Month: March 2019

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2018-19),” because we’re creative like that. Your donation dollars at work, folks.

Teams are being selected on a random basis. Our seventh installment for this season, and first from 2A-District 2, is Chiles.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past five seasons.

CHILES

You can see everything I have on the Timberwolves in 2018-19 here –>  CHILES

Win/loss record: 8-5 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Timberwolves’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: The Timberwolves opened tournament competition with a road trip to Jacksonville, where they were third at Terry Parker’s Arlington Optimist Invitational. Chiles had two more tournaments in December, hosting the Capital City Classic (16th out of 25 teams) and finishing fourth out of nine at Villages’ St John Memorial Holiday Classic just before Christmas. The Timberwolves began January with a third-place finish at 2A-District 2 team duals, finishing seventh out of 16 at Lincoln’s one-day Trojan Invitational in mid-month. Chiles had perhaps its best regular-season tournament finishes in early February, placing fifth at Wakulla’s one-day IBT and taking second at its own 10-team Timberwolf Duals. Chiles duplicated its dual team tournament finish in the traditional post-season series, with a 12th at Region 1 and tie for 50th at states. The Timberwolves will have 12 returners with post-season or other significant mat time returning in 2019-20, losing just two to graduation, so expect even more improvements next year.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2019-20 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Hunter Brown (sophomore, 23-16 at 106, district runnerup, 1 match from states); Brady Dawkins (sophomore, 2-9 at 113, district 3rd, 0-2 at regions); Olufemi Egberongbe (junior, 24-12 at 120, district runnerup, 1 match from states); Alex Adkins (junior, 16-18 at 126, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Mitchell Monk (sophomore, 8-8 at 132, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Preston Scoggins (sophomore, 13-16 at 132/138, did not compete in post-season traditionals); Andrew Mullins (sophomore, 11-13 at 138, district 3rd, 0-2 at regions); Will Wiggins (junior, 18-17 at 145, district 4th, 0-2 at regions); Kevonte Times (senior, 22-11 at 160, district runnerup, 1 match from states); Kyle McGill (junior, 34-9 at 170, district champ, region runnerup, 1-2 at states); Austin Wheeler (senior, 18-16 at 182, district runnerup, 2-2 at regions); Elijah Borden (senior, 7-19 at 195, district 3rd, 0-2 at regions).

Graduation losses (15+ matches this past season or prior/current post-season experience) from this year’s team: Gage Bunton (4-13 at 152, district 4th, 0-2 at regions); Sam Neely (3-4 at 285, district 3rd, did not compete at regions).

2018-19 MVP: Sophomore Kyle McGill established himself as one of the north’s 170s to watch this year, with a runnerup at Optimist, fifth at Capital City and runnerup at St John, with losses only to fellow state qualifiers. That finals loss at Villages would birth a string of matches where McGill would go 23-2, with win streaks of six, nine and eight matches, respectively, which included a Wakulla and a 2A-District 2 title. In fact, only current or prior state qualifiers would beat McGill during the course of the year, and in every other case those qualifiers were juniors or seniors. McGill was just a takedown away from reaching the second day of states, and he’s going to be a force for the next two years.

2019-20 captain: While McGill will be called upon for captaincy work next year, I would look at junior Kevonte Times as another likely captain for the Timberwolves in 2019-20. A three-year starter, Times finished second at both Optimist and St John, after which he won eight of 10 matches, with a fourth-place finish at Trojan Invitational and third at Wakulla. After an early loss in the district semis, Times came back to take third and looked like he’d have a shot at states, falling one match short. His consistency over the past two years will be key as more young kids enter the Timberwolf lineup in 2019-20.

Heaton’s Hero: Freshman Andrew Mullins‘ introduction to varsity was a tough ride, with an 0-6 start (five losses by fall, the sixth by tech fall). He got in the win column in mid-January, which is a lot of practice time without a hand raised in competition. But, even through Wakulla, which is the first Saturday in February, he was 3-9 with one contested pin. However, he dropped a weight down to 138 for Timberwolf Duals, and that seemed to help, as Mullins was unbeaten (with four pins) at Timberwolf and won eight of two matches prior to regions. For the way he was able to close the season, without a lot of success prior to that close, Andrew Mullins is the Heaton’s Hero for Chiles.

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Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2018-19),” because we’re creative like that. Your donation dollars at work, folks.

Teams are being selected on a random basis. Our sixth installment for this season, and first from 1A-District 2, is Suwannee.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past five seasons.

SUWANNEE

You can see everything I have on the Bulldogs in 2018-19 here –>  SUWANNEE

Win/loss record: 5-2 in dual meets reported to Matmen. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Bulldogs’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: The Bulldogs stayed in IBT mode for all of December, with mid-pack showings at Border Wars VI (12th out of 20 teams), Capital City Classic (13th out of 25 teams) and Valdosta’s Allstate Wildcat (10th out of 21 teams). Suwannee had its first dual meet of the season at 1A-District 2 in Wakulla, where the Bulldogs fell by just a point to Florida High in the semifinals on January 9. That weekend, the Bulldogs were 4-1 and placed second at their own Billy Saylor Invitational, which had a duals format this season. The following weekend, the Bulldogs had their strongest regular-season IBT showing, taking fifth at Lincoln’s 16-team, one-day Trojan Invitational on January 19. We don’t know how Suwannee fared at Belleview’s Diamondback Duals; we made several requests of several people, but only ever got one dual from that two-day duals tournament. Suwannee finished 19th at Clay’s 37-team Green Cove Springs Rotary to close out the regular season, but that was all just practice. The Bulldogs took thirds at both 1A-District 2 and 1A-Region 1 traditional tournaments, then finished 17th at the 1A state tournament, with six state qualifiers, four of them returning in 2019-20. Suwannee will have nine regular starters back next year, plus — if they can stay healthy — a couple of other key contributors that have made big impacts in the past.

* — All individual records below are based upon what Matmen could compile. As many as eight duals at the Belleview Diamondback Duals were not reported to Matmen after several requests were made.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2019-20 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Yoamet Perez (sophomore, 7-10 at 106, district 3rd, did not compete at regions); Bryson Green (sophomore, 2-5 at 113, district 3rd, did not compete at regions); Timothy Jolicoeur (junior, 30-13 at 120, district runnerup, region 4th, 1-2 at states); Jordan Ware (junior, 22-11 at 126, district 3rd, region 4th, 1-2 at states); Jaxon Sansouci (senior, 16-11 at 132, district champ, region runnerup, 0-2 at states); Tyson Musgrove (sophomore, 6-16 at 138, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Caleb Parsons (junior, 10-12 at 138, did not compete in post-season traditionals); Pablo Oliva (senior, 14-16 at 160, district 3rd, 1 match from states); Blaine Howard (junior, 18-11 at 182, district runnerup, region runnerup, 1-2 at states).

Graduation losses (15+ matches this past season or prior/current post-season experience) from this year’s team: Jaquary Pratt (30-9 at 145, district 3rd, region runnerup, 1-2 at states); Terrell Williams (29-4 at 152, district champ, region champ, state 3rd); Billy Duchaj (20-13 at 220, district 3rd, 1 match from states).

2018-19 MVP: Senior Terrell Williams (152) appeared at just one tournament in December, where he finished second at Border Wars VI, missing out on both Capital City and Allstate Wildcat. Once Williams returned to the lineup, he won his next eight matches, reaching the finals at Trojan Invitational mid-month after a 5-0 showing at Billy Saylor. Williams then made his third final at Clay Rotary, with four wins prior to running into 2A state champ Lucas Willis in the final. That paved the way for Williams to take district and region titles, leading the Bulldogs to team thirds in both tournaments, with a 5-3 loss only to eventual 1A state champ Jonathan Conrad in the semis.

2019-20 captain: While there are other Bulldogs who may play significant captaincy roles, I have been impressed by sophomore Timothy Jolicoeur’s ability to put together solid seasons in each of his first two years. After finishing one match short of a podium finish at Border Wars, Jolicoeur was fourth at Capital City, third at Allstate Wildcat, 5-0 at Billy Saylor (all bonus-point wins) and won the Trojan Invitational. Jolicoeur took fourth at Clay’s Rotary tournament, then advanced through the post-season series with a runnerup finish at districts and fourth at regions. He was just a takedown short of getting to Saturday at the state tournament.

Heaton’s Hero: Freshman Tyson Musgrove was part of the mix at 145, where there was not looking to be an opportunity with a 30+-match winning senior there and an established starter at 138, so his opportunities were looking like, in his freshman year, going to come through fill-in roles. But when injury hit after Billy Saylor, Musgrove dropped down to 138 and filled in there, taking a single win at Trojan Invitational and another single win at Clay Rotary. He qualified out of districts — every wrestler in 1A-District 2 that made weight would — but did contribute to the Bulldogs’ team score with a win at regions. For his ability to step into a starting role and contribute, Tyson Musgrove is the Heaton’s Hero for Suwannee.

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North Florida Matmen staff report

PITTSBURGH — The college wrestling season drew to a close Saturday night at the PPG Arena, but Wisconsin’s season finished with two all-Americans and an up note earlier in the day.

Evan Wick (165) placed fourth and Trent Hillger (285) eighth to earn all-American honors for the Badgers, which completed their first season under head coach Chris Bono (Bolles & Iowa State alum) with a 21st-place team finish, scoring 27 points.

“They did a great job in here; we could have got them a little bit higher up the podium, but they did a great job and I’m proud of them,” Bono said of his all-Americans.

“This team is a bunch of fighters. We’ve got some really great kids; I’ve been saying that all along. Wouldn’t trade these guys for the world. We didn’t end on the brightest note, but we are leaving here with two all-Americans, which is something to build on and bring back to Madison.”

Link to Thursday’s coverage:
https://uwbadgers.com/news/2019/3/21/wrestling-wick-and-hillger-advance-to-quarterfinals.aspx?path=wrestling

Link to Friday’s coverage: https://uwbadgers.com/news/2019/3/22/wrestling-two-badgers-become-all-americans.aspx?path=wrestling

Link to Saturday’s coverage: https://uwbadgers.com/news/2019/3/23/wrestling-wisconsins-ncaa-tournament-comes-to-a-close.aspx

With the Badgers wrapping up Saturday, that brings this year’s #NextLevel recap coverage to a conclusion. We will be happy to post signing photos — as we get them — to start working on next year’s coverage.

Find us on Facebook at North Florida Matmen or on Twitter at @NorthFLAMatmen.

Who’s next up on #TheSeason in South Georgia? Check out our affiliated site at http://sgamatmen.wordpress.com

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

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2018-19),” because we’re creative like that. Your donation dollars at work, folks.

Teams are being selected on a random basis. Our fifth installment for this season, and first from 2A-District 1, is Pace.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past five seasons.

PACE

You can see everything I have on the Patriots in 2018-19 here –>  PACE

Win/loss record: 23-3 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Patriots’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: The Patriots opened the season with a strong 7-0 performance in Alabama at the Fultondale Duals on December 7-8, following that with an eighth-place team effort at Chiles’ Capital City Classic on the 14th and 15th. Pace took a short-handed squad to Louisiana for the Trey Culotta Invitational on the 21st and 22nd, but rallied for four dominant dual wins at its home tournament to close out the month. The Patriots finished in the top third of the field at Hoover’s Scott Rohrer Invitational (7th out of 21 teams) and won the 2A-District 1 dual team tournament on the 9th of January, improving their season record to 14-0 at the time. Pace then added another tournament win, this time taking the Panhandle Championship at Mosley on the 11th and 12th. After a 2A-Region 1 quarterfinal loss, the Patriots came back to place sixth at Lincoln’s Trojan Invitational, their final regular-season IBT, on the 19th. Pace was 3-1 at Gulf Shores’ Dolphin Pools dual tournament and took third at Chiles’ Timberwolf Duals, but came back to win the double district title, with a win in the 2A-District 1 traditional event to kick off the post-season stretch run, placing third at regions and 22nd at states. The Patriots will graduate five starters, but will return 11 starters and/or key returners in 2019-20, including three returning state qualifiers.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2019-20 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Natalie Lugo (sophomore, 9-33 at 106, 1 match from regions); Atticus Waters (sophomore, 30-19 at 113, district runnerup, region 4th, 0-2 at states); Derrick Lancero (senior, 39-15 at 120, district champ, region runnerup, 1-2 at states); Ethan Billhimer (senior, 53-9 at 132, district champ, 1 match from states); Seth O’Gara (junior, 35-20 at 138, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Bryce Tressler (junior, 8-10 at 138, did not compete in post-season traditionals); Joseph Cortez (junior, 26-16 at 145, district 3rd, 1-2 at regions); Brody Andrews (junior, 18-26 at 170, district 4th, 0-2 at regions); Wyatt Dillon (junior, 43-17 at 195, district runnerup, 1 match from states); Michael Poole (junior, 16-20 at 220, district 4th, 0-2 at regions); Cameron Goodenow (junior, 29-21 at 285, district runnerup, region 4th, 0-2 at states).

Graduation losses (15+ matches this past season or prior/current post-season experience) from this year’s team: Tyler Tran (31-15 at 126, district runnerup, 1 match from states); Kishma Davis (47-4 at 152, district champ, region champ, 0-2 at states); Nate Golmon (55-3 at 160, district champ, region 3rd, state 3rd); John Gunther (15-1 at 182, district champ, did not compete at regions); Jasmine Casey (10-19 at 182, did not compete in post-season traditionals).

2018-19 MVP: This year, Patriots senior Nate Golmon competed for his third team within the district during his high school career, with a start at Gulf Breeze and a year at Tate, where he finished second after not wrestling at all in 2016-17. This year, he came over to Pace and made his presence felt immediately, going undefeated through the middle of January. Golmon won his first 32 matches, with unbeaten showings at Fultondale and Pace — he didn’t wrestle at Capital City — and titles at both Scott Rohrer and at Panhandle. His first loss came to the eventual 3A state runnerup in the Trojan Invitational finals, and there wouldn’t be another one until the Region 1 semifinals, with 16 wins in between. He got back to states, where he was second last year, taking a loss in the quarterfinals that he later avenged with a third-period fall in the third-place match, with wins over Lake Gibson, Tampa Jesuit, Lincoln and Brandon. Lot of history in those programs.

2019-20 captain: I could go in a couple of directions for this one — did so last year, as a matter of fact, in this space — so we’re going to go the other way and recognize junior Derrick Lancero as the top returner that made the state tournament with the most experience in the lineup. Lancero got out to a strong start, winning seven of his first eight matches, but then was 5-6 through a tough stretch that included Capital City and Trey Culotta, but then responded with 11 straight wins; after taking three losses in a row at Scott Rohrer, Lancero responded with nine more wins in a row. We didn’t see Lancero in the lineup for nearly a month, though, between the end of January and the remainder of the regular season, and he might have been a difference-maker in the Patriots’ lone loss at Timberwolf Duals. But he came back for the post-season stretch run, bagging a district title and qualifying second at 120, and also took a win at states — Pace’s lone win that didn’t come from Golmon.

Heaton’s Hero: Jasmine Casey didn’t start the season as the regular starter at 182 pounds, but she was pressed into that regular role due to injury, starting for the Patriots at Scott Rohrer, district duals, the Panhandle tournament, Gulf Shores and at Timberwolf Duals. Casey did her best to help the team, even when it might have cost her some individual glory, as she missed out on the girls’ state tournament to start at 182 for the Patriots at Timberwolf, where she won three times, including once by fall. Casey gave way back to the starter for districts, but she’d already earned Heaton’s Hero status for Pace with her effort in the meantime.

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North Florida Matmen staff report

OKLAHOMA CITY — Orange Park’s Andrea Smith competed in last week’s USA Wrestling girls’ folkstyle nationals in the Cox Convention Center.

Smith stayed pretty busy in that tournament, competing in the 200-pound weight class in both the 16-and-under and junior divisions, placing seventh in the 16s.

In the 16s bracket, after a first-rouund bye, Smith fell to eventual tournament runnerup Maranda Bell of Kansas, 3-2, after scoring the match’s first takedown. On the consi side, Smith fell, 4-0, in consi round 3 to eventual sixth-place Abigail Veske of California, but rallied in the seventh-place match with a fall in 2:03 over Georgia’s Lauren Miller.

In the junior division, Smith won her first match by forfeit over Georgia’s Stacey Pgouda, in the round of 16, but then lost by fall in the quarterfinals (:21) to Illinois’ Gabrielle Hamilton, who went on to bonus-point her way to the title. Smith then lost by fall in consi round 4, one match short of a top-eight finish, in 1:54 to California’s Isela Mendez, who went on to place seventh.

Somerset Spring Break Bash: At Somerset Academy, Wakulla’s Slade Watkins took second in the 200-pound state varsity class. Watkins decisioned Cypress Bay’s Caio DeAlmeida (6-2) and pinned Cougar Pride WC’s Adrian Vigil (:44) before falling, 9-0, to Somerset’s Nicholas Benton.

AAU All-American Spring Youth Nats: At the VAN Huss Dome in Kingsport, TN, Estin Rackley of Oakleaf Knights Attack was fourth in the 50-pound bantam division, going 3-2 in the tournament, with two wins, a tech fall and two losses by decision (combined four points), both to placers. Ezekiel Rackley, also of Knights Attack, was in the 50-pound midget division, placing sixth with a 2-3 record, both wins by decision.

Tour of Florida — Citrus: We took a spin through those results and did not see any local kids competing (at least local as of this past season).

Find us on Facebook at North Florida Matmen or on Twitter at @NorthFLAMatmen.

Who’s next up on #TheSeason in South Georgia? Check out our affiliated site at http://sgamatmen.wordpress.com

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Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2018-19),” because we’re creative like that. Your donation dollars at work, folks.

Teams are being selected on a random basis. Our fourth installment for this season, and first from 1A-District 3, is Westside.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past five seasons.

WESTSIDE

You can see everything I have on the Wolverines in 2018-19 here –>  WESTSIDE

Win/loss record: 15-17 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Wolverines’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: Westside started its season solidly, with a top-third team showing at Westside Kiwanis and finishing second at Ridgeview’s Panther Prowl and (more or less) third at the Yulee Duals. But then there were some setbacks, too, as the short-handed Wolverines took sixth out of 10 teams at Columbia’s Tiger Duals and were just 2-5 at Terry Parker’s Marine Corps Duals the second week of January. But, just like that, Westside was right back in the mix at Gateway, placing fourth in the 15-team tournament, only to go 0-5 at Bishop Snyder’s North Florida Duals the following weekend. It was a team with more individual than team success in the post-season, and that was reflected in the Wolverines’ sixth-place showing at districts, but coming back to finish in the top half at regions (14th out 29 teams). The best news is that Westside loses just one starter with multiple years of experience to graduation and will return 10 kids with key experience, including both of its 2018-19 state qualifiers.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2019-20 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Jacare Johnson (sophomore, 26-22 at 113, district 4th, 1-2 at regions); Seth Britton (junior, 38-10 at 126, district runnerup, 1-2 at regions); Ernest Terry (junior, 28-15 at 132, 1 match from regions); Tashuan Young (sophomore, 8-10 at 132, did not compete in post-season); Steven Millikin (junior, 23-22 at 138, district 3rd, 0-2 at regions); Jalonie Harris (junior, 17-10 at 145, did not compete in post-season); Angelo Philpot (senior, 45-8 at 160, district champ, region 3rd, 1-2 at states); Savion King (senior, 14-15 at 182, did not compete in post-season); Samir Thompson (junior, 14-12 at 220, did not compete in post-season); Ray Bolden (junior, 46-7 at 285, district 3rd, region 3rd, 1-2 at states).

Graduation losses (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) from this year’s team: Abdelkareem Noubani (19-22 at 170, 1 match from regions); Jakius Hunt (15-16 at 220, district 4th, 1-2 at regions).

2018-19 MVP: Junior Angelo Philpot has put in the offseason time, to be sure, but what made this year different for the Wolverine 160 was the fact that he was able to win matches that he might not have been expected to win, and won them decisively, this year. It took some time, though, as there were plenty of dual wins, but no tournament titles early on (third at Westside Kiwanis, third at Gateway). Philpot did win 13 in a row from the first weekend up through the Yulee Duals in Week 3, and there were several mini-streaks in between (six twice, five, and 10). I think his loss at North Florida Duals, where he bumped up a weight and took a quick loss by fall against First Coast, might have been the final straw, and we saw Philpot dominate, mostly, from that point forward, with a district title. He lost by one point at the region semis, and that would have crushed the younger versions. Not this Philpot; he picked himself up and had two dominant wins to get to state. If he keeps that up, he has a shot at the podium in 2020, even in 2A.

2019-20 captain: Sophomore Ray Bolden duplicated Philpot’s state appearance, down to the 1-2 finish, and seems to be the odds-on favorite to be the dominant heavyweight in north Florida in two years’ time (he’s already pretty close now). After two early losses to fellow state qualifiers, Bolden didn’t lose from early on at Panther Prowl until the Gateway finals, winning 25 matches in a row. As all of those wins were in duals tournaments, there were no moments atop the podium this year, but Bolden kept grinding. After that Gateway loss, Bolden won 10 more in a row — hitting the 40-win mark in the process. He overcame early losses at both districts and regions to take third in each, and all three of his matches at states were close. Bolden follows in a solid tradition of heavies at his school (Kahlil Welsh and Tariq Hookfin come to mind), and he’ll be on the top of the podium somewhere in 2019-20.

Heaton’s Hero: We must have seen Abdelkareem Noubani‘s name spelled at least 10 different ways this year (I’m hopeful that it’s accurate here; I can at least say that it matches Trackwrestling). First-year seniors are going to have their share of struggles, and Noubani did struggle during the course of the year. His best weekend was probably at Panther Prowl, where Noubani was 6-1, and he won eight of nine matches after a 1-2 open at Westside Kiwanis. Even through the second week of January, Noubani was five wins over .500 (14-9), but then things started getting tougher at crunch time. But unlike some of his younger teammates that inexplicably weren’t in the lineup after being starters early, Noubani stuck it out, despite going 5-13 down the stretch, continuing to battle. That grit is what we like to see and it’s what makes Abdelkareem Noubani the Westside Heaton’s Hero.

Find us on Facebook at North Florida Matmen or on Twitter at @NorthFLAMatmen.

Who’s next up on #TheSeason in South Georgia? Check out our affiliated site at http://sgamatmen.wordpress.com

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

Links to both articles can be found here:

On Wrestler of the Year Lawrence Smith-Jackson of Buchholz: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190320/multi-sport-versatility-pays-off-for-athlete

And the all-area team (mis-spelled names and all) can be found here:

https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190320/sun-all-area-wrestling-team

Find us on Facebook at North Florida Matmen or on Twitter at @NorthFLAMatmen.

Who’s next up on #TheSeason in South Georgia? Check out our affiliated site at http://sgamatmen.wordpress.com

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

Welcome back to our annual series of season wrap-up posts, which we cleverly titled as “The Season (2018-19),” because we’re creative like that. Your donation dollars at work, folks.

Teams are being selected on a random basis. Our third installment for this season, and first from 2A-District 3, is Ridgeview.

Each The Season post will have the same content as they’ve had for the past five seasons.

RIDGEVIEW

You can see everything I have on the Panthers in 2018-19 here –>  RIDGEVIEW

Win/loss record: 6-7 in dual meets. Please review the attached document for a summary of the Panthers’ performance in IBT events.

Season in a nutshell: Numbers and losses to graduation and other factors, of too many kinds, made the 2017-18 dream season look that much more dreamlike for Ridgeview, but the Panthers soldiered through, with a workmanlike mid-pack performance at Swede Umbach in Alabama on the first weekend. Ridgeview hosted the eight-team, two-day Panther Prowl dual tournament, going 3-4 in that event, but that event would serve as the last dual event for a month or so. Ridgeview would have some individual successes — more on that down below — but team efforts were lacking a bit (14th out of 21 at Valdosta’s Allstate Wildcat, 17th out of 21 at Hoover ALA’s Scott Rohrer Invitational and ninth out of 11 at Yulee’s Battle of the Border). The Panthers’ best regular-season showing would be at Gator Brawl, where they finished eighth out of 19 teams, despite being quite short-handed. Ridgeview did win three straight duals to close out January, but the Panthers’ third-place showing at district was a solid one, and even more so was their 10th at regions and top-20 state team effort. All but three seniors are eligible to return next year, so if the inexperienced kids get offseason work in, and some numbers return, the Panthers could only build from here.

Key returners (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) for 2019-20 (with year in school as they’ll be next year): Matthew Rodriquez (junior, 52-1 at 106, district champ, region champ, state runnerup); Gabriel Guzman (senior, 44-5 at 113, district champ, region 3rd, 0-2 at states); Clay Propes (sophomore, 11-25 at 120, district runnerup, 0-2 at regions); Shawn Tahir (senior, 7-10 at 126, district champ, 1-2 at regions); Logan Champion (junior, 8-27 at 132, district 4th, 0-2 at regions); Rick Warren (senior, 12-4 at 145, did not compete in post-season); Isaac Gaeta (senior, 1-6 at 145, 1 match from regions); Rae Barger (junior, 7-26 at 160, 0-2 at districts);

Graduation losses (15+ matches this past season or post-season experience) from this year’s team: Reed Propes (33-16 at 152, district runnerup, 0-2 at regions); John Tiedeman (10-11 at 170, 0-2 at districts); Od’Juan Whitfield (28-12 at 220, district champ, region champ, 0-2 at states).

* — Matmen’s records

2018-19 MVP: Who else could it be? Sophomore Matthew Rodriquez earned his second state medal and went deeper into the post-season series, undefeated, than any other wrestler in north Florida, reaching the mythic Saturday-night position still without a loss before a 2-1 loss in the 106 finals. Rodriquez earned regular-season titles at Swede Umbach (Auburn, ALA), Allstate Wildcat (Valdosta, GA), Scott Rohrer (Hoover, ALA); Battle of the Border (Yulee) and Gator Brawl (Wewahitchka) before picking off a district title for the third time and region title for the second time. Rodriquez also earned his second state medal, with 43 pins on the season. Before March, he had just three matches go a full six minutes, with a shutout win over a Georgia state champ on that wrestler’s home mat to boot.

2019-20 captain: While Rodriquez would of course make a good captain and often served in that role for the Panthers throughout the season, we do pick another wrestler for that role and the choice here wa just as obvious as Rodriquez should be for the MVP. Junior 113 Gabe Guzman ripped off wins in his first 16 matches, losing just once in December, once in January and not at all in February, with a 19-match win streak between January 5 and March 2. Guzman, like Rodriquez, pinned out at Swede Umbach for a title there, with seconds at Allstate and Scott Rohrer before a win at Battle on the Border and again at Gator Brawl. Guzman also picked off a district title and took third at regions, going 0-2 in his first state experience, but he’ll be a threat to medal in his senior season for certain.

Heaton’s Hero: While Rodriquez and Guzman were lockdown points for the Panthers, sometimes the rest of the lineup could be a bit patchwork at times, and just one freshman made it through the entirety of the season. That was Clay Propes at 120, and while he got off to a decent start (8-9 through district duals after an 0-5 open), there would be a string of 10 losses — all by fall — in a row between Battle of the Border and Gator Brawl, and it would be very easy for a freshman to pack it in at that point. But, instead, after going 2-13 with one contested win, Propes found a win by fall over a more-experienced competitor at districts that actually put him into a district final. You just never know sometimes. With some offseason work, things may start clicking, but finding a way to win after a tough stretch is what makes Clay Propes the Ridgeview Heaton’s Hero.

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North Florida Matmen staff report

ALLEN, TX — The Matmen coverage area has two more all-Americans this season, bringing its total to four for the 2018-19 college wrestling year.

UCF’s Justin Trinh (Ridgeview ’16) took home fifth place Saturday afternoon for the Knights, helping Central Florida finish third out of 77 teams in the three-day tournament, hosted at the Allen Event Center.

Trinh was one of seven UCF all-Americans in the tournament, all of which had Florida high school backgrounds. Jesse Gaudin (285, former Hernando prep) was second for the Knights, while Clay Perry (165, former St Cloud prep) and Jarrod Smiley (197, former Seminole Ridge prep) were each third. Trinh, Jacob Toledo (133, former Lake Mary prep) and Ethan Ahrens (174, former Astronaut prep) each were fifth, while Brad Kata (184, former Bishop Moore prep) was seventh.

Trinh reached the 141 semis, with a forfeit in his first round and a 3-2 round-of-16 win over UCLA’s Paul Adkisson. Trinh then decisioned Mott CC’s Chase Bates, 9-6, in the quarters, before losing by fall to Springfield Tech CC’s Marcos Mercado (runnerup, lost in double-overtime) in 2:38.

Trinh would then take a second loss in the consi semis, 4-2, to Grand Valley State’s Colton Hanysak before bouncing back in the fifth-place medal match with a 12-5 decision over Bates.

Leo White (Robert E. Lee ’18) competed at nationals at 285 for Florida A&M, going 2-2 for the Rattlers in the tournament. White opened the weekend with a fall in 6:50 over MIT’s Jonathan Brown, then lost by fall to Liberty’s Dominick Johnson, the eventual champion, in 4:09. In the consis, White decisioned Ottawa University’s Ruben Mendez, 6-4, but then saw his tournament conclude with a loss by fall to Pacific Lutheran’s Taylor Rupe in 1:35.

NAIA women’s nationals: At Jamestown, ND, Life’s Zoe Wight (Gulf Breeze ’14) took fourth to earn all-America honors at 143 pounds for the Running Eagles, who placed seventh out of 20 teams in the tournament.

Wight was 5-2 in the tournament, with front-side wins over York’s Katie Bell (4-0) and Missouri Baptist’s Yulissa Medrano (4-0). She then fell in the quarters, 8-2, to Menlo’s Marilyn Garcia, the eventual national champion.

On the back side, Wight won three matches in succession, with VSU wins over Cumberlands’ Kyle Godinez (10-0), teammate Morgan Shines (11-0) and Oklahoma City’s Cierra Foster (12-2) before falling in the third-place match, 4-0, to OCU’s Maggie Douma.

Corn Cob Nationals: At Des Moines, IA, Daniel Porter (Clay ’18) placed third in the open division at 125 pounds. Porter, who helped out with the FSDB program this past season, has been taking classes at Iowa Lakes CC since January and may be wrestling for the Lakers in 2019-20. Porter decisioned Grinnell’s Dalton Gosselink, 9-3, in the quarters, before falling, 5-2, to Upper Iowa’s Jacob Ragsdale, the eventual champ, in the semis. Porter then decisioned Kalob Vandersee of Linn-Mar, 9-1, and falled the Golden Eagles’ Riley Klein in 2:33 for third place.

Next week: We will have one more #NextLevel piece next weekend, highlighting Wisconsin’s first national tournament under head coach Chris Bono (Bolles & Iowa State alum). We will be looking for more #NextLevel signings throughout the spring and summer, as we are sure there will be more upcoming.

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Results from Osceola’s two tournaments and the Miami-Dade County championship tournament, all contested on Saturday:

FAWA FOLKSTYLE STATES

FAWA ROOKIE GIRLS JV FOLKSTYLE STATES

MIAMI DADE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Find us on Facebook at North Florida Matmen or on Twitter at @NorthFLAMatmen.

Learn more about south Georgia’s scene! Check out our affiliated site at http://sgamatmen.wordpress.com

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