OAKLEAF - With top-ranked Creekside and Flagler Palm Coast taking the top two spots, the Oakleaf High boys wrestling team showed a bit of their muscle with a strong third-place finish at their own Friday Knight Lights wrestling tournament held Friday at Oakleaf High School. Oakleaf, the District 3-2A champions last year over Middleburg, will be a top contender in the newly formed District 1-3A lineup with the likes of Creekside, Fletcher, Nease, and Tocoi Creek.
"Basically, from 144 to heavyweight, our lineup is solid," said Oakleaf coach Rory Roderick. "At 106, we have two killers that can go 113 if they need to and, at 120 and 126, we have a couple of first-year guys. All of our good 126s from last year gained weight and made our middle weights pretty strong."
At the Friday Knight Lights, with Flagler Palm Coast beating Creekside 54-21 in the championship match and Oakleaf defeating a tough Glynn Academy program from Georgia, 46-36, the Oakleaf Knights gave a glimpse that they will be contending for state spots.
Flagler Palm Coast was 11th in Class 3A last year with four of five state medalists with Creekside finishing 48th with five qualifiers and one medalist. Oakleaf had five qualifiers, but only two returned in 2024 with third placer Sebastian Bonachea now at Fleming Island and Micah Thomas now at Middleburg.
Roderick saw what he was commenting on as 144-pounder Kellon Duncan seemed to be the spark for the Knights that led to a series of strong matches from his 144-pound weight class to the heavyweight where Hardley Germain and Bryant Taylor took turns against the big boys.
For Duncan, who lost his only match to Creekside's Luke Manghisis in the Creekside 45-36 match to put the Creekside Knights in the final match with Flagler Palm Coast, his role as the spark for the team comes with his return to full-time wrestling.
"I got sick and had a staff infection before the regions last year and didn't make state," said Duncan, who was district 3-2A champion last year. "I think if I go out and have a strong match, the rest of the lineup will want to follow me with big wins."
Duncan has had two coaches in his short career with former coach Mark DeToro leaving and Roderick returning after being coach before DeToro.
"Different coaches have different philosophies and it's tough to keep focused when two different coaches say two different things," said Duncan. "I was planning on going to state last year and had beaten some state placers in the season."
Following Duncan is, at 150, Angel Rodriguez; at 157, Preston Lewis; at 165 Gha-is Cooper; at 175, Jerimiah Baker; at 190 Jeremiah Samuels; at 215 Evan Brown and, at 285, Germain.
"When Kellon wins, it gets the rest of the lineup hyped up," said Germain. "It's not just us big guys, but our two little guys; Connor Barnes and Braden Davis come in and do it too."
Cooper had one of the best region matches last year with Clay High's Landon Martin but failed to make the state lineup for Oakleaf. Roderick's lone state returners are Connor Barnes at 113 and Jerimiah Baker at 165.
"All I think about is that region matches with the Clay guy," said Cooper. "Coach Roderick and I roll around a lot as he is the same size. I'm learning much faster because he rolls with me in practice every day."
In the team finishes, Orange Park took sixth with Ridgeview seventh and an Oakleaf B team taking ninth.
Orange Park, with new head coach Tyler Dehart, got wins over Mandarin, 42-27, with wins by pin from Ayden Arigo at 150, Liam Saunders at 165, David Teixeira at 285, Elijah Grant at 132 and Anders Harrison at 144.
Ridgeview also beat Mandarin 54-18 with wins by the pin from Garrett Davis at 285, Jason Barrett at 132, Beau Leach at 144, and Samuel Costanza at 150. Davis finished with a 4-1 slate with a loss to Creekside's Isaiah Lowe. Davis pinned Oakleaf's, Hardley Germain.