FLEMING ISLAND - With its usual aggressive and tactical dominance, the Fleming Island High wrestling team took a little umbrance at the annual Tussle of Muscle dual match with rival Clay High, but with a slightly different approach for former Clay High four-time state champion P.J. Cobbert running the show for the Golden Eagles.

With a 55-16 dismantling of the Blue Devils behind six pins for wins; Laird Duhaylungsod 120k Jayce Paridon 132, Kaden Schaefer 145, Matthew Kotler 152, Joshua Sandoval 182 and Robinson 220, Fleming Island again asserted themselves as the north Florida team to reckon with come this week’s district championship tournaments.

Clay, with still unbeaten Jacob Bucci at 106 (35-0), got one win from Brady Glavin at 126 and a handful of forfeits for their 16 points. At 106, Bucci forfeited to Fleming Island’s Matthew Newman.

With one still unbeaten wrestler on the roster; senior 220 pounder Jhoel Robinson, Fleming Island has a potful of top five and top 10 ranked athletes on the books according the Kabra Wrestling guru Brant Parsons, the state’s ranking meister.

Fleming Island got two state runnerups last year with Robinson and Jayce Paridon both losing in the state finals. Paridon has bumped up to 132 for the state run with top seed and defending 126 champion Maxius Brady of Mariner High, who defeated Paridon in the championship match last year, sitting at 43-1.

Parsons, as he does annually, put together his Who’s Who among state wrestling contenders as districts, regions and the state championships start to funnel into the vernacular of weekend wrestling chats.

For the girls, with the region 1-1A staged at Matanzas, Middleburg will give chase to the top rated Pirates, but needing some help to overtake for a team title as evident by the district runnerup finish to Matanzas. Lincoln, champions in district 1-1A, will bring some heavy artillary; three champions, two runners and a pair of thirds and fourth, and that could make head-to-heads advantageous to the Coll Robertson’s girls at Middleburg. Should Lincoln and Matanzas; with five champions, four seconds and two thirds, knock a few of each other out, Middleburg, with a supreme total team effort, could sneak in as a runnerup or even a champion.

Middleburg got district titles to unbeaten Cruce, senior Grace Bradshaw at 100 and, in a pseudo upset repeat from the unassuming but brave freshman Skyla Fisher at 105. The catch is neither Bronco wrestled a Matanzas girls in their final.

Add to the mix, from Oakleaf, the Barrientos duo; Adrienna (who won with no wrestlers in her 105) and Kailani, who pinned at 120, at Oakleaf coming in with Jayla Harrison pinning at 170 and the Lady Broncos have a slight formula for an upset if the moons align. At 145, Oakleaf’s Sofia Shirley-Montijo is a capable upset creator; runnerup at districts.

Westside won the district title with Oakleaf and Baker County both tied as runnerups at 80 in tightly contested field.

One final addition is Clay’s Aubrienna Apple, who could scorch the field at 135; albeit Apple beat Middleburg’s Heidi Castleberry at districts.

In boys 1A, St. Johns Country Day School eighth grader Matthew Braddock can make history with a few wins, even a title.