KISSIMMEE - Middleburg High junior wrestler Cheyenne Cruce has made it very clear that her journey to defend her state title at 190 from last year was with a philosophy of every match is a danger zone.

"I don't think at all about that I am the defending state champion and I should win all my matches," said Cruce, after defending that state title with a dramatic overtime win, 3-1, over a game Apopka High senior, Jada Jones. "I worked my butt off from the week after last year's title to make sure that I was the best me that I could make myself to win a second one."

Cruce, 32-0 as she finished her junior season, rifled through her preliminary matches to the final with three pins while Jones, 24-1 before the final and a third-place finisher last year after being pinned by Cruce in the quarterfinals, did that same only with all first-period pins to set up a showdown of epic proportions.

"My coaches got to watch her matches before the final, but I don't like hanging around and making myself think too much about stuff that I can't control," said Cruce, who had one first-period pin and two in the third period to the final. "They noticed a few things and just told me to keep moving forward on her and that she would want to underhood me and throw me."

In their final, the stand-up dance ensued as neither wrestler was willing to make a dynamic move in the first two periods with Cruce getting hit with a stall warning by officials.

"We were just kind of setting things up and looking to see what might work," said Cruce. "I trust my conditioning that in the final period, I will have an advantage."

For Middleburg coach Coll Robertson, the anxiety of the match was a bit tense.

"It was intense, thought I was going to have a heart attack after the match," said Robertson. "I just told her to stay cool, stay calm, but had a scare with Jones almost getting a hip toss, but after that Cheyenne got her and the match ended. We tell them all the time to wrestle to the whistle and she did."

As the tension rose, with Jones getting tagged with a second stall warning with a minute left in the match, Jones found a way from the referee's position bottom to escape Cruce and get a one-point score, 1-0.

"She was trying to stay away to just end the match at 1-0 and I kept pressing with my coaches yelling you gotta go," said Cruce. "The ref hit her for another stall and I got the tie point with just eight seconds to go."

In the first overtime, with Cruce seemingly energized by one more opportunity to snare her second gold, the crafty Cruce got Jones' head down and intented on combining with a leg for a takedown when she found both Jones feet near each other and grabbed both for the double takedown and the overtime win.

"I was kind of shocked because once I got control of the second ankle, the ref called the match and it was kind of fast," said Cruce. "I thought, Oh my God, I did it. I was a little delayed in reacting because it was such a great match and I think she just made a mental error. She didn't sprawl went I went after her which kind of surprised me."

Cruce said her first thought was to find her mom in the stands, but she was already at the edge of the arena waiting for her.

"My support, her support is the best part of me wrestling," she said. "My brother Austin congratulated me and my dad smiled, but mom was pretty emotional and it felt good."

For the rest of the area girl wrestlers, the weekend got quick exits from Cruce teammates Sarah Walsh (0-2 at 120), Memphis Moses (0-2 at 115) and Skylar Fisher (1-2 at 105).

"Sarah and Memphis were in fourth place at regions and both got the top seeds early," said Robertson. "Skyler got hurt in her second match and we think she injured a knee."

Oakleaf's Kailani Barrientos, the top seed before the state meet, lost in her semifinal by eventual runner-up Emma Hoppe of Viera, battled back with a pin in the consolation semifinals then won a 7-1 decision over Miami Palmetto's Eysis Brinson to finish third at 135.