Lake Gibson Claims the Florida 2A State Duals Title

To be fair … Lake Gibson might have come in a little off the radar. Many were talking about Fleming Island and how tough of a road Lake Gibson would have going through Charlotte … both of those things were true, but that didn’t mean that the Braves weren’t ready to make a run of their own. While Fleming was taking care of business on the top side, Lake Gibson hammered Springstead before running into a very good Charlotte squad. Charlotte got up on Lake Gibson - especially when they added 2 falls and a major decision from 195-285. But Gibson was solid down low and ready to jump back in the dual once it reached the 120 lb. weight class and Christian Fretwell. Fretwell, Brown, Tedesco, Walker, Whidden, and Maldonado were huge and the Braves marched on with a 40-28 win.

What happened in the semis kind of repeated in the finals, but with a different team … this time Fleming Island. The dual began at 195 and Tristan Vann got Lake Gibson off to a hot start with a 6-2 decision of Walter Poe. Robinson, Hoffstetter, and then Newman (at 106) pushed Fleming into the lead 16-6 as the dual went to 113. Lowe and Fretwell each took wins (Fretwell with a major decision) and the dual was 16-13 after 6 matches. Jayce Pardion vs. Colt Brown was a great match at 126 and one Fleming Island really needed - not just for points, but in terms of momentum) … Paridon led 5-2 in the 3rd when Brown started his comeback. He scored 3 in the 3rd to tie it and then got the takedown to win it and the Lake Gibson crowd and bench went wild. The dual was 16-16, but it felt like all of the momentum was on the side of the Braves. Gaetano Tedesco added a fall, Walker and Whidden added decisions and Lake Gibson led 28-16 heading into the final 4 matches. Lake Gibson’s Gianni Maldonado held on for a tough 8-7 decision of Matthew Kotler and Christopher Chop earned a 1-0 decision of Conner Hacket for Fleming to make the score 31-19 heading into the final two matches. Jace Brownlow and Ronan Bozeman went to overtime with Bozeman needing a fall to give Fleming a chance …. instead it was Brownlow with the fall and Gibson claimed the 2A title with a 37-19 win.