3A-Region 1
When & where: Flagler Palm Coast HS, Palm Coast. 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: Fleming Island’s the favorite until they’re not, as the Golden Eagles are looking for their sixth straight region title this weekend. But they’re entering with 11 kids, which is at least two short from their usual number if not three short, and just three district champions. In a dual, Fleming Island is still the unquestioned king of the region, but there may be some challengers in this IBT format from teams like Timber Creek and Hagerty; closer rivals like host FPC and Buchholz will also be in the mix for top-three showings.
Rankings are per Matmen-endorsed statewide rankings source Brant Parsons of the Orlando Sentinel.
Brackets can be reviewed HERE: REGION 1 (FLAGLER PALM COAST)
Matmen’s state picks, sure to be wrong
106
The picks: 1. Trenton Dominguez (Timber Creek, 4th). 2. Ethan Vugman (Bartram Trail). 3. Joseph Forte (Fleming Island, 15th). 4. Cavarius Liddie (Buchholz, 19th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Grady Bryant (University-Orange City, 20th) v Andrew Feeks (Creekside), rd 1. Winner of that match likely goes into the top half of the consis after Dominguez in the quarters, and that’s an easier path than going through Forte (or Dominguez) in the blood round.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Bottom quarterfinal loser; Felix Rivera (DeLand).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Alex Castanheira (Flagler Palm Coast); Feeks/Bryant loser.
113
The picks: 1. Hunter Herrington (Fleming Island, 6th). 2. Tamarion Kendrick (Apopka, 7th). 3. Fernando Dominguez (Timber Creek, 8th). 4. Kole Hannant (Flagler Palm Coast, 9th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Nathan Bremer (Mandarin, 11th) v Hannant, quarters. This assumes Bremer gets past Oviedo’s Zachary Scharf in round 1, which is not a guarantee. That third quarter is the most up-in-the-air quarter of the four this weekend.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Third quarterfinal loser; winner between Jeremy Goldman (Lake Mary, 17th)/Conner Wright (Creekside).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Siddharth Bianchi (Buchholz); Goldman/Wright loser.
120
The picks: 1. Diego Solorzano (Lake Mary, 9th). 2. James Gonzalez (Winter Park, 19th). 3. Bryse Balcom (Timber Creek). 4. Malique Hargett (University-Orange City).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Gonzalez v Kevin Gilley (Oakleaf, 15th). Winner should have inside track on the final; loser can still do a pretty solid amount of damage in the consis. It’s a quarterfinal that, along with Flagler’s John Hald, is full of possibility.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Hald; Jakob Zawosky (Forest); Hunter England (Creekside).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Top quarterfinal loser.
126
The picks: 1. Dante Rigal (Sandalwood, 4th). 2. Riley Holton (Fleming Island, 6th). 3. Marcus McGee (Oakleaf, 11th). 4. Jalen Moliere (Apopka).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: McGee vs Moliere in the quarterfinals. It’s a match we could see again in the place round. I don’t see either guy getting past Holton in the semis, but both guys could get out when all is said and done Saturday evening.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Venumadhava Mirel (Buchholz, 12th); bottom quarterfinal loser.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Ticiano Brito (Windermere); Brandon Vargas (Colonial).
132
The picks: 1. Jayden Tapia (Timber Creek, 2nd). 2. David Mejia (Hagerty). 3. Dominic Rubino (Lake Mary). 4. Jameel Smith (Mandarin, 16th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Smith vs Mejia in the top quarterfinal. Winner of this match, almost no matter who it is (you can disbelieve the transitive property of wrestling, but it generally holds for me), has a pretty solid leg up on the final.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Cathan Simpson (Creekside); Xavier Logan (Fleming Island, 17th).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Top quarterfinal loser; Logan Gilbert (Oakleaf, 18th); Ryan Culbertson (Seminole).
138
The picks: 1. Kamdon Harrison (Hagerty, 4th). 2. Trevor Owens (Oakleaf, 10th). 3. Jagdesh Persaud (Evans, 16th). 4. Timothy Bowen (Buchholz, 11th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Persaud v Garrett Cole (Fleming Island, 12th) in the third quarterfinal. I don’t see either of these guys beating Harrison in the semi, but the winner of this match should be able to not only get out but have a decent shot at third as well.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): third quarterfinal loser; Lane Wishart (DeLand).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Keanan Sexton (Creekside); Brett Moses (Lake Mary, 9th).
145
The picks: 1. Joe Gonzalez (Winter Park, 1st). 2. Marcus Patrick (Oviedo, 5th). 3. Aidan Moore (Buchholz, 11th). 4. Aidan Rubino (Lake Mary).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Patrick v Moore in the second quarterfinal. It was a rough start for Moore, but he seems to be pretty locked in now with his wrestling at 145. I don’t think he should be favored to win the quarter, but the winner should be favored to make finals.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Tyran Schanck (Evans); Brendan Buckles (Flagler Palm Coast).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Second quarterfinal loser; Ransom Randolph (Apopka, 9th).
152
The picks: 1. Alex Vazquez (Lake Mary, 2nd); 2. Chris Labrecque (Lake Brantley, 11th). 3. Timothy King (Flagler Palm Coast, 9th). 4. Blake Watts (Hagerty, 10th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Joey Parker (Winter Park, 14th) v Liam Buchanan (Buchholz), rd 1. Parker was third in what may be the best district this year in terms of balance and Buchanan has had some flashes to go along the very unforgiving schedule the Bobcats had this year.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Cooper Braden (University-Orange City); Parker/Buchanan loser.
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Parker/Buchanan winner; Roman Polinsky (Oakleaf).
160
The picks: 1. Jared Purcell (Lake Mary, 6th). 2. Blane DeFord (Flagler Palm Coast, 4th). 3. David Parkes (Fleming Island, 8th). 4. Kason Nichols (Buchholz, 18th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: As can be guessed from the placers, the Parkes/Nichols quarterfinal is certainly on radar as one of the best quarterfinals in the tournament. I suspect they will most likely meet in the medals rounds as well.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): James McClintic (Oakleaf); Malik Nicholson (Apopka).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Top quarterfinal loser; Bryce Minsky (DeLand); Tymel Isham (Lake Brantley).
170
The picks: 1. Ethan Gomez (Hagerty, 16th). 2. Bryce Dodge (Flagler Palm Coast, 17th). 3. Hunter Brown (Creekside, 6th). 4. Tristen Carbonell (Winter Park).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Potentially the third quarterfinal with (most likely) Kyle Schehr of Lake Brantley and Joshua Sandoval of Fleming Island. The winner should at least have a chance to wrestle for a state berth in the blood round, if not get all the way out to states. Some intriguing possibilities there.
Dark horses (top half of consi bracket): Third quarterfinal loser; Gavin Rodriguez-Cayro (DeLand).
Dark horses (bottom half of consi bracket): Zach Hanks (Timber Creek); Aydan Nguyen (Bartram Trail).
182
The picks: 1. Ethan Lopez (Hagerty, 1st). 2. Marcelo Gonzalez (Flagler Palm Coast, 11th). 3. Bryan Fortay (Creekside, 13th). 4. Tony Carter (Mandarin, 14th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Neither kid is a local, but David Rojo (Oviedo) v Christian Mowry (Lake Brantley) in round 1 and here’s why. In this weight class, Districts 1 and 2 — other than Lopez, who is substantially ahead of everyone in this weight — are the top two districts in this weight. Most of the matchups with those districts are pretty one-sided. This one looks like a real tossup.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): James Houck (University-Orange City, 18th); Nicholas Cabrera (Windermere).
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Maximus McMichael (Lake Howell); Dennis Proulx (Timber Creek).
195
The picks: 1. Hunter Williams (Fleming Island, 5th). 2. Jason Martin (Buchholz, 7th). 3. Isaiah Shevchook (Oakleaf, 8th). 4. Garrick Schwartz (Flagler Palm Coast).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Timothy Randolph (Apopka) vs Hunter Tate (Hagerty), my projected second quarterfinal. Winner gets Williams in semis and then a blood-round spot. Loser goes into the bottom half consis and should be able to get to the blood round as well. Assuming Randolph gets past the first round on the front side.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): Kobe Ross (Nease); the Randolph-Andrew Knowles loser in round 1.
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Michael Frederick (Seminole, 16th); second quarterfinal loser); Seth Suvak (Colonial, 13th).
220
The picks: 1. Christian Kennick (University-Orange City, 11th). 2. Bertilus Bornelus (Hagerty, 3rd). 3. Ralph Sanchez (Apopka, 4th). 4. Vincent Approbato (Creekside, 16th).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: Devell Moore (Seminole) v Justice Pratt (Lake Brantley). Both of these guys want to win this first-rounder. I think there’s more room to maneuver in the bottom half of the consis than the top will provide, so the winner gets Bornelus in the quarters and a chance to drop into that bottom half and get to the blood round at least.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): Grant Travis (Fleming Island); Peter Nesheiwat (Timber Creek).
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Drew Lewis (Buchholz); second quarterfinal loser.
285
The picks: 1. Jordan Phillips (Ocoee, 8th). 2. Daniel Garcia (Timber Creek, 7th). 3. Ryan Piersza (Bartram Trail, 11th). 4. Jordan Mitchell (Oakleaf).
The Friday match I’m most intrigued by: I mean honestly? Phillips vs Andres Rodriguez (Mandarin) in round 1. Patience is Rodriguez’s friend, not his enemy; if he can stay patient, he might be able to hang in for six against Phillips and make it interesting. His strength is undoubted; but, not everybody wants to be or can be thrown at this level.
Dark horses (top half of bracket): Rodriguez; Keenan Diaz (University-Orange City); Ethan Hoffstetter (Fleming Island, 13th).
Dark horses (bottom half of bracket): Hayden Clem (Winter Park, 10th); Bryan Diehl (Buchholz).
North Florida Matmen 