By MATMEN, Monday, 6:05 p.m.
NEPTUNE BEACH — The inaugural team title of Fletcher’s Senator Slam made a road trip well out of town, all the way to Kissimmee, after Osceola ran through five duals to win it Friday evening.
But there were pretty good scraps to be had — particularly among the middle four teams in what essentially was a six-way event — and the margins were pretty tight between second and fifth place.
Below follows a summary of the afternoon & evening’s wrestling from a local perspective:
2. Bartram Trail (3-1 tournament, 12-3 overall)
Wins — Terry Parker (60-24), Ponte Vedra (54-23) and Fletcher (33-32), plus a 54-18 loss to Osceola. The Bears did not dual with Bishop Kenny, as the teams were slated to meet the following day at another event.
The MVP — Grady Hutchinson (152/160). Like all but two Bears did, Hutchinson lost his contested match with Osceola — against a 3-time state-champ — but otherwise pinned his way through the night, with three pins in all.
Hidden in the box scores — Jason Merkison (195) was also 3-1 for the Bears, with a key fall in the Fletcher dual that helped Bartram Trail secure its one-point victory and allow the Bears to claim second place in the event.
3. Bishop Kenny (2-2 tournament, 7-3 overall)
Wins — Fletcher (40-35) and Ponte Vedra (48-36), with losses to Osceola (58-24) and Terry Parker (49-30). As noted above, the Crusaders did not dual Bartram Trail.
The MVP — Jacob Harless (126; 19th at 1A-120). After opening with a loss to a 3A state-ranked wrestler (12th at 1276) from Osceola, Harless max-pointed the rest of the night for Kenny, with pins in both of the Crusaders’ victories.
Hidden in the box scores — Bishop Kenny started just four regulars in the dual with Terry Parker. The Crusaders got varsity appearances for 21 different wrestlers, seven of them in just that dual. No other team sent out more than 14 on the night.
4. Fletcher (2-3 tournament, 4-8 overall)
Wins — Ponte Vedra (46-21) and Terry Parker (48-35), with an additional loss to Osceola (42-25), the Kowboys’ closest dual of the night.
The MVP — Josh Daltro (160, 4th in 3A). Daltro bonus-pointed through the night and was the team’s only 5-0 competitor, with pins over Ponte Vedra and Terry Parker, a tech over Bishop Kenny and majors over Osceola and Bartram Trail (over 8th at 145’s Preston Pena, by an 18-4 count).
Hidden in the box scores — After a third-period loss by fall in the opening round, Landon Locantora (106/113) went 4-0 the rest of the night, with successive pins over Osceola, Bartram Trail and Terry Parker to close out.
5. Terry Parker (2-3 tournament, 3-5 overall)
Wins — Ponte Vedra (39-27) and Fletcher (49-30), with an additional loss to Osceola (57-12).
The MVP — Jeff Brown (145). Was 4-1 on the night, with his only loss to a defending state champ from Osceola, with a pin over Bartram Trail, techs over Ponte Vedra and Fletcher and a major over Bishop Kenny.
Hidden in the box scores — Aside from a loss by fall to a two-time Osceola state champion, Damien Stoll (170) had a pretty solid night, with pins over Bartram Trail and Bishop Kenny en route to a 4-1 evening.
6. Ponte Vedra (0-5 tournament, 2-9 overall)
Additional match — The Sharks took a 72-12 loss to Osceola in the final round of the night.
The MVP — Bryson Hubbard (138). After a tough pounding in a loss by major against the host Senators in round 1, Hubbard max-pointed the rest of the way, with pins over Bartram Trail and Bishop Kenny, plus one of two of the Sharks’ wins over Osceola.
Hidden in the box scores — Robert Grieco (220) got out to a nice start on the night for Ponte Vedra, with wins in his first three appearances, including pins over Terry Parker and Bartram Trail, plus a 10-7 win over Fletcher.
Rankings are per https://kabrawrestling.com/rankings
Results from Friday’s tournament can be found in PDF form HERE.
North Florida Matmen 