By MATMEN, Friday, 8:40 p.m.
MELBOURNE — In a tournament replete with pirate imagery — including the hosts — it was Georgia’s Camden County that did the most looting Thursday and Friday at the Palm Bay Ships.
The visiting Wildcats left with eight weight-class titles over the two-day event, with an additional five runners-up.
The 17-team field did not keep team scores. When it was done, wrestlers in the coverage area found titles only at the bookends of the tournament, as Clay’s Jacob Bucci (106) and Timber Creek’s Peter Nesheiwat (285) were victorious in the double-elimination Friday brackets.
An additional four wrestlers reached the finals on Friday, three of them falling to Camden wrestlers.
Below follows a summary of the tournament:
Defending the #1: Bucci (1st-2A at 106) rolled through three matches on Thursday, but it was the fourth win, a 3-1 decision he had over Zephyrhills Christian’s Reid Yakes (4th in 1A) that was a difficult push to get through. That was in the afternoon “Pillagers” pool.
On Friday, Bucci needed just 89 seconds to fall two opponents from Camden and Viera’s Alex Giglietti (14th-3A at 113) to get a rematch with Yakes in the IBT final.
This time, it would not be quite as tight a final, as Bucci was able to open up a bit more in taking an 8-1 win over Yakes for first place.
Taking the big-man title: Nesheiwat (5th-3A at 285) would not see his finals opponent on Thursday, but bonus-pointed through the day nevertheless, with three pins and a major, two of those four wins against the same program — Camden — that he would face in the final on Friday.
Where Bucci rolled through Friday’s preliminaries quickly, Nesheiwat took the full 12 minutes in earning decisions over Eau Gallie’s Chavez Thompson (#7-2A, 2-1 in quarters) and over Rockledge’s Howard Craft (#19-2A, 6-3 in semis) before facing Camden’s top heavy, Jesse Batten, in the final.
In a battle of 1 vs 3 seed, Nesheiwat would prevail from the top of the bracket, earning his fourth pin of the tournament and fifth bonus-point win with a fall in 2:20 over Batten.
Bobcats fall to Camden: Buchholz had a pair of finalist efforts from Jedidiah Brown (126) and Cavarius Liddie (138).
Brown (#17-3A at 126) was 3-0 in Pool B of the Pillagers portion of the day Thursday (including a 1-0 win over 9th-2A Brady Glavin of Clay), but lost by fall to Camden’s Hunter Prosen in the Pillager “final”. On Friday, Brown would see Prosen again after two pins and a 7-4 win over Blaze Holly of Satellite (#19-2A) in the semis; he avoided the fall, but couldn’t stop the turns, as Prosen won by technical fall.
Liddie (#4-3A at 132) was 4-1 in the Pillagers’ B pool at 138, with only a 2-0 loss to Camden’s ace, Anthony Santos, marring Thursday. Friday, Liddie would take a tech and pin, followed by a 3-2 semifinal win over the hosts’ Ronald Theilacker (#2-1A at 138), and would have another tight battle with Santos in the final, going overtime before sustaining a 5-2 loss.
Forsberg, Wilbourn earn 2nds: Oviedo’s Luke “Gunner” Forsberg (152) and Clay’s Kedtric Wilbourn (220) also were finalists on Friday.
Forsberg competed in the “Marauders” morning flight Thursday, going 5-0 with four pins and only going past the first period once. As the 2 seed on Friday, Forsberg added two more falls over Lake Buena Vista and Camden, with a 10-0 major over a second Camden competitor before seeing the top-seeded third Wildcat of the day; this time it would be Camden’s Ryan Banister who would win by fall, in 3:01.
Wilbourn (4th-2A) took 3 pins, a forfeit and 11-4 win over Camden in the Pillagers pool at 220 on Thursday, and added three more bonus-point wins on Friday, with a 10-1 major and two pins, but would sustain his first loss of the season in the final against Zephyrhills Christian’s Elijah Austin (8th-1A at 220), as Austin found a takedown in sudden victory for an 8-6 decision.
Top 4s: Eight additional area wrestlers would place in the top 4 of the A brackets after reaching Friday’s semifinal rounds.
Taking thirds were Timber Creek’s Marlo Clark (#15-3A at 120, competing at 113), Clay’s Glavin (126), Oviedo’s Clayton Mitchell (145) & Nick Rynearson (195), along with Buchholz’s Max Szabo (#13-3A at 160, competing at 170).
Clay’s Drew Holmquist (113) and Jadon Bell (220), along with Oviedo’s James Chiaradio (182), each were 4th.
All rankings from https://www.kabrawrestling.com/rankings
You can view full results from both days of the tournament HERE.
North Florida Matmen 