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Suwannee’s wrestling team finished runner-up at the Class 1A state duals on Saturday. (COURTESY)
KISSIMMEE — One year after making its first FHSAA state duals championship tournament appearance, the Suwannee wrestling team topped that Saturday.
The Bulldogs beat Hernando 39-27 to advance to the Class 1A state finals at Osceola High School. However, Suwannee’s first state duals title will have to wait as the Bulldogs fell 48-21 to Somerset Academy in the championship.
“Somerset is just absolutely loaded, from top to bottom,” Suwannee coach John Wainwright said. “Every kid is ranked in the top 5. Fourteen kids, all ranked.”
Suwannee dropped the first four matches in the finals — falling behind Somerset 20-0 — and never recovered. Three of the Bulldogs’ five wins came in the final three matches of the finals.
After Somerset grabbed major decisions from Kendrick Hodge (against Benjamin Lewis at 165) and Rafael Lopez (against Clay Starling at 190) and pins from Noah Perez (against Torynn Johns at 175) and Adrian Tejada (against Sam Ballard at 215), Suwannee tried to claw back into the match. Holden Corbin picked up a pin at heavyweight and Eli Jolicoeur won an 8-6 decision at 106 to bring the Bulldogs within 20-9.
However, Somerset won the next five matches — four by pins — to clinch the crown. Jake Austin defeated Topher Pearson by a 13-5 major decision to start the streak.
The Bulldogs closed out the finals with decisions from Christian Socarras at 144 and Marshall White at 157 and a pin from Austin McKinney at 150.
“We scored as many points against them as anybody,” Wainwright said. “They’ve just been blitzing everybody.
“Our kids battled. Even the ones that were overmatched went out there and battled and made it six minutes. We weren’t scared like last year.”
In the semifinal, Suwannee pulled away from Hernando with four straight wins from Corbin at heavyweight through Justin Contreras at 120 pounds to turn a 12-9 lead into a 33-9 advantage. Jolicoeur, Pearson and Contreras all had pins in the run for SHS.
After Hernando won four straight to pull back within 33-27, McKinney closed out the match with a pin to send Suwannee to the finals. The Bulldogs also got wins from Lewis and Starling.
“McKinney was the MVP of the tournament for us,” said Wainwright, who added he considered bumping McKinney up a weight but decided to leave White in the 157 class in a match he believes will pay off for the IBT state tournament. “He’s just out there dominating everybody and has been riding kids. He’s turned into a good senior leader, staying on guys and inspiring the younger kids.
“He can wrestle with anybody in the state.”
Somerset, which won its second state duals title, beat Zephyrhills Christian 45-25 in the other semifinal.