Month: February 2021

LYNN HAVEN — The 2A-Region 1 tournament has been known in past years to be a dogfight among several teams, with a team score in the low 100s often enough to take home a trophy.

Saturday, after winning the 2A-Region 1 duals title a month earlier, New Smyrna Beach completed the double title, adding the IBT version behind two individual champions and two runners-up, scoring 117 points, 10 better than runnerup Chiles.

The Timberwolves, securing the first region runnerup trophy in program history, will take five wrestlers to the 2A state tournament Friday at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, with three champions, one runnerup and one 4th.

St Augustine also had its best region finish in some while, finishing third in the 30-team event with 104 points. The Yellow Jackets will have four state qualifiers (two runners-up, one 3rd and one 4th).

Columbia (103 points, two champs, one runnerup and one 3rd) took fourth, while Fletcher (one champ, one runnerup, one 3rd, one 4th) and Lincoln (two champs, one 3rd) tied for fifth, with 100.5.

Rounding out the top 10 were Gulf Breeze (7th, 93 points, one champ & two 3rds), Ft Walton Beach (8th, 91 points, one champ, one 3rd and two 4ths) and Pace (9th, 83.5, three 4ths), followed by host Mosley (10th, 78.5, one runnerup and two 4ths).

The second 10 teams, in order, were: Matanzas (73 points, two runners-up & one 3rd); Middleburg (66, one runnerup & one 3rd); Belleview & Orange Park (62 points each, with the Diamondbacks earning one runnerup and one 4th and Raiders taking two runners-up and one third); Niceville (49, one 3rd & two 4ths); Robert E Lee (42, one champ); Westside (36, one champ); Ponte Vedra (34, one 3rd); Deltona (32, one 3rd & one 4th) and Englewood (23 points).

Leon (24th, 16 points) was the only team in the bottom 10 of the table to have a state qualifier, with one 3rd. The remaining teams were Seabreeze (22 points in 21st place), followed by First Coast & Mainland (T-22nd, 18 points); Choctaw (25th, 14); Crestview (26th, 13); Gainesville (27th, six); Terry Parker (28th, three) and Stanton & Tate (29th, no points).

Brackets from the weekend can be found HERE. A summary of Saturday’s wrestling follows:

106
Championship: District 2 champ and fourth-ranked Columbia senior Brett Millard (36-8) made his second state appearance with four pins on the weekend, including Saturday falls over Middleburg’s Shane Jourdan (1:22) in the semis and then over Orange Park freshman Ryder Pimienta (2:50) in the championship match. Pimienta (21-8) had three wins to get to the final, including a walkover forfeit in the semi.
Third place: After falling, 8-2, in the quarters to Pimienta on Friday, District 4 champ and Matanzas sophomore Carter Wilder (20-9) qualified for states for the first time behind four wins on the back, including Saturday wins over district rival Gavin Barro of St Augustine (5-2 decision), Jourdan in blood round (fall in 3:42) and a 5-0 third-place victory over Chiles sophomore Sam Tolomeo. Tolomeo (24-7), who’d lost by fall to district rival Millard in the quarters, came back for three consi-side wins (he’d finished fifth at districts) to qualify out for the first time, with Saturday wins over fellow additional qualifier Vaniel Caceres of Lincoln (4-1 decision) and a walkover forfeit in the consi semis.

113
Championship: District 2 champ and fifth-ranked Lincoln senior Elijah Hendley (33-1) pinned his way into the finals, with a Saturday semifinal pin (2:40) over district rival and Middleburg freshman Grady Woodard. In the championship, Hendley reprised his district-finals matchup against Chiles sophomore Garrett Marschka, taking a 5-3 win. Marschka (25-3, 6th) max-pointed into the final with two Friday pins and a walkover forfeit in the semis for his second state appearance.
Third place: Woodard (23-14) had two wins in the consis to rally back for third place, majoring District 1 champ Zak Vosburgh of Ft Walton Beach, 16-5, in the blood round to punch his Kissimmee ticket for the first time, followed by a 9-4 third-place win over Belleview sophomore Zackery Young. Young (29-14) advanced to states for the first time behind three consi-side wins after losing by fall to Woodard in the quarters on Friday, with a 7-2 win over Matanzas’ Braden Hawley and a walkover forfeit in the consi semis on Saturday to get a rematch with Woodard. Vosburgh advanced to that round with a 15-4 major over District 4 champ Aidan Sutton of New Smyrna Beach.

120
Championship: District 2 champ and ninth-ranked Chiles junior Hunter Brown (26-3) qualified for states for the second time with two pins and two decisions, including one of each on both days. Brown falled Niceville sophomore Ethan Pinto in 1:22 in the semis, then came back to reprise his District 2 finals win in the championship match, with a 9-5 decision over Orange Park senior Davon Bailey. Bailey (24-2, 10th) broke through for his first state appearance after three prior tries at regions, with two wins on Friday and a third Saturday that saw him find a takedown for a 6-4 semifinal win over Deltona sophomore Kevin Kerns.
Third place: Kerns (33-7) qualified for states for the second time by avenging his District 4 finals loss in the blood round, taking a 6-4 win over St Augustine’s Wilson Nguyen there, then falling Pinto in 31 seconds for third. Pinto (21-8) secured his first Kissimmee appearance with a 9-3 win in the consi semis over Mainland’s Kaden Golder. Nguyen and Golder each advanced to that round behind pins, with Nguyen falling Fletcher’s Cole O’Brien (2:53) and Golder pinning District 1 champ Brandon Mallin of Ft Walton Beach (2:16).

126
Championship: District 4 champ and fifth-ranked New Smyrna Beach junior Jamey Bruner (34-3) reached the state tournament for the third time and first in 2A with the ‘Cudas, pinning his way into the final, with a Saturday semifinal fall over District 1 champ and Niceville senior Noah Tritz. Bruner then won his first region title with a 10-5 decision in the final over District 2 champ and Middleburg junior Riley Girgis. Girgis (24-9) had two Friday pins and then took a 10-4 semifinal win over Seabreeze’s Joseph Kent for his first state appearance.
Third place: Gulf Breeze junior Logan Merritt (25-8), after losing by fall to Kent in the first round, came back all the way to third and earned his first state appearance behind five consi-side victories, including Saturday wins over Belleview’s Gage Alberty (6-0 decision) and pins over Kent (:56) in the blood round and over Tritz (1:23) in the bronze-medal match. Tritz (22-6) secured his first state spot with a reprise of his district-finals victory, turning back Pace’s Haze Esary, 7-4, in the consi semis. Esary got to that round behind a 4-2 win over District 3 champ Ryden Ashmore of Fletcher in the consi quarters.

132
Championship: After coming up a takedown short of states as a freshman, District 1 champ and seventh-ranked Gulf Breeze sophomore Colson Elliott stayed unbeaten (33-0), teching or pinning his way to the final round. On Saturday in the semis, Elliott teched district rival Steven Banfield of Choctaw (17-2 in 5:31), then came back in the final to push past District 4 champ and New Smyrna Beach junior Jace Engberg (8th) with a 6-4 win. Engberg (33-4) got to states for the second time, pinning his way into the final, including a Saturday semifinal pin over district rival Brayden Lovingood of St Augustine (2:32).
Third place: After a loss by fall to Engberg in the Friday quarters, Ft Walton Beach senior Weston Burbidge (27-9) strung together four straight wins in the consis to rally back to third, including Saturday wins over Matanzas’ Logan Mayer (2-1 decision), district rival Banfield (9-3) in the blood round to secure his first Kissimmee ticket in four tries, then falling Lovingood in 3:42 for third. Lovingood (20-14), who’d finished fourth at District 4 last week, added a fourth at regions with a Saturday consi-semi pin over Belleview’s Morgan Cole. Cole had gotten to that round with a pin over Middleburg’s Dylan Johns (2:47) in the consi quarters.

138
Championship: District 2 champ and third-ranked Chiles senior Olufemi Egberongbe (26-2) took four wins over the weekend for his second state appearance and first region title. In the semis, Egberongbe pushed past District 1 champ and Pace senior Cam Friend, 6-3, then set more of the pace in the championship match against District 4 champ and Belleview sophomore Andrew Davis, with a 10-3 win in the final. Davis (35-6) won three times to qualify for states for the first time, with a Saturday 8-2 semifinal win over Leon junior Nolan Zirgibel.
Third place: Zirgibel (24-4) bounced back from the loss to Davis with two consi-side wins, pinning St Augustine’s Carlos Quintanal (2:40) in the blood round for his second state appearance. Zirgibel then went on to take down Friend, 8-2, in the third-place match. Friend (20-3) secured his first Kissimmee space with a 9-2 win in the consi semis over District 3 champ Lynden North of Englewood. North advanced to that round with a 7-2 win over Lincoln’s Connor Edwards, while Quintanal advanced with a walkover forfeit.

145
Championship: District 4 champ and third-ranked New Smyrna Beach junior Michael Shannon (36-2) qualified for states for the second time and won his second region title with two Friday pins and two six-minute wins Saturday, including a 6-0 semifinal win over District 3 champ and Fletcher senior Gabe Daltro, then a 12-4 win in the championship match over District 2 champ and sixth-ranked Mosley junior Nick Hejke in a matchup of 2020 2A region champs. Hejke (44-7) qualified for states for the fourth time with three wins, including a Saturday fall over District 1 champ Malachi Santiago (1:36) of Ft Walton Beach in the semis.
Third place: Daltro (31-4, 10th) bounced back from the loss to Shannon with a pair of decisions, pushing past St Augustine’s Gabe Galloza, 6-4, in the blood round for his first state appearance. Daltro then knocked off Pace junior Atticus Waters, 5-3, in the bronze-medal match. Waters (20-6), who’d lost 4-3 to Daltro in Friday’s quarters, had to win three matches on the back to get to states for the second time, with Saturday decisions over district rival Garret Rudick of Gulf Breeze (7-1) and over Santiago, 7-2, in a rematch of the District 1 final that Santiago had won last week, 8-6. Galloza had reached the consi semis with a fall over Robert E Lee’s Ty’Juan Jones in 3:39.

152
Championship: District 3 champ and seventh-ranked Fletcher senior Joel Rodriguez (31-1) pinned or teched his way into the final, with a Saturday semifinal tech over Orange Park’s Trevion Sermons (16-0 in six minutes) to qualify for state for the second time, then held off Matanzas junior and District 4 champ Tyson Mills, 7-4, for his second region title. Mills (23-5, 9th) reached the finals with three wins, including a 10-6 semifinal win over First Coast’s Josiah Mossor, to qualify for state for the first time.
Third place: After a loss by fall to Rodriguez in the quarters on Friday, Greene (41-6, 10th) won three matches on the bounce to qualify for his first state trip, including Saturday pins over District 1 champ Seth O’Gara (1:28) and Mossor (1:44) in the blood round. He then avenged a tech-fall loss at districts in the third-place match, turning back District 2 champ and Mosley senior Nick Kendrick, 2-1. Kendrick (27-12) qualified for state for the second time after a 7-1 loss to Mossor with three consi-side wins, including a 9-5 decision over Gulf Breeze’s Ian Daily and a consi-semi tech fall (17-1 in 5 minutes) over Sermons.

160
Championship: District 3 champ and second-ranked Robert E Lee senior Ahmahd Denmark (38-1) bonus-pointed through the tournament for his second state appearance and region title, falling Ft Walton Beach senior Caleb Tourgee (1:25) in the semis, then coming back to take a 13-4 major in the championship match over District 4 champ and Matanzas freshman Jordan Mills. Mills (20-6, 8th) advanced to the final behind a fall and two decisions, including a 12-7 semifinal win over Pace’s Joseph Cortez in the semis, to punch his Kissimmee ticket for the first time.
Third place: After a quarterfinal loss by fall to Denmark in the quarters, St Augustine junior Clint Griffin (38-11) won by fall four times in the consis, with Saturday pins over District 2 champ Alex Nayfack (2:28), Cortez (2:38) in the blood round for his first state appearance, and Tourgee (1:38) in the third-place match. Tourgee (31-6) secured his space in the 2A state field with a 10-2 major over District 1 rival Sean Jones of Gulf Breeze. Jones had gotten to that round with a fall over Gainesville’s Will Marshall (4:05).

170
Championship: After falling in the blood round a year ago, District 2 champ and fourth-ranked Columbia junior Joseph Rice (37-5) pinned his way into the final, with a semifinal pin (1:13) over District 1 champ and Niceville junior Martin Black that gave Rice his first state appearance. Rice then edged District 4 champ and St Augustine senior Connor Spossey, 6-5, in the finals. Spossey (42-4, 5th) bonus-pointed into the finals for his second state appearance, with a 9-1 major in the semis over District 3 champ and Ponte Vedra senior Rett Maritato.
Third place: Maritato (39-4) had two bonus-point wins in the consis to qualify for states for the second time, with an 8-0 major in the blood round over Pace’s Brody Andrews and a fall in the third-place match (2:45) over Black. Black (30-4) got to state for the first time with a 2-0 consi-semi win over Mosley’s Kaydon Lester. Lester and Andrews advanced to that round with pins, as Lester falled Middleburg’s Eliyah Cole (4:32, in a rematch of their meeting at Clay Rotary) while Andrews pinned Terry Parker’s Benny Lewis (2:07).

182
Championship: District 2 champ and fourth-ranked Lincoln junior Cayden Bevis stayed unbeaten for the season (24-0) with three bonus-point victories, including a fall in the semis (3:54) over District 1 champ and Gulf Breeze senior Hunter Dupont, giving Bevis his second ticket to the state field. In the title match, Bevis turned back District 4 champ and St Augustine senior Ryan Murphy by a 5-1 count. Murphy (30-3) also bonus-pointed his way into the final, with a 15-7 major to earn his first Kissimmee appearance over Fletcher sophomore and District 3 champ Ryan Klein in the semis.
Third place: Dupont (32-2) had two bonus-point wins to rally back for third after the loss to Bevis, pinning district rival Aidan Bryan of Pace (1:19) in the blood round to earn his first state qualification. Dupont then majored Klein, 12-2, in the bronze-medal match. Klein secured his first trip to states with a consi-semi fall over District 3 rival Darryl Sam of Englewood, in 4:15. Both Bryan and Sam got to that round with decisions, as Bryan downed Mosley’s Dalton Kovacs, 10-6, and Sam turned back Matanzas’ Quincy Cuthbert, 13-7.

195
Championship: District 2 champ and top-ranked Chiles senior Kyle McGill also stayed undefeated (26-0), qualifying for states for the third time by bonus-pointing through the tournament. McGill had Saturday majors over Seabreeze’s Caiden Patton (17-5) in the semifinals and again over District 4 champ and New Smyrna Beach senior Doug Dittmer, 12-2, in the championship match, winning his second region title. Dittmer (36-3, 4th) had two Friday pins and earned his second Kissimmee ticket with a 3-0 win in the semis over District 1 champ and Pace senior Wyatt Dillon.
Third place: After falling in sudden victory to Dillon, 6-4, in the quarters on Friday, Lincoln senior Wyatt Yown (28-7, 5th) won four on the bounce in the consis, with Saturday victories over Englewood’s Sam Howard (fall in 4:14) and Patton (tech fall, 15-0 in 3 minutes) in the blood round for his second state appearance. Yown then shut out Dillon, 5-0, in the third-place match. Dillon (26-4, 6th) secured his first Kissimmee ticket, after two prior losses in the blood round in 2019 and 2020, with a fall in the consi semis over District 3 champ Cleon Johnson of First Coast (1:43). Johnson reached that round with a 5-2 win in the consi quarters over Gulf Breeze’s Julian McCulley.

220
Championship: District 1 champ and fourth-ranked Ft Walton Beach junior Cedric Fairrow also stayed unbeaten (37-0), pinning his way into the finals, with a semifinal fall over District 4 champ and Deltona senior Ethan Chiu (3:26) for his first Florida state appearance. Fairrow then took down District 3 champ and Fletcher senior Ethan Hollenbach by a 7-2 count in the championship match. Hollenbach (29-4, 6th) got to the final behind three bonus-point wins, including a third-period fall over Niceville senior David Polaski (4:42) in the semis for his second trip to states.
Third place: Polaski (15-5) bounced back to take third behind a pair of consi-side decisions, opening by riding out Robert E Lee’s Craig Harper to secure a 1-1 ultimate-tiebreaker win in the blood round and earn his first trip to state in Florida. He then turned back Chiu, 12-5, in the third-place match. Chiu (33-5) reached states for the second time with a 4-3 win in the consi semis over District 2 champ Omarion LaRoach of Lincoln. LaRoach had pinned Seabreeze’s Nathan Boyd (5:00) in the consi quarters, while Harper shut out Crestview’s Desi McGueen, 7-0.

285
Championship: District 3 champ and third-ranked Westside senior Ray Bolden (20-1) pinned his way into the final, including a fall in the semis over Mainland’s Jordan Colubiale (5:21) to earn his third trip to states. Bolden then downed District 2 champ and Columbia junior Jaycob Jones, 8-2, for his first region title. Jones (24-6, 5th) max-pointed into the final with two pins and a walkover forfeit, falling Ft Walton Beach’s Spencer Mackenzie (1:52) in the semis for his second state appearance.
Third place: After losing by decision in the first round to Colubiale, Orange Park senior Gabriel Hecht (8-3) — a part-time starter for the Raiders during the 2020-21 season, but won the wrestleoff — won five matches on the bounce to wrestle all the way back to third and win his first state trip. Hecht had Saturday wins over Fletcher’s Toby Matson (fall in 1:50), a 6-4 sudden-victory decision over Colubiale in the blood round (in a matchup of seniors), then pinned Mosley junior Robert Wills in 1:35 for third place. Wills (28-16) also won four times on the back, including Saturday wins over Choctaw’s Chase Pelfrey (8-3) and over Mackenzie (pin in 4:02) in the consi semis.

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PALM COAST — In a weekend full of crazy bounces in the Florida state wrestling scene — South Dade NOT winning highlighted among them — the song remains the same, even if it took on a different pitch, for Fleming Island in Region 1.

Saturday, at Flagler Palm Coast, the Golden Eagles racked up their sixth consecutive region title behind a cumulative 41-10 weekend and every wrestler brought reaching Saturday’s competition, as Fleming Island pulled away from the field, taking a decisive 51-point team victory over Hagerty, 189-138.

Fleming Island will send nine wrestlers to Friday’s 3A state tournament at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, with three champions (equaling the rest of the coverage area in that regard), one runnerup, four 3rds and one 4th. Included in that group of individual champions were old heads and both expected and unexpected new faces that will be expected to carry forward the tradition of titles in 2021-22.

Buchholz held off the pushes of Flagler Palm Coast, Timber Creek and Lake Mary to secure third place with 127 points, to FPC’s 115.5, Timber Creek’s 114 and Lake Mary’s 110.5.

The Bobcats (two runners-up, two 3rds and two 4ths) and Bulldogs (one runnerup, one 3rd and four 4ths) will each send six to states.

Creekside was seventh (102 points, three qualifiers; one champ, one runnerup and one 4th) and Oakleaf ninth (91.5, four qualifiers; three 3rds and one 4th) rounded out teams in the coverage area that made the top 10 in the team table.

Mandarin (11th) had 84 points and advanced three to states (one runnerup, one 3rd and one 4th), the Mustangs’ first state qualifiers since 2010. Bartram Trail (12th, 48.5, one champ), University (Orange City) (13th, 43, one 4th) and Sandalwood (14th, 30, one champ) will send one qualifier each to represent the north.

Seminole was 20th with 18.5 points, while West Port was 25th (10), Forest and Nease T-26th (eight), Atlantic Coast T-28th (four) and DeLand 31st (three).

Brackets from the weekend can be found HERE. A summary of Saturday’s wrestling follows:

106
Championship: Bartram Trail sophomore Ethan Vugman (40-4, 3rd statewide) got District 1 off on the right foot, pinning or teching his way through the weekend. After two Friday falls, Vugman added a third with his pin over District 2 champ and Buchholz freshman Cavarius (CJ) Liddie in 3:15, qualifying for state for the second time (3rd in 2020). In the final, Vugman took a third-period tech fall over District 4 champ Trenton Dominguez (18-1 in 5:18) for his first region title. Dominguez reached the final behind two Friday pins and a Saturday semifinal major over Fleming Island freshman Joseph Forte, 11-3.
Third place: Liddie (31-18) bounced back with two wins on the back, punching his state ticket with a blood-round fall over Creekside’s Andrew Feeks in 1:51. Liddie then pushed past Forte, 4-2, in the bronze-medal match. Forte (32-12) qualified for states with a pin in the consi semis of his own, pinning Lyman’s Jackson Fredrickson in 1:53. Feeks falled Mandarin’s Logan Emanuel in :28 to reach the blood round, while Fredrickson advanced by walkover past University (Orange City)’s Grady Bryant.

113
Championship: Speaking of old heads, Fleming Island senior and District 1 champ Hunter Herrington (24-3, 6th) won his second region title Saturday behind a pair of Friday pins; in the semis on Saturday, Herrington edged District 4 champ and Timber Creek senior Nando Dominguez (9th), 3-2, in his toughest match of the weekend. In the final, Herrington unleashed some more of his offense in a 7-4 win over Apopka sophomore Tamarion Kendrick, the District 3 champ. Kendrick (33-7, 7th) got to the final behind three bonus-point wins, including a late third-period fall over District 2 champ and Flagler Palm Coast sophomore Kole Hannant (5:38) in the semis.
Third place: Dominguez came back for third behind two consi-side wins, falling Mandarin’s Nathan Bremer (2:59) in the blood round and then pushing past Hannant, 10-8, in the third-place match. Hannant (44-9) qualified out for his first state appearance with a 6-3 consi-semi win over West Orange’s DJ Perez. In getting to the bloodround, Bremer majored Lake Mary’s Jeremy Goldman, 13-3, while Perez also took a major decision, downing Creekside’s Conner Wright by a 15-4 count.

120
Championship: District 4 runnerup and Winter Park freshman James Gonzalez (16-3, 8th) avenged a district -final loss in taking the title, with Saturday decisions over Forest’s Jakob Zawosky (6-1) in the semifinal and a 5-4 win in the championship over Lake Mary senior Diego Solorzano, a match that Solorzano had won, 8-6, at districts last week. Solorzano (10th, unreported full record) got to the final behind three bonus-point wins, including a semifinal pin over District 2 champ Malique Hargett of University (Orange City) in 4:59.
Third place: Oakleaf senior Kevin Gilley (27-4), the District 1 champ, bounced back from a Friday quarterfinal loss to Gonzalez with four consi-side wins, including three Saturday victories over district rival Da’mon Teague of Mandarin (fall in 1:48), over Hargett in the blood round (7-5, in a matchup of seniors) to punch his first Kissimmee ticket, and survived a wild 13-10 win over Flagler Palm Coast sophomore John Hald in the bronze-plaque match. Hald (38-16), who’d lost 9-3 to Gonzalez in the opening round, roared back to states behind four consi-side wins, including Saturday victories over Timber Creek’s Bryse Balcom (fall in 3:53) and district rival Zawosky (7-4 consi-semi win), to make his first state appearance.

126
Championship: District 1 champ and Sandalwood senior Dante Rigal (14-0, 2nd) stayed undefeated with three max-point wins prior to the final, including a 39-second fall over Colonial’s Brandon Vargas in the semis for his first Florida state appearance. Rigal then shut down District 2 champion and Buchholz senior Venumadhava Mirel (8th) in a 4-0 decision for the region title. Mirel (36-12) qualified for states for the second time behind two Friday wins and a 2-0 win in the semis over area rival and Oakleaf senior Marcus McGee.
Third place: After falling 10-3 to Mirel in the quarters, Fleming Island senior Riley Holton (40-4, 9th) had four bonus-point wins in the consis to make his second state trip, including Saturday wins by injury default over District 3 champ Jalen Moliere of Apopka, plus a blood-round 17-0 tech fall (3 minutes even) over Vargas and a 15-2 major for third over McGee. McGee (26-11) also qualified out to Kissimmee for the second time, downing Lake Mary’s Dylan Cobb by a 7-5 count in the consi semi (he’d beaten Cobb, 9-4, in round 1 on Friday). Cobb reached the blood round with a fall (2:40) over District 4 champ Jacob McCrimmon of Timber Creek, avenging an 8-4 loss in the district final last week.

132
Championship: District 4 champ and second-ranked Timber Creek senior Jayden Tapia (41-6) had two Friday wins and a pair of bonus-point wins Saturday, with a second-period fall over Apopka junior Bonosky Fidel (2:49) in the semis. The title match saw Tapia secure a 14-6 major over District 1 champ and Mandarin junior Jameel Smith for the champion plaque. Smith (22-2) got to the finals behind two Friday wins and an 18-4 major in the semis over Lake Mary’s Dominic Rubino, for his first state appearance.
Third place: After a 9-6 quarterfinal loss to Tapia on Friday, Fleming Island junior Xavier Logan (28-9) won four matches on the bounce to bounce back for third, with Saturday wins over District 3 champ Joshua Raphael of Wekiva (fall in 2:56) and a 14-0 major over Rubino in the blood round to qualify out for states for the first time, followed by a 5-1 win over Fidel in the third-place match. Fidel (18-20) punched his ticket for Kissimmee with a 53-second fall over Oakleaf’s Logan Gilbert in the consi semis. Gilbert had gotten to that round with an 11-1 major over Hagerty’s David Mejia.

138
Championship: District 4 champ and fourth-ranked Hagerty sophomore Kamdon Harrison (41-6) needed just 2:32 of mat time to reach the final, with three pins, including a 57-second fall in the semis over District 3 champ Jagdesh Persaud of Evans. In a rematch of the District 4 final, Harrison again won with a bonus-point effort, majoring Lake Mary senior Brett Moses (9th) by a 13-4 count. Moses (no full record reported) had three 1-point victories to reach the final, the third of those a 5-4 win over District 1 champ and Oakleaf senior Trevor Owens (10th) in the semis.
Third place: Owens (39-14) came back with a pair of victories on the back side to place third, with a 5-2 win in the blood round over county and district rival Garrett Cole of Fleming Island, followed by a 10-1 major in the third-place match over area rival Timothy Bowen of Buchholz, the District 2 champ. After falling 6-5 to Moses in the quarters on Friday, Bowen (34-17) won three matches on the back, including wins on Saturday over Timber Creek’s Ethan Winters (fall in 3:45) and over Persaud, 4-1, in the consi semis. Cole got to that round with a fall (2:58) over Creekside’s Keanan Sexton.

145
Championship: District 4 champ and top-ranked Winter Park junior Joseph Gonzalez stayed undefeated (15-0) by teching his way into the final, including a 20-5 tech (4:10) over Apopka sophomore and District 3 champ Ransom Randolph (10th) in the semis. Gonzalez then reprised his 5-2 district-finals win over Oviedo senior Marcus Patrick (5th), with a 5-0 win in the championship match. Patrick (no full record reported) had three bonus-point wins to get to the final, including a semifinal pin over Evans’ Tyran Schanck (2:55).
Third place: After taking a loss by forfeit in the opening round, Buchholz junior Aiden Moore (35-5, 9th), the District 2 champ, didn’t lose again, with five pins in a row to place third, including Saturday falls over district rival Tyler Pinkowski (3:37) of West Port and Schanck (1:00) to punch his Kissimmee ticket for the second time. Moore then pinned Randolph in 2:48 in the bronze-plaque match. Randolph (36-8) pinned Timber Creek’s Malik Tyrell-Crittington in 3:21 in the consi semis; Tyrell-Crittington, in turn, reached the blood round with a 6-5 win in double overtime over Fleming Island’s Matthew Kotler.

152
Championship: District 4 champ and second-ranked Lake Mary senior Alex Vazquez (no full record reported) pinned or teched his way through the tournament, with Saturday pins in the semis over District 2 champ and Flagler Palm Coast junior Timothy King (3:08), then again in the championship match in a rematch of the District 4 final, with a fall over 10th-ranked Hagerty junior Blake Watts in 4 minutes. Watts (25-7) had three max-point wins to reach the final, winning by walkover/forfeit in the semis after two Friday pins.
Third place: King (38-8) took two pins on the back to place third and make his first appearance at states, falling District 1 champ Roman Polinsky of Oakleaf (3:21) in the blood round and then pinning Creekside junior Diego Rivera in 2 minutes for third. After being teched in the quarters by Vazquez, Rivera won three matches on the back to punch his first Kissimmee ticket, with Saturday victories by fall over Buchholz’s Liam Buchanan (1:09) and then by walkover forfeit in the consi semis. Polinsky reached that round with a medical forfeit over Winter Park’s Joey Parker.

160
Championship: District 4 champ and fourth-ranked Lake Mary senior Jared Purcell (no full record reported) pinned his way into the final, including a Saturday pin in the semis over District 1 champ and Fleming Island senior David Parkes (4:18), then taking a 7-3 win in the finals over the hosts’ fifth-ranked District 2 champ, Blane DeFord. DeFord (9-1) pinned or teched his way into the final for his second state appearance, with a semifinal first-period tech (17-0 in 1:55) over Bartram Trail’s John McNames.
Third place: Parkes (25-5, 6th) took a pair of decisions on the back to bounce back to third, shutting out Apopka’s Malik Nicholson, 6-0, in the blood round to make his second appearance at states. Parkes then downed Buchholz sophomore Kason Nichols, 6-1, in the third-place match, repeating the win he had over Nichols in the quarters. Nichols (47-10) had to win three consi-side matches to earn his first state trip, with Saturday wins over Windermere’s Kurt Vollenweider (9-0) and McNames (6-4) in the consi semis. Nicholson got to the blood round with a fall in the consi quarters over Oakleaf’s James McClintic (1:50).

170
Championship: District 1 champ and fourth-ranked Creekside senior Hunter Brown (31-6) had three pins in taking the title and qualifying for states for the first time, including a pair of Saturday falls in the semis over District 2 champ and Flagler Palm Coast junior Bryce Dodge (1:50) and again for the title, reprising his district finals win with a fall over Fleming Island sophomore Joshua Sandoval in 5:37. Sandoval (10-8) reached the final behind three pins of his own, including a semifinal pin over District 4 champ and Hagerty junior Ethan Gomez (3:14) to punch his Kissimmee ticket.
Third place: Gomez (34-8) came back for third with two consi-side wins, decisioning District 4 rival Zach Hanks, 6-2, in the blood round and then pinning Dodge in 53 seconds for the bronze plaque. Dodge (17-7) secured his state space (his first) with a second-period tech fall (17-2 in 2:49) over district rival William James of Seminole. James decisioned Nease’s Peter Simon, 9-4, in the consi quarters, while Hanks pinned district rival Tristen Carbonell in 2:54.

182
Championship: District 4 champ and top-ranked Hagerty senior Ethan Lopez bonus-pointed through the draw, including Saturday majors in the semis over Mandarin’s Tony Carter (14-4) and again in the championship match over District 1 champ and Creekside senior Bryan Fortay, 16-4. Fortay (22-5) advanced to the final behind two Friday pins and a 5-3 win in the semis over District 2 champ and Flagler Palm Coast junior Marcelo Gonzalez for his first state appearance.
Third place: Carter (18-3) won by fall twice in the consis, with a blood-round pin over Timber Creek’s Dennis Proulx (4:37) to qualify out for the first time, followed up by a fall in 1:35 for third place over Gonzalez. Gonzalez reprised his District 2 finals win in the consi semis, taking down University (Orange City)’s James Houck by a 7-3 count to make his first state tournament. Houck and Proulx both got to that round with pins in the consi quarters, with Houck falling West Orange’s Ayden Rieck (3:49) and Proulx pinning Lake Howell’s Maximus McMichael in 2:56.

195
Championship: District 1 champ and fifth-ranked Fleming Island junior Hunter Williams (27-3) pinned his way into the finals, with his third pin of the tournament coming in the semis over district rival Jaelen Simmons (2:16) of Mandarin, clinching his first state appearance. Williams then pushed past District 2 champ and Buchholz senior Jason Martin (7th) with a 6-3 decision in the final for his first region title. Martin (37-5) had two Friday pins, following those up with a 14-7 win in the semis over District 3 champ and Colonial senior Seth Suvak.
Third place: After a loss by fall in the quarters to Martin, Oakleaf junior Isaiah Shevchook (36-9, 8th) won four on the back to wrestle back to third, with Saturday pins over Lake Howell’s Danny Izquierdo (1:31) and Simmons (4:24) in the blood round for his first state appearance, plus an 8-3 win over Suvak in the bronze-plaque match. Suvak (24-3) pushed through to state with a 15-6 consi-semi win over the hosts’ Garrick Schwartz. Schwartz had advanced to that round with a fall in the consi quarters over Timber Creek’s Carlos Arciniegas.

220
Championship: District 4 champ and third-ranked Hagerty senior Bertilus Bornelus (30-3) max-pointed into Saturday, where he had a pair of decisions. First up was an 8-2 win in the semis over District 1 champ and Creekside junior Vincent Approbato, followed by a double-overtime 4-3 win in the championship match over District 3 champ and Apopka junior Ralph Sanchez. Sanchez (29-5, 4th) reached the finals behind two Friday pins and a 3-1 semifinal win over Fleming Island senior Grant Travis.
Third place: Travis (12-6) powered into the third-place spot behind two consi-side victories, falling Buchholz senior Drew Lewis (2:16) in the blood round for his first state appearance. Travis then downed District 2 champ and University (Orange City) senior Christian Kennick, 6-1, in the third-place match, barely 24 hours removed from his earlier 11-5 win over Kennick in the quarters. Kennick (18-4) responded to that quarterfinal loss with three wins in the consis, including Saturday wins over Timber Creek’s Peter Nesheiwat (fall in 3:17) and Approbato (8-4) in the consi semis, for his second state trip.

285
Championship: After a runnerup effort at districts, Fleming Island sophomore Ethan Hoffstetter (23-8, 6th) ran the table at Palm Coast, with a fall and three decisions. That set of wins included Saturday decisions over district rival Jordan Mitchell of Oakleaf in the semis, and an escape in the ultimate tiebreaker for a 3-2 win in the title match over District 3 champ and Ocoee junior Jordan Phillips. Phillips (22-3, 7th) got to the finals behind three max-point wins, including a Saturday fall in the semis over District 1 champ Ryan Piersza of Bartram Trail (4:58).
Third place: After losing by pin to Piersza in the Friday quarters, Winter Park senior Hayden Clem (23-5) had four falls on the back to rally back for third, with Saturday pins over Lyman’s James Fodor (4:10), Mitchell (1:45) in the blood round and in the third-place match over Mandarin’s Andres Rodriguez (:26). Rodriguez (18-5) lost by injury default to Phillips in the opening, but rallied back behind four falls in the consis, including Saturday pins over Flagler Palm Coast’s Skyler Blackburn (1:52) and over Piersza (3:45) in the consi semis.

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MELBOURNE — A year ago, Palatka had just one wrestler qualify out for states.

In November, the Panthers will be able to boast two returning state qualifiers.

At the conclusion of Saturday’s 1A-Region 2 IBT at Palm Bay, Palatka will represent District 5 at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, with two qualifiers after an eighth-place team finish and 70 team points, up a third from last year’s 46.

However, for the rest of the district, the weekend represented the end of a tumultuous 2020-21 season that saw two programs drop even before the year began.

Atlantic and Pedro Menendez finished tied for 19th in the 29-team field, with 28 points, while Keystone Heights and Lake Weir both were T-27th, with eight.

As expected, the host Pirates dominated the region field, with 300.5 points, 109 ahead of runnerup Hernando. Merritt Island and The Master’s Academy tied for third, with 93 points each, and Citrus rounded out the top five with 82.

Brackets from the weekend can be found HERE. A summary of Saturday’s wrestling follows:

106
Championship: Palatka got off on the right foot with sophomore Mikade Harvey (24-5, 7th statewide), the District 5 champ, adding a Region 2 title to his repertoire. On Saturday, Harvey began with an 11-4 decision over ninth-ranked Space Coast junior Raider Morelli in the semis. In the final, against Palm Bay’s eighth-ranked sophomore Logan DeLos Santos, the District 8 champ, Harvey posted an identical 11-4 win for the championship. DeLos Santos (24-8) advanced to final with a 4-1 win over Master’s Academy seventh-grader Dustin Kohn, the District 7 champ, in the semis.
Third place: Morelli (25-4) bounced back from the loss to Harvey with two wins at the back, falling Cypress Creek (Wesley Chapel)’s Jaden DeSantis in 1:11 in the blood round, then shut out Kohn, 6-0, for third. Kohn (36-12) had punched his ticket for states with a 5-4 win over Crystal River’s Blaine Reed in the consi semis. DeSantis reached the blood round by pinning Bishop Moore’s Andrew Voltolina (2:20), while Reed majored Central (Brooksville)’s Eric Hurley, the District 6 champ, by a 12-3 count.

113
Championship: District 8 champ and top-ranked Palm Bay senior Tyler Perrow remained unbeaten (32-0) with four bonus-point wins through the weekend. After two pins in 2:01 of mat time on Friday, Perrow shut out district rival and Merritt Island senior Zane Hudson, 9-0, in the semis, then polished off another district rival, Satellite sophomore Alex McMiller (full record not reported), in 26 seconds for the title. McMiller (8th) got to the final behind a bye and decision win on Friday, plus a fall (3:28) over district rival Anthony Edwards of Space Coast in the semi.
Third place: After falling in the quarters to Hudson on Friday, Zephyrhills Christian eighth-grader Talon Maple (42-5) would get revenge on Saturday, with four pins on the back side of the bracket. Maple had three of those Saturday, falling Bishop Moore’s Anthony Meyer (2:53) and Edwards (4:50) to qualify out, and then pinning Hudson in 1:45 for third. Hudson (28-10) punched his ticket for Kissimmee in a blood-round 6-3 win over District 6 champ Keith Germain of Weeki Wachee, who reached that round with a five-point move in sudden victory for a 7-2 win over District 7 champ Gage Persons of Citrus in the consi quarters.

120
Championship: District 8 champ and top-ranked Merritt Island senior Elijah Lusk (33-2) also bonus-pointed through the bracket, with two pins Friday. On Saturday, Lusk teched Hernando sophomore TJ Rodier, the District 6 champ, in the third period (24-7 in 5:31), and then majored district rival and Palm Bay junior Shaver Jackson, 14-2, to win the title. Jackson (17-6) had two max-point wins on Friday, adding a second pin (1:17) Saturday in the semis over District 7 champ Elijah Dy of Bishop Moore.
Third place: Rodier (9th, 34-6) secured his Kissimmee space with a 3-0 win in the blood round over Astronaut’s Presten Pineiro, then falled Citrus’ Charles Smith (full record not reported) in 56 seconds for third. Smith had punched his state ticket with three consi-side wins, including two on Saturday over Crystal River’s Angel Merchant (fall in 3:00) and a 5-4 win over Dy in the consi semis. Pineiro got to the final six with a fall (1:42) over Central (Brooksville)’s Colson Mackay-Johnson.

126
Championship: District 8 champ and top-ranked Palm Bay senior Rocco Senia (29-2) had three pins to get to the final. The third of those pushed him into the second period against Hernando junior Diego Mojica, with Senia finishing the fall in 2:45. In the final, against district rival and Merritt Island sophomore Lucien Comelchook, Senia shut down the attack for a 5-0 decision and title. Comelchook (12-4) had gotten to the final behind two wins Friday, surviving a wild semifinal against District 6 champ and Zephyrhills Christian seventh-grader Landen Holley, finding a takedown in sudden victory for a 14-12 win.
Third place: Mojica (13-7) bounced back from the loss to Senia with a fall in the blood round over Citrus’ Jacob Reynolds (1:24), then added a second pin (third of the weekend) by falling Holley (full record not reported) in 1:50. Holley secured his Kissimmee space with a fall (4:10) over district rival Addison Breeding in the consi semis. Reynolds had reached that round by pinning Bishop Moore’s Mason Medina, avenging his District 7 finals loss, in 3:45, while Breeding had teched district rival Jason Salatino of Wesley Chapel (19-3 in 3:36).

132
Championship: District 8 champ and fourth-ranked Palm Bay sophomore Ronald Theilacker (29-1) advanced to the title behind a pair of pins on Friday, followed by a semifinal tech fall over District 6 champ and Zephyrhills junior Jaiden Martinez (15-0 in 5:44) on Saturday. In the championship, Theilacker pushed past District 7 and Master’s Academy freshman Brandon Cody (5th) for an 8-3 win and the title. Cody (41-5) reached the final behind a 7-4 win in the semis over Palatka junior and District 5 champ Brandon Lewis.
Third place: After two prior Saturday exits at regions, Lewis (34-5, 7th) pushed through the blood round Saturday, falling Merritt Island’s Eddie Sears in 2:17 to secure his first state ticket. Lewis then went on for more, securing third with a 3-1 win over Martinez in the bronze-medal match. Martinez (40-8) secured his Kissimmee space with a 14-2 major in the consis semis over Hernando’s James Gadson. Sears reached the blood round with a 6-1 win over Citrus’ Maxal Simpson, while Gadson falled Wesley Chapel’s Aydan Millan (2:49).

138
Championship: District 8 champ and second-ranked Cocoa Beach senior Michael Watson (30-5) pinned his way into the final, with two on Friday and a third fall (2:35) in the semis on Saturday over District 7 champ Cade Eisenhut of Bishop Moore. Watson then had a rematch of the District 8 final, a match that went double overtime last week, with Palm Bay senior Braden Baxter (5th); this time, Watson was able to finish it in six, taking a 5-2 decision. Baxter (29-5) had a pair of Friday majors, reaching the final with a 2-0 win over Satellite freshman Ryan Beirne (unreported full record) in the semis.
Third place: Beirne bounced back with a pair of decisions in the consis, taking an 8-2 win over Nature Coast’s Forest Tilson in the blood round to qualify out, then shutting out District 6 champ and Zephyrhills Christian eighth-grader Javier Lopez, 3-0, for third. Lopez (41-7) had to win three times on the back to push his way into The Show, with Saturday pins over Pedro Menendez’s Logan Meehan (:49), the District 5 champ, in the consi quarters and over Eisenhut (1:17) in the consi semis. Tilson had advanced to the blood round with a 5-3 win over district rival Jackson Hudson of Cypress Creek (Wesley Chapel).

145
Championship: District 8 champ and second-ranked Palm Bay sophomore Nathan Furman (30-3) made a seamless transition from Georgia to Florida wrestling, pinning his way into the final, with a third pin in Saturday’s semifinal round over Wesley Chapel’s Nick Iserino (:54). Furman then rode out District 6 champ and Hernando senior Billy Gould, and was able to escape out and take a 1-0 decision in the championship match. Gould (30-6, 5th) had two wins Friday, adding a third with a 13-7 decision over Palatka’s Delton Nealy, the District 5 champ, in the semi.
Third place: Cocoa Beach senior James Clark-Herndon (27-6, 6th) won four matches on the back after a 12-5 quarterfinal loss to Gould, with two decisions Saturday over Citrus’ Jesse Pounders (7-3) and Iserino (11-7) to punch his Kissimmee ticket. Clark-Herndon then falled District 7 champ and Villages senior Cameron Rima in 4:08 to take third. Rima (41-11) also had three consi-side wins after losing to Iserino in the quarters on Friday, with Saturday wins over Merritt Island’s Noah Dovin (3:16) and Nealy (14-7) in a battle of seniors in the blood round.

152
Championship: District 8 champ and second-ranked Palm Bay senior Jack Dinberg (30-1), who wrestled for Nease in his freshman year, dominated his way into the final with pins or techs. That included a semifinal pin (2:33) over District 6 champion and Hernando senior Jason Perez. In the final, against District 7 champ and Citrus junior Logan Simpson, Dinberg pushed through for a 3-1 decision and the title. Simpson (10th, 21-3) had two bonus-point wins on Friday and shut out Zephyrhills junior Idael Reyes, 2-0, in the semis.
Third place: Perez (25-8) came back from the loss to Dinberg with a pair of bonus-point wins over district rivals, majoring Cypress Creek (Wesley Chapel)’s Jonathan Cardona, 18-4, in the blood round, and then falling Reyes (4:43) for third. Reyes (40-11) also had a major in the consi semis, taking an 11-1 win over Leesburg’s Dominic Delgado. Both Cardona and Delgado had pins to get to that round, with Cardona falling another District 6 opponent, Central (Brooksville)’s Peyton Chancey, in 3:58, while Delgado pinned Pedro Menendez’s Justin Whitty in 2:08.

160
Championship: District 8 champ and third-ranked Palm Bay senior Cameron Komat (29-2) bonus-pointed his way into the final, with a shutout 12-0 major in the semis over Hudson’s Cole Kanehl, following that up with a tight 9-6 win in the championship match over Hernando senior and District 6 champ Billy Fetzner. Fetzner (28-6, 8th) had two pins on Friday, and then turned back 10th-ranked Bishop Moore senior Gavin Wheeler, the District 7 champ, by a 7-4 count in the semis.
Third place: Wheeler (38-7) came back with two wins on the back side for third, starting with a tighter-than-district-final rematch and 4-2 win over distrist rival Kevin Coon of Villages in the blood round, followed by a 37-second pin over Nature Coast junior Caleb Murray for third. Murray (23-9) had lost to Coon by fall in the opening round, coming back for four wins on the back, including Saturday wins over Satellite’s Caleb Griffith (12-10) and Kanehl (4-2) in the consi semis. Coon reached the consi semis with an injury-default in the second period over Palatka’s Gaitlin Carreras, the District 5 champ.

170
Championship: District 7 champ and top-ranked Master’s Academy senior Dylan Kohn (43-1) bonus-pointed through the tournament, without giving up a point on Saturday. In the semis, Kohn shut out fourth-ranked Meritt Island senior Khalil Mitchell, the District 8 champ, by a 9-0 count, then came back in the finals with a tech fall (15-0 in 3:40) over Satellite sophomore Michael McCarthy (full record not reported). McCarthy also had three bonus-point wins in reaching the final, with a Saturday fall over district rival and Palm Bay senior Anthony Holden (2:19).
Third place: Mitchell (27-4) bounced back in the consis with a pair of bonus-point wins, falling District 6 champ Nate Greene of Hernando (2:38) in the blood round, and then shutting out Holden, 10-0, for third. Holden punched his ticket for Kissimmee with a 10-8 consi-semi win over Hudson’s Matthew Tanner. Greene and Tanner reached that level with pins, as Greene falled District 5 champ Noah Anderson of Atlantic (2:40) and Tanner pinned district rival Samuel Daniels of Central (Brooksville) in 4:21, both in the consi quarters.

182
Championship: District 8 champ and second-ranked Palm Bay senior Zander Owens (22-3) bonus-pointed his way through the weekend, with Saturday pins in the semis over District 7 champ and 2020 state runnerup Blake Coleman, a Citrus senior (6th), in 3:14. Owens then went on to pin Bishop Moore senior Jacob Suggs in 4:09 for the title. Suggs (25-16) had a pair of Friday pins, followed by an 8-4 semifinal win over District 6 champ Aidan Mayberry of Weeki Wachee.
Third place: Coleman (24-1) bounced back from his only loss thus far this year with two dominant wins, shutting out District 5 champ David Arcieri of Atlantic, 11-0, in the consi semis, then going on to pin Cocoa senior Troy Sawyer in 3:35 for third. Sawyer (25-8) won four matches on the back after an opening-round 9-7 loss to an eventual non-qualifier, including two Saturday wins over Hernando’s Maddox Romain (5-4) and Mayberry (4-0) in the blood round. Arcieri had gotten to that round with an 8-7 win in the consi quarters over Villages’ Izaiah Jauma.

195
Championship: District 7 champ and second-ranked Master’s Academy senior Ryan Cody (39-2) pinned his way into the semis. There, he had his toughest match of the tournament, taking a 12-7 decision over District 6 champ and Weeki Wachee senior Matthew Kovalskiy (5th). In the final, Cody had an easier time against Hernando senior Johnathan Ahne, with a second-period tech fall (15-0 in 2:34). Ahne (27-10) had a pin and tech on Friday, coming back Saturday with a 9-2 over district rival Joey Dobbs of Zephyrhills Christian in the semis.
Third place: Kovalskiy (30-1) also had to bounce back for third after his first loss of the season, with two max-point wins. He started with a fall in the blood round over District 8 champ Octavion Osby (1:45), then won by forfeit over Villages junior Jaden Markus in the third-place match. Markus punched his Kissimmee ticket with four consi-side wins after an 8-6 loss (which he would avenge) in the opening round, including Saturday wins over Astronaut’s Caleo Carrera (4-1) and Dobbs (fall in 3:11, avenging the rd 1 loss). Osby reached the consi semis with a fall over Hudson’s Kaylum Uribes (1:43).

220
Championship: District 6 runnerup and eighth-ranked Hernando senior Chris Spellman (24-3) bounced back from a district-finals loss in overtime by pinning his way through the tournament, with two pins and two more Saturday (4 falls in 5:34). In the semis, Spellman pinned District 8 champ and Palm Bay senior Ozkan Aydin (10th) in 1:28, then came back to fall District 6 champ and Zephyrhills senior Theotis Smith (who’d beaten Spellman, 7-5, in sudden victory at districts) in 41 seconds for the championship. Smith (22-7) reached the final behind two pins, the second of those in 5:34 in the semis over District 7 champ and Villages senior Nicholas Heise.
Third place: Aydin (30-2) came back to place third, with an 8-2 blood-round win over Zephyrhills Christian’s Elijah Austin to secure his Kissimmee space, then taking a fall in the bronze-medal match over Heise for third. Heise (37-6) punched his ticket for states with a consi-semi pin of his own over District 5 champ Jack Tilton of Palatka (2:30). Austin and Tilton both won decisions in the consi quarters, with Austin taking down Rockledge’s Howard Craft, 8-3, and Tilton decisioning Crystal River’s Tim Gray, 6-2.

285
Championship: District 8 champ and top-ranked Jordan Love (34-0) had two Friday pins, with two decisions on Saturday. In the semis, Love pushed past District 6 champ and Hernando senior Sam Fleming (8th), 5-2, to get to the title match, where he found a takedown in sudden victory in a reprise of the District 8 final against Palm Bay junior Carlos Gerardino, taking a 6-4 win. Gerardino (29-5, 6th) reached the final behind two Friday wins and a semifinal pin over Zephyrhills senior Dajuan McCullough in 2:28.
Third place: Fleming (30-5) bounced back from the loss to Love with two pins on the back, first pinning District 5 champion Jared Jackson of Atlantic (4:13) in the blood round, then falling McCullough in 2:37 in the third-place match. McCullough (36-7) advanced to states with an 8-4 win over district rival Briac Riles of Wesley Chapel in the consi semis. Riles and Jackson both advanced to that round with pins, as Riles needed 16 seconds to fall District 7 champ Mark Ward of Villages, while Jackson pinned Satellite’s Damarion Howard in 3:43.

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The 2020-21 high school season has come to a close in Georgia, but the wrestling continues! Check out the latest on our affiliated site at  http://sgamatmen.wordpress.com

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LYNN HAVEN — With the fairly consistent numbers of wrestlers still alive after Friday’s first day of the 2A-Region 1 IBT at Mosley HS, expect a second day to be as closely contested as the first.

Pace led the 30-team field after the first day, with 61.5 points. The Patriots also have the most wrestlers left after Friday’s wrestling, with nine wrestlers in all (four semifinalists and five in consis).

New Smyrna Beach holds a two-point lead over T-3rd Fletcher and Ft Walton Beach, 56-54.

The Barracudas have only five wrestlers left, but three are in the semis (two in consis). Fletcher has seven wrestlers left alive (four semifinalists, three in consis), while Ft Walton Beach matches the Senators’ second-day totals of seven still alive, four in the semis.

Lincoln (49 points) rounds out the top five, with six wrestlers left (two semifinalists, four in consis). The Trojans are chased by Gulf Breeze (48.5 points, two in semis, five in consis), St Augustine (48, three in semis, five in consis), host Mosley (46, three in semis, four in consis), Middleburg (45, three in semis, three in consis) and Belleview (39, one semifinalist, three in consis) to round out the top 10.

The second ten features Columbia (three semifinalists, one in consis) and Matanzas (two in semis, four in consis) tied with 38 points, followed by Chiles (33 points, four semifinalists, one in consis), Niceville (26, four semifinalists), Orange Park (three semifinalists and one in consis) and Ponte Vedra (one in semis) tied with 23, Robert E Lee (one semifinalist & two in consis) and Seabreeze (two semifinalists and one in consis) tied with 22, Englewood (21 points, three in consis) and Westside (18, one semifinalist).

The final 10 teams were led by a tie with 17 points for Deltona (two semifinalists) and First Coast (one semifinalist, one in consis), followed by Mainland (15 points, one semifinalist, one in consis), Choctaw (14, one semifinalist, one in consis), Crestview (13, one in consis), Gainesville (one in consis) and Leon (one semifinalist) tied with six, Terry Parker (3 points, one wrestler in consis), and Stanton and Tate, both of which did not score.

Below follows a recap of the semifinalists and local wrestlers in the consi side of the brackets in each weight class:

106
Semis: Shane Jourdan (Middleburg, 20-10) v Brett Millard (Columbia, 34-8); Derrick Williams (Mosley, 34-13) v Ryder Pimienta (Orange Park, 20-7).
Semis recap: It’s a District 2 sweep (two additional 2s in consis), with Jourdan taking a pin over Ft Walton Beach’s Santiago Mayic (1:53, rd of 16) and 4-2 win in the quarters over Deltona’s Dianna Pineda. Millard had two pins in 1:35, falling Gulf Breeze’s Alec Poole (:28, rd of 16) and Chiles’ Sam Tolomeo (1:07, quarters), while Williams majored Pace’s Natalie Lugo (12-2, rd of 16) and pinned Fletcher’s Ana Bradshaw (5:58, quarters). Pimienta had a pin over Crestview’s Aiden Golden (1:41, rd of 16) and decisioned Matanzas’ Carter Wilder, 8-2, in the quarters.
Consi quarters: Wilder v Gavin Barro (St Augustine); Tolomeo v Vaniel Caceres (Lincoln).
WB round 2 recap: Wilder pinned Mayic in 3:13, and Tolomeo got to Saturday with a 4-0 win over Lugo. Both Barro and Caceres won twice in the consis, with Barro pinning Poole (:29) in round 1 and shutting out Bradshaw, 5-0, in round 2. Caceres falled Golden (1:39) in round 1 and majored Pineda, 9-0, in round 2.

113
Semis: Garrett Marschka (Chiles, 24-2) v Calvin Williams (Mosley, 34-11); Elijah Hendley (Lincoln, 31-1) v Grady Woodard (Middleburg, 21-13).
Semis recap: District 2 again went 4-for-4 in the semis, with Marschka taking two pins over Stanton’s Jose Toledo (:19, rd of 16) and Ft Walton Beach’s Zak Vosburgh (1:43, quarters). Williams also had two pins over Westside’s James Matthews (3:41, rd of 16) and New Smyrna Beach’s Aidan Sutton (:30, quarters), while Hendley had two pins in :57, falling Fletcher’s Jimi Baur (:29, rd of 16) and Matanzas’ Braden Hawley (:28, quarters). Woodard completed the set of double pins, with falls over Englewood’s Raequan Staples (4:32, rd of 16) and over Belleview’s Zackery Young (3:09, quarters).
Consi quarters: Young v Hawley; Sutton v Vosburgh.
WB round 2 recap: All four consi quarterfinalists bounced back from front-side losses in the quarters, as Young pinned Deltona’s Conner Manning (2:00), Sutton falled Crestview’s Gary Gessendoff (:27) and Vosburgh pinned Pace’s William Mitchell (4:03). Hawley advanced with a 9-4 win over Westside’s James Matthews.

120
Semis: Kevin Kerns (Deltona, 31-6) v Davon Bailey (Orange Park, 23-1); Hunter Brown (Chiles, 24-3) v Ethan Pinto (Niceville, 20-6).
Semis recap: Kerns began with a 41-second fall over Lincoln’s JaShawn Washington (rd of 16), then powered past Ft Walton Beach’s Brandon Mallin, 14-10, in the quarters. Bailey had a pair of six-minute wins over New Smyrna Beach’s Tristen Winfrey (8-4, rd of 16) and Robert E Lee’s Jamal Burkes (12-4, quarters). After a 22-second fall over Mainland’s Kaden Golder in the opening round, Brown edged Fletcher’s Cole O’Brien, 7-6, in the quarters, while Pinto also had a tight quarterfinal win, 6-5, over St Augustine’s Wilson Nguyen after pinning Ponte Vedra’s Aiden Taylor (1:37 in rd of 16).
Consi quarters: Nguyen v O’Brien; Golden v Mallin.
WB round 2 recap: Golder had two wins on the back, with pins over Gulf Breee’s Coby Shields (2:32) and Burkes (4:56), while Nguyen, O’Brien and Mallin each won once in the consis. Nguyen edged Washington, 3-2, while O’Brien won by fall (2:09) over Winfrey and Mallin pinned Middleburg’s Thomas Stokes in 1:53.

126
Semis: Noah Tritz (Niceville, 21-4) v Jamey Bruner (New Smyrna Beach, 32-3); Riley Girgis (Middleburg, 23-8) v Joseph Kent (Seabreeze, full record unreported).
Semis recap: Tritz had two first-period pins over Matanzas’ Toryion Stallings (1:56, rd of 16) and Orange Park’s Elijah Serrano (1:48, quarters), while Bruner also had two pins, falling Crestview’s Landon Brown (2:35, rd of 16) and Mosley’s Darius Mailhot (2:00, quarters). Both wrestlers in the bottom half also won twice by fall, with Girgis pinning Westside’s Tesla Kirkland (:25, rd of 16) and Pace’s Haze Esary (3:56, quarters). Kent took falls over Gulf Breeze’s Logan Merritt (3:27, rd of 16) and Fletcher’s Ryden Ashmore (3:52, quarters).
Consi quarters: Ashmore v Esary; Gage Alberty (Belleview) v Merritt.
WB round 2 recap: Alberty had two wins on the back, pinning Kirkland (:44) in round 1 and Mailhot (1:41) in round 2. The other three quarterfinalists each won once, with Esary pinning Ponte Vedra’s Andrew Hissam (2:27) and Merritt pinning Serrano (:45). Ashmore completed the quartet with a 9-2 win over Stallings.

132
Semis: Colson Elliott (Gulf Breeze, 31-0) v Steven Banfield (Choctaw, 16-13); Brayden Lovingood (St Augustine, 19-12) v Jace Engberg (New Smyrna Beach, 32-3).
Semis recap: The top half semifinalists racked up four pins for District 1, with Elliott pinning Stanton’s Matthew Mock (1:02, rd of 16) and Belleview’s Morgan Cole (1:35, quarters) and Banfield falling Fletcher’s Josh Daltro (3:02, rd of 16) and Middleburg’s Dylan Johns (2:15, quarters). Lovingood pinned Lincoln’s Zaire Fernanders-Jackson (1:42, rd of 16) and had a 5-1 quarterfinal win over First Coast’s Domorrien Wright, while Engberg had pins over Orange Park’s Jose Penagos (1:30, rd of 16) and Ft Walton Beach’s Weston Burbidge (1:56, quarters).
Consi quarters: Burbidge v Logan Mayer (Matanzas); Johns v Cole.
WB round 2 recap: Mayer had two wins on the back, shutting out Daltro (3-0 in consi round 1) and pinning Wright (2:35, round 2). The other three all won once in the consis by pin, with Burbidge falling Columbia’s Alexander Ulloa (1:10), Johns pinning Fernanders-Jackson (3:26) and Cole pinning Ponte Vedra’s Grady Dolan (3:54).

138
Semis: Cam Friend (Pace, 19-1) v Olufemi Egberongbe (Chiles, 24-2); Nolan Zirgibel (Leon, 22-3) v Andrew Davis (Belleview, 34-5).
Semis recap: Friend survived a round-1 12-10 thriller against Middleburg’s Logan Moore, then won by fall over New Smyrna’s Justis Chandler (5:08) in the quarters), while Egberongbe falled Tate’s Caiden Stone (3:19, rd of 16) and decisioned St Augustine’s Carlos Quintanal, 12-5, in the quaters. Zirgibel pinned Ft Walton Beach’s Alexander Davidson (:50, rd of 16), then found a takedown in sudden victory for a 5-3 win over Englewood’s Lynden North in the quarters. Davis also won by fall in the opening round (3:35) over Ponte Vedra’s Cyrus Ferraro, then downed Lincoln’s Connor Edwards, 6-3, in the quarters.
Consi quarters: Edwards v North; Quintanal v Chandler.
WB round 2 recap: All four consi quarterfinalists won once on the back on Friday, with Edwards pinning Westside’s Olleon Hickmon (2:39) and Chandler pinning Ferraro (2:12). North decisioned Fletcher’s Kaden Solomon, 9-3, in consi round 2, while Quintanal turned back Davidson, 10-5.

145
Semis: Malachi Santiago (Ft Walton Beach, 34-2) v Nick Hejke (Mosley, 43-6); Gabe Daltro (Fletcher, 29-3) v Michael Shannon (New Smyrna Beach, 34-2).
Semis recap: After an 8-3 win over Middleburg’s Aden Thornton in the round of 16, Santiago pinned Robert E Lee’s Ty’Juan Jones (1:18) in the quarters. Hejke started with a fall over Niceville’s JJ Martinez (1:57, rd of 16), then shut out St Augustine’s Gabriel Galloza, 6-0, in the quarters. Daltro had a pair of six-minute wins over Belleview’s Zack McLaughlin (14-6, rd of 16) and Pace’s Atticus Waters (4-3, quarters), while Shannon pinned Englewood’s DiSean Hires (:56, rd of 16) and Gulf Breeze’s Garret Rudick (3:25, quarters).
Consi quarters: Rudick v Waters; Galloza v Jones.
WB round 2 recap: Same as at 138, all four consi quarterfinalists won once on the back, with Rudick (5-2 over Thornton) and Galloza (7-1 over Gainesville’s Brennan Kade) taking decisions. Both Waters (2:43 over First Coast’s Payton London) and Jones (2:48 over Hires) won by fall.

152
Semis: Trevion Sermons (Orange Park, 31-2) v Joel Rodriguez (Fletcher, 29-1); Josiah Mossor (First Coast, 26-5) v Tyson Mills (Matanzas, 22-4).
Semis recap: After finding a takedown for a 4-2 sudden victory win over St Augustine’s Hayden Yanni in the round of 16, Sermons pinned Pace’s Seth O’Gara (5:38) in the quarters. Rodriguez had two falls, pinning Ft Walton Beach’s Marquis Muniz (3:23, rd of 16) and Columbia’s Thomas Greene (1:22, quarters). Mossor had two six-minute wins, majoring Choctaw’s Devonte Knox (12-2, rd of 16) and decisioning Mosley’s Nick Kendrick, 7-1, in the quarters, while Mills pinned Lincoln’s Jerry Bowman (3:09, rd of 16) before pushing past Gulf Breeze’s Ian Daily, 2-0, in the quarters.
Consi quarters: Daily v Kendrick; Greene v O’Gara.
WB round 2 recap: This is a recording; all four consi quarterfinalists won once on the back, with Daily decisioning Yanni, 9-2. Kendrick (2:44 over New Smyrna Beach’s Avante Chamble), Greene (3:43 over Seabreeze’s Brock Roberts) and O’Gara (:28 over Bowman) each won by fall.

160
Semis: Joseph Cortez (Pace, 19-1) v Jordan Mills (Matanzas, 19-5); Caleb Tourgee (Ft Walton Beach, 30-4) v Ahmahd Denmark (Robert E Lee, 36-1).
Semis recap: Cortez had two bonus-point wins over Belleview’s Cornelius Bentley-Greene (pin in :25, rd of 16) and Ponte Vedra’s Joseph Skinner (16-0 tech in 2:40, quarters), while Mills pinned Crestview’s Layne Franks (4:38, rd of 16) and then turned back Gainesville’s Will Marshall, 7-1, in the quarters. Tourgee also had a pin and decision, falling New Smyrna Beach’s Jackson Farmer (1:07, rd of 16) and an 8-5 quarterfinal win over Middleburg’s Alex Nayfack, while Denmark had falls over Chiles’ Andrew Mullins (3:30, rd of 16) and St Augustine’s Clint Griffin (2:46, quarters).
Consi quarters: Griffin v Nayfack; Marshall v Sean Jones (Gulf Breeze).
WB round 2 recap: Jones won twice on the back, pinning Mullins (3:38, consi rd 1) and teching Skinner (17-1 in 2:19, consi rd 2); the other three all won once. Griffin had a 39-second fall over Bentley-Greene, while Nayfack (4-2 over Fletcher’s Christopher Strong) and Marshall (5-0 over Farmer) each took decisions.

170
Semis: Martin Black (Niceville, 29-2) v Joseph Rice (Columbia, 35-5); Rett Maritato (Ponte Vedra, 37-3) v Connor Spossey (St Augustine, 41-3).
Semis recap: Black took a pair of pins over Lincoln’s Mason Crowder (3:06, rd of 16) and Terry Parker’s Benny Lewis (1:04, quarters), while Rice also had two falls over Gulf Breeze’s Trevor Dupont (1:11, rd of 16) and over Belleview’s Eric McLaughlin (2:00, quarters). Maritato also had two pins, falling Deltona’s Michael Boodram (:32, rd of 16) and Mosley’s Kaydon Lester (4:32, quarters), while Spossey pinned Gainesville’s Carlos Nelson (1:19, rd of 16) and majored Middleburg’s Eliyah Cole, 14-1, in the quarters.
Consi quarters: Cole v Lester; Brody Andrews (Pace) v Lewis.
WB round 2 recap: Andrews had two pins on the back, with falls over Boodram (2:06, rd 1) and McLaughlin (1:38, rd 2), while the rest of the group each won once. Cole pinned Crowder (1:27) in round 2, while Lester (6-2 over Dupont) and Lewis (4-2 over Ft Walton Beach’s Carter Tobik) both took decisions.

182
Semis: Hunter Dupont (Gulf Breeze, 30-1) v Cayden Bevis (Lincoln, 22-0); Ryan Klein (Fletcher, 27-6) v Ryan Murphy (St Augustine, 29-2).
Semis recap: The group combined for eight bonus-point wins (seven pins). Dupont had two pins in 1:53, falling Middleburg’s Tucker Cody (:42, rd of 16) and Englewood’s Darryl Sam (1:11, quarters), while Bevis had a fall over Choctaw’s Jesse Sarver (1:06, rd of 16) and a 16-7 major over Matanzas’ Quincy Cuthbert in the quarters. Both Klein and Murphy had two pins, with Klein pinning Orange Park’s Cesar Contreras (4:23, rd of 16) and Pace’s Aiden Bryan (5:47, quarters) and Murphy two pins in 1:33 over Westside’s Caleb Baltazar (:29, rd of 16) and over Mosley’s Dalton Kovacs (1:04, quarters).
Consi quarters: Kovacs v Bryan; Cuthbert v Sam.
WB round 2 recap: Each consi-quarter qualifier won once on the back, all by fall, with Kovacs pinning New Smyrna Beach’s Thomas Connell (2:47) and Bryan pinning Ponte Vedra’s Zachary Underwood (2:00). In the bottom half, Cuthbert pinned Columbia’s Jayden Drew (1:35) and Sam falled Baltazar (2:52).

195
Semis: Wyatt Dillon (Pace, 25-2) v Doug Dittmer (New Smyrna Beach, 35-2); Kyle McGill (Chiles, 24-0) v Caiden Patton (Seabreeze, full record unreported).
Semis recap: Dillon opened with a 38-second fall over Mainland’s Nico Rivera (rd of 16), then found a takedown in sudden victory for a 6-4 win over Lincoln’s Wyatt Yown. Dittmer had two first-period pins over Orange Park’s Geoffrey Delice (1:26, rd of 16) and Englewood’s Sam Howard (1:11, quarters), while McGill won by forfeit and then falled Gulf Breeze’s Julian McCulley (3:14) in the quarters. After a first-period fall over Westside’s Wayne Rogers (1:55) in the round of 16, Patton then downed First Coast’s Cleon Johnson, 3-1, in the quarters.
Consi quarters: Johnson v McCulley; Howard v Yown.
WB round 2 recap: Just as at 182 and several other weights, the quarterfinalists each had one win on the back, and all were by fall. Johnson falled Rivera (4:52), McCulley pinned Columbia’s Shawn Raggins (1:24), with the bottom half seeing Howard pinning Belleview’s Nathan Halstead (2:43) and Yown pinning Rogers (3:39).

220
Semis: Cedric Fairrow (Ft Walton Beach, 35-0) v Ethan Chiu (Deltona, 32-3); David Polaski (Niceville, 13-4) v Ethan Hollenbach (Fletcher, 28-3).
Semis recap: Fairrow had two pins over New Smyrna Beach’s Austin Mitchum (1:01, rd of 16) and Englewood’s Melvin Wiggins (3:28, quarters), while Chiu falled Gulf Breeze’s Micah Barker (1:40, rd of 16) before decisioning Robert E Lee’s Craig Harper, 6-3, in the quarters. Polaski had a pair of decisions over Belleview’s Andrew Dunn (10-5, rd of 16) and Lincoln’s Omarion LaRoach (8-2, quarters), while Hollenbach falled Chiles’ Nicholas Groves (:44, rd of 16) and shut out Seabreeze’s Nathan Boyd, 11-0, in the quarters.
Consi quarters: Boyd v LaRoach; Harper v Desi McGueen (Crestview).
WB round 2 recap: McGueen had two pins to get to Saturday, falling Groves (:29, round 1) and Wiggins (3:40, round 2), while the other 3 consi quarter qualifiers took one decision on the back. Boyd downed Mitchum, 7-2, in a matchup of District 4 rivals, while LaRoach won by a 9-3 count over Barker and Harper shut out Dunn, 6-0.

285
Semis: Jordan Colubiale (Mainland, 7-2) v Ray Bolden (Westside, 18-1); Jaycob Jones (Columbia, 23-5) v Spencer Mackenzie (Ft Walton Beach, 30-5).
Semis recap: After taking a 6-1 win in the round of 16 over Orange Park’s Gabriel Hecht, Colubiale won by medical forfeit in the quarters over Crestview’s Josh Green. Bolden had two pins over Pace’s Kegan Oshel (2:53, rd of 16) and Lincoln’s Nic Weaver (1:44, quarters), while Jones won by forfeit to reach the quarters, where he pinned Fletcher’s Toby Matson (3:04). Mackenzie also won by forfeit to reach the quarters, where he held off Matanzas’ Robert Elder in double overtime, 2-1, to get to Saturday on the front side.
Consi quarters: Hecht v Matson; Chase Pelfrey (Choctaw) v Robert Wills (Mosley).
WB round 2 recap: Matson was the only wrestler needing one win on the back, pinning Oshel (3:44). Hecht, Pelfrey and Wills all won twice, with Hecht taking a pair of one-point decisions over Robert E Lee’s Thomas Jones (5-4, round 1) and Elder (2-1 in double overtime, round 2). Pelfrey won by forfeit, then pinned Weaver in 2:08, while Wills had a forfeit and medical forfeit to move to Saturday.

Brackets from Friday’s wrestling can be found HERE.

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PALM COAST — Dance with who ya brought. Even if ya brought fewer folks than usual.

The Fleming Island contingent might be smaller this year than in past years’ 3A-Region 1 IBTs, but the Golden Eagles emerged from Friday’s first day of this year’s tournament still on top of the heap.

The Golden Eagles are 4.5 points up on their region duals finalist opponent, Timber Creek, 72.5-68, with host Flagler Palm Coast third (62.5), Buchholz fourth (62) and the Wolfpack’s District 4 rival, Hagerty, just a point back of the Bobcats in fifth (61).

Fleming Island has all 11 of their wrestlers still alive for Saturday’s wrestling (seven in semis, four in consi quarters), while Flagler Palm Coast (five in semis, three in consis) and Buchholz (three in semis, five in consis) each have eight that survived the first day.

Creekside is just behind in sixth, with 57 points (three semifinalists, four in consis), while Oakleaf is eighth (48.5, three semifinalists, five in consis) and Mandarin ninth (47, three in semis, four in consis) among local teams in the top 10.

University (Orange City) is 12th, with 32 points (one semifinalist and three in consis), while Bartram Trail is 13th (29, three semifinalists) and Seminole is 16th (17.5, two in consis).

Rounding out the 30-team field are locals Sandalwood (21st place, 12 points, one semifinalist), West Port (T-22nd, 10, one in the consis), Forest & Nease (T-26th, eight; Forest has one in the semis and Nease one in the consis) and Atlantic Coast (T-28th, four).

Below follows a recap of the semifinalists and local wrestlers in the consi side of the brackets in each weight class:

106
Semis: Ethan Vugman (Bartram Trail, 38-4) v Cavarius Liddie (Buchholz, 29-17); Joseph Forte (Fleming Island, 31-10) v Trenton Dominguez (Timber Creek, 38-6).
Semis recap: Vugman had a pair of first-period pins over DeLand’s Felix Rivera (1:29, rd of 16) and Hagerty’s Carson Greenier (2:00, quarters), while Liddle falled Mandarin’s Logan Emanuel (1:16, rd of 16) and Lyman’s Jackson Frederickson (2:52, quarters). Forte pinned Flagler Palm Coast’s Alex Castanheira (1:46, rd of 16) and Apopka’s Emmanuel Rodriguez (:37, quarters), while Dominiguez falled Lake Mary’s Logan Morris (:53, rd of 16) and Creekside’s Andrew Feeks (1:05, quarters).
Consi quarters: Feeks v Emanuel; Frederickson v Grady Bryant (University-Orange City).
Local recap: Feeks had pins on the front over Bryant (2:25, rd of 16) and Rivera (1:47), while Emanuel pinned West Orange’s Robby Creager (1:30) and Rodriguez (4:28) in the two consi rounds. Bryant had two bonus-point wins to get to Saturday, pinning Morris (1:19, consi rd 1) and majoring Greenier (13-3) in consi rd 2).

113
Semis: Hunter Herrington (Fleming Island, 22-3) v Fernando Dominguez (Timber Creek, 34-8); Kole Hannant (Flagler Palm Coast, 43-7) v Tamarion Kendrick (Apopka, 32-6).
Semis recap: Herrington picked up pins over Hagerty’s Jacob Donovan (1:12, rd of 16) and Buchholz’s Siddharth Bianchi (1:46, quarters), while Dominguez falled Bartram’s Travis Tagarelli (:50, rd of 16) and then battled past West Orange’s DJ Perez, 10-8, in the quarters. Hannant had pins over Lyman’s Elijah Coduto (1:04, rd of 16) and Mandarin’s Nathan Bremer (3:56, quarters), while Kendrick pinned Seminole’s Noah Barbour (2:19, rd of 16) and majored Lake Mary’s Jeremy Goldman, 13-3, in the quarters.
Consi quarters: Goldman v Bremer; Perez v Conner Wright (Creekside).
Local recap: Bremer had pins on the front over Oviedo’s Zachary Scharf (1:07, rd of 16) and Tagarelli (2:31, consi rd 2), while Wright bounced back from an 11-6 rd of 16 loss to Goldman with a fall over Barbour (1:49, consi rd 1) and a 7-4 win over Bianchi in consi rd 2.

120
Semis: James Gonzalez (Winter Park, 14-3) v Jakob Zawosky (Forest, 26-6); Malique Hargett (University-Orange City, 19-5) v Diego Solorzano (Lake Mary, unreported full record).
Semis recap: After a 9-3 win over FPC’s John Hald in the round of 16, Gonzalez pinned Oakleaf’s Kevin Gilley (4:35) in the quarters. Zawosky had falls over Timber Creek’s Bryse Balcom (4:48, rd of 16) and Mandarin’s Da’mon Teague (3:15, quarters), while Hargett pinned Hagerty’s Logan Acey-Kreighauser (4:24) and won by injury default in the quarters over Sandalwood’s Alexei Mutoh. Solorzano majored Buchholz’s Jedidiah Brown (14-2, rd of 16) and pinned Creekside’s Hunter England (4:44, quarters).
Consi quarters: Hald v Balcom; Teague v Gilley.
Local recap: Hald bounced back from the loss to Gonzalez with a 5-2 win over West Port’s Frangelo Baltodano (consi rd 1) and pinned England (1:48) in rd 2, while Teague had wins on the front (pin in 3:33) over Ocoee’s Nathan Ramirez and on the back (11-7 in consi rd 2) over Acey-Kreighauser. Gilley, who’d opened the day with a third-period tech (16-1 in 5:07) in the rd of 16 over Baltodano, finished it with an 11-1 major over Brown.

126
Semis: Dante Rigal (Sandalwood, 12-0) v Brandon Vargas (Colonial, 20-8); Venumadhava Mirel (Buchholz, 35-11) v Marcus McGee (Oakleaf, 25-9).
Semis recap: Rigal had a forfeit into the quarters, where he pinned Windermere’s Ticiano Brito in :43. Vargas had a 17-second pin over West Port’s Tristan Perez and won by injury default over Timber Creek’s Jacob McCrimmon, while Mirel pinned Evans’ Jaylen Clayton (1:46, rd of 16) and downed Fleming Island’s Riley Holton, 10-3, in the quarters. McGee took six-minute wins over Lake Mary’s Dylan Cobb (9-4, rd of 16) and Apopka’s Jalen Moliere (12-4, quarters).
Consi quarters: Moliere v Holton; McCrimmon v Cobb.
Local recap: Holton had a front-side fall over Winter Park’s Teddy Barry (1:42), coming back with a tech fall over Mandarin’s Ethan Harvey (16-0 in 2:18) in consi rd 2.

132
Semis: Jameel Smith (Mandarin, 21-1) v Dominic Rubino (Lake Mary); Fidel Bonosky (Apopka, 17-18) v Jayden Tapia (Timber Creek, 39-6).
Semis recap: Smith opened with a fall (1:21) over Windermere’s Francisco Delgado-Mendez (rd of 16) and then took an 8-1 decision over Hagerty’s David Mejia in the quarters. Rubino pinned Buchholz’s Daniel Lynch (1:54) in the rd of 16, and then won by forfeit in the quarters over Oakleaf’s Logan Gilbert. Bonosky pinned Creekside’s Cathan Simpson (2:00) and Oviedo’s Tim Abdelshehid (1:35), while Tapia falled Lake Howell’s Xavier McMichael (:17, rd of 16) and pushed past Fleming Island’s Xavier Logan, 9-6, in the quarters.
Consi quarters: Logan v Joshua Raphael (Wekiva); Gilbert v Mejia.
Local recap: Logan had pins on the front over Lake Brantley’s Kai Higgins (3 minutes, rd of 16) and Delgado-Mendez (2:12, consi rd 2), while Gilbert sandwiched falls over Raphael (1:16, rd of 16) and Simpson (:53, consi rd 2) around the forfeit to Rubino.

138
Semis: Trevor Owens (Oakleaf, 37-13) v Brett Moses (Lake Mary, unreported full record); Jagdesh Persaud (Evans, unreported full record) v Kamdon Harrison (Hagerty, 39-6).
Semis recap: Owens took six-minute wins over Seminole’s Anshuman Singh (10-3, rd of 16) and Timber Creek’s Ethan Winters (11-0, quarters), while Moses had identical 6-5 wins over West Orange’s Conner Smith (rd of 16) and Buchholz’s Timothy Bowen (quarters). Persaud had two pins over Winter Park’s Ashton Hughes (:41, rd of 16) and Fleming Island’s Garrett Cole (1:27, quarters), while Harrison had pins over Apopka’s Willy Octavius (:35, rd of 16) and Creekside’s Keanan Sexton (1:00, quarters).
Consi quarters: Sexton v Cole; Bowen v Winters.
Local recap: Sexton had a forfeit on the front over DeLand’s Lane Wishart and a 9-4 win over Windermere’s Tyler Drone (consi rd 2), while Cole posted a 39-second fall over West Port’s Kieran Ball (rd of 16) and a 5-0 win over Smith in consi rd 2. Bowen had a 5-1 win on the front over Nease’s Mateos Zajni and a fall over Hughes (4:15) in consi rd 2.

145
Semis: Tyran Schanck (Evans, unreported full record) v Marcus Patrick (Oviedo, unreported full record); Ransom Randolph (Apopka, 35-6) v Joseph Gonzalez (Winter Park, 13-0).
Semis recap: Schanck pinned Lake Mary’s Aidan Rubino (3:52) in the round of 16, and came back to down Seminole’s Benjamin Buhring, 11-4, in the quarters. Patrick had six-minute wins over West Orange’s Mikey Nepywoda (7-1, rd of 16) and Creekside’s Lee Leavell (11-0, quarters), while Randolph majored Timber Creek’s Malik Tyrell-Crittington (11-0, rd of 16) and teched FPC’s Brendan Buckles (18-2 in 5:06, quarters). Gonzalez had techs over Windermere’s Joao Cavaliere (15-0 in 2:40, rd of 16) and West Port’s Tyler Pinkowski (15-0 in 4:06).
Consi quarters: Pinkowski v Aiden Moore (Buchholz); Tyrell-Crittington v Matthew Kotler (Fleming Island).
Local recap: Pinkowski pinned Kotler (2:35) in the rd of 16 and won by injury default over Nease’s Anthony Tanza in consi rd 2, while Moore forfeited to Creekside’s Lee Leavell on the front, bouncing back with pins over Nepywoda (3:45, consi rd 1) and Buckles (1:17, consi rd 2). Kotler came back from the loss to Pinkowski with decisions over Cavaliere (12-5, consi rd 1) and Buhring (4-3, consi rd 2).

152
Semis: Blake Watts (Hagerty, 24-6) v Chris Labrecque (Lake Brantley, 20-3); Timothy King (Flagler Palm Coast, 36-7) v Alex Vazquez (Lake Mary, unreported full record).
Semis recap: Watts took pins over University-Orange City’s Cooper Braden (:39, rd of 16) and Oakleaf’s Roman Polinsky (4:00, quarters), while Labrecque pinned Mandarin’s Zaine Evans (5:10, rd of 16) and decisioned Winter Park’s Joey Parker, 10-3, in the quarters. King had first-period pins over Lake Howell’s Johnathan Adams (1:03, rd of 16) and Atlantic Coast’s Joel Dudley (1:37, quarters), while Vazquez falled DeLand’s Paul Derosby (:55, rd of 16) and teched Creekside’s Diego Rivera (15-0 in 2:08, quarters).
Consi quarters: Rivera v Liam Buchanan (Buchholz); Parker v Polinsky.
Local recap: Rivera had pins on the front over Windermere’s Jerry Vargas (5:31, rd of 16) and on the back over Braden (3:14, consi rd 2), while Buchanan came back from a rd-of-16 loss by pin to Parker with a fall over Evans (2:01) and a 9-5 sudden-victory decision over Dudley. Polinsky pinned Apopka’s David McKnight (1:48) in the rd of 16, and edged Vargas, 4-3, in consi rd 2.

160
Semis: David Parkes (Fleming Island, 23-4) v Jared Purcell (Lake Mary, unreported full record); Blane DeFord (Flagler Palm Coast, 8-0) v John McNames (Bartram Trail, 5-1).
Semis recap: Parkes had pins over Lake Howell’s David Izquierdo (2:37, rd of 16) and Buchholz’s Kason Nichols (3:42, quarters), while Purcell falled Creekside’s Michael Little (2:26, rd of 16) and Windermere’s Kurt Vollenweider (2:37, quarters). DeFord opened with a fall over Ocoee’s Eric Gilreath (3:13, rd of 16) and then teched Oakleaf’s James McClintic (17-2 in 4:25, quarters), while McNames shut out Hagerty’s Connor Gilliam, 5-0, in the rd of 16 before pinning Lake Brantley’s Tymel Isham (5:38, quarters).
Consi quarters: Malik Nicholson (Apopka) v McClintic; Vollenweider v Nichols.
Local recap: McClintic falled Lyman’s Cameron Brooks (3:03, rd of 16) on the front and Little (4:29, consi rd 2) on the back, while Nichols had a front-side pin over Nicholson (4:44, rd of 16) and a consi-side version over Gilliam (2:36, consi rd 2).

170
Semis: Hunter Brown (Creekside, 29-6) v Bryce Dodge (Flagler Palm Coast, 16-5); Joshua Sandoval (Fleming Island, 9-7) v Ethan Gomez (Hagerty, 32-7).
Semis recap: Brown opened with a 13-6 win over Seminole’s William James, then pinned Timber Creek’s Zach Hanks (:38) in the quarters, while Dodge had falls over Nease’s Peter Simon (1:18, rd of 16) and Winter Park’s Tristen Carbonell (1:14, quarters). Sandoval also had two pins, falling Buchholz’s Max Szabo (3:06, rd of 16) and University-Orlando’s Isaac Anglero (1:39, quarters), while Gomez pinned Apopka’s Cory Cardosa (1:01, rd of 16) and Bartram Trail’s Aydan Nguyen (3:04, quarters).
Consi quarters: James v Simon; Carbonell v Hanks.
Local recap: After the loss to Brown, James teched Evans’ Edward Clayton (17-0 in 4:17, consi rd 1) and pushed past Nguyen, 3-1, in consi rd 2, while Simon had a 10-6 win over Windermere’s Joao Nascimento (consi rd 1) and pinned Anglero (2:12) in consi rd 2.

182
Semis: Bryan Fortay (Creekside, 21-4) v Marcelo Gonzalez (Flagler Palm Coast, 37-10); Tony Carter (Mandarin, 16-2) v Ethan Lopez (Hagerty, 11-1).
Semis recap: Each of the four semifinalists had two pins Friday. Fortay falled West Port’s Luis Sotomeyer (:36, rd of 16) and Lake Howell’s Maximus McMichael (3:36, quarters), while Gonzalez pinned Nease’s Danil Avetisov (1:19, rd of 16) and Timber Creek’s Dennis Proulx (2:33, quarters). In the bottom half, Carter falled Buchholz’s Jamari Chisolm (:41, rd of 16) and Oviedo’s David Rojo (1:37, quarters), and Lopez pinned Ocoee’s Ethan Smith (2:48, rd of 16) and University-Orange City’s James Houck (2:26, quarters).
Consi quarters: Houck v Ayden Rieck (West Orange); Proulx v McMichael.
Local recap: Houck had a front-side pin over Oakleaf’s Braden Cole (3:14, rd of 16) and falled Sotomeyer (1:14) in consi rd 2.

195
Semis: Hunter Williams (Fleming Island, 25-3) v Jaelen Simmons (Mandarin, 11-10); Jason Martin (Buchholz, 36-4) v Seth Suvak (Colonial, 23-1).
Semis recap: Williams pinned Winter Park’s Aladio Thompson (1:09, rd of 16) and Seminole’s Mike Frederick (1:08, quarters), while Simmons took a 5-2 win over Hagerty’s Hunter Tate in the round of 16 and then falled Apopka’s Timothy Randolph (2:57) in the quarters. Martin needed just 1:25 to pin two opponents, falling Windermere’s Nathan Lopez (:48, rd of 16) and Oakleaf’s Isaiah Shevchook (:37, quarters), while Suvak falled FPC’s Garrick Schwartz (5:49, rd of 16) and Lake Howell’s Danny Izquierdo (:53, quarters).
Consi quarters: Izquierdo v Shevchook; Carlos Arciniegas (Timber Creek) v Schwartz.
Local recap: Shevchook had pinned Arciniegas (2:55) in the round of 16, bouncing back from the loss to Martin with a 3-2 win over Tate in consi round 2. Schwartz took six-minute wins over Nease’s Kobe Ross (14-5, consi rd 1) and Frederick (2-1, consi rd 2).

220
Semis: Vincent Approbato (Creekside, 33-3) v Bertilus Bornelus (Hagerty, 28-3); Grant Travis (Fleming Island, 10-5) v Ralph Sanchez (Apopka, 28-4).
Semis recap: Approbato took first-period pins over Nease’s Evan Higgins (:36, rd of 16) and Buchholz’s Drew Lewis (1:37, quarters), while Bornelus pinned Atlantic Coast’s Hayden Brudehl (2:27, rd of 16) and won by DQ over Seminole’s Devell Moore (quarters). Travis had a 30-second pin over Lake Howell’s Jayden Velazquez and powered past University-Orange City’s Christian Kennick, 11-5, in the quarters, while Sanchez pinned FPC’s Dalton Schell (3 minutes, rd of 16) and Timber Creek’s Peter Nesheiwat (5:09, quarters).
Consi quarters: Nesheiwat v Kennick; Moore v Lewis.
Local recap: Kennick pinned West Orange’s Jakari White (1:28, rd of 16) on the front and took a 16-2 major over Lake Brantley’s Justice Pratt in consi rd 2. Moore pinned Pratt (5:10) in the rd of 16 and White (2:30) in consi rd 2, while Lewis had two decision wins, 2-1 over Wekiva’s Cortiny Richardson (rd of 16) and 6-4 over Schell in consi rd 2.

285
Semis: Ryan Piersza (Bartram Trail, 29-4) v Jordan Phillips (Ocoee, 21-2); Jordan Mitchell (Oakleaf, 33-14) v Ethan Hoffstetter (Fleming Island, 21-8).
Semis recap: Piersza took pins over West Orange’s Bryce Czachorowski (:20, rd of 16) and Winter Park’s Hayden Clem (2:59, quarters), while Phillips won by injury default over Mandarin’s Andres Rodriguez (rd of 16) and pinned Lyman’s James Fodor (5:03, quarters). Mitchell won by forfeit over Apopka’s Zaire Warner in the round of 16, then pinned Lake Howell’s Joshua Maldonado (1:09) in the quarters, while Hoffstetter falled Windermere’s Avin Mortensen (1:16) and avenged a loss in the region duals final with a 5-4 win over Timber Creek’s Daniel Garcia in the quarters.
Consi quarters: Skyler Blackburn (Flagler Palm Coast) v Rodriguez; Fodor v Clem.
Local recap: Blackburn had a loss by fall to Clem (:45, rd of 16), coming back with a pin over Czachorowski (2:00, consi rd 1) and winning by forfeit over Garcia in consi rd 2. Rodriguez bounced back with pins over Forest’s Cane Fernandez (:51, consi rd 1) and Maldonado (:36, consi rd 2).

Brackets from Friday’s wrestling can be found HERE.

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MELBOURNE — Finishing first or second was going to be a tall order from jump for Palatka.

But as things stand Friday evening at the conclusion of the 1A-Region 2 IBT at Palm Bay HS, the Panthers stand seventh, with 43 points, and well within shouting distance of third-place Citrus and Villages, which are tied with 48 points.

Palatka has five wrestlers still alive after Friday’s competition, with semifinalists in Mikade Harvey (106), Brandon Lewis (132) and Delton Nealy (145), District 5’s only wrestlers to get to the semis. The Panthers also have Gaitlin Carreras (160) and Jack Tilton (220) in the consi quarters.

As for the rest of District 5 teams, Pedro Menendez holds 15th after the first day, with 28 points, while Atlantic is T-18th (24) and Keystone Heights and Lake Weir are both T-24th (eight) in the 29-team tournament.

Atlantic has three wrestlers in the consis in Noah Anderson (170), David Arcieri (182) and Jared Jackson (285), while the Falcons have two in Logan Meehan (138) and Justin Whitty (152).

Below follows a recap of the first day, with semifinalists laid out for each out weight class and all local wrestlers’ first-day performances (where they competed) noted:

106
Semis: Mikade Harvey (Palatka, 22-5) v Raider Morelli (Space Coast, 23-3); Dustin Kohn (Master’s Academy, 35-10) v Logan DeLos Santos (Palm Bay, 23-7).
Local recap: Harvey got to the semis with two first-period pins over Hudson’s Lorenzo Macatol (1:52, rd of 16) and Crystal River’s Blaine Reed (1:30, quarters). Pedro Menendez’s Emma Brackett was 0-2, with losses by fall to Hernando’s Kali Christie (:20, rd of 16) and Villages’ Luke Wilke (:24, consi rd 1).

113
Semis: Zane Hudson (Merritt Island, 27-8) v Tyler Perrow (Palm Bay, 30-0); Anthony Edwards (Space Coast, 21-6) v Alex McMiller (Satellite, unreported full record).
Local recap: Palatka’s Ishmael Foster was 1-2 on Friday, losing via tech fall (17-2 in 3:44) in the rd of 16 to Hudson; after a forfeit over Villages’ Joey Mineo in consi rd 1, Foster lost by fall (3:32) to Citrus’ Gage Persons. Atlantic’s Ayden Howington was 0-2 Friday, losing by fall (1:06) to Edwards in the rd of 16 and falling, 9-5, to Master’s Academy’s Benjamin Wolgamuth.

120
Semis: Shaver Jackson (Palm Bay, 16-5) v Elijah Dy (Bishop Moore, 23-15); TJ Rodier (Hernando, 32-5) v Elijah Lusk (Merritt Island, 31-2).
No locals in field.

126
Semis: Diego Mojica (Hernando, 11-6) v Rocco Senia (Palm Bay, 26-2); Landen Holley (Zephyrhills Christian, unreported full record) v Lucien Comelchook (Merritt Island, 11-3).
Local recap: Atlantic’s Jamison Pinyan was 1-2 on Friday, with a front-side win by fall (1:52, rd of 16) over Satellite’s Lucy Marris. Pinyan then took losses in the quarters (:55) to Mojica and in consi rd 2 (4:07) to Wesley Chapel’s Jason Salatino. Palatka’s Alexander McCrystal, Keystone Heights’ Ethan Cosby and Pedro Menendez’s Maddox Kaufenberg were all 0-2 on Friday. McCrystal lost by fall to Rockledge’s Ethan Webb (:43, rd of 16) and Crystal River’s Josh Holland (1:47, consi rd 1), while Cosby lost by pin to Comelchook (3:41, rd of 16) and Salatino (:45, consi rd 1). Kaufenberg took losses by pin to Senia (:18, rd of 16) and Citrus’ Jacob Reynolds (:21, consi rd 1).

132
Semis: Brandon Lewis (Palatka, 32-4) v Brandon Cody (Master’s Academy, 40-4); Jaiden Martinez (Zephyrhills, 39-6) v Ronald Theilacker (Palm Bay, 27-1).
Local recap: Lewis reached the semis with pins in both rounds, falling Bishop Moore’s Gabriel Romano (1:14, rd of 16) and Wesley Chapel’s Aydan Millan (3:21, quarters). Pedro Menendez’s Joshua Smith was 1-2 with a forfeit in the rd of 16 over Villages’ Konnor Rutz, with losses by fall to Theilacker (:56, quarters) and Merritt Island’s Eddie Sears (2:12, consi rd 2). Atlantic’s Bernie Alvarez and Keystone’s Tyce Pigga were each 0-2 Friday. Alvarez lost by fall on the front (4:24, rd of 16) to Citrus’ Maxal Simpson and on the back (2:14, consi rd 1) to Titusville’s Landon Morgan, while Pigga lost by fall to Cody (:18, rd of 16) and Satellite’s Nathan Lothrop (:31, consi rd 1).

138
Semis: Ryan Beirne (Satellite, unreported full record) v Braden Baxter (Palm Bay, 28-4); Cade Eisenhut (Bishop Moore, 34-7) v Michael Watson (Cocoa Beach, 28-5).
Local recap: Pedro Menendez’s Logan Meehan is 2-1 and alive in the consis, sandwiching a quarterfinal loss by fall (2:59) to Beirne with victories on the front over Hernando’s Zach Zimmerman (10-7, rd of 16) and Citrus’ Aaron Reynolds (7-6, consi rd 2). Meehan faces Zephyrhills Christian’s Javier Lopez in the consi quarters Saturday morning. Atlantic’s William Johnson and Keystone’s Saige Dennis were both 0-2 on Friday, with Johnson taking losses to Cypress Creek-WC’s Jackson Hudson (3:26, rd of 16) and Merritt Island’s Jacob Pitcher (16-0 tech in 3:09, consi rd 1) and Dennis with losses by fall to Nature Coast’s Forest Tilson (:12, rd of 16) and Reynolds (:12, consi rd 1).

145
Semis: Delton Nealy (Palatka, 27-11) v Billy Gould (Hernando, 29-5); Nick Iserino (Wesley Chapel, 32-6) v Nathan Furman (Palm Bay, 28-3).
Local recap: Nealy got to the semis with a fall in the round of 16 over Nature Coast’s Damon Wiedmer (4:23), following that with a 7-2 decision in the quarters over Citrus’ Jesse Pounders. Keystone’s Canyon Hayes and Lake Weir’s Hunter Peake were each 0-2 Friday. Hayes took losses by fall to Cypress Creek-WC’s John Mucha (4:47, rd of 16) and Bishop Moore’s Ben Greeno (1:40, consi rd 1), while Peake lost by pin to Gould (1:39, rd of 16) and Leesburg’s Seth Brown (2:12, consi rd 1).

152
Semis: Idael Reyes (Zephyrhills, 39-9) v Logan Simpson (Citrus, 20-2); Jason Perez (Hernando, 23-7) v Jack Dinberg (Palm Bay, 28-1).
Local recap: Pedro Menendez’s Justin Whitty was 2-1 on Friday and is still alive in the consis, with pins over Crystal River’s Jayden Jobe (3:10, rd of 16) and over Villages’ Mason Garcia (2:08, consi rd 2) sandwiching a quarterfinal tech fall loss to Dinberg (16-1 in 2:16). Whitty will face Leesburg’s Dominic Delgado in the consi quarters. Lake Weir’s Dean Marquis and Palatka’s Adaris Medina were both 1-2 on Friday. Marquis’ win came on the front, by fall over Garcia (2:22, rd of 16), with losses by pin to Reyes (5:15, quarters) and Central (Brooksville)’s Peyton Chancey (3:36, consi rd 2), while Medina falled Satellite’s Ethan Raffaele (2:02, consi rd 1), with losses to Delgado (12-6, rd of 16) and to Cypress Creek-WC’s Jonathan Cardona (pin in 2:15, consi rd 2). Keystone Heights’ Alyx Nichols was 0-2, with losses by fall to Simpson (:19, rd of 16) and Rockledge’s Gregory Mitchell (:14, consi rd 1).

160
Semis: Cole Kanehl (Hudson, 39-14) v Cameron Komat (Palm Bay, 27-2); Billy Fetzner (Hernando, 27-5) v Gavin Wheeler (Bishop Moore, 36-6).
Local recap: Palatka’s Gaitlin Carreras is 2-1 and still alive in the consis, with pins over Cocoa’s Nicholas Blue (3:11, rd of 16) and Central (Brooksville)’s Gabriel Daniels (2:22, consi rd 2) sandwiching a quarterfinal loss by fall (:33) to Kanehl. Carreras will face Villages’ Kevin Coon in the consi quarters. Pedro Menendez’s Luke Johnson was 0-2, with losses by fall to Satellite’s Caleb Griffith (:30, rd of 16) and Daniels (1:27, consi rd 1).

170
Semis: Anthony Holden (Palm Bay, 25-4) v Michael McCarthy (Satellite, unreported full record); Dylan Kohn (Master’s Academy, 41-1) v Khalil Mitchell (Merritt Island, 25-3).
Local recap: Atlantic’s Noah Anderson is 2-1 and still alive in the consis, with pins over Cypress Creek-WC’s Calvin Rivera (2:20, rd of 16) and Palatka’s Vincent Washington (:59, consi rd 2), along with a quarterfinal loss by fall (2:32) to Holden. Anderson will wrestle Hernando’s Nate Greene in the consi quarters. Washington and Pedro Menendez’s Tabias Brown were both 1-2, with Washington bouncing back from a first-round loss to Central (Brooksville)’s Samuel Daniels (3:38) with a pin over Citrus’ Jase West (1:37) in consi round 1. Brown lost by fall on the front (1:17) to Hudson’s Matthew Tanner but then won by forfeit over Space Coast’s Mason Alsobrook before taking a loss by pin to Greene (1:32). Lake Weir’s Lamar Williams was 0-2, with losses by fall to Greene (1:24, rd of 16) and Villages’ Nicholas Caudill (2:28, consi rd 1).

182
Semis: Jacob Suggs (Bishop Moore, 24-15) v Aidan Mayberry (Weeki Wachee, 25-6); Blake Coleman (Citrus, 22-0) v Zander Owens (Palm Bay, 20-3).
Local recap: Atlantic’s David Arcieri is 2-1 and still alive in the consis, with pins over Wesley Chapel’s Richard Stoddard (:54, rd of 16) and Nature Coast’s Tywon Butler (1:24, consi rd 2) around a quarterfinal loss by fall to Suggs. Pedro Menendez’s Ryon Pickles lost his opening-round match by medical forfeit and did not compete further.

195
Semis: Johnathan Ahne (Hernando, 26-9) v Joey Dobbs (Zephyrhills Christian, 30-5); Matthew Kovalskiy (Weeki Wachee, 28-0) v Ryan Cody (Master’s Academy, 37-2).
Local recap: Keystone Heights’ Stephan Raab and Pedro Menendez’s Dane Litzinger were both 1-2 on Friday. Raab pinned Astronaut’s Caleo Carrera (3:31) in the round of 16, but then lost by tech (20-5 in 5:21) in the quarters to Ahne and by a 10-8 decision to Hudson’s Kaylum Uribes in consi rd 2. Litzinger lost by fall (5:19) in the rd of 16 to Rockledge’s Torianno Macklin, then won by forfeit over Bishop Moore’s Gage Timberlake in consi rd 1 before losing by fall to Palm Bay’s Octavion Osby (4:02) in consi rd 2. Atlantic’s John Wyman was 0-2, with losses by fall to Cocoa Beach’s Christian Taylor (1:25, rd of 16) and Uribes (:54, consi rd 1).

220
Semis: Chris Spellman (Hernando, 22-3) v Ozkan Aydin (Palm Bay, 28-1); Theotis Smith (Zephyrhills, 21-6) v Nicholas Heise (Villages, 36-4).
Local recap: Palatka’s Jack Tilton was 2-1 on Friday and is still alive in the consis, with a 6-1 win over Merritt Island’s Bobby Ives (rd of 16) and a 47-second fall over Hudson’s Gavyn Uribes (consi rd 2) sandwiched around a quarterfinal loss by fall (2:27) to Spellman. Tilton will face Crystal River’s Tim Gray in the consi quarters. Pedro Menendez’s Stuart Martin had a front-side fall (1:07, rd of 16) over Space Coast’s Mason Martinez, but then took losses by fall to Smith (3:37, quarters) and Zephyrhills Christian’s Elijah Austin (2:25, consi rd 2).

285
Semis: Carlos Gerardino (Palm Bay, 28-4) v Dajuan McCullough (Zephyrhills, 35-5); Sam Fleming (Hernando, 28-4) v Jordan Love (Rockledge, 32-0).
Local recap: Atlantic’s Jared Jackson was 2-1 Friday and is still alive in the consis, with pins on the front over Astronaut’s Corey Shugy (:15, rd of 16) and over Central (Brooksville)’s Jesse Harmon (1:58, consi rd 2) sandwiching a 4-0 quarterfinal loss to Gerardino. Anderson will wrestle Satellite’s Damarion Howard in the consi quarters. Pedro Menendez’s Ron Coleman, Lake Weir’s Corian Williams and Keystone Heights’ Gabe Adams were all 1-2. Williams falled Palatka’s Carson Tibbs (3:23, rd of 16), but then lost by fall to Love (1:09, quarters) and Wesley Chapel’s Briac Riles (:56, consi rd 2). Adams won by forfeit over Master’s Academy’s Carson Reynolds, with subsequent losses by pin to Fleming (:58, quarters) and Villages’ Mark Ward (:45, consi rd 2). Coleman pinned Ward (:21) in the round of 16, but then took losses by pin to McCullough (1:31, quarters) and Howard (1:37, consi rd 2). Tibbs was 0-2, with his second loss coming by pin to Harmon (2:12, consi rd 1).

Brackets from Friday’s wrestling can be found HERE.

JOIN us on Facebook at North Florida Matmen (you can also friend me on my personal page) or on Twitter at @NorthFLAMatmen, or on Instagram at nflamatmen.

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1A-Region 1

When & where: Bolles School, Jacksonville. First session is set for noon Friday. Saturday’s first session set for 10 a.m.; finals usually are at discretion of tournament director and are most often slated for mid-afternoon starts.
Team favorite: Wakulla. Clay. Again. Need much more of a reason than that to show up? This tournament might be the coronation of a new king in the north — at least until next season begins, so your mileage might vary on how important that is — but the two giants should go 1-2 in one way, shape or form. I would guess Yulee will emerge as the clear #3 in this tournament field; a lot of the other contenders have had some difficulties at one point or another. Suwannee’s star power will help it some; look at South Walton, Florida High and Fernandina Beach as possible top five-threats.

Rankings are per Matmen-endorsed statewide rankings source Brant Parsons of the Orlando Sentinel.

Brackets can be reviewed HERE: REGION 1 (BOLLES)

Matmen’s state picks, sure to be wrong

106
The picks: 1. Jayce Paridon (University Christian, 2nd). 2. Julian Harvey (Wakulla, 5th). 3. Nik Saldana (Fernandina Beach, 19th). 4. Jay Brown (Wewahitchka).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Saldana v Brown, quarters. That’s the match where we learn if Saldana is ready for a Kissimmee trip. Brown’s had to try to go through Arnold’s Valarie Solorio (13th; will not be wrestling per social media post by her father) all season, so he’s been battle-tested by solid competition.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Third quarterfinal loser; Topher Pearson (Suwannee).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Christian Simmons (Union Cty).

113
The picks: 1. De’Quon King (Raines, 3rd). 2. Maverick Rainwater (Clay, 5th). 3. Max Brewster (South Walton, 7th). 4. Ryan Mayer (Bishop Kenny, 10th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: The third quarterfinal between Elijah Stillgess (Rutherford) and Caleb Orr (Wakulla). I see Stillgess being part of the matchup either way, but getting through Friday is going to be very much a test for Orr, who served as a backup for most of the season.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Jacob Witt (Bolles, 17th); third quarterfinal loser.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Bottom half semifinal loser; Turner Glenn (Episcopal).

120
The picks: 1. Egan Gustilo (University Christian, 5th). 2. Austin McKinney (Suwannee, 12th). 3. Raymond Hatchman (Wakulla, 7th). 4. Dalton Huckelberry (Clay, 9th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: There’s actually two: Christian Villanueva (Bishop Snyder, 10th) v McKinney in rd of 16: how will McKinney deal with the size up in weight at the region. Also, the Huckelberry/Lucas Biddle (Arnold, 17th) quarterfinal should be a dandy.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Jackson Holcomb (West Nassau); the Villanueva/McKinney loser in Round 1.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Whoever loses in the top two quarterfinals. Guys, that bottom half is going to be loaded going into Saturday.

126
The picks: 1. Tyler Reeve (Florida High, 2nd). 2. Timothy Jolicoeur (Suwannee, 4th). 3. Jeremy Mahoney (Fernandina Beach, 7th). 4. Isaiah Wilson (Wakulla, 6th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Wilson v Tristan Martinez (Yulee, 16th) in round 1. The winner has a reasonable, though by no means a slam dunk, shot to get to the semis; the loser has a chance to do some real damage in the consis, certainly with a decent shot at Saturday.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Christian Ryan (Episcopal, 19th); Martinez.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Joshua Carter (Baker Cty); Thomas Viens (Clay).

132
The picks: 1. Matthew Rodriquez (Ridgeview, 1st). 2. Joe Jackson (Episcopal, 12th). 3. Jackson Merrick (Wakulla, 15th). 4. Luke Latham (Rocky Bayou Christian).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Canyon Dart (South Walton) v Dietrich Woods (Fernandina Beach) in round 1. Winner gets Merrick in the quarters and the winner of that will get a one-shot-for-state chance in the blood round. Dart’s been to The Show, while Woods has found a home with the Pirates.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Third quarterfinal loser; Romero Black (Rutherford).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket: Chandler Thomas (Clay, 14th); Brody Boehm (Suwannee, 17th); Dart-Woods loser in round 1.

138
The picks: 1. Tyson Musgrove (Suwannee, 8th). 2. Luke Boree (Clay, 7th). 3. Emil Ganim (Florida High, 13th). 4. Jae T Thaxton (Wakulla, 18th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: The top half quarterfinal, which I’m projecting will match up Ryan Kurfirst (South Walton) and Noah Meyer (Episcopal, 16th). Both those guys want to be in the semifinal on Saturday; being in the semi is the best chance to have a chance to wrestle for states.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Dylan Johns (Yulee, 14th); Kurfirst.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Meyer; Cade Vaughn (Union Cty).

145
The picks: 1. Hayden Reeves (Wakulla, 9th). 2. Ethan Heinemann (Marianna, 13th). 3. Isaiah Shook (Yulee, 10th). 4. Josh Kumpf (Clay, 15th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Heinemann vs Kumpf in what should be the bottom quarterfinal. The winner will have a chance to make finals — but don’t sleep on Shook there — and the loser will still have a very solid chance to get out on Saturday.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Corban Cherry (Bay); Caleb Parsons (Suwannee, 20th).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Sebastian Gonzalez (Ed White); Ben Helton (Episcopal).

152
The picks: 1. Enzo Gamba (Fernandina Beach, 5th). 2. Dominic Martin (Clay, 7th). 3. Austin Howard (Suwannee, 20th). 4. Mathew Flores (University Christian).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Howard v Jesse Johnson (Yulee, 11th), which I project will be the third quarterfinal. Winner will be all but in line to qualify out for states and perhaps finish as high as third. The loser could still do some damage to the top half of the consi-side bracket as well.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Johnson; Colin Hearn (Bishop Kenny).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Calvin Wells (Rocky Bayou Christian); Keaton Schirmer (Rutherford).

160
The picks: 1. Cale Hoskinson (Clay, 1st). 2. Cole Baggett (Wakulla, 9th). 3. Aston Ricks (Yulee, 8th). 4. Zach Duncan (Rutherford).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Ayden Kirby (Suwannee) v Lucas Crawford (Fernandina Beach, 20th), rd of 16. Not gonna sugarcoat it, the top half of the consi bracket is an easier place in which to advance, while the bottom half of that bracket is going to mean a win over either Ricks or Baggett in the blood round to go to state, eventually. Whoever loses that match gets to stay in the top half and might have an easier go as far as a road to Kissimmee.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Kirby/L. Crawford loser; Caleb Crawford (Union Cty).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Kirby/L. Crawford winner; Paul Barakat (Bishop Kenny).

170
The picks: 1. Raynarde Thomas (Raines, 3rd). 2. Chase Maddox (South Walton, 5th). 3. Ethan Larsen (Clay, 16th). 4. Clayton Dennison (Baker Cty).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: The bottom quarterfinal, which I am projecting Larsen and Rocky Bayou’s Jaden Scruggs as contesting. What’s huge about that is that the winner of that match is going to have a substantial leg up to getting out by winning Friday afternoon.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Daniel Brattain (Wakulla); Larsen/Scruggs loser.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Collin Sewell (Yulee, 11th); Brooks Rohe (Fernandina Beach).

182
The picks: 1. Jackson Osteen (Wakulla, 7th). 2. Ethan Asbury (Bolles). 3. Conner South (Baker Cty, 8th). 4. Keleb Reddish (Yulee, 12th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Both of the bottom-half quarterfinals — Asbury/South and Reddish/Peyton Andersen (Rocky Bayou) — will have seismic implications for this bracket because the winners will meet in the semis and the losers might very well meet in Saturday’s consi quarter round.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Chad Allgood (Rutherford, 11th); South/Asbury loser; Andersen/Reddish loser.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Tyler Harris (Fernandina Beach); Christian McGarity (Episcopal).

195
The picks: 1. David Mercado (North Bay Haven, 10th). 2. Jamari Watson (Raines, 6th). 3. Micah Perdue (Florida High, 13th). 4. Toby Kinghorn (Baker Cty).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Round 1, Kinghorn v Braylen Ricks of Yulee (15th). For folks in that quarterfinal, staying in the top half of the bracket — whether championship or consi — might be the best way to get to state. Whoever loses that match drops into the bottom half. First match Friday night is winnable. But Saturday promises two very uphill climbs for that wrestler.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Tyler Lewis (Arnold); Kinghorn/Ricks loser.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Tyler Edenfield (Wakulla); Kedtric Wilbon (Clay); Blaine Howard (Suwannee).

220
The picks: 1. Jack Pyburn (Bolles, 3rd). 2. Robert Harrell (Godby, 8th). 3. Xavier Stillgess (Rutherford, 7th). 4. Kolby Kidd (Fernandina Beach, 11th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Stillgess v Garrett Cain (Baker Cty, 19th) in the top quarter of the championship bracket. Whoever drops down after losing that match is going to still have a decent chance to get out to states. Cain’s seen good competition, but Stillgess has experience.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Kennan Wilder (Ridgeview); Tanner Lewis (Arnold).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Stillgess/Cain loser); Jackson Rowell (West Nassau, 15th); John Johnson (Clay).

285
The picks: 1. Derrick Mosley (Ridgeview, 6th). 2. Ethan Daniels (Clay, 16th). 3. Jayven Hearns (Wakulla, 10th). 4. Daeshawn Larry (Baker Cty).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Larry v Angel Lecointe (Bishop Snyder, 20th) in the first round. Winner of that match could get a leg up into the semis (and maybe the final). Both of them are quite experienced kids and could be very tough outs.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Lecointe/Larry loser; Kyle Burden (Rocky Bayou Christian).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Aireous Rocha (Bozeman); Kevin Thallemer (Bishop Kenny).

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2A-Region 1

When & where: Mosley HS, Lynn Haven. First session is set for noon Friday. Saturday’s first session set for 10 a.m.; finals usually are at discretion of tournament director and are most often slated for mid-afternoon starts.
Team favorite: I’d still say even without a starting 106 or 170, New Smyrna Beach’s powerhouses make the Barracudas the overall team favorite. With three projected region champs and a fourth region finalist, that’s a lot of points at the top; if the rest of the group can do their part and contribute to the team score, the ‘Cudas might pull off the double trophy. Lincoln, Pace, Ft Walton Beach and Fletcher will all be contending for top-five positions, and the competition will be spirited, as several brackets are absolutely loaded (looking at you, 120, 145, 152 and 195). Gulf Breeze, St Augustine and Columbia are also threats to crack the top 5 if anybody falters.

Rankings are per Matmen-endorsed statewide rankings source Brant Parsons of the Orlando Sentinel.

Brackets can be reviewed HERE: REGION 1 (MOSLEY)

Matmen’s state picks, sure to be wrong

106
The picks: 1. Brett Millard (Columbia, 4th). 2. Ryder Pimienta (Orange Park, 18th). 3. Ana Bradshaw (Fletcher). 4. Derrick Williams (Mosley).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Bradshaw v Williams, quarterfinals. If Ana wins, I think my projections hold. If Derrick wins, I could see a District 2 sweep of the top four spots.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Santiago Mayic (Ft Walton Beach); third quarterfinal loser; Carter Wilder (Matanzas, 15th).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Shane Jourdan (Middleburg); Sam Tolomeo (Chiles); Vaniel Caceres (Lincoln).

113
The picks: 1. Elijah Hendley (Lincoln, 5th). 2. Garrett Marschka (Chiles, 6th). 3. Calvin Williams (Mosley). 4. Aidan Sutton (New Smyrna Beach).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Zack Young (Belleview) v William Mitchell (Pace). Getting to at least a quarterfinal round is key for both wrestlers’ chances of putting themselves into the blood round; the bottom half of the bracket will be much tougher from which to advance.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Braden Hawley (Matanzas); bottom quarterfinal loser.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Zak Vosburgh (Ft Walton Beach); Raequan Staples (Englewood, 12th).

120
The picks: 1. Brandon Mallin (Ft Walton Beach, 8th). 2. Hunter Brown (Chiles, 12th). 3. Jamal Burkes (Robert E Lee, 15th). 4. Wilson Nguyen (St Augustine).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: There’s a number of them; Tristen Winfrey (New Smyrna Beach) v Davon Bailey (Orange Park, 13th) stands out as a matchup of guys in the mix for states. (There’s a LOT in this bracket, arguably 11).
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Deagan Kilpatrick (Choctaw); Winfrey/Bailey rd 1 loser; Ethan Pinto (Niceville, 14th); Cole O’Brien (Fletcher, 18th).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Kevin Kerns (Deltona); second quarterfinal loser; Coby Shields (Gulf Breeze).

126
The picks: 1. Jamey Bruner (New Smyrna Beach, 5th). 2. Riley Girgis (Middleburg). 3. Joseph Kent (Seabreeze, 14th). 4. Haze Esary (Pace).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Kent v Logan Merritt (Gulf Breeze) in rd 1. Winner could, COULD, get to the final and staying in the bottom half of the bracket will be key regardless of outcome.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Noah Tritz (Niceville); third quarterfinal loser; bottom quarterfinal loser (Kent/Merritt v Ryden Ashmore of Fletcher, 15th).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Elijah Serrano (Orange Park); Kent/Merritt rd 1 loser; Gage Alberty (Belleview).

132
The picks: 1. Jace Engberg (New Smyrna Beach, 7th). 2. Colson Elliott (Gulf Breeze, 11th). 3. Weston Burbidge (Ft Walton Beach, 18th). 4. Zaire Fernanders-Jackson (Lincoln, 17th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: I’m projecting Matanzas’ Logan Mayer v Fletcher’s Josh Daltro in the second quarterfinal. Winner gets a semifinal berth into Saturday and at least a blood-round shot. The loser of that match drops into a consi match that he could lose.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Chris DeGrella (Niceville, 19th); second quarterfinal winner.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Morgan Cole (Belleview); second quarterfinal loser; third consi rd 1 winner.

138
The picks: 1. Olufemi Egberongbe (Chiles, 3rd). 2. Nolan Zirgibel (Leon). 3. Cam Friend (Pace, 19th). 4. Andrew Davis (Belleview).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Oh man, that Zirgibel/Lynden North (Englewood, 10th) potential quarterfinal. Winner can make the final. Loser can get to blood round, but it’s a monster. Not impossible, but a monster.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): third quarterfinal loser); Connor Edwards (Lincoln).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Carlos Quintanal (St Augustine); Alexander Davidson (Ft Walton Beach).

145
The picks: 1. Michael Shannon (New Smyrna Beach, 3rd). 2. Nick Hejke (Mosley, 7th). 3. Malachi Santiago (Ft Walton Beach, 6th). 4. Gabe Daltro (Fletcher, 20th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Third quarterfinal, which I’m projecting as Daltro v Atticus Waters (Pace, 8th). Best chance to get out is to make the semis and hope the top half holds to projection, because losing this quarterfinal means going through either Santiago or Hejke in the blood round.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): third quarterfinal loser; Garret Rudick (Gulf Breeze, 19th).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Ty’Juan Jones (Robert E Lee); Gabriel Galloza (St Augustine, 12th); Alex Adkins (Chiles).

152
The picks: 1. Joel Rodriguez (Fletcher, 7th). 2. Ian Daily (Gulf Breeze, 10th). 3. Nick Kendrick (Mosley, 12th). 4. Thomas Greene (Columbia, 13th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Wow. Another target-rich environment. That Greene-Avante Chamble (New Smyrna Beach) first-rounder, though. This is another bracket with lots of quality kids (I could see up to 11 different kids getting out).
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Seth O’Gara (Pace, 9th); Hayden Yanni (St Augustine); Chamble/Greene rd 1 loser; Josiah Mossor (First Coast); Tyson Mills (Matanzas, 17th).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Trevion Sermons (Orange Park); Chamble/Greene rd 1 winner; Brock Roberts (Seabreeze).

160
The picks: 1. Ahmahd Denmark (Robert E Lee, 2nd). 2. Joseph Cortez (Pace, 11th). 3. Caleb Tourgee (Ft Walton Beach, 12th). 4. Sean Jones (Gulf Breeze).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Alex Nayfack (Middleburg) v Tourgee in the third quarterfinal. Winner will get a shot at wrestling for state in the blood round, the loser will go into a tough top half consi. Not impossible to get out, but will be tough.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): Joseph Skinner (Ponte Vedra); Jordan Mills (Matanzas, 13th); third quarterfinal loser.
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Clint Griffin (St Augustine, 18th); Patrick Blanca (Lincoln).

170
The picks: 1. Joseph Rice (Columbia, 4th). 2. Connor Spossey (St Augustine, 5th). 3. Rett Maritato (Ponte Vedra, 12th). 4. Martin Black (Niceville, 15th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Maritato v Brody Andrews (Pace, 16th), third quarterfinal. Seems like those third quarterfinals are providing some tasty matchups this year in 2A-R1. Winner gets to wrestle for the medal in the blood round, but the loser could have a tough consi quarter and a brutal blood-rounder against either Rice or Black.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): third quarterfinal loser; Eliyah Cole (Middleburg, 17th).
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Carter Tobik (Ft Walton Beach); Kaydon Lester (Mosley); Eric McLaughlin (Belleview).

182
The picks: 1. Cayden Bevis (Lincoln, 5th). 2. Ryan Murphy (St Augustine, 17th). 3. Hunter Dupont (Gulf Breeze, 12th). 4. Aidan Bryan (Pace, 13th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Bryan vs Ryan Klein (Fletcher); there’s that third quarterfinal once again. You want to stay in the bottom half of this bracket; it’s an easier path, on the whole, than trying to go through either Bevis or Dupont up top.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): Dalton Kovacs (Mosley); third quarterfinal loser; Tucker Cody (Middleburg).
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Darryl Sam (Englewood); Zachary Underwood (Ponte Vedra); Bryce Travis (Niceville).

195
The picks: 1. Kyle McGill (Chiles, 1st). 2. Doug Dittmer (New Smyrna Beach, 5th). 3. Wyatt Dillon (Pace, 8th). 4. Caiden Patton (Seabreeze, 7th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Wyatt Yown (Lincoln, 6th) v Jeremy Porter (Robert E Lee). Either of these guys COULD make the semis; either COULD go 1-2 and be watching teammates Saturday. This is a bracket where the competition you’ve wrestled could matter a great deal Friday in the quarters and consi round 2.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): Sam Howard (Englewood); Yown/Porter rd 1 loser; Julian McCulley (Gulf Breeze, 15th); Josh Seabrooks (Leon, 19th).
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Yown/Porter winner; Shawn Raggins (Columbia, 17th); Cleon Johnson (First Coast).

220
The picks: 1. Cedric Fairrow (Ft Walton Beach, 4th). 2. Ethan Hollenbach (Fletcher, 5th). 3. Ethan Chiu (Deltona, 11th). 4. Omarion LaRoach (Lincoln, 12th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Chiu v Micah Barker (Gulf Breeze). The 2020 state qualifier has a tough quarter of the bracket to push through, starting with this intriguing first-rounder.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): Chiu/Barker rd 1 loser; David Polaski (Niceville); Nathan Boyd (Seabreeze, 13th).
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Craig Harper (Robert E Lee, 9th); Andrew Dunn (Belleview, 20th); Desi McGueen (Crestview).

285
The picks: 1. Ray Bolden (Westside, 3rd). 2. Jaycob Jones (Columbia, 5th). 3. Robert Elder (Matanzas, 6th). 4. Spencer Mackenzie (Ft Walton Beach, 18th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Elder v Mackenzie in the bottom quarterfinal (sure this shouldn’t be the third?). This is a match I think we could see happen twice, and it wouuldn’t surprise me if each wins once.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): Kegan Oshel (Pace); Toby Matson (Fletcher, 15th); bottom quarterfinal loser.
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Gabriel Hecht (Orange Park); Nic Weaver (Lincoln, 20th); Robert Wills (Mosley).

JOIN us on Facebook at North Florida Matmen (you can also friend me on my personal page) or on Twitter at @NorthFLAMatmen, or on Instagram at nflamatmen.

The 2020-21 high school season has come to a close in Georgia, but the wrestling continues! Check out the latest on our affiliated site at  http://sgamatmen.wordpress.com

Please support our independent journalism!

We’re on Venmo now: Shannon-Heaton-6

Or if you prefer PayPal, search me at Shannon Heaton (use the site email account to find the correct me).