- April 19, 2024
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Flagler Palm Coast won the William Nutter Memorial Memorial at Merritt Island High School. Courtesy photo
Matanzas finished seventh out of 17 teams at the Capital City Classic in Tallahassee. Courtesy photo
While Flagler Palm Coast's wrestling team dominated the William Nutter Memorial at Merritt Island on Dec. 10-11, Matanzas produced six medalists at the high-powered Capital City Classic at Tallahassee Chiles.
Pirates sophomore Jordan Mills won the 170-pound championship in Tallahassee with four consecutive pins. The sophomore improved to 8-0 on the season, with all of his victories ending in a pin.
"Even though (Jordan Mills) has been so dominant, we're still finding things he can work on."
T.J. GILLIN, Matanzas coach
"Even though he has been so dominant, we're still finding things he can work on," Matanzas coach T.J. Gillin said. "He's one of the guys we're truly grooming to be a state champion at the end of the year."
Eight FPC wrestlers won titles and eight others finished in the top four as the Bulldogs cruised to the William Nutter team title with 176 points. Host Merritt Island was a distant second with 115 points.
Two FPC wrestlers remained undefeated on the young season. Senior Kenneth Blane DeFord improved to 10-0 on his way to the 170-pound title. Senior Felipe Costa wrestled in his first matches of the season, and won five straight to win the 145-pound title.
Two other Bulldogs won their first tournament titles: Freshman Timothy McLean and junior Dalton Schell. McLean won at 106 pounds with three pins and a 14-6 major decision. Schell had four consecutive pins at 220, including a 43-second fall in the final over James Rasberry of Orlando Boone.
FPC's other weight class winners were Kole Hannant, who had four straight pins to win at 120; John Hald at 132; Tim King at 152; and Garrick Schwartz at 195.
Hald recorded a third-period takedown in the final against Merritt Island's Eddie Sears to win by a 7-6 decision.
Matthew Shipp (113), Marcelo Gaonzalez (182) and Seth Davis (285) were runners-up; Brendan Buckles (152) and Dylan Bennett (152B) each finished third; and Ethaniel Laupepa (220), Logan Salatin (160) and Kelton Howard (170) took home fourth-place medals.
The Bulldogs returned six state qualifiers this season: Hannant, Hald, King, DeFord, Bryce Dodge and Gonzalez. DeFord finished fourth at 160 pounds at the Class 3A meet. Dodge was fifth at 170 pounds.
"I can see us having 10 or 11 state qualifiers this season," said FPC coach Zach Sanford.
At the Capital City Classic, Matanzas' Dylan Parkinson came in unseeded and defeated two returning state qualifiers on the way to a second-place finish at 132 pounds. Carter Wilder (113) and Toryion Stallings (120) finished third; Landon Wright (182) finished fourth; and Bradyn Cox lost to Somerset Academy's Noah Perez in the 160-pound quarterfinals and then came back to pin Perez in the fifth-place match.
"We try to go to this tournament every year," Gillin said of the Capital City Classic. "It's full of top teams from our region in addition to Somerset."
Somerset, which won the Class 1A dual and individual bracket titles last season, won the Tallahassee tournament, while the Pirates finished seventh out of 17 teams.
Matanzas and FPC both have busy schedules through the winter break, heading into district duals Jan. 4 (FPC at Seminole) and Jan. 6 (Matanzas at New Smyrna Beach). Both teams will compete in the Johnny Rouse Invitational at Oviedo Hagerty on Dec. 17-18.
