Thursday Night Smackdown ... Region Qtrs and Semis in 2A
Just a quick overview of information I was able to track down …
Districts 1 and 2
Fleming Island cruised to a 74-0 win over Gulf Breeze and Pace downed Chiles 43-27 to advance to the Regions semis. In the quad final Fleming jumped out to a quick 18-0 lead with Jayce Paridon, Laird Duhaylungsod, and Ethan Meyers getting falls before Hazen Esary was able to get Pace on the board with a 6-2 deicison. Fleming won the final 7 matches and cruised to a 50-15 win to punch their ticket to the Elite 8.
Fleming Island had 10 wins and Pace had 4.
Fleming Island advances
Districts 3 and 4
Some very good duals with Matanzas edging Fletcher 44-36 and New Smyrna Beach downing Westside 78-6 before we got a rematch of NSB and Matanzas in the quad finals. In the finals Matanzas started strong - winning the first 3 matches with Brandyn Cox getting a fall, Landon Wright a decision over Thomas Connell, and Jordan Mill getting a tech fall. NSB took the next 3 matches all by fall and the dual was 18-14 heading into 106 (the dual began at 145). Mariah Mills and Tianna Fries both got wins down low to put Matanzas back in the lead 23-18 with 6 matches left. Unfortunately for Matanzas this is where the Cudas are very strong (Bruner’s and Engberg’s between 120-138) and the four pushed NSB into the lead and into the Elite 8.
NSB had 8 wins and Matanzas had 6.
New Smyrna Beach advances
Districts 5 and 6
Was able to track down the River Ridge/Gaither dual - won by River Ridge 48-28, but only know Lecanto beat Zephyrhills in the other … and no information on River Ridge’s win over Lecanto to advance.
River Ridge advances
Districts 7 and 8
Two of the best teams in 2a got together on Thursday to see who would continue their run to a state duals title. Lake Gibson downed East River 69-6 and Winter Springs beat Auburndale 63-12 setting up a meeting of 2 top 5 teams for a berth in the Elite 8. Lake Gibson’s hammers Brendon Abdon and Frank Solorzano started things off with a pair of wins to give LG a 6-0 win. Dylan Deal, Luis Valdes, and Aiden Gatton put the Bears in the lead with 2 falls and a decision … Winter Springs led 15-6 as we “turned the corner” to the lightweights. Gabrielle Tedesco gave Gibson 6 at 106 and Colt Brown followed it up with tech fall to put Gibson back in the lead 18-15 at the halfway point. Ryan Phillips got 5 (a tech fall) for Winter Springs, but the Bears traded 2 for 1 as they forfeited 126 and lost 132 by fall … falling behind 29-20 with 4 matches remaining. Aiden Reichart came up huge for Winter Springs in getting a 2-1 decision over Alex Walker to trim the Braves lead to 29-23. Blake Walker and Nytravious Walker put the final nail in the coffin for Lake Gibson wth decision wins to up the lead to 35-23 and put it out of reach for Elijah Penton.
Lake Gibson won 8 matches and Winter Springs won 6 matches
Lake Gibson advances
Districts 9 and 10
Jesuit rolled over St Petersburg 69-6 (dual is online) and Sumner downed Osceola Fundamental (not online). Jesuit then easily downed Sumner 66-9 to punch their ticket to the Elite 8.
Jesuit advances
Districts 11 and 12
This quad doesn’t appear on trackwrestling … so just a few results with Charlotte beating Braden River to advance. Even the fastidious Brant Parsons of Kabra Wrestling wasn’t able to track down even a dual score for the finals.
Charlotte advances
District 13 and 14
Very good quad with Merritt Island downing Okeechobee and Heritage taking out District 14 Champions Port St Lucie. The Merritt Island vs. Heritage final was one to watch. Merritt Island started out on fire with 3 straight falls at 182, 195, and 220 to lead 18-0. Heritage countered with 2 falls and a forfeit from 285-113 to even the score 18-18. Kyle Mulley and Jeremiah Johnson pushed Merritt Island back on top with a major and a forfeit as we moved past the halfway point of the dual. Roman Maldonado got a huge win for Heritage as he beat Ed Sears 2-1 at 132 and Gabriel Ferreira got a major to bring the score to 28-25 heading into the last 4 matches. Jacob Pitcher and Dylan Quiroga each got wins for Merritt Island and sealed the deal to push the Mustangs through to the Elite 8.
Merritt Island advances
Districts 15 and 16
St Thomas Aquinas took care of business Thursday night as they downed North Miami 55-20 as Belen Jesuit took out American Heritage 42-39 in a tough dual. The setup an Aquinas vs. Belen final. The two teams traded matches early (in fact hey traded the first 8 matches) before Belen Jesuit was able to get two in a row with Darian Torres’s tech all win over Peter O’Neil at 160. Belen Jesuit led 24-21 heading into the final 5 matches … unfortunately for Belen, Aquinas took the next five and book their ticket to the Elite 8 with a 48-24 win.
STA won 9 matches and Belen won 5.
St Thomas Aquinas advances