LAKELAND – Fleming Island High wrestling state champion Jason Davis stuck a fast, fireman carry move on the number one wrestler in the country at Saturday’s college tri-match at Southeastern University. Davis, now a freshman 184 pound wrestler at Southeastern, has had his share of big matches with recent tie-ups against the two national finalists at 197 in 2017.

“I was wrestling up from my 184 pound division to take on the number one guy at 197; Dalton Bailey from NAIA fifth-ranked Life University,” said Davis, currently ranked 15th in NAIA ranks (6-0) at 184 pounds. “All of my losses (11-4) have been at 197 pounds. We have two guys at 184; Chris Williams, a Cardinal Gibbons Class 1A state champion at 195 last year, and we go up or down for team points.”

Note: On Sat., Jan. 20, Southeastern will host a dual match against St. Andrews University at noon at Osceola High School as a showcase in between the FHSAA Duals championship rounds that has semifinals scheduled for 9 a.m.. Southeastern at noon and Duals state finals at 4 p.m. Fleming Island in Class 3A and Clay in Class 1A are set to wrestle in the Duals region finals on January 19, also at Osceola, with a shot at the Saturday state tournament.

Against Bailey, a senior at Life, Davis went in with a first round win at 184 against Cumberland and was anticipating one of his tougher matches of his short freshman year at Southeastern, currently ranked ninth in NAIA.

Davis, in Las Vegas in December, faced off against Grand View University’s Evan Hansen, the eventually national champion last year over Bailey.

“I guess you could call that a baptism by fire, getting the defending champion as a freshman,” said Davis. “Today, I had to face the top-ranked guy at 197. I just keep wrestling whoever they put in front of me.

Davis, who rifled through his senior year at Fleming Island en route to the state title, sees the college game as consistently excellent.

“The ability of every wrestler in college is much more consistent then in high school,” said Davis. “If a college gives a guy a scholarship, they have to be pretty good.”

In the first minute against Bailey, Davis attempted to get his trademark inside trip move that landed him the 182 pound Class 3A title a year ago; the first title for Fleming Island.

“Defense is a lot better in college,” said Davis. “I try to wrestle every match here as if it is a state championship match. It is not uncommon to wrestler three state champions in three different matches from three different schools. You got to stay sharp all the time.”

Davis got in deep against Bailey, but the heavier Bailey was able to reverse the offensive move and get Davis into a deep cradle near the out of bounds circle.

“I made a mental mistake and he caught me,” said Davis. “I almost got the takedown, but you can’t let up at this level even when you get in that deep.”

Bailey finished off the pin with 10 seconds left in the period.

“At this point, I just have to learn what moves I can finish at this level,” said Davis. “That move was my bread and butter in high school, but here, you have to have more.”

In his third and final match Saturday, Davis regrouped to beat Zach Davis 6-0 of third-ranked Indiana Tech. Davis was ranked 12th in NAIA prior to the match. Davis opened with a 10-3 win over Justin Olivieri of Cumberland University.

“I wanted to show that I could recover from a loss and still be effective,” said Davis, after the Zach Davis match. “Keep going forward, learn and execute. That’s what coaches keep telling us.”

Southeastern coach Javier Maldonaldo, a standout wrestler himself at Osceola High School in Kissimmee where he won two Class 3A titles and was a three-time All-American before an equally impressive college career at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, liked Davis’ approach to the college game and said his improvement is a product of his high school program at Fleming Island High School and coach P.J. Cobbert. Maldonaldo is Southeastern’s only coach since the school started wrestling in 2015, putting two wrestlers in the NAIA Nationals in 2016 and three last year.

“Jason wrestles hard all the time,” said Maldonaldo, who presently has Southeastern ranked eighth in NAIA. “He was asked to wrestle a couple of different weight classes for the team and he has responded by doing the best he can. Sometimes he gives up 15 pounds to a guy, but he still wrestles hard.”

Maldonaldo liked Davis’ work ethic and his results at the tri-match.

“He did well against that top guy at 197, beat a guy ranked higher than him, but overall, stayed consistent with his approach,” said Maldonaldo.

Davis’ losses have become teachable moments for both Davis and Maldonaldo.

“I was proud of myself to go two rounds with the defending champion and almost nail a takedown against the top-ranked guy today,” said Davis, about his losses to Bailey and Hansen. “Coach Javier doesn’t get too upset about losses like that except that we should learn what we did and improve.”

Also wrestling at Southeastern and a strong who’s who among Florida state ranked wrestlers are Zac Branning, from Flagler Palm Coast, a Class 3A rival to Fleming Island; Matthew Cates, a 2A champion from Palm Bay Magnet; Nathan Cleland, a 2A state qualifier from Bishop Snyder; Ben Cruz of Osceola High; Angel Del Cueto of SW Miami, the 170 Class 3A state champion last year; Olson Delisca of South Dade; Nathan Ferkovich of Lake Brantley, who lost to Del Cueto in the Class 3A finals match and who also wrestled with the Fleming Island-based North Florida Wrestling Academy team that took second in the AAU Scholastic Duals last year, and Evan Insalaco, son to Fleming Island coach Larry Insalaco. South Dade High, the four time consecutive Class 3A champions with nearly a dozen state titles in the last 15 years, has junior Olson Delisca, a two time NAIA national tournament qualifier, at Southeastern.