By MATMEN, Sunday, 8:50 p.m.
MERRITT ISLAND — The new-look Flagler Palm Coast team in 2022-23 still has one thing carrying over from the previous year.
Experienced kids up top who know how to win.
Led by their trio of title-winning seniors, the Bulldogs finished second in Saturday’s William Nutter Memorial, scoring 260 points, 32 ahead of third-place Viera.
Host Merritt Island won the title going away, with 397.5 points.
Flagler seniors Kole Hannant (132), John Hald (138) and Dalton Schell (195) each won their respective weight classes on Saturday.
At 132, Hannant needed just 2:17 to take pins over wrestlers from South Fork and Titusville to win Pool A. In the crossover, Hannant added two more falls, both in the first period, pinning wrestlers from Viera (semis) and Merritt Island’s Kyle Mulley in 1:22 to take the weight class.
Hald, also, rolled through Pool A at 138, with two first-period pins over wrestlers from South Fork, but had to go six minutes twice in the crossover, with two decisions over East River, with a 4-1 win in the semis and a 7-0 win over Michael Dupuy in the championship match.
Schell also competed in Pool A, and, like his teammates, won with two pins to advance to the top four, with pins over Viera and South Fork. He then added a pair of second-period pins over two East River wrestlers, with a 3:13 fall in the semi and pin in 3:24 over Merritt Island’s Seven Tornga in the final.
At 160, the Bulldogs’ Kelton Howard won Pool B with four pins, but lost by fall (4:47) in the crossover to the hosts’ Dylan Quiroga. Similarly, at 285, Flagler’s Joseph Wronowski won Pool B with a pin and two decisions, but lost by fall in the final (2:22) to East Rver’s Chase Eckman. FPC’s Dylan Quinn was second in Pool B, while teammate Ethaniel Laupepa took second in Pool A; both of them would go on to finish third.
St Johns Country Day 8th-grader Matthew Braddock made the trek down to Merritt Island and placed second at 113. Braddock won Pool C with a pair of pins, with a third pin over Merritt Island in the cross over semis, but lost by a 5-0 count to unbeaten East River junior Pedro Sifuentes in the final. SJCD scored 25 points and was 12th.
Results from the tournament can be found HERE.
North Florida Matmen 