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Fleming Island soars to Duals, SJRAC titles

By Randy Lefko
Posted 12/17/17

GREEN COVE SPRINGS - Fleming Island High School’s wrestling team, fresh off an impressive win in Georgia tournament action a week ago, continued to rumble through local opposition with lopsided …

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Fleming Island soars to Duals, SJRAC titles


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS - Fleming Island High School’s wrestling team, fresh off an impressive win in Georgia tournament action a week ago, continued to rumble through local opposition with lopsided team titles in the District 1-3A Duals state qualifier and the St. Johns River Athletic Conference team title in three days of wrestling action at the Clay County Fairgrounds Dec. 21-23.

In the Thursday opening round of action, to qualify for the state Duals championship meet, a new format in Florida that pits teams against teams for a title to the best dual meet team as opposed to weight division championships that get totaled for team points in the traditional state meet in March.

State wide district dual meets are scheduled to be completed before January 6 and are to be followed by a region Duals championship before January 11. Top two teams in each district duals qualifier advance to the region meets.

Teams that advanced will head to the Florida High School Dual Wrestling State Championships on Jan. 19-20 at Osceola High School in Kissimmee.

Fleming Island travels to Osceola High School to check their status against some of the Southeast regions best teams at the Knockout Christmas Classic which features teams such as Camden County, GA and South Dade High, both multiple state champions in their respective states and both looking to probably exact some revenge on the Golden Eagles’ recent tournament win over both teams at the Danny Byron Invitational Dec. 8-9.

Also at the Knockout lineup with Fleming Island (2nd in 3A last year) will be Hagerty (9th on 3A); Miami Southridge (13th in 3A); Osceola (6th in 3A); Southwest Miami (4th in 3A); Winter Springs (5th in 3A); Wellington (12th in 3A); Bishop Kenny (17th in1 A); Lake Gibson (2nd in 2A); Tallahassee Lincoln (11th in 2A); Jensen Beach (9th in 2A) and Tampa Prep (9th in 1A).

At the Clay County Fairgrounds, Fleming Island took care of business in the Duals state qualifier with an explosive 75-0 win over Oakleaf and a 59-12 drubbing of district 1-3A stalwart Flagler Palm Coast that put the Golden Eagles on to a path of least resistance to the region championship in January.

Fleming Island’s top two wrestlers; Lou Gagliardo at 106 and Paul Detwiler at 170 remained unbeaten through the three-day exercise. Fleming Island did not wrestle Ryan Smenda at 220, who recently completed a region finals football slate.

Against Oakleaf, Fleming Island basketed the win with nine pins for wins and just two wins by decision.

Against Flagler Palm Coast, who was without Class 3A stalwarts Mike DeAugustino, third at 120, and 126 state champion Avery Holder, Fleming Island cruised to the win with pins from Briar Jackson at 113, Tyler Williams at 138 and Detwiler at 170.

In the St. Johns River Athletic Conference tournament, held Friday and Saturday also at the Clay County Fairgrounds, the Fleming Island roll did not slow down as the Golden Eagles rifled through eight teams with runnerup Matanzas and Middleburg finishing strong with 7-1, 6-2 records respectively.

In two exciting and dramatic matches that highlighted the second day of competition, Middleburg High’s Tazz Hampton gallantly avoided three near-falls from Fleming Island’s Briar Jackson to eventually fall 17-1 as the Golden Eagles soundly defeated the game Broncos 80-0.

Against Matanzas later in the day, Matanzas’ 145 pounder Jones won a four-overtime battle 3-2 over Fleming Island’s Vincent Hauser that had little effect on the 58-9 Golden Eagle win, but energized both teams benches as Fleming Island answered with a seven-win; six pin stretched that included an overtime win at 195 by Fleming Island’s Jeffrey Lascano.

Matanzas and Fleming Island were the two losses for Middleburg. Orange Park finished at 3-5 with 195 pounder Reed Danielson surprising Fleming Island’s Jalyn Robinson with a pin in their match as the Raiders avoided the shutout, 66-6.

Middleburg defeated Orange Park 48-19 in round eight with Hampton winning by pin leading the Broncos.