KISSIMMEE - Clay High overcame an early 24-16 lead by Middleburg High's wrestling team with a pin from Jacob Bucci and a tech fall from Landon Willard to trigger a 24 point swing to beat the Broncos 48-24 in the Region 1-2A championship match at Osceola High School Friday morning.

The win put the Blue Devils into the Class 2A semifinal a day later against Charlotte with Charlotte winning 49-21. Charlotte lost 59-13 to Tampa Jesuit in the championship match. Jesuit defeated defending state champion Lake Gibson in the opposite semifinal 34-28. Lake Gibson beat Jesuit in 2024 31-26 in the Class 2A championship match.
In the Blue Devils region final, with Middleburg capturing the lead at 24-16 behind pins from Gavin Fisher and Nathan Harvey, the Blue Devils used the two falls from Bucci and Willard to take a 27-24 lead before rolling to points of 33-24 behind a Vonte Burke pin over Middleburg's Micah Thomas; 38-24 with a 17-0 tech fall by Rylan Herrera over Christopher McKeel and a swift hip throw to pin from Calvyn St. Clair to pin Christian Mann to 44-24 after the 144 match.
Middleburg's final points came off a pin by Wyatt LeDuc at 157 for the final 48-30 score.
In the first two matches, starting at 165 with Clay's Drew Holmquist matching up the Middleburg's Sean Blouin, the match went to 8-7 into the third before Holmquist got a cradle on Blouin but failed to hold on for a 15-7 win instead of a pin, but, in one of the biggest turnarounds of the match, Middleburg's Keensdee Roseme took a tumble with Clay's Tison Rivers to a back pin to give the Broncos an early 12-3 lead.
In a turn of events in the 215 highly-anticipated showdown of the Class 2A No. 1 and No. 2, Porter Loveland of Middleburg and Aaron Stacy of Clay, both wrestled at different weight classes; 215 and 285, respectively, with both gaining pin points for their teams. Stacy's pin, in the first period, got the score to 18-16 for Middleburg. Loveland pinned in his 215 match in the second period.
In Saturday's state semifinal, Clay got wins from Vonte Burke, 10-7 decision at 126 with a near fall in the first period almost ending the match; Rylan Herrera, Major 8-0 at 132 with a five point takedown, near fall episode in the third period; Drew Holmquist, 15-9 decision at 157 blasting to a 7-2 first period lead; Landon Martin, 17-2 Tech Fall at 175 with seven points scored in the second and third periods, and Aaron Stacy, first period pin at 215.
At 120, Clay's Jacob Bucci, second in Class 2A last year, faced off against Charlotte's Jake Austin, the defending Class 1A champion from Somerset Academy and lost in a second period pin.
Lake Gibson defeated Tampa Jesuit for the Class 2A title last year. Charlotte lost to Jesuit in the 2024 semifinal. Clay was eliminated in the region semifinal by Fleming Island with Fleming Island losing to Lake Gibson in the state semifinal.