DAYTONA BEACH — Inaugural tournament to the area. Inaugural tournament for the host.
And, a new ruler of the two-county roost emerged Saturday at the first Bi-County Championship, covering teams in Flagler and Volusia Counties, as New Smryna Beach took first place with 181.5 points.
The Barracudas had five champions, three runners-up and three 4ths, outpointing runnerup Flagler Palm Coast by 38.5 points.
The Bulldogs matched NSB’s number of titles with five, with one runnerup, one 3rd and one 4th.
Matanzas was third, with 114 points (two champs, three runners-up, two 4ths), followed by Seabreeze fourth at 104.5 (one champ, two runners-up & three 3rds), DeLand fifth with 97 (one runnerup, five 3rds, two 4ths), host Mainland sixth at 68 (one runnerup, two 3rds, two 4ths), University (Orange City) seventh with 54 (two runners-up, one 3rd), Atlantic eighth at 48 (one champ, one 3rd, two 4ths) and Deltona ninth with 45 (one runnerup, one 3rd, two 4ths).
Just two teams within the new conference setup have contested matches set for this week, as Atlantic will travel to Astronaut for a rare Monday dual and then will host Deltona on Thursday. All other teams are locking in for post-season competition, with Flagler Palm Coast, DeLand and University (Orange City) all contesting in the 3A-District 2 IBT on the 19th. New Smyrna Beach, Matanzas, Seabreeze, Mainland and Deltona will reconvene for 2A-District 4 IBT action on the 17th.
Due to missing regular-season results, not all individuals can be fully highlighted in this recap. Brackets from Saturday’s competition can be found HERE.
THE NOTES
Championship matches —
106: Carter Wilder (Matanzas) d. Grady Bryant (University-OC), 5-3.
113: Kole Hannant (Flagler Palm Coast) p. Aidan Sutton (New Smyrna Beach), 1:57.
120: John Hald (Flagler Palm Coast) d. Kevin Kerns (Deltona), 10-3.
126: Jamey Bruner (New Smyrna Beach) md. Joseph Kent (Seabreeze), 15-2.
132: Jace Engberg (New Smyrna Beach) p. Logan Mayer (Matanzas), 2:20.
138: Justis Chandler (New Smyrna Beach) tf. Isaias Davila (Mainland), 18-1, 4:50.
145: Michael Shannon (New Smyrna Beach) md. Brendan Buckles (Flagler Palm Coast), 8-0.
152: Tyson Mills (Matanzas) d. Avante Chamble (New Smyrna Beach), 4-1.
160: Blane DeFord (Flagler Palm Coast) d. Jordan Mills Matanzas), 7-2.
170: Grant Schwartz (Flagler Palm Coast) p. Gavin Rodriguez-Cayro (DeLand), :19.
182: Marcelo Gonzalez (Flagler Palm Coast) d. James Houck (University-OC), 5-4.
195: Doug Dittmer (New Smyrna Beach) p. Caiden Patton (Seabreeze), 2:20.
220: Nathan Boyd (Seabreeze) p. Austin Mitchum (New Smyrna Beach).
285: Jared Jackson (Atlantic) d. Robert Elder (Matanzas), 3-1.
THE BI-COUNTY ACES
106: After a bye into the semis, Wilder took a fall over third-place DeLand (1:10) in that round to set up the final against University (Orange City).
113: Hannant had a bye into the semis, then took two first-period falls, with his semifinal pin in :57 against third-place DeLand befor his fall over NSB in the final.
120: Seeded fourth, Hald emerged as champion, with a first-period pin over Atlantic in the quarters and an 8-4 decision over third-place University (Orange City) in the semis.
126: After a bye into the semis, Bruner would bonus-point to the title, with a first-period fall over fourth-place Mainland in 1:00 before his major in the title match.
132: Engberg collected two pins for his title after a bye, with a semifinal pin over third=place Seabreeze in 1:18 to go along with the fall in the final over Matanzas.
138: Chandler took a bye into the semi, then falled fourth-place Atlantic in 3:40 to reach the final round, where he won by third-period tech over Mainland.
145: Like his teammates from 126-138, Shannon had a bye into the semi, then won by fall in that round, pinning third-place Seabreeze in 3:26 before his shutout major for the title.
152: Mills followed up his big Friday-night win with three more on Saturday, with first-period pins over University (Orange City) (1:19) in the quarters and Flagler Palm Coast (1:49) in the semis en route to his decision win.
160: In a rematch of Friday night’s well-contested dual setup, DeFord made the same outcome go his way, but not beofre a 42-second pin over Seabreeze in the semis.
170: Schwartz was the only wrestler in the inaugural tournament to win with three pins, taking falls over Atlantic (4:50) in the quarters and over fourth-place Matanzas (3:30) in the semis.
182: Gonzalez won by fall twice to reach the final, with pins over DeLand (1:16) in the quarters and fourth-place Matanzas (4:42) in the semis before his one-point championship decision win.
195: After a bye into the semis, Dittmer won by fall (2:37) in the semis over fourth-place DeLand to set up his second pin in the championship match over Seabreeze.
North Florida Matmen 