Celebration, Liberty, Gateway, St. Cloud, PHS all represented

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Six Osceola County high schools combined to send 19 qualifiers to the state wrestling tournaments (Classes 3A, 2A, A) Friday and Saturday at the Lakeland Center.

Osceola High boasted two 3A Region 2 champions as a school-record 10 Kowboys advanced to the Class 3A state meet, enough to make OHS a strong contender for its second state championship in four years.

Fox Baldwin (138 pounds) and Ben Cruz (195) won regional titles for the Kowboys (205 team points), second to 10-time state champion Brandon (289) in the 3A-2 team standings.

Gateway and Liberty each advanced two wrestlers to the 3A state meet.

Celebration had the county’s other regional champion in 152-pound J.J. Francis at the 2A-2 regional at St. Cloud. Celebration’s Alvaro Norena was third in the heavyweight class.

State champion Springstead (263) won the 2A-2 regional team title. Celebration (70) was seventh, St. Cloud (47) was ninth and Harmony (27.5) was 17th.

St. Cloud’s Joe McGinley (113), the regional runner-up, and Ryan Finneran (138), who also reached the championship match, will compete at the state meet.

No wrestlers from Harmony advanced.

Osceola Coach Jim Bird saw his team exceed expectations at the 3A-2 meet.

“I thought we’d have four for sure, six probably, and if everything went perfect, eight,” Bird said. “Ten, I didn’t see that coming. And, we could have had 12 make it, because we lost a couple of tough matches in the consolation finals.”

Baldwin (49-2), a freshman, won the 119-pound Class A state championship as an eighth-grader for Lake Highland Prep last year and is the top seed at the state tournament. He beat previously undefeated Tampa Wharton wrestler Tyler Liberatore in the semifinals.

Cruz (34-13), like many Osceola wrestlers, has improved dramatically during the season, Bird said.

“He’s only a sophomore, but he’s just been getting better and better,” Bird said.

Tim Locksmith (132, 37-5), makes his fourth trip to state as a regional runner-up. Rashad Marshall (220, 44-11) also reached the finals.

Ariel Dominguez (106, 42-7), Juan Arroyave (126, 28-2), Kenny Martin (152, 39-8) and Chris Pagan (170, 44-6) were third, and Paul Zupokfska (145, 37-9) and Spencer Lacey (160, 36-11) placed fourth.

Dominguez was a Class 2A state runner-up for Harmony last season.

Martin, a state placer last year, lost his first match.

“That’s something we work on in practice. Sometimes you have a hiccup, so you’ve got to suck it up and forget about the past and concentrate on what’s ahead,” Bird said.

Zupofska, fourth at state last year, beat Brandon’s Dakota Greene to avenge a loss earlier in the season to qualify in what might have been the toughest weight class at the region, OHS assistant coach Rick Tribit said.

Osceola’s freshman heavyweight Franklyn Lantigua (38-12) lost a close decision that prevented him from making a state appearance.

“He wrestled great, he took the No. 1 seed to a one-point match,” Bird said. “This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for us, nobody saw this coming. These guys don’t complain. Most of them are here at 6 in the morning for a voluntary practice. It’s an amazing group of guys.”

Gateway Coach Jon Smorin takes Bryan Rosa (2nd, 126) and Alex Velez (3rd, 113) to the state meet. He said three more Panthers fell one match short: Christian Vazquez, Austin Seward and Woodly Deseme. Josh Pizzaro also wrestled well at the regional meet, Smorin said.

Velez and Rosa both are former state qualifiers.

“Rosa had the best tournament of his career,” Smorin said. “Alex lost a nail-biter in the semifinals but took third. We’re excited about this week. Alex has a chance to take it all, and Rossa has had a great three weeks and seems to be getting better by the week.”

Liberty Coach Chris Kelly said Fernandez, a two-time state placer, has a chance to win the 182-pound title.

“Aric is peaking at the right time. He missed the first half of the season with a leg injury that still bothers him from time to time. Aric showed he is capable of winning a state title, and that’s exactly where our sights are set this week,” Kelly said.

Torres, a state qualifier last season, also had health issues early in the season, Kelly said.

“He had a rough season due to a broken collar bone that kept him out all off-season,” he said. “We knew Robert had a great chance of qualifying if he wrestled the way he is capable of wrestling, even though he had an extremely difficult bracket. He wrestled great.”

Celebration Coach Vic Lorenzano said Francis had one of the biggest wins in the team’s history Saturday when he beat Springstead’s two-time state champion, Cody Ross, in the semifinals.

“We never beat him in six meetings the past two years. In fact, it was only in December where we closed the gap with an overtime loss,” Lorenzano said.

Francis then beat two-time state placer Colton Jackson of Citrus for the regional title.

After a loss to the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals, Norena had to win three matches and defeat Edgewater’s district champion, Albert Belle, in the consolations.

“Alvaro entered every practice and the tournament with a chip on his shoulder,” Lorenzano said. “He trained hard, prepared hard and took his game up a level.”

Lorenzano said Nigel Joliffie (106), David Atkins (126), Everett Suarez (138), Skylar Lerner (145), Tyler Phalen (160) and Mark Fam (170) all wrestled well at the regional.

“We came up short of our goal of four qualifiers, but not from lack of effort,” Lorenzano said.

Poinciana’s Brandon Harris (4th, 195) will compete at the Class A tournament.

Bird said the Kowboys are longshots for the 3A team championship.

“Brandon is still Brandon. They’re only sending 11, but nine are (regional) champions,” Bird said.

South Dade and Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas are other state contenders.

Matches in all three classifications begin Friday at 10 a.m. Third-round wrestlebacks begin Saturday at 9:30 a.m., followed by the semifinals. The finals Saturday begin at 5:30 p.m. Admission is $9 per session. Parking is $7.