WEWAHITCHKA — The South Walton Bird Gang’s all back in the lineup, and that meant a great deal for the Seahawks Thursday night in the 1A-District 1 IBT event at Wewahitchka.
With the only full lineup in the field, South Walton won the District 1 double title, adding the IBT version to its duals title won in December, pulling away from Rutherford, 194-163.5, for the team win.
The Seahawks will bring 12 wrestlers that qualified automatically for next weekend’s 1A-Region 1 tournament at Bolles, with three champions, three runners-up and six 3rds.
The Rams moved 10 wrestlers through automatically, with five champions, one runnerup, two 3rds and two 4ths.
Rocky Bayou Christian was third in the eight-team field, qualifying nine of its 10 wrestlers out and scoring 125 points. The Knights advanced one champion, four runners-up, three 3rds and one 4th.
Arnold outpointed Bay and North Bay Haven for fourth place, with 90 points to the Tornadoes’ 77 and Buccaneers’ 70. The Marlins qualified six of their seven wrestlers out automatically, with two champions, one runnerup, one 3rd and two 4ths.
Bay also had six region qualifiers, with one champion, two runners-up and three 4ths, while North Bay Haven also pushed through six to regions, duplicating Bay’s numbers in each way (one champ, two runners-up, three 4ths).
The host Gators were seventh, with 57 points and four region qualifiers (one runnerup, two 3rds and one 4th), while Bozeman finished with 41 points and three qualifiers (one champion & two 4ths).
Brackets from Thursday’s tournament can be found HERE.
THE QUALIFIERS
South Walton: Max Brewster (113-1st); Randall Yates (126-3rd); Canyon Dart (132-3rd); Ryan Kurfirst (138-1st); Seth Marshall (145-3rd); John Lopez (152-2nd); Keenan Campbell (160-2nd); Chase Maddox (170-1st); Shane Lane (182-3rd); Noah Gabbard (195-3rd); Nick Lee (220-2nd); Levi Portz (285-3rd).
Rutherford: Dylan Malott (106-3rd); Elijah Stillgess (113-2nd); Colin Dutton (126-1st); Romero Black (132-1st); Elijah Galloway (145-4th); Keaton Schirmer (152-3rd); Zach Duncan (160-1st); Chad Allgood (182-1st); Chance Locklear (195-4th); Xavier Stillgess (220-1st).
Rocky Bayou: Thomas Pluhar (106-4th); Owen Parry (126-2nd); Luke Latham (132-2nd); Ethan Heathershaw (138-3rd); Calvin Wells (152-1st); Andrew Pierpoint (160-3rd); Jaden Scruggs (170-3rd); Peyton Andersen (182-2nd); Kyle Burden (285-2nd).
Arnold: Valarie Solorio (106-1st); Lucas Biddle (120-1st); Trevyn Slik (138-4th); Henlee Haynes (182-4th); Tyler Lewis (195-2nd); Tanner Lewis (220-3rd).
Bay: Leonardo Sanchez (113-4th); Alejandra Cordova (120-4th); Jaime Balmaceda (132-4th); Trenton Wood (138-2nd); Corban Cherry (145-1st); Caleb Pippin (170-2nd).
North Bay Haven: Tristen Le (120-2nd); Helmut vonKnoblauch (145-2nd); Anthony Serbest (152-4th); Jonathan Yates (160-4th); John King (170-4th); David Mercado (195-1st).
Wewahitchka: Jay Brown (106-2nd); Hunter Brown (113-3rd); Justin Johnson (120-3rd); Briceson Davis (285-4th).
Bozeman: Nicholas Simental (126-4th); Austin Comer (220-4th); Aireous Rocha (285-1st).
THE DISTRICT CHAMPS
106: Freshman Solorio (32-5) won her first district title with a 47-second semifinal pin over fourth-place Pluhar, followed by a 4-2 decision over Brown in the championship match.
113: Brewster (19-2), a junior, won his first district title with pins in the semis over fourth-place Sanchez (3:33) and again in the finals round against Stillgess (1:26).
120: Sophomore Biddle (32-9) reached the district final for the third time (finalist in 2019) and won his second title (won in 2020), with three pins in 4:39 of mat time. Biddle had falls over South Walton’s Luc Robles (:35, quarters), fourth-place Cordova (:19, semis), and Le in the final (3:45).
126: Dutton (19-5), a senior, qualified for regions for the fourth time (3rd in 2018, 4th in 2019, runnerup last year), with two pins in 1:27. He falled third-place Yates (1:14) in the semis, then came back to pin Parry in :13 for his first title.
132: Sophomore Black (14-8) won three times for his first district championship, with an overtime pin over fourth-place Balmaceda (6:40), followed by decisions in the semis (8-1) over third-place Dart and again in the title match (6-4) against Latham.
138: Kurfirst (22-13), a junior, qualified for regions for the third time (fourth in both 2019 and last year) with preliminary pins over fourth-place Slik (3:38, quarters) and Bozeman’s Logan Jamison (1:55, semis) before holding off Wood, 9-7, for his first district title.
145: Like Kurfirst, junior Cherry (24-11) reached regions for the third time (fourth in 2019, runnerup last year), with pins over fourth-place Galloway (1:46, semis) and again in the championship match over vonKnoblauch (5:54) for his first district championship.
152: Wells (28-9), a senior, advanced to regions for the second time (3rd in 2020), with a 10-7 semifinal win over third-place Schirmer and fall in the finals over Lopez (2:27), taking his first district title.
160: Senior Duncan (18-11), after finishing fourth in both 2019 and 2020, won his first district title, with pins in the semis over third-place Pierpoint (2:25) and again in the final over Campbell (1:52).
170: Maddox (15-2), a senior, reached a district final for the fourth time, winning his third overall title and second District 1 championship. Maddox had two pins in 2:16 of mat time, with a fall over fourth-place King (:58) in the semis and a second pin over Pippin (1:18) for the championship win.
182: Junior Allgood (19-3) won his second district championship, winning by injury-default over fourth-place Haynes in the semis, then coming back to tech Andersen for the title, winning by a 17-0 count in the second period (3:01).
195: Mercado (26-0), a freshman, rolled through three pins in 3:54, with falls over Rocky Bayou’s Russell Merrifield (:48, quarters), fourth-place Locklear (1:54, semis) and Lewis (1:12) in the title match.
220: Senior Stillgess (20-3) won his third district title and qualified out for the fourth time (fourth in 2018), with pins over North Bay Haven’s Logan McAlister (3:52, semis) and then over Lee (1:28) in the championship.
285: Rocha (13-5), a freshman, took his first district title with pins over third-place Portz (2:59) in the semis, coming back to pin Burden (:47) in the finals.
North Florida Matmen 