By MATMEN, Saturday, 10:10 p.m.
ENGLEWOOD — Suwannee made the long trek from Live Oak to Charlotte County and the Sunshine Coast, finishing third in the 21-team Bidwell Memorial tournament, which had a mixed format, with some weights in IBT and others in roundrobin.
The Bulldogs finished with 190.5 points on the day, 8.5 behind 1A state duals runnerup Zephyrhills Christian in second. Host Lemon Bay’s 232.5 points were plenty to win the tournament, with Palm Bay (156.5) and Sarasota (101) rounding out the top five teams.
Suwannee also went back with three individual titles, with Brody Boehm (126), Marshall White (145) and Austin McKinney (152) all taking firsts.
Boehm (6th-1A at 126) pinned or teched his way into the final, with first-period falls over Palm Bay (rd of 16) and Riverview (Sarasota) (quarters), with a semifinal tech fall (16-1 in 5:02) over Zephyrhills Christian’s Kyle Gallo (18th-1A). In the final against Lemon Bay’s Brycen Warren (3rd-1A), Boehm gave up first takedown, but after that it was all his offense, with a reversal late in the first and a takedown in the second, riding Warren throughout the third for a 5-2 win.
White (13th-1A at 145) rolled through three first-period falls in reaching the final, with pins over Admiral Farragut (rd of 16), North Port (quarters) and Palm Bay (semis) to get to top seed Aiden Hutchins of Zephyrhills Christian. White scored in each period, with takedowns in the first and third, plus a reversal from bottom in the second, shutting down Hutchins’ offense for a 6-1 decision.
McKinney (4th-1A at 152) had to win Pool B at his weight to reach the title, with four pins over wrestlers from Palm Bay, Estero, Tampa Prep and Zephyrhills Christian’s Javier Lopez (7th-1A, fall time 4 minutes). In the final against Pool A champ Liam Brown of Admiral Farragut, McKinney worked a 3-point nearfall to go up 5-0, needing just one more takedown to take the fall in 2:58.
Eli Jolicoeur (106) and Justin Contreras (113) both reached the finals of their respective weight classes.
Jolicoeur (4th-1A) had three first-period pins in the first period to get to the final, but couldn’t solve Zephyrhills Christian’s Reed Yakes (6th-1A) in the final, falling by a 5-0 count.
Contreras (5th-1A) won Pool B with pins over Bonita Springs and Zephyrhills Christian, adding a third pin in the crossover semis over another Zephyrhills Christian competitor, but couldn’t overcome two first-period nearfalls against Lemon Bay’s Jack Oliver (8th-1A) in the final, dropping a 9-4 decision.
Results for this tournament can be found HERE.
North Florida Matmen 