By MATMEN, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.
GREEN COVE SPRINGS — Weather conditions were pretty chilly for the first day of the Robert Northway “Keystone” Memorial last Friday in Clay County.
Nevertheless, nearly 270 matches — in callout format — were contested among 12-15 schools from two states.
If the weather on Friday was not a difficult-enough opponent, Fleming Island made up the difference on Saturday, with an average margin of victory of 61 points per dual over opponents Ed White (70-9), Oakleaf (77-6) and Heritage (63-12).
Saturday’s duals format saw six teams return for competition to the Fairgrounds under much less-challenging climatic conditions. The Golden Eagles (6-0 in duals) did not wrestle Middleburg, as the teams had an eye toward Thursday’ 2A-Region 1 FHSAA duals competition ahead, nor did Fleming take on West Nassau.
Heritage saw all five opponents, compiling a 4-1 day, while Middleburg (14-3) rallied from an opening 39-36 loss to Heritage with bounceback wins over West Nassau (52-12) and Ed White (66-12).
Middleburg and Oakleaf (10-8) did not wrestle Saturday, having just wrestled three days earlier for the 2A-District 3 team title; the Knights were 1-2 in Saturday’s rounds, with a 54-12 victory over West Nassau and a tight 35-32 loss to Heritage.
West Nassau (1-3 in duals) opened its dual season by turning back Ed White (unknown record due to missing result), 42-30; the Warriors also had a 54-21 loss to Heritage, while the Commanders fell, 72-6, to the west Brevard County group.
As they had at district duals just three days earlier, Fleming Island lost just one contested match on Saturday. The Golden Eagles had 10 wrestlers that were 3-0 on the day, with Matthew Newman (106, 2 pins), Laird Duhaylungsod (120, 2 pins), Jayce Paridon (126, 2 pins), Cooper Beck (132, 2 pins & major), Matthew Kotler (152, 3 pins), Christopher Chop (160, pin & 2 majors), Ronan Bozeman (170, 2 pins), Joshua Sandoval (182, 2 pins & tech), Walter Poe (195, 3 pins) and Jhoel Robinson (220, pin) all going 3-0.
Shane Duhaylungsod (113) and Kaden Schaefer (145, 2 pins) were both 2-0 for Fleming, while Ladarius Jackson (285, pin & decision) was 2-1, with his only loss coming in double-overtime; Jackson was wrestling a weight class up all weekend.
As for Middleburg, the Broncos had four wrestlers go 3-0 on Saturday, as Bryan Davis (113, 2 pins & major), Parker Richards (138, 3 pins), Porter Loveland (195, 2 pins) and Tucker Cody (220/285, 2 pins) all won three times.
Grady Woodard (120, pin), Aiden Creamer (132, 2 pins), Logan Moore (145, 2 pins), Daniel Raines (152, pin), Keensdee Roseme (160/170, pin) and Brad Darnold (182, 2 pins) each were 2-1.
Oakleaf had just one wrestler in Caleb Pope (138, pin & decision) who was 3-0 on Saturday, though a couple more — Angel Rodriguez (113, tech & decision), Keon Barrientos (132, pin & decision) and Isaiah Shevchook (195/220, decision) were all 2-0 as well.
Sebastian Bonochea (126/132, tech & decision) had a 2-1 day as well for the Clay County Knights.
West Nassau got a 4-0 day from Nolan McKelvy (182, 4 pins), with Blayden Tharpe (126, 2 pins) adding a 3-1 performance.
The Warriors had a couple of add-ons from independent programs competing with them throughout the day, as St Johns Classical’s Chris Graham (138, 2 pins) was 2-1 and Matthew Braddock (113, decision) had a 2-2 tournament. Just one wrestler had more than two wins for Ed White, as Alex Benitez (285, decision) was 3-1 for the Commanders.
There were a number of results from Friday’s callout event that had at least some regional implications if not statewide ones; time and logistical limits prevented the ability to individually report out match-by-match what occurred. Matmen compiled a working list of wrestlers’ win-loss records on-site on Friday; these will be reported as part of our #TheSeason spring and summer content package for area competitors.
A set of results from Saturday’s box scores can be found HERE.
North Florida Matmen 