By MATMEN, Friday, 8 p.m.
GREEN COVE SPRINGS — The alarm for this weekend’s Gene Gorman Showcase Duals at Punta Gorda, just a short fiveish-plus hours’ drive from Clay and Suwannee Counties, probably came way too early for Clay and Suwannee Friday morning.
Thursday night, the pair of definitive small-school north Florida programs put on a dual full of momentum swings and big points, with both teams taking double-digit leads before the Bulldogs finished with a 42-36 win over their hosts.
Early on, the start weight favored Clay (15-6), as their bigs, along with 106 hammer Jacob Bucci, forged an early 25-0 lead behind pins from Brody Lyda (182), Aaron Stacey (195) and Kedtric Wilbourn (220), a 9-0 major from Bucci, plus an 8-4 win at 285 from Will Kelly.
But Suwannee (36-4) didn’t panic, with back-to-back pins from Justin Contreras (113) and Topher Peason (120) to cut the lead in nearly half, 25-12.
Clay would get six more back on Brady Glavin’s fall at 126, but the Bulldogs would clinch the dual behind a 30-0 run on five straight pins from Brody Boehm (132), Ayden Kirby (130), a key momentum-shifter from Marshall White (145, in which he was almost put to his own back before securing a fall himself), plus pins from Austin McKinney (152) and Austin Howard (160).
Clay senior Dominic Martin closed out the dual with a third-period tech fall win (tech time 5:50).
Both teams are competing in the Gorman event, a two-day event at Charlotte HS.
Tri-County Duals: At Baker County, the hosts swept to wins over Columbia (60-21) and Union County (45-36) to improve to 17-8 on the season.
Double winners for the Wildcats were Jared Lauramore (113, decision), Jonathon Walker (126, 2 pins), Brock Duncan (132, pin), Keith Ratliff (152, pin), Rasean Rayam (160, pin), Hank Stronko (220), pin) and Phillip Spreadbury (285, pin). Taz Kinghorn (120) won by fall in the Columbia win as well.
In the opening dual of the night, in a matchup of purple and gold Tigers, it was Union County (15-14) that took a 60-15 win over Columbia (4-17).
Double winners for Union County were Ethan Hancock (120, 2 pins), Ian Halfacre (132/138, pin), Colin Hadlock (170, pin), Alexander Cortese (182, pin) and Danny Thornton (195, pin).
Gage Howard (113) won by pin in the victory over Columbia, while Rodney Barnett (145) took a fall in the loss to Baker County.
As for Columbia, Jayden Thomas (138, pin & tech) and Alexander Ulloa (145, pin & decision) each won twice. Kevin Fink had a pin in the loss to Union and Tyhler Phinney (106) won by major decision in the loss to Baker County.
Columbia travels to Brunswick GA on Saturday for its Port City Memorial, a one-day callout event, while Union County will host Palatka in a Monday dual and Baker County will host a tri-meet on Tuesday.
Fernandina Beach quad: The host Pirates dominated three Jacksonville opponents in a home quad, taking down Bishop Snyder (71-6), First Coast (60-15) and Ed White (66-12), improving to 19-7 in duals for the season.
Crew Richter (113, pin & tech), Caden Kubatzke (126, pin), Cael Kubatzke (132, 2 pins), Cole Misciagna (145, 3 pins), Blaike Harrington (152, 3 pins), Enzo Gamba (160, 3 pins), Felix McDuffy (182, pin), Gauge Housely (195, 3 pins) and Peyton White (220, 3 pins) were all triple-winners for Fernandina Beach, while Patrick Lee (138, 2 pins) and Anthony Fancher (170, pin) were both 2-1.
Ed White (record unknown due to missing results) was 2-1 on the night, with wins over First Coast (46-30) and Bishop Snyder (58-18).
Alex Benitez (285, 2 pins) was the Commanders’ lone triple-winner, while Keyon St Marc (152/160, 2 pins) was 2-0 on the night. Clairmont Wisely (126), Hayden Merritt (138, 2 pins) and Xavier Wimmer (182) were all 2-1 for Ed White.
Bishop Snyder (2-15) turned back First Coast (1-7), 33-30, in round 3 of the quad.
James Register (120, 2 pins) was the Cardinals’ lone triple-winner on the night. Ethan Preston (113, 2 pins), Amari Akel (145, 2 pins) and Kenyon Nunnary (220, pin & decision) each were 2-1 for Bishop Snyder.
As for First Coast, Alphonso Parsons (170, 2 pins) was the Buccaneers’ lone triple-winner, while Brandon Story (132/138, decision) and Dean Marshall (195, 2 pins) were both 2-1.
First Coast is back on the mats Saturday at Paxon’s one-day IBT, while Bishop Snyder will host Wolfson in a midweek dual on Wednesday. Ed White is off until next weekend’s Clay Rotary on February 3-4, while Fernandina Beach will be at Arnold’s Spearfish Roundrobin on February 4.
Seabreeze splits: In a tri-meet at Celebration, the Sandcrabs (4-12) fell by a 63-18 count to Gateway, but then defeated the hosts, 42-24.
Seabreeze had no double-winnes, but Wyatt Sites (126) and River Gray (132) both won by fall in the loss to Gateway.
Against Celebration, Shane Triplett (113), William Sites (120), Antonio Serrano (138), Aiden Hedge (160), Jackson Pruett (195) and Luke Cloer (285) all took pins over the hosts.
Seabreeze is now off until Thursday, when the Sandcrabs travel to New Smyrna Beach for a midweek dual.
University (Orange City) 45, Mainland 23: At UOC, the hosts used a short-handed Buccaneer lineup to take the dual victory.
Anthony Muscato (145), Reese Gordon (170), Slade High-Tompkins (182) and Carlito Betancourt (195) all won by fall for the Titans (2-9), who added three forfeit victories.
For Mainland (4-13), Sam Ayodele (152), Micah McGuire (220) and Christian Singleton-Hudson (285) each had pins, while Brian Harris added a second-period tech fall (17-2 in 3:27) at 132.
Both teams reconvened at the 37th Flagler Rotary at Flagler Palm Coast this weekend.
RESULTS: Results from all of Thursday night’s known competition can be found HERE.
North Florida Matmen 