FERNANDINA BEACH - Clay High got a team title, Fleming Island punched in with a bucketload of first place finishes and Clay powerhouse Aubrianna Apple continued her dominance as area wrestlers put up top performances statewide in week two of the 2022 wrestling season.
At the Dual in the Dunes in Fernandina Beach, Clay dominated their pool play with three wins; 1A-Union County, 3A-Lake Mary and Charlton County, GA to equal pool 3-0 marks from 3A-Bartram Trail and 1A-Episcopal to set off the championship rounds with a fervor.
In the final tally, Clay took care of business with a 48-28 win over Bartram Trail and a 46-30 win over Episcopal to take the team title. Bartram Trail defeated Episcopal 42-36 for the runnerup spot.
In pool play, Clay beat Union County 58-22, Lake Maryu 48-27 and Charlton County 72-12.


Middleburg, Oakleaf crack
top five at Ponte Vedra

PONTE VEDRA - In Ponte Vedra, at the Ponte Vedra Invitational which featured the likes of South Dade (5th in state), Lake Mary, Osceola and Freedom (state champion) plus Ponte Vedra (state runnerup) as well as Middleburg, Oakleaf, Orange Park, Ridgeview and Clay (13th in state), the wrestling was fast and furious as local girl wrestlers got a quick shot of statewide power early in the season. The lone missing state powerhouse was third placer Matanzas.
“Talk about a collection of powerhouses,” said Oakleaf coach Mark DeToro. “The teams that are here are the best in Florida with teams traveling from South Dade at the south end of the state to Milton way west in the Panhandle. This is tough meet for this early in season but a good test of readiness.”
DeToro, new to Oakleaf High School this, but a veteran of sorts with Fleming Island High boys wrestling and Clay High wrestling as a state placer himself at Clay High, had just four wrestlers on his roster; Audrianna Barrientos, Kailani Barrientos, Jayla Harrison and Sofia Shirley-Montijo, but got good mileage from his quartet with junior Adrianna Barrientos, a state qualifier at 105 last year, taking top honors at 105, with the rest of the crew runnerups in their weight classes; 170 for Harrison, 120 for Kailani Barrientos and 155 for Shirley-Montijo.
“We are slowly building interest for the team, but it’s tough when we have such great sports at Oakleaf; weightlifting, basketball, soccer,” said DeToro. “These girls are setting mark now and we’ll build day by day.”
Freedom High won the tournament with a 213 total against runnerup Osceola’s 108 holding off Ponte Vedra’s 101 for the top three.
Middleburg grabbed fourth at 94 with Oakleaf fifth at 84. Orange Park got 22nd behind Jasmine Hecht at 150 while Clay took 14th behind Aubrianna Apple first place. Natali Tyre, sister to state champion Garrett Tyre competed at 170.
Apple, in her fast and furiour style, dispensed of her first two opponent with lightning fast pins then went 7-0 and a 2:23 pin to win. Apple, eighth at state last year, looks to better her numbers this year.
“Last year was a tough year,” said Apple, who was wing man to graduated state champion Madisyn Blackburn, now at Brewton Parker College. “I’ve worked on technique and control this year.”
Middleburg fared well with numbers; seven athletes, with 190 Cheyenne Cruce, fourth at 190 last year, winning decisively in her weight class with two pins after a bye; 18 seconds and a tough 3:34 match with Mia Johnson of Fort Pierce Central.
The Broncos got team points with a handful of thirds behind Gracie Bradshaw, Memphis Moses and Skyla Fisher. Gracie Bradshaw, a senior state qualifier, had the intriguing win with a major decision 15-6 win over freshman sister Lily Bradshaw for third place.
Fisher lost her second bout to Freedom High’s Matio Coutinho via pin, then stormed to two wins by pin for her third.
Moses lost her first match to Ponte Vedra’s Sophia Mallon, then battled back with three pins to defeat Mallon in her third place match by pin.
For Orange Park, Hecht, a state qualifier last year, lost to Oakleaf’s Shirley-Montijo in her third match to finish 3-1. Hecht got a 10 second pin in her second match against Lake Mary’s Arianne Augustave.
For Ridgeview, with two wrestlers, Zoey Fowler, at 130, took fourth. Graclynn Searcy finished 1-2 at 125.

Paridon, Robinson lead Fleming Island at 3A-Powerfest

KISSIMMEE - In Osceola’s always rugged Danny Bryon Invitational featuring the state’s best plus Georgia’s best, Fleming Island got a handful of titles from their state-strong squad led by defending state runnerups Jayce Paridon (113) and Jhoel Robinson (182). Fleming Island finished third in Class 2A, in their first year in 2A, behind Jesuit and Lake Gibson.
Paridon, at 126, smoked through his weight class with four pins and a 7-0 win over Class 1A champion Jensen Beach’s Ryan Mooney, third in 1A last year.
Robinson, at 220, got to his finals match with two pins and two decisions before getting an injury default win over Osceola’s Jomar Sanchez. Sanchez was third in 3A at 220 last year.
Two of Fleming Island coach P.J. Cobbert’s “Young Pups” from last year, Matthew Newman at 106, and Laird Duhaylungsod at 120, got gold and silver with tough wins over South Dade and Camden County athletes in their final matches.
Newman roared through his lineup with five pins; fastest at :25, with this toughest match, ironically, against Fleming Island teammate Jordan Mukaddam with a 3:14 fall after a 3-2 score between the two.
Newman dominated his final two matchs; Jensen Beach and South Dade, with pins.
Duhaylungsod opened with South Dade’s Luis Acevedo, fourth in 3A 120 last year, and lost a tough 5-2 match before regrouping with four wins to take second with an 8-0 win over Camden County’s Brandon Higgins. Duhaylungsod had a rough roster of opponents from Deland, Southwest Miami and Osceola; all 3A powerhouses) to fend off for his silver medal.
For Duhaylungsod, at
One of Cobbert’s lone senior returners; Ronan Bozeman at 170, finished his second place run with a 6-4 win over South Dade’s Lawrence Rosario.
At 160, Chris Chop finished fifth; Walter Poe, at 195, finished fourth and, at 285, Ethan Hoffstetter was fifth.


Broncos: Three gold at Capital City

TALLAHASSEE - Middleburg High took the long ride to Tallahassee to face off against some Class 2A powers and came home with three first place wrestlers, two seconds and a third place finish. Sixteen teams competed.
Led by Grady Woodard at 120, Wyatt Leduc at 132 and Tucker Cody at 220, all three with tough one or two point finals wins, the Broncos stayed within an half nelson with thier 238 team points behind team champion Lincoln at 289 and Wakulla at 260. Chiles was a distant 160 in fourth place.
The Broncos got team points from top five finishers from a handful of wrestlers including silver medals to freshman Bryan Davis, Jr., at 113, and senior Logan Moore at 145.
Freshman Porter Loveland was third at 195 with a tech fall, 20-3, over Lincoln’s Jordan Baker.


Ridgeview third at Friday Knights

OAKLEAF - At Oakleaf, Ridgeview High may have surprised host Oakleaf with a second place finish at the Oakleaf High hosted Friday Knight Lights afternoon wrestling invitational held last week.
With Glynn Academy of Georgia dominating with five team wins overall, Ridgeview and Oakleaf built up to 3-2 won loss records along with Westside.
In the final tally after round robin wrestling, Ridgeview fought to a 45-36 win over Oakleaf for the runnerup spot. Oakleaf would get third after Westside forfeited out of the final match.
On the first round, Westside defeated Ridgeview 42-36 behind two late pins at 182 and 195 with Ridgeview’s Rayhn Hutchinson pinning to keep the score tied, but Westside’s Terrance Goodman pinning Ridgeview’s Garrett Davis for the win.
Ridgeview kept moving forward with wins of 56-24 over Ponte Vedra, 72-12 over Mainland before the championship bracket had Glynn Academy wipe out Westside 75-6 for the title.
Glynn Academhy beat Ridgeview 68-10 for the title with Kaiden Tibbetts getting a major decision and Raymond GoFort pinning for the Panthers’ points.
Oakleaf, under new coach Mark DeToro, opened with a strong 70-9 win over Orange Park with pins throughout and wins for Orange Park from Trevion Sermons and Elijah Campbell.
Orange Park has a little bit of a tussle from a game Keystone Heights team that finished winless in five matches with the Raiders prevailing 48-30.
For the Indians, Phoenix Contes, Luke Graves, Canyon Hayes, Steve Raab all had pins.
Keystone Heights lost just 42-24 to Mainland High of Daytona Beach.
Orange Park got a win against Ponte Vedra 45-30 with pins from Elijag Grant, Jonathan Garland, Dyland Owenby, Gray, Trevion Sermons, Brody Klingler and Butler.