KISSIMMEE - With two recent state runner-up finishes; Duals and Individuals, Fleming Island High’s wrestling summer club, North Florida Wrestling Academy is looking to make some noise at the upcoming AAU Scholastic Duals in Orlando on June 23-25 at the Orange County Convention Center. NFWA will be in the Community I division. NFWA Black, in 2022, was fifth in the Gold Championship bracket in Community I.

“We are strong top to bottom and have been doing twice a day workouts the past few weeks since school is out,” said NFWA coach P.J. Cobbert, also the Fleming Island High School that guided the Golden Eagles to runner-up state finishes against repeat Class 2A champions Lake Gibson for the past season. “I’m giving our seniors from this year a rest and want to see the young faces in the big lights.”

For Middleburg High coach Coll Robertson, his program will send athletes on two teams; Applied Pressure and Kame Style with a girls team, Riot, featuring his girls' athletes.

“As a wrestler myself at Ridgeview, I’ve never been to this Nationals meet and I do believe this will be the first Middleburg-based team to compete so we will both be experiencing something new this week,” said Robertson. “We have most of our Middleburg High team going including three state guys; Wyatt LeDuc, Grady Woodard and Tucker Cody with Logan Moore, our only senior not going. Logan wanted to go, but I wanted to let guys that will be back next year to get the mat time.”

Robertson will also have two Clay High guys; Brady Glavin and Will Kelly. Robertson will also field a girls team led by his Middleburg High squad that had a fantastic season this year with state champion Cheyenne Cruce competing as well as teammates Skyla Fisher and Memphis Moses.

“I think this will be a first-time girls and boys team for Middleburg, if not the county,” said Robertson.

Cobbert, who is no stranger to the rigors of the three days of battle for national supremacy, knows the grind of four to five matches a day against the best guys in the nation is a matter of wear and tear.

“Our guys can go the distance, our conditioning is tough,” said Cobbert. “Our lead guys are all battle tested; Chris Chop, Kaden Schaefer, Jordan Mukkaddam and the rest of the high school team, plus our add-ons; from Oakleaf, Palatka and a Georgia, will fill the roster.”

One face on the roster will be state weightlifting champion Kevin Reyes, an offensive lineman for the Golden Eagle football team, that will be adding his heft to the upper weights.

“He’s just a sophomore going to be a junior and he’s a stud,” said Cobbert. “I think he wrestled a little in middle school, but he’s been here every day and will be a force down there.”

One wrestler not going is state champion Jayce Paridon, a junior, who is headed to Tulsa for a junior national tournament.

“He’s getting his work against guys in the Freestyle/Greco Roman style,” said Cobbert. “He’ll be the total package next year.”

Cobbert had a handful of wrestlers travel to Virginia for the NHSCA; the 2023 NHSCA High School Nationals; Schaefer (145, 7-3), Chop (170, 5-5) and Walter Poe (182/195, 4-6), who wrestled on the Indiana Outlaws Black team that was 32nd team of 200 teams.

“Those guys took the time to go up against some pretty good guys up there,” said Cobbert. “Chop and Schaefer are both state medalists. Walter could be a surprise. He’s explosive sometimes too much, but a solid attacker.”

Cobbert’s three add-ons, one a Georgia state medalist from Brunswick High, a Georgia state champion team formerly coached by Cobbert’s assistant Larry Insalaco. Palatka Class 1A 138 runnerup Mikade Harvey, 32-3, a graduating senior, will also join the team with Oakleaf sophomore Sebastian Bonachea (32-9, fifth 126 2A).

Also joining the Fleming Island High team as a freshman in the fall is St. Johns Country Day School’s Matthew Braddock who will shore up one of the lower weight brackets with Paridon missing.