By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

The Orange Belt Conference wrestling championship will be determined Saturday at 10:30 a.m. when the seven conference teams convene at Celebration High.

The finals begin at 5 p.m. Admission is $4 per round.

The tournament’s format has switched this season. In the past, the county teams competed at the Kowboy Kup Duals, now known as the Danny Byron Duals, in December to determine the championship.

This time, the teams will compete under an individual bracket format, similar to the format of the district, regional and state tournaments. That means 14 individual wrestlers can win first-place medals.

One thing that won’t change is that Osceola High will be the favorite. The Kowboys have won five of the past six championships but were dethroned last season by Liberty.

“I don’t know the lineups (of the other OBC teams) at all, but I know they will all be trying to beat Osceola. This is their Super Bowl. They might move some guys around to try to win,” Kowboys Coach Jim Bird said.

The Kowboys have taken on many of the nation’s elite wrestlers at tournaments at Miami, Georgia and Pennsylvania in December.

Osceola (294.5) returned home last weekend and won its A.J. Jones Memorial tournament over a 14-team field that included runner-up Palm Harbor (221) and Miami Braddock (133.5).

Osceola wrestlers won seven of 14 weight classes and were runners-up in four more.

The OHS champions were Fox Baldwin (138, 39-2), Kenny Martin (152, 30-7), Spencer Lacey (160, 28-9), Chris Pagan (170, 34-5), Jhalen Flanders (182, 26-5), Rashad Marshall (220, 33-8) and Franklyn Lantigua (285, 30-11).

Ariel Dominguez (106, 31-5), Hakeem Butler (113, 22-15), Paul Zupofksa (145, 27-7) and Ben Cruz (195, 26-11) were runners-up.

“It was good competition for us. It was all different kids, so it was good for us,” Bird said. “We are going to keep improving, with our main goal of peaking in February.”

The Kowboys will be challenged from all corners of the county by talented wrestlers.

There is little chance that Liberty will successfully defend its championship.

Chargers Coach Chris Kelley may have a a potential champion at 182 pounds in Aric Fernandez, a two-time state qualifier, but after that Liberty wrestlers will be longshots to reach the finals.

“About three quarters of the team are first-year wrestlers, so this season has definitely been the beginning of a rebuilding,” Kelly said. “I am hoping that a couple other guys are capable of making it into the finals and that the rest of the guys just get some mat time in to help them get better.”

St. Cloud brings two of the best lightweight wrestlers to the OBC tournament in Ryan Finneran (22-1), the 138-pound champion at Springstead last week, and Joe McGinley (27-3), third at 113 pounds. Both wrestlers have the potential to reach the Class 2A state tournament.

Josh Rowe (182) and Alex Southall (285) also wrestled well at Springstead,  Coach Matt Milton said.

“OBCs should be interesting. At 138 Fox (Baldwin) will dominate, but there will be a tough bunch fighting for second,” Milton said. “The toughest class probably will be 113.”

Harmony comes into the conference tournament after winning six matches and placing third at the Jacksonville Terry Parker Duals.

Dalton Smith (182/195) and Andrew Davis (285) were unbeaten in Jacksonville.

Smith also won against Olympia during Harmony’s Senior Night to clinch a 40-26 win.

“I’m excited for the OBC championship. It gives every kid the opportunity to go out and win a championship,” Horns Coach Chris Todd said. “There will be dog fights at some weight classes. With my team being so young, I just want to see them compete to the best of their ability.”

Gateway’s Alex Velez (113, 29-2) is one of the best in Class 3A, with his only losses coming against two of the state’s top-ranked wrestlers. Christian Vazquez (152, 25-8) and Austin Seward (132, 12-1) also will challenge for conference titles for the Panthers.

Gateway won five matches at Bradenton Manatee last weekend.

“It was our best tournament in three years. There is a lot of improvement and we are getting a ton better, but there still is a lot of work to do,” Panther Coach Jon Smorin said. “This should be a good tournament and we are hoping that both our varsity and JV teams can finish in the top half.

Poinciana Coach Adam Hopman thinks several of his wrestlers can be successful at Saturday’s tournament: Mike Shephard (126), Jerry Bazileme (138), Juan Rodriguez (182), O’neal Thomas (195) and Brandon Harris (220).

“All of these guys are looking great and can pull it out if they wrestle a good match,” Hopman said.

Host Celebration, with a roster of nine, won the Lakeland McKeel Duals last weekend with a 5-0 record.

David Akins (126), Alvaro Norena (285), Nigel Jolliffie (106) and Derek Dunning (182) picked up key victories for the Storm.

Osceola (3A-5) and St. Cloud (2A-5) will host the district tournaments in three weeks.