By MATMEN, Saturday, 12:10 a.m.
KISSIMMEE — The team race in Class 3A is long ago put to bed; South Dade saw to that perhaps as early as Thursday night.
But for seniors Ethan Vugman of Bartram Trail and Kason Nichols of Buchholz, along with Bobcats junior Cavarius Liddie, there is still gold to pursue.
Those three area 3A wrestlers will be in the finals when those are set to begin Saturday afternoon at approximately 4:15 p.m. And, to boot, they’re the reasons why their teams are the top teams in Region 1 as far as the state team standings go, as Buchholz stands in 7th place with 50 points, just 1.5 back of fifth-place Bloomingdale.
Bartram Trail, with 39 points, is 11th, whiel Hagerty is 13th with 33. Those are the only Region 1 teams in the top 20 as things stand going into Saturday’s rounds.
Saturday wrestling begins at 9:30 a.m. with consi semis, followed by the medals round at approximately 11:15 a.m.
A brief summary of each weight class follows. Look for the photo albums of Friday’s action on the North Florida Matmen Facebook page (photos will be posted to Instagram later in the weekend or early next week).
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Heading home: West Port’s Mathew Pishotta and Windermere’s Egehan Yilhan were both 1-2 in the tournament. Both had one match on Friday, with Pishotta losing by first-period injury default to Palm Harbor University and Yilhan by tech fall (15-0 in 2:51) to Seminole Ridge.
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Medals secured: Timber Creek’s Marlo Clark (44-11) will be the area’s only medalist, wrestling for 7th. On the front, Clark lost by fall (1:29) to Southwest Miami, but then punched his podium ticket with a 13-7 win over Palm Harbor University before taking a consi-quarters loss by fall (1:12) to South Dade. Clark will wrestle Riverdale’s Charlie Smiarowski for 7th.
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Heading home: All four Region 1 wrestlers were 0-2 on Thursday and did not compete beyond that date.
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Going for gold: Bartram’s Ethan Vugman (57-1) added two more falls to his round-1 pin from Thursday, with a quarterfinal pin over Sumner (2:42) and a semifinal fall over South Dade in 5:39, in which Vugman dominated the match from start to finish. Vugman will face Steinbrenner’s Colin Bradshaw (25-2) in a rematch of last year’s 120 state final, which Bradshaw won by a 6-3 count (though Vugman won over Bradshaw during the 2022 offseason).
Medals secured: Lake Brantley’s Dario Duany (38-7) will have two matches on Saturday and could finish anywhere between 3rd-6th, while West Orange’s Raymond Cavey (33-9) will wrestle for 7th. Duany had a pair of wins in the consis on Friday, with decisions over Sumner (4-0) in consi round 2 and over Cavey, 4-0, in the bottom consi quarter. Duany will wrestle Doral Academy’s Julian Montero in the bottom consi semi. As for Cavey, he secured his medal with a 9-4 win over North Port in consi round 2 before facing Duany in the quarters. Cavey will wrestle Southwest Miami’s Angel Delgado for 7th.
Heading home: In his only match of the day, Buchholz’s Jedidiah Brown took a 4-2 loss to Delgado in consi round 2, going 1-2 in the tournament.
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Going for gold: Buchholz’s Cavarius (CJ) Liddie (55-6) picked up a pair of bonus-point wins in reaching the final Friday, opening with a 9-1 major in the quarters over Doral Academy before falling Strawberry Crest in 3:43 in the semis. Liddie will face Southwest Miami’s Danny Martinez (46-3) in the state championship.
Medals secured: Hagerty’s Nikolas Blake (55-7) will have two matches on Saturday, while Flagler Palm Coast’s Kole Hannant (45-10) will wrestle for 7th. After a quarterfinal loss by pin (:34) to Harmony, Blake took two wins on the back, with a fall (1:28) over Fletcher’s Cole O’Brien in consi round 2, followed by a 4-1 win in the top consi quarter over Hannant. Blake will wrestle Strawberry Crest’s Frank Font in the top consi semi. As for Hannant, his day began with a loss by fall (3:26) to Martinez, but he made sure of his podium finish with a 5-0 win in consi round 2 over Tohopekaliga before falling to Blake. Hannant will wrestle Riverdale’s Zachary Baima for 7th, in a rematch of their round-1 match on Thursday, which Hannant won by a 5-2 count.
Heading home: The loss by fall to Blake was O’Brien’s only match of the day, as he went 1-2 in the tournament.
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Medals secured: Apopka’s Tamarion Kendrick (36-5) will be the only area medalist in the weight class, as he will have two matches on Saturday. After an 8-1 loss in the quarters to Miami Beach, Kendrick locked up a medal with a 10-2 major in consi round 2 over region rival Kellen Chapman of DeLand, then took an 11-7 win in the bottom consi quarter over Bloomingdale. Kendrick will wrestle Riverview’s Nicholas Romero in the bottom consi semi.
Heading home: With his loss to Kendrick the only match of his day, Chapman finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.
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Medals secured: Winter Park’s James Gonzalez (22-7) will have two matches starting in the consi semis on Saturday, while Evans’ Tyran Schanck (24-7) will wrestle for 7th. Gonzalez opened the day with a 7-0 win over Viera in the quarters, but then took a 9-3 loss in the semis to Osceola. Gonzalez will wrestle Bloomingdale’s Jose Milord in the top consi semi. As for Schanck, he was 1-1 on Friday, with an 8-7 win over Viera to punch his podium ticket, but then lost by a 14-4 major to Southwest Miami in the bottom consi quarter. Schanck will wrestle Wellington’s Randy Lancaster for 7th.
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Medals secured: Winter Park’s Joey Parker (41-6) is the only area medalist and will have two matches on Saturday. After taking an 8-0 loss in the quarters to Riverdale, Parker dominated to two bonus-point wins in the consis with a tech fall (24-9 in 4:17) over Oviedo’s Luke Forsberg, followed by an 11-3 major over Doral Academy. Parker will face South Dade’s Gavin Balmeceda in the bottom consi semi.
Heading home: With the loss to Parker his only match of the day, Forsberg finished the tournament at 1-2.
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Medals secured: Hagerty’s Kamdon Harrison (52-10) will have two matches on Saturday, while Fletcher’s Josh Daltro (40-9) will wrestle for 7th. Harrison won by fall twice in the consis on Friday, with pins over Harmony (1:07) in round 2 and over Southridge (5:23) in the top consi quarter. Harrison will face Wellington’s Mac Andrews in the top consi semi. As for Daltro, he began Friday by securing his state medal with a 5-1 win in consi round 2 over Olympic Heights, but then lost by fall (3:18) to Ferguson in the bottom consi quarter. Daltro will wrestle Southridge’s Julian Mayorga for 7th.
Heading home: After a 10-9 loss to Ferguson in consi round 2, Flagler Palm Coast’s Kelton Howard was 1-2 in the tournament.
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Heading home: Nease’s Alan Rivera and Buchholz’s Max Szabo both had one loss in their only consi-side matches Friday, as both were 1-2 in the tournament after Rivera fell to Celebration, 10-5, and Szabo took a 1-0 loss to Doral Academy in consi round 2.
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Medals secured: Hagerty’s Hunter Tate (34-6) will wrestle twice on Saturday starting in the consi semis, while Sandalwood’s Malachi Mista (39-15) and Bartram Trail’s John McNames (47-7) will face off in a District 1 rivalry match for 7th. After losing by fall in sudden victory (6:54) to Southwest Miami in the quarters, Tate took two wins in the consis, with a 6-3 win over Ft Pierce Central in round 2, followed by a 17-7 major over Mista in the bottom quarter. Tate will face Cypress Bay’s Zach Weidler in the bottom consi semi. Mista, likewise, lost in the quarters by fall (:17) to South Dade, but earned his state medal with a fall (2:28) over South Plantation in consi round 2 before meeting Tate. As for McNames, he lost by a 10-0 major in the quarters to North Port, but earned his medal with a fall (4:42) over Strawberry Crest in the blood round before falling, 15-4, to Steinbrenner in the top consi quarter.
Heading home: DeLand’s Gavin Rodriguez-Cayro was 1-2 in the tournament, with Friday losses by pin on the front to Cypress Bay (2:54) and in consi round 2 to Steinbrenner (3:33).
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Going for gold: Buchholz’s Kason Nichols (48-5) continued his bonus-point run through the weight class with two Friday pins, opening with a quarterfinal pin over Barbara Goleman (5:34), then needing one very quick takedown for a 23-second pin over Miami Palmetto in the semis. Nichols will face Vero Beach’s John Roberts (31-0) for the state championship.
Medals secured: Sandalwood’s Duffy Mista (49-9) will have two matches on Saturday, while Flagler Palm Coast’s Dalton Schell (44-9) will wrestle for 7th. Mista opened the day with a loss by pin (:49) to South Dade in the quarters, but then won twice in the consis by decision, with a 3-2 win over Olympic Heights to earn his state medal, followed by a 7-6 win over Schell in the top consi quarter. Schell had lost by fall (2:00) to Roberts in the quarters, but punched his podium ticket with a 6-0 win over Tohopekaliga in consi round 2.
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Medals secured: Three area wrestlers — Mandarin’s Jaelen Simmons (26-9), Bartram Trail’s Shane Armstrong (34-6) and Lake Mary’s Michael Frederick (31-5) — all will earn medals Saturday and will each have two matches, with Armstrong and Frederick starting against each other in a rematch of the third-place Region 1 match last weekend. Armstrong opened the day with a 4-1 loss in double-OT to Osceola, but then took tight wins over Dr Krop (1-0) in consi round 2 and over Ft Pierce Central (3-1) in the bottom consi quarter, while Frederick reached the championship semis with an injury-default win over George Jenkins, but then lost by fall (2:15) to South Dade in the semis. As for Simmons, he lost by fall (2:20) to South Dade in the quarters, but then rallied for a pair of decisions in the consis, taking down Riverdale, 5-2, to secure his medal and then decisioning Columbus, 11-5, in the top quarter.
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Medals secured: DeLand’s Marion Smokes (45-6) will have two matches on Saturday in going for third place, while Fletcher’s Toby Matson (43-7) will wrestle for 7th. Smokes began the day with a quarterfinal pin over Ft Pierce Central (2:46), but then lost by fall (3:51) to Harmony in the semis. Smokes will wrestle South Dade’s Marcelo Rosario in the bottom consi semi. Matson fell by a 3-2 count to Harmony in the quarters, but then won by injury default in consi round 2 over Olympic Heights to reach the medal round before a loss by pin (3:33) to Ft Pierce Central. Matson will wrestle Derrick Hart of Columbus for 7th place.
Heading home: Timber Creek’s Peter Nesheiwat took a pair of losses on Friday to go 1-2 in the tournament, with decision losses on the front to Cypress Bay (9-5) in the quarters and in consi round 2 to Hart, 4-2.
Second-day brackets can be found HERE.
North Florida Matmen 