GREEN COVE SPRINGS - Area high school grapplers traveled statewide to test their holiday diets, conditioning and readiness; Yulee (13th ranked in 1A), Jensen Beach (9th ranked in Class 1A), Lake Gibson (Third ranked in Class 2A) and, this weekend, the Clay High Rotary, and the results portend a great post season of wrestling in the next two months as district duals tournaments amp up with individual tournaments to follow.
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District Duals Schedules
Clay has already won District 3-2A. Clay over Ponte Vedra
Middleburg has already won District 2-2A. Middleburg over Lincoln

Wednesday, January 8
District Duals: District 5-1A
Keystone Heights at Pedro Menendez 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, January 11
District 1-3A: Oakleaf at Fletcher 4 p.m. finals

Region Duals Championships
Thursday, January 16
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On the champions slate were Clay High's boys team at their own Clay Rotary, Middleburg High's boys team at Yulee's Joe Bees Memorial Battle of the Border, and Middleburg's girls team at the Clay Rotary.
Individually, the medals list is plentiful for the Blue Devils, Broncos, and Broncos girls. For Fleming Island, Sebastian Bonachea and Laird Duhaylungsod came home from Jensen Beach with gold and bronze, while Oakleaf's Kailani Barrientos also dominated at Lake Gibson for another title on her resume. Ridgeview High got an individual title as well at the Clay Rotary, with Joseph Sneed (23-2) winning at 106.
Closest to home, at the Clay Rotary at Clay High School, Clay High's boy's team (Fourth-ranked in 2A), led by Most Valuable Wrestler awards to Jacob Bucci for lightweights and Aaron Stacy for the upper weights, the Blue Devils, fresh off a dominating District Duals Tournament title a few weeks ago, took the championship rounds with enough fervor to muscle away from Buchholz with Creekside (9th ranked 3A), Tocoi Creek and Tallahassee's Florida High (14th ranked in 1A) giving pursuit.
Buchholz, a top Class 3A contender annually (#19 in 3A) kept pace with the Blue Devils through the championship rounds and had a slight edge going into the final matches, but Clay came home with the win despite no finals matchups with the Bobcats.
Bucci, a state runner-up last year after a year of injury rehab, looked indestructible along his path to the Rotary 120 title and MVP selection with a third-period pin over Tocoi Creek's Aiden Hubbell after taking out Baker County's Nathan Roll in just 29 seconds in his semifinal. Bucci also tech-falled Creekside's Eli Gramps in his opener.
At 215, Stacy had been swiftly dominant except for matches with Middleburg's Porter Loveland, where the two have met twice, with Loveland prevailing. Stacy executed all of his matches within the first period with pins all the way through; 28 seconds was his fastest in his semifinal against Freeport's Brenden Casey.
Middleburg's boys, with a 211.0-203.5 gap to win Yulee's Invite, got a slew of individual gold from Jonathan Harp at 106, unbeaten (13-0) Gavin Fisher at 113, Nathan Harvey at 120, Micah Thomas at 132, once-beaten Wyatt Leduc (14-1) at 157, and twice-beaten Porter Loveland at 215 to secure their tournament team title.
Middleburg, in December, won their district duals title with a strong effort against Tallahassee Lincoln and will be looking to get to Kissimmee for the district duals Final Four on January 24-25.
Middleburg is most recently ranked No. 7 in Class 2A with Clay at four and Fleming Island at 10 though Fleming Island did not advance a team from the district duals due to a scheduling conflict which leaves the door open for a possible Middleburg vs. Clay championship match.
Fleming Island, at Jensen Beach among the likes of No 1. 2A Tampa Jesuit, Minisink Valley (New York state champs), No. 1 1A Mater Lakes Academy, No. 8 Wellington, No. 5 2A Charlotte, and No. 2 3A Southwest Miami, all ranked traveled with just six wrestlers; Calvin Wells at 113, Isaiah Washner at 113, Sebastian Bonachea at 132, Laird Duhaylungsod at 150, Tyler Frein at 165 and Zion Longmire at 175 and returned with a lone individual title to Bonachea (21-2) at 132 with Duhaylungsod at 150.
Among Bonachea's wins was Merrit Island's Tim Boda, third in 1A 113 last year. Duhaylungsod, fifth at 138 last year, lost his semifinal to Tampa Jesuit's Mason Basile, third at 144 last year.
For the Middleburg High girls wrestling team, a past winner at the Clay Rotary, a fully healthy team minus one key grappler, Skyla Fisher (injury rehab), gave coaches Coll Robertson and Jamie Harrison a good look into the next month's schedule with Sarah Walsh, ranked 11th at 115, taking the Most Valuable Wrestler on the day with her two pins and a 17-1 tech fall in her final against Raines' Maryah Jones. Walsh has been steadily taking in her summer preparation with a visit to Fargo to be more aggressive and powerful on the mat.
The Lady Broncos earned a 72.5-point win over Bartram Trail with a 145.5 team total to the Lady Bears' 73.0 and Riverside's 62.0 for third.
Along with Walsh's win, the Lady Broncos got wins from Lily Bradshaw at 100 with three pins; Toni Silcox at 105 also with three pins; newcomer Cyndi Almonte at 135 with two pins, and two-time defending 190 state champion Cheyenne Cruce winning at 235. Middleburg also got a title to Memphis Moses, returning strong from injury, to pin twice and win by a forfeit.
Orange Park's best finish was a runner-up finish at 215 by Terrion Grant who lost to Clay's Aaron Stacy. Elijah Grant was sixth at 132 for the Raiders.
St. Johns Country Day School had three wrestlers with Howard Hill, 6th in 1A last year at 113, losing in the 132 final to defending Clay Rotary champion Jasper Croom of Florida High via an 18-8 major decision. Ralph Cuartero at 138 lost his second match but battled back with five wins in six matches to take fifth.
For Oakleaf High's girl's team, Barrientos ranked second at 140, has stealthily been the wrestler hovering in the top three at 140 behind junior Ailee Briggs of Lemon Bay, a defending state champion with a 40-1 record last year.
Barrientos, third at state last year at 135, rifled through the 137 weight class at Lake Gibson's Lady Brave Invite with two first-period pins, a 16-0 tech fall, and a third-period pin in the final against South Dade's Arianna Garcia, a junior at 12-3. Barrientos got a tech fall over Tallahassee Lincoln's Amelia McKnight, 10th ranked at 135 and a region qualifier last year.
For the Oakleaf boys, now back in 3A with the powerhouses of South Dade, Zephyrhills Christian, and Southridge, the Knights got a top 10 team finish with state qualifier last year Connor Barnes a sixth place finisher losing in quarterfinals to Gulf Breeze's Garrett Ferguson, the eventual runner-up and fifth at 106 in 2A last year, then getting two wins, two losses in consolations with an overtime loss to Lincoln's Joe Tucker, a region qualifier last year, for sixth place. Barnes also faced off with South Dade's Bryan Morales in his consolation semifinal.
Ridgeview coach Steven Inman has a full lineup on his clipboard with Sneed's finish over a handful of top-ranked opponents; Weston Middleton of Florida High, Jason Marsala of Chiles (12th ranked in 2A) and Gabriel Ramos of Buchholz by pin in the final.
Inman also got a fifth at 113 from Parker Wernet.

Upcoming

January 8
Middleburg at Buchholz
Fleming Island, Orange Park: Tiger Duals at Columbia

January 11
Fleming Island at Billy Saylor Duals (Suwannee)
Middleburg at Corey Hill Memorial (Springstead)
Middleburg girls at Rusted Jade (Hernando)

January 14
Fleming Island at Oakleaf 6 p.m.

January 17
Middleburg at Gator Brawl (Wewahitchka)

January 18
Middleburg girls at Elite 8 Duals (Freedom)

January 21
Middleburg at Oakleaf

January 29
Middleburg vs. Creekside