniel Ellison.
District 14: 1-8, four wrestlers.
District 15: 8-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Southwest Miami’s Adrian Vidaud in 3rd and Coral Park’s Jonathan Oro in 4th).
District 16: 10-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (South Dade’s Todd Perry as champ and Palmetto’s Malik Nottage as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

170
District 13: 7-8 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Everglades’ Johnson Emmanuel in 4th).
District 14: 0-8, four wrestlers.
District 15: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Southwest Miami’s Michael Fernandez as runnerup), with a blood-round appearance from South Miami’s Angelo Madruga.
District 16: 11-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (South Dade’s Mikaelle Fundora as champ, Palmetto’s Jizreel Jeudy in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Southridge’s Zaire Terrelonge.
Fixing the open spots: here was one open slot due to a missing District 14 wrestler, so a District 14 wrestler — if available — should fill it first. As it happens, there are two who can wrestle off for first alternate, as Miami Beach’s Noah Dubur would face Hialeah Gardens’ Elias Simo. Again, this would require some bracket reshuffling, given that the original District 14 champ did not compete at region.

182
District 13: 7-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearances from Cypress Bay’s Johnathan Tariche and Nova’s Carey Allen.
District 14: 5-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Dr. Krop’s Emmanuel St Germain in 4th).
District 15: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Coral Park’s Sammy Bencid in 3rd).
District 16: 8-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (South Dade’s Corey Harvey as champ, Southridge’s Leonard Wooten as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: We did have a missing District 14 wrestler, and there are no alternates available from that district to fill in. There’s also none from District 16. Battling for the playin spot from District 13 would be South Plantation’s Nicolas Pena vs. Hollywood Hills’ Jadrian Labut for first alternate in that district, with District 15’s representative decided between South Miami’s Alejandro Gonzalez and Coral Gables’ Joseph Cardenas.

195
District 13: 5-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Nova’s Bryce Robinson as runnerup).
District 14: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (North Miami’s Denzel Addison in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Hialeah Gardens’ Julio Pardo.
District 15: 6-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Southwest Miami’s Ethan Vargas.
District 16: 10-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (South Dade’s Fritz Doublas as champ, Palmetto’s Christopher Green in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

220
District 13: 11-5 overall record, with four wrestlers and two state qualifiers (Cypress Bay’s Matthew Toribio as champ, Western’s Nicholas Casmass in 3rd), plus two blood-round appearances from Nova’s Blaise Luna and McArthur’s Eric Melvin.
District 14: 1-8, four wrestlers.
District 15: 7-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Columbus’ Henry Fernandez in 4th).
District 16: 9-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (South Dade’s Kenneth Crouse in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

285
District 13: 8-8 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Miramar’s La’Darius Bolden in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Cypress Bay’s Robert Graham.
District 14: 2-6, three wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Dr. Krop’s Issac Joseph.
District 15: 9-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Columbus’ Dylan Perez as runnerup, Southwest Miami’s Christian Sanchez in 3rd).
District 16: 5-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (South Dade’s Trayvonne Jackson as champ).
Fixing the open spots: 15 wrestlers were slotted in and 14 actually competed, with a missing wrestler from District 13. Replacing that one should come from within the district; Everglades’ Vandermer Faulkner vs. Nova’s Edward Pfitzenmaier sets up that first alternate. The other open slot would come from either District 15 or 16. Coral Park’s Lloyd Suarez would be that district’s alternate, while in District 16 Southridge’s Shamore Isaacs and Killian’s Alexis Rodriguez would face off, with those two first alternates then wrestling in a playin for the final spot.

So there you go. We had a few brackets where missing wrestlers was a problem (particularly 113 comes to mind). Now, that’s a problem solved. At least that problem; we’re not even getting into the really murky waters of a “true fourth” or a “true second.” I said I liked to fix things. I didn’t say I liked to fix everything, although I am intrigued by both. Keep in mind, my solutions WOULD make districts run longer. A couple of them WOULD require an earlier start to regions (either a Thursday night for the play-in matches, or a 10 a.m. start on the Friday, two hours before the rest of the competition begins). So there’s all that to consider, too. In my mind, a 16-man bracket is a really desirable thing to have, though.

Thanks for reading through to the end. Said it would be a deep dive. We’re going to go back to 1A on Friday, with a look at Region 3, time permitting between work and football coverage. Going to try to have that posted before I head off to my game.

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

I want to know things. Always have, always will.

I want to fix things. So long as I can do it with just my brain. If I’ve got to use hands, I’m in trouble.

So for the next 12 days/two weeks or so, we’re going to take a deep dive into the 12 regions — today’s focus is on Southwest Florida and 2A-Region 3 — and figure out which district “won” the region and also offer a fix solution to something we saw kind of statewide last year: the problem of forfeits in the region tournament.

The 12 region tournaments ought to have 16 kids in each of the 14 weight classes.

Compared to Tuesday’s deep dive into 1A-Region 2, 2A-R3 was far more complete. Just five weight classes had open holes in the region bracket. So, for the most part, today’s post will focus more on who won the region, though there were a few weights needing some alternates — and one where a new strategy has to be employed.

Who won 2A-Region 3? Let’s use the methods we applied a year ago.

1. Points scored: With District 11 champion Riverdale topping the field in the region, the 11s pushed through to a narrow victory over their rivals just to the south of them in District 12, 467.5-447. Quite a narrow margin, given that both districts had eight teams in them. District 10 was third, with 338.5 points, while District 9 was fourth with 224. So it was more competitive between the districts than 1A-Region 2, though I would imagine that tournament to be the most one-sided of the 12.

2. Region champions: On Tuesday, we saw that LHP swept the region, with 14 titles by itself. Here, there was more spread, but it clearly had a District 11 flavor, as the 11s picked up half of the titles (seven). District 10 was second here, with four champs, while District 12 had three.

3. State qualifiers: District 11 won the first two measuring indicators, but here it was District 12’s balance — three teams in the top six — that carried the day, with 19 qualifiers in all, including eight runners-up. District 11 was just behind, with 18 qualifiers, followed by District 10 with 13 and District 9 with six.

4. Wins earned at the region: The 11s reasserted themselves here, with the top overall record of 120 wins and 90 losses. District 12 peeked over the .500 mark, going 103-94, while District 10 was 82-94 and District 9 74-110.

I would have to say that, by a major decision (though probably a 12-4 or 13-5), District 11 “won” 2A-Region 3. So here’s the breakdown of each weight class, with a few additional notes on building a 16-wrestler bracket in the five weights where that wasn’t present:

106
District 9: 4-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 10: 6-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Venice’s Lauren Stone in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Braden River’s Brandon Tackett.
District 11: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (North Fort Myers’ Caleb Massari in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Riverdale’s Nestor Echevarria.
District 12: 6-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Palmetto Ridge’s Cullen Guerrero as champ, Barron Collier’s Roy Chiong as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: There were two byes/forfeits/IDs in the bracket. First alternates from Districts 9 and 12 could have filled those, with those two wrestlers in both districts that were eliminated in the consi semis being able to face off. In District 9, that would be Dunedin’s Dominic Molinari against Largo’s Bryan Le, and in District 12, it would be South Fort Myers’ Jordan Moore v. Naples’ Charlie Sonalia.

113
District 9: 6-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from East Lake’s Jackson Fessler.
District 10: 10-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Charlotte’s Donovan Cataldi as champ, Venice’s Nathaniel Parker as runnerup).
District 11: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Riverdale’s Lleyton Taylor in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Ida Baker’s Brandon Caride.
District 12: 4-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Palmetto Ridge’s Ben McCallister in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

120
District 9: 4-8 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (East Lake’s Jason Leggett in 4th).
District 10: 5-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Charlotte’s Vincent Grimaldi in 3rd).
District 11: 8-8, four wrestlers. Two blood-round appearances from Lehigh’s Thomas Barco and Mariner’s Bradley Weaver.
District 12: 8-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Estero’s Orande Smith as champ, Golden Gate’s Michael Gonzalez as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: There was one open spot, where a District 9 wrestler did not compete. My feeling is that a District 9 non-qualifier should get to compete in that spot; Osceola Fundamental’s Clifford Turner and Northeast’s Hunter Groen would be the first eligible for first-alternate status.

126
District 9: 6-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Dixie Hollins’ Hugh Herring as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Dunedin’s Jacob Krebs.
District 10: 5-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Charlotte’s Ted Gjerde in 4th).
District 11: 7-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Fort Myers’ Chris Rivera as champ).
District 12: 10-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Palmetto Ridge’s Francisco St. Surin in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Gulf Coast’s Dean Nunziato.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

132
District 9: 8-8 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Dunedin’s Pablo Lopez in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Northeast’s David Fitch.
District 10: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Charlotte’s Lucas Willis in 3rd).
District 11: 7-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Fort Myers’ Justin Rivera as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from Riverdale’s Coleby Barnes.
District 12: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Golden Gate’s Gerald Roger as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

138
District 9: 3-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 10: 7-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Charlotte’s Cody Rice as champ, Venice’s Dan Stone in 4th).
District 11: 10-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Riverdale’s Jared Dinh in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Mariner’s Mack Koselke.
District 12: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Golden Gate’s David Ortiz as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Palmetto Ridge’s George Zertopoulis.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

145
District 9: 5-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Dunedin’s John Jennelle.
District 10: 4-8, four wrestlers.
District 11: 10-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Riverdale’s Terrence Clayton in 3rd, Fort Myers’ Riley Hackworth in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Ida Baker’s Justin Shelton.
District 12: 9-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Cypress Lake’s Jalen Soto as champ, Golden Gate’s Andy Martinez as runnerup).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

152
District 9: 8-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Two blood-round appearances from Northeast’s Tavoris Smith and Dixie Hollins’ Cullen Macfarlane.
District 10: 2-8, four wrestlers.
District 11: 6-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Riverdale’s Nelson Ortiz as champ).
District 12: 12-6, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Naples’ Juan Cruz as runnerup, Estero’s Brian Opalensky in 3rd and Palmetto Ridge’s Mitch Hamilton in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

160
District 9: 8-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Dixie Hollins’ Coleman Bryant in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Dunedin’s Josh Felix.
District 10: 5-8, four wrestlers.
District 11: 11-5, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Mariner’s Christian Minto as champ, Riverdale’s Jesse Martinez as runnerup, Fort Myers’ Mike Edouard in 4th).
District 12: 4-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Golden Gate’s Ricardo Ramos.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

170
District 9: 4-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Dunedin’s Brad Thompson.
District 10: 7-4, three wrestlers, one state qualifier (Sebring’s Philip Sapp as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from Charlotte’s Dylan Mills.
District 11: 9-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Island Coast’s Dorgan Benbow-Boyd as runnerup, Riverdale’s Caleb Van Helden in 3rd).
District 12: 6-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Palmetto Ridge’s Lance Lecuyer in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: There was one open spot in the bracket, creating an interesting conundrum. Districts 9, 11 and 12 could all determine first alternates (Osceola Fundamental’s Zuri McClary v. Clearwater’s Zachary Rios in District 9, Lehigh’s Brandon Thompson v. Ida Baker’s Cohl Cray in District 11, and South Fort Myers’ Deven Morales v. Estero’s Andre Acosta in District 12). If all three first alternates showed up, you’d have to have some kind of round-robin play-in where the first alternate with two wins would advance.

182
District 9: 3-8 overall record, with four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Dunedin’s Desrion Arnold.
District 10: 5-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Charlotte’s Jose Valdez as champ).
District 11: 8-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Riverdale’s Damion Garcia.
District 12: 10-6, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Cypress Lake’s Jermaine Teague as runnerup, Palmetto Ridge’s Colby Singletary in 3rd, Golden Gate’s Devin Price in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: There’s one open slot that would have been a District 10 wrestler; District 10 had no other competitors other than the four who qualified out, so the analysis I used for 120 wouldn’t work. So we have to use the same play-in employed at 170. Barron Collier’s Esteban Hoyos would be the first alternate from District 12, while Dixie Hollins’ Anthony Stampone and Northeast’s Jachai Timothy would battle for first alternate status from District 9 and Mariner’s Christopher Gaines vs. Jonathon Sivak of Island Coast for District 11. Then a roundrobin playin to determine the 16th entrant.

195
District 9: 2-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 10: 8-5, three wrestlers, one state qualifier (Charlotte’s Anthony Andou in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Palmetto’s Alonso Houston.
District 11: 10-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Riverdale’s Darius Parker as champ, Fort Myers’ Greg Dennard in 4th).
District 12: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Cypress Lake’s Brian Gimenez as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Gulf Coast’s Niko Perovic.
Fixing the open spots: Same setup as at 170 and 182. Three battles for first alternate slots (Osceola Fundamental’s Dylan Spencer v. Largo’s Liam Noble in District 9, Cape Coral’s Eduardo Fajardo v. Lehigh’s Xavier Rodriguez in District 11 and Naples’ Christian Wolf v. Golden Gate’s Kevin Jean-Jacques in District 12). Then the roundrobin playin formula would come into play.

220
District 9: 6-8 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Northeast’s Takhari Bowens in 4th).
District 10: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Venice’s Jack Marble as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Palmetto’s Andrew Duncan.
District 11: 9-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Riverdale’s Jacob Stanbro as champ, Mariner’s Justyn Cordones in 3rd).
District 12: 5-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Cypress Lake’s Jean Malivert.
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

285
District 9: 7-8 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (East Lake’s Madison Davila in 4th).
District 10: 4-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Braden River’s Brendan Bengtsson as runnerup).
District 11: 9-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (North Fort Myers’ Adolphus Taylor as champ), plus two blood-round appearances from Lehigh’s Rigo Villa and Fort Myers’ Jamey Vasquez.
District 12: 8-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Cypress Lake’s Cole Lewis in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

So there you go. It was not much of a problem for this region, but where it was a problem, it’s a problem solved. At least that problem; we’re not even getting into the really murky waters of a “true fourth” or a “true second.” I said I liked to fix things. I didn’t say I liked to fix everything, although I am intrigued by both. Keep in mind, my solutions WOULD make districts run longer. A couple of them WOULD require an earlier start to regions (either a Thursday night for the play-in matches, or a 10 a.m. start on the Friday, two hours before the rest of the competition begins). So there’s all that to consider, too. In my mind, a 16-man bracket is a really desirable thing to have, though.

Thanks for reading through to the end. Said it would be a deep dive. We’re going to jump over to 3A on Thursday, with a look at Region 4.

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

I want to know things. Always have, always will.

I want to fix things. So long as I can do it with just my brain. If I’ve got to use hands, I’m in trouble.

So for the next 12 days/two weeks or so, we’re going to take a deep dive into the 12 regions — starting with 1A-Region 2 — and figure out which district “won” the region and also offer a fix solution to something we saw kind of statewide last year: the problem of forfeits in the region tournament.

The 12 region tournaments ought to have 16 kids in each of the 14 weight classes.

1A-Region 2 would not have had that this past year, even with the very well-meaning ideas I’ll be adding to the mix in just a bit.

106 and 113 would still have been short of kids, because nobody was eliminated at the district level in those two weight classes in Districts 5 through 8. You showed up, you made weight, you got another week to your season.

But otherwise, there were kids in the region who could have wrestled to create a 16-man bracket.

So first, who won 1A-Region 2? Let’s use the methods we applied a year ago.

1. Points scored: District 7, thanks to champ Lake Highland Prep’s awesome 378.5-point performance (enough to outpoint the entire total of District 6, more than double the District 5 total, and nearly outpoint the top four teams in District 8), was the class of the field with 688.5 points (we just added the actual points of each team together, no revisionist point systems this year). District 8 was a solid second with 557, followed by District 6 at 363.5 and District 5 at 137.

2. Region champions: Lake Highland Prep/District 7 swept the gold hardware. 14 region champs. ‘Nuff said.

3. State qualifiers: Behind those 14 champs, District 7 did have the lead in Kissimmee competitors, with 24 in all (four runners-up, three 3rds and three 4ths). District 8 was next with 18 (four runners-up, eight 3rds, six 4ths), followed by District 6 (six runners-up, two 3rds, two 4ths) and District 5 (one 3rd, three 4ths).

4. Wins earned at the region: I have District 7 wrestlers finishing with 124 wins and 77 losses on the weekend. Next best were the 8s at 101-94, followed by the 6s at 78-100 and 5s at 32-67.

OK. No surprise. District 7 was the strongest district in Region 2. So now let’s get some 16-man brackets going.

Here’s the breakdown of each weight class:

106
District 5: 1-2 overall record, with one wrestler.
District 6: 2-6, three wrestlers.
District 7: 8-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lake Highland Prep’s Danny Nini as champ, Master’s Academy’s Brandon Cody in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Gateway Charter’s Marshawn Green.
District 8: 8-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Space Coast’s Ryan Vite as runnerup, Astronaut’s Logan Kornder in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Cocoa Beach’s Josh Rivas.
Fixing the open spots: No alternates available.

113
District 5: 3-4 overall record, with two wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Palatka’s Drevon Wallace.
District 6: 2-6, three wrestlers.
District 7: 8-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lake Highland Prep’s Jake Wohltman as champ, Villages’ Cameron Rima as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Atlantic’s Azizbek Rustamiy.
District 8: 7-5, three wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Astronaut’s Carson Kirk in 3rd, Satellite’s Jacob Tihoni in 4th.
Fixing the open spots: No alternates available.

120
District 5: 3-6 overall record, with three wrestlers.
District 6: 2-8, four wrestlers.
District 7: 10-6 overall record, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lake Highland Prep’s Nic Bouzakis as champ, Bishop Moore’s Gavn Wheeler in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Atlantic’s Brady Bowles.
District 8: 11-6 overall record, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Cocoa Beach’s Michael Watson as runnerup, Astronaut’s Austin Carter in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Satellite’s Jaiden Rittenhouse.
Fixing the open spots: There was one wrestler from District 8, Rockledge’s Cameron Furnari, who did not qualify out from districts, and could be slotted in as a first alternate to complete the bracket — although he would have faced his district’s champion, Watson, in round 1. Not sure how you get around that. One problem to solve at a time.

126
District 5: 1-8 overall record, with four wrestlers.
District 6: 6-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Hernando’s Michael Brown.
District 7: 11-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lake Highland Prep’s Ryan Chauvin as champ, Bishop Moore’s Jake Wheeler as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Villages’ James Creech.
District 8: 10-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Astronaut’s Louis Cortez in 3rd and Space Coast’s Thomas Driscoll in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: No need here, this was the only bracket where 16 wrestlers competed in the first round.

132
District 5: 4-2 overall record, with one wrestler and one state qualifier (Crystal River’s Roderick Bruce in 4th).
District 6: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Hernando’s Josh Hulse as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Anclote’s Owen Lott.
District 7: 8-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lake Highland Prep’s Bailey Flanagan as champ, Villages’ Kevin Rochon in 3rd).
District 8: 3-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Space Coast’s Legend Newsome.
Fixing the open spots: We’ve got three spots to fill in this bracket. First alternates should get preference. There are five kids (three in District 6, two in District 8) that didn’t qualify. The 8’s relatively simple — have the two non-qualifiers face off to determine first and second alternates (Satellite’s Kyle Grant and Titusville’s William Watkins). In 6, have the two who lost in the consi semis (Weeki Wachee’s Aidan Mayberry and Gulf’s Zack Alexander) wrestle for the first alternate slot. If Mayberry wins, Alexander would wrestle Central’s Skylar Langon for the second alternate slot (Mayberry pinned Langon in the bracket). Then you fill the three open spots in the bracket by order of priority: first alternates, then seconds, and thirds).

138
District 5: 5-6 overall record, with three wrestlers and one state qualifier (Interlachen’s Cade Mason in 4th).
District 6: 11-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Gulf’s Solen Sheppard as runnerup, Hernando’s Josh Pritz in 3rd).
District 7: 6-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lake Highland Prep’s Noah Castillo as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from Villages’ Ethan Hatcher.
District 8: 4-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Space Coast’s Jason Amato.
Fixing the open spots: This one’s a little trickier. We’ve got at least one spot, perhaps two (there was an ID out of the tournament, and I’d like to fill these as well). There are automatic first alternate possibilities from 6 (Nature Coast’s Forest Tilson) and 8 (Satellite’s Rafael Lopez). 7’s first alternate could be settled on the mat between Masters Academy’s Theodore Mattingly and Bishop Moore’s Cole Yeager. So you have three first alternates and two spots. Sounds like you’d have to have some kind of “play-in” set up where two of the three first alternates would advance into the main tournament. It should be noted at this point that probably not every alternate would make the trip, but I can tell you from personal experience that, in Illinois at least, if you have a chance to weigh in and wrestle in the subsequent rounds of the post-season, kids are doing it.

145
District 5: 0-2 overall record, with one wrestler.
District 6: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Hernando’s Boston Tafelski as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Nature Coast’s Billy Fetzner.
District 7: 11-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lake Highland Prep’s Joey Silva as champ, The Master’s Academy’s Ryan Cody in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Villages’ Graylan Wilson.
District 8: 4-8, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Space Coast’s Anthony Minacapelli in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: Seven kids who could be alternates, three spots. Districts 7 (Gateway Charter’s Antonio Berrios v. Bishop Moore’s Sam Jones) and 8 (Titusville’s Colton Millington v. Rockledge’s Ryan VanSiclen) are pretty straightforward: winner is first alternate. District 6 would have to be the same setup as it had at 132, where Hudson’s Ezekiel Mercado and Central’s Andrew Perry would wrestle for first alternate, and, with a Mercado win, Perry facing off aganst Anclote’s Zafier Williams for the second alternate slot.

152
District 5: 0-4 overall record, with two wrestlers.
District 6: 9-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Anclote’s Andrew Ferrell as runnerup, Hernando’s Bronson Tafelski in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Weeki Wachee’s Joshua Coley.
District 7: 9-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lake Highland Prep’s Cameron Monzadeh as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from Bishop Moore’s Jacob Carbonell.
District 8: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Space Coast’s Reggie Bradley in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: There were two byes and one injury-default in the first round, so possibly three spots to fill for four kids. District 7’s first alternate would be The First Academy’s Sam Harris; District 6 has three possibilities, with Central’s Kevin Ramagli facing off against Nature Coast’s Cameron Carollo for first alternate. In the event of a Carollo victory, Ramagli vs. Hudson’s Jaden McDaniel for second alternate, and that could be a key battle with three spots in play.

160
District 5: 2-2 overall record, with one wrestler.
District 6: 2-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Hernando’s Austin McCombs.
District 7: 9-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lake Highland Prep’s Kai Bele as champ, Villages’ Riley Sorensen in 4th).
District 8: 9-6, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Cocoa’s Julio Escobar as runnerup, Cocoa Beach’s Ryan Pletcher in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Rockledge’s Devon Krajewski.
Fixing the open spots: There were three byes in the first round, plus an opening-round injury-default, so four potential spots for five kids to fill. District 7’s first alternate would be Bishop Moore’s Luis Perez, with head-to-head battles for that spot in Districts 6 (Gulf’s Jovanny Alamo v. Hudson’s Brice Philippus) and 8 (Satellite’s Ryan Ford v. Space Coast’s Cole Terronez). With four potential berths in play, could see a play-in match between the District 6 and District 8 second alternates.

170
District 5: 2-6 overall record, with three wrestlers.
District 6: 6-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Hernando’s Fernando Valdez.
District 7: 7-5, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Lake Highland Prep’s Max Cosmides as champ, Villages’ Ryan Hatcher as runnerup).
District 8: 11-7, four wrestlers, two state qualifiers (Rockledge’s Joseph Smith in 3rd, Satellite’s Joe Scherer in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Space Coast’s Marcus Santos.
Fixing the open spots: There was just one bye in this bracket, but there were also three opening-round injury-defaults, so potentially four open spots for alternates. District 6’s first alternate would be Ridgewood’s Mateo Feagley, while District 8 would see a head-to-head between Titusville’s Jared Guy and Cocoa Beach’s Ahmed Bouhali. District 7 would have a three-person setup, with The Master’s Academy’s Jax Johnson and Gateway Charter’s Liukel Padilla wrestling for first alternate. In the event of a Padilla win, would be Johnson vs. Atlantic’s Gabe O’Brien for second alternate. Could see a play-in battle of second alternates for that last spot in the draw.

182
District 5: 2-6 overall record, with three wrestlers.
District 6: 3-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Hernando’s Alex Espinal.
District 7: 9-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lake Highland Prep’s Erich Byelick as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from Villages’ Mason St. John.
District 8: 12-6, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Cocoa Beach’s Cole Mitchell as runnerup, Rockledge’s Devicq Thompson-Alexander in 3rd, Astronaut’s Blake Newberry in 4th).
Fixing the open spots: One bye and one first-round injury-default, so potentially two spots. That’s good, because there’s two first alternates ready to step into those positions — Atlantic’s Zach Jordan from District 7 and Titusville’s Charles Brown from District 8.

195
District 5: 4-8 overall rcord, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Palatka’s Bryan Smith in 4th).
District 6: 7-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Nature Coast’s Ashton Harding as runnerup), plus a blood-round appearance from Hudson’s Lukas Cach.
District 7: 10-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lake Highland Prep’s Logan Andrew as champ), plus a blood-round appearance from Bishop Moore’s Mario Hernandez.
District 8: 6-7, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Rockledge’s Charles Alexander in 3rd).
Fixing the open spots: There were 16 in the bracket, but also two first-round injury-defaults, so possibility for two alternates. Two ready-made first alternates are there — Hernando’s Johnathan Ahne from District 6 and Atlantic’s Nick Dono from District 7.

220
District 5: 0-4 overall record, with two wrestlers.
District 6: 11-6, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Nature Coast’s Mike Weston as runnerup, Hernando’s Qwenton Coney in 3rd, Hudson’s James Buehrig in 4th), plus a blood-round appearance from Central’s Jesse Sorensen.
District 7: 6-6, four wrestlers, one state qualifier (Lake Highland Prep’s Ben Goldin as champ).
District 8: 7-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Space Coast’s T-Jay Mitchell.
Fixing the open spots: There were two first-round byes, plus an injury-default in the opening round, so three possible slots. The District 7 first alternate would be Bishop Moore’s Nicholas Gomez. District 8’s first alternate would be a head-to-head battle between Astronaut’s Chase Blizard and Cocoa’s Hunter Gfeil, and there would be a three-person battle in District 6, with Gulf’s Josh Cruz taking on Weeki Wachee’s Jason McKnight for first alternate, and, in the event of a McKnight win, Cruz v. Brandon Butler of Ridgewood for second alternate.

285
District 5: 5-7 overall record, with four wrestlers and one state qualifier (Palatka’s Ira Dixon in 3rd), plus a blood-round appearance from Crystal River’s Brandon Dynia.
District 6: 4-8, four wrestlers. Blood-round appearance from Nature Coast’s Logan Wellman.
District 7: 12-5, four wrestlers, three state qualifiers (Lake Highland Prep’s Curtis Ruff as champ, Bishop Moore’s Andrew Cannon as runnerup, Atlantic’s Vernon Hamilton in 4th).
District 8: 3-4, two wrestlers.
Fixing the open spots: Two byes and a third opening-round injury-default make up to three slots available. One of those would go to District 7’s first alternate, Villages’ Ethan Zick. There could be a three-way battle in District 6 for the other two slots, with Ridgewood’s Caleb Williams v. Gulf’s Aemon Mostafa for first alternate, and, in the event of a Mostafa victory, Williams vs. Hernando’s Matt Platt for second alternate.

So there you go. Problem solved. At least that problem; we’re not even getting into the really murky waters of a “true fourth” or a “true second.” I said I liked to fix things. I didn’t say I liked to fix everything, although I am intrigued by both.

Keep in mind, my solutions WOULD make districts run longer. A couple of them WOULD require an earlier start to regions (either a Thursday night for the play-in matches, or a 10 a.m. start on the Friday, two hours before the rest of the competition begins). So there’s all that to consider, too. In my mind, a 16-man bracket is a really desirable thing to have, though.

Thanks for reading through to the end. Said it would be a deep dive. We’re going to jump over to 2A on Wednesday, with a look at Region 3.

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We got our 30th set of dates on Monday morning, but I was still digging through my email from last week, making sure all the i’s were dotted and t’s crossed on the customers built in my absence.

That took a little bit of doing, and we had a Super 32 post to pull together last night; by the time that was done, I was ready for some relax time.

So Wolfson is in, our fourth team from 1A-District 4, 30th overall, and fourth within the Gateway Conference to report. The Wolfpack will open with a road trip to the Palm Coast area for the one-day Matanzas Duals on December 8, then will have a pair of midweek events, both tri-meets, to close out 2018. First of those will be at Atlantic Coast on the 13th, along with First Coast, and the second will be a home date on the 19th with Creekside and First Coast.

Wolfson will be off until the second weekend of January, when the Wolfpack will compete in the two-day Army Duals event at Terry Parker on the 11th and 12th. It will host again on the 15th, with Stanton and Paxon coming over for a tri-meet to tune up for the Gateway Conference meet at Sandalwood on the 18th and 19th. Next for the Wolfpack will be a quad at Robert E. Lee on the 22nd, and the month — and regular season — will close for Wolfson with the Parker Duals back at Terry Parker, which is noted as a two-day duals event on the 25th and 26th.

So we’ve reached 30 schedules. Which school will be NEXT??

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North Florida Matmen staff report

KISSIMMEE — Stanley Hollenbach announced as soon as his qualification for the Class 3A state tournament last spring that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the year ahead.

Saturday, at Osceola HS in Florida’s only early-entry tournament for next month’s Super 32 preseason event in Charlotte, Hollenbach followed up that announcement with another statement, taking the title behind four victories in the 288-pound weight class.

Hollenbach’s closest match of the day was his first one, a 4-2 decision over Lincoln’s Jonquille Rivers in the round of 16, but that served as a good test for the rest of the day.

In the quarters, Hollenbach stuck Garage Boyz’ Max Diaz in 1:56, following that with a fall over a potential 3A-Region 1 rival in Winter Springs’ Isaiah Springfield, this one in 4:10 to get to the final.

There, Hollenbach decisioned another potential 3A-Region 1 rival in Lake Mary’s Jacob Donaldson, taking a shutout 4-0 decision for the title.

Five North Florida-area wrestlers all reached the finals in their respective weight classes.

On the boys side, the first of those was Matanzas’ Lawrence Russo, competing at 141 for Mutiny. Russo won four matches by decision and had a fall in the semis before falling to JJ Contreras of Winter Springs, 10-0, in the title match.

Competing for NFWA at 155, Bishop Kenny’s Joey Cusick also was a finalist, with a fall, two decisions and a 16-1 tech fall in the semis, but couldn’t overcome a solid Lake Gibson wrestler, Elijah Gray, falling 3-2 in the finals.

Also for NFWA, at 163, Fleming Island’s Tanner Hill battered his way through four decisions to reach the final, including a 5-1 decision in the semis, but then fell to Manatee’s Tylynn Lukens, 7-5, in the championship match.

In the girls’ bracket, Fletcher’s Ana Bradshaw — competing for Savage Strong — took second in the 100-pound bracket, winning her first match by fall.

Also on the girls’ side, Matanzas’ MaKayla Wilder — wrestling for Mutiny — was 2-1 in the 120-pound bracket to finish second in that weight class.

Three area wrestlers took thirds in their brackets. Luke Chop (Fleming Island/NFWA, 155) lost only to eventual champion Gray in the quarters, while Wakulla’s John-Trevor Hinsey (198) also fell in the quarters, to the eventual runnerup, before rallying back for third. Likewise, the War Eagles’ Ronnie Thomas was third at 223, losing only to eventual champion Christian Reynolds of Springstead in the semis.

Three area middle-school wrestlers brought home Super 32 early-entry titles. Liam Davis (Clay, 70), Kason Nichols (Buchholz, 120) and Jhoel Robinson (NFWA, 140) all were victorious.

Ryan Klein (Beach Rats) reached the finals at 160, while Roberto Cuartero (RCWF) was third at 120. Garett Schmermund (Ancient City, 85), Carter Wilder (Mutiny, 90) and Wyatt Leduc (Clay, 100) each took fourths.

Complete brackets can be found below this post here:

SUPER 32 BRACKETS

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Good morning from northern Maryland! My first blog piece written outside of the state of Florida.

We got Yulee’s dates Wednesday night while we were closing in on Pittsburgh (strong visit to the Panther campus). That’s our second set of dates from 1A-District 3 and 29th overall.

From what I’m able to tell, Yulee has a November date starting the season (I did send inquiries out), with a quadrangular in Georgia that includes one of its familiar Georgia rivals, Brantley County.

The December part of the varsity season kicks off with the Hornets making their annual road trip to Florida High for the Cam Brown Seminole Classic on the 7th and 8th, a two-day roundrobin event. Yulee stays on the road for a midweek tri meet on the 11th at Glynn Academy GA, with Wayne GA also in the mix, then will host its Parent Night the following night against district rivals Baker County and Raines. The Hornets will go to the Ridgeview Duals on the 14th and 15th, then will attempt to reclaim top honors in Nassau by hosting County on the 19th. Yulee stays in hosting mode to close out 2018, with the two-day Yulee Duals set for the 21st and 22nd.

The Hornets go back on the road for the first Saturday of January, road-tripping to Travelers Rest SC, just over the state line from North Carolina, for the Devil Dog IBT  on the 5th. Yulee will then host its two-day Battle of the Border IBT on the 11th and 12th, and will hold its Senior Night duals event on the 16th, with FSDB and West Nassau visiting. From there, there’ll be a short break until the final weekend of the month, when the Hornets return to Atlanta for the North Metro tournament, hosted by Brookwood GA, which has a duals component on Friday and an IBT component on Saturday.

In February, Yulee will travel out of the northeast area twice for its two varsity events, going to the Wakulla IBT on February 2nd, and then traveling to Ocoee for the Ocoee Mat Classic, a two-day IBT on the 8th and 9th.

That puts us at 29 teams. Do we hit 30 before we hit the road to head back, hopefully with a positive impression left (y’all parents of college wrestlers, you kind of know what’s up)? Will it be YOUR TEAM??

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We continue to close on 50% of schedules submitted with Pedro Menendez’s coming in while I was fighting over some probate issues that continue to linger. Yech. I recommend everyone go through it once. But only once.

Anyway, Menendez. Came in about an hour ago, and as I’m off today starting to prep for #EasternCollegeVisitsWorldTourTake2, I’m knocking them out now. The Falcons will start at region rival Bishop Snyder and its two-day IBT, the Westside Kiwanis Invitational, on December 7-8. Pedro Menendez will next host Episcopal for a midweek dual on the 12th, then will travel to Orange Park for the Raider Six-Way Duals held on the 14th. The Falcons close out 2018 just before Christmas, going back to Clay County, this time the Fairgrounds for the St Johns River two-day dual tournament on the 21st and 22nd.

January will start with Pedro Menendez heading to Episcopal for the one-day Rob Bierbaum Invitational IBT on the 5th, with 1A-District 4 FHSAA team dual competition tentatively slated for the 12th, and the possibility of Region 1 competition in both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds on the 17th, with state duals the 25th and 26th. The next regular-season activity has the Falcons going to Creekside for a tri-meet with the Knights and Yulee on the 30th.

Pedro Menendez has three events scheduled for the regular season in February, the first two of those being Rotary two-day IBTs, going to Palm Coast for the Flagler Rotary on the 1st and 2nd and then to Clay for the Green Cove Springs Rotary on the 8th and 9th. The Falcons will finish the regular season with a Senior Night dual at home against St. Augustine on Valentine’s Day, February 14.

So that is now 28 schedules in hand. Can we get to 30 before I hit the road tomorrow morning at 0500? Will YOUR SCHOOL be next??

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