GAINESVILLE — For varsity boys in the north, Wednesday night kicked off the competitive season, with six events on tap.
The biggest region-wide dual of the night was at Buchholz, where a pair of teams that should contend for district duals titles in either two or five weeks hooked up.
And it was visiting Middleburg that came out on top, never trailing throughout the night, rolling up four pins in a rarer space for the Broncos — up top — that made the difference in a 43-21 victory over the host Bobcats.
The Broncos (1-0) built a 15-3 lead behind pins from Bryan Davis (113) and Wyatt Leduc (132), along with a 3-2 win at 120 from Grady Woodard. Buchholz (0-1) cut that lead to just one, 19-18, offsetting the 16-5 major decision from Middleburg’s Logan Moore at 145 with wins from Jedidiah Brown (17-10 at 126) and Gabriel Myers (9-4 at 152), plus pins from CJ Liddie (138) and Max Szabo (160).
But Middleburg, which had been having a hard time filling uppers for a few years going back, used its new-found up-top strength to power past the Bobcats, with pins from Brad Darnold (170), JP Ellixson (182), Tucker Cody (220) and Bryce Meldrum (285) to fuel a 24-4 run. Only at 195, where Kason Nichols took a 16-2 major, could Buchholz answer.
In girls’ action, the Lady Broncos won both matches there, too, behind pins from Skyla Fisher (105) and Cheyenne Cruce (190).
Both teams are back in action on Saturday, with Middleburg competing in both days of the Clash of the Titans event on Friday (girls) and Saturday (boys varsity). Buchholz will host its annual one-day Bobcat Roundrobin, also on Saturday.
Inaugural duals go Beachside’s way: In a tri-meet at Terry Parker, first-year program — and school — Beachside kicked off the Lance Day era with two wins, turning back Wolfson (51-30) and the host Braves (45-36). Terry Parker defeated its Gateway Conference rival, 49-30, in the opening dual of the night.
Beachside (2-0)’s Allen Andronovich picked up the school’s first pin in its history against the Wolfpack, competing at 120. Double winners for the St Johns Barracudas were Oliver Hayden (106, pin), Ethan Hedrick (132, 2 decisions), Elijah Morrvaridy (138, 2 pins), Eddie Craig (182, 2 pins) and Chase Sureda (220). Christian Sanchez (113) added a pin in the Terry Parker dual.
For the Braves (1-1), Daniel Mays (126, pin), Jeff Brown (145/152, 2 pins), Kemaury Griffin (152/160), Justin Rangeloff (160/170, pin & major) all were double winners. Curnard Juluke (120) and Ishamael Cummings (132) each took pins and Jay Midgett (138) won by decision in the Wolfson dual, while Shamar Jones (120) and Andres Jacques (285) each had pins over Beachside.
Wolfson (0-2) got a pair of wins from Taylor Martinez (113, 2 pins), Bryce Frye (170, pin) and Keegan Maclean (195/220, pin), with Liam Strange (182) winning by fall against Parker and Caleb Gaff (145) by pin over Beachside.
All three teams return to action Saturday, with Beachside going to Sandalwood’s Optimist Invitational; Terry Parker to Buchholz’s Bobcat Roundrobin and Wolfson to Matanzas’ Southern Paint Scuffle Duals.
A photo gallery of Wednesday’s action at Parker can be found on the North Florida Matmen Facebook page and on Instagram at nflamatmen.
Wewahitchka 42, Freeport 24: At Freeport, in the inaugural dual for the hosts, it was the visitors who came out on top in both teams’ season-opener.
For the Gators, Jake Parker (126), Jarrett Spencer (152), Conner Roberts (160), Calvin Carpenter (170) and James Hardy (285) all won by fall.
Picking up the program’s first contested wins for the Bulldogs were Landyn Perez (113), Aiden Hines (145) and Travis McDermott (182), all by pin.
Wewahitchka (1-0) will travel to Waccamaw (SC) for Friday’s two-day Low Country Invitational, while Freeport (0-1) will host Destin in a dual meet on Tuesday.
Oviedo 55, Lake Mary 21: At Lake Mary, the visitors swept the lower third of the weights, with wins from 106 through 138 en route to the season-opener for both teams.
For the Lions, Gunner Essary (106), Dougie Dowda (126), Johnathan Dishman (138), Jimmy Chiaradio (182), Nick Rynearson (195) and Solomon Dreggors (285) each took pins, while Gunner Forsberg won by major at 160 and Andres Millan by decision at 132.
Lake Mary answered with pins from Tyler Moore (145), Nicholas Ghezzi (152) and Gavin Isaacs (170), plus a decision victory from Dominic Kontogiannis at 220.
Oviedo (1-0) has a home tri-meet tonight with Colonial and Tohopekaliga, while Lake Mary (0-1) will compete in Clash of the Titans on Saturday at University (Orange City).
Baker County 48, Turner County 36: At Ashburn GA, the Wildcats got their duals season kicked off with a solid double-digit win, in slightly-altered weight classes (Georgia is using the new NFHS classifications).
The Wildcats swept from 106-126 and again from 150 through 190, with pins coming from Brayden Martin (106), Jareb Lauramore (113), Garret Guernsey (165) and Tommy Rollins (190).
Baker County hosts West Nassau and Keystone Heights in a home tri-meet tonight.
Windermere 29, Celebration 24: At Celebration, the Wolverines got their season started behind five contested victories in a matchup of short-handed sides.
Jacob Valdez (138) picked up Windermere’s first pin of the season, with Egehan Yilhan (21-6 in 4:39 at 120) and Nicholas Bittner (19-4 in 2:54 at 152) both winning by tech falls. Lucas Drone took a 12-3 major at 132 and Javier Acosta (145) grabbed a 16-10 win at 145.
Windermere (1-0) will be at Horizon’s Gauntlet on the Grove, an inaugural IBT this year, on Saturday.
Results submissions: Results came to us via scoresheet from Terry Parker, Middleburg and Baker County; via coach-provided email submission from Oviedo; and via Track for the Windermere/Celebration, Middleburg/Buchholz and Wewahitchka/Freeport duals. Thank you to all coaches for providing us with 100% of the night’s scheduled duals! You can find them all HERE.
North Florida Matmen 