By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

For the first time in more than two decades, a wrestling team other than Osceola, St. Cloud or Gateway has claimed the Orange Belt Conference championship.

Liberty beat five-time defending champion Osceola, 42-33, Friday at the Kowboy Kup to win the OBC title for the first time.

The Chargers went on to earn second-place overall at the two-day, 14-team tournament that was the inaugural event at the new OHS gym.

The Chargers lost to Dunedin, 38-31, Saturday for the championship.

Osceola, which lost to Dunedin on a tiebreaker, placed third by beating Flagler Palm Coast, 45-30.

Liberty Coach Chris Kelly, in his first season, said his team “wrestled pretty well.”

The Chargers were led by state qualifiers Felix Betancourt (135) and Aric Fernandez (189/215), both unbeaten at the Kup along with teammates Corey Grey (130) and Josh Garcia (160).

The Chargers and Kowboys engaged in a slam-bang match Friday as 12 of the 14 matches were decided by falls.

Liberty won at 103 with Matthew Cabrera (pin), at 130 with Grey (decision), at 135 with Betancourt (pin), at 140 with Manuel Figueroa (pin), at 160 with Garcia (pin), at 171 with J.J. Elisis (pin), at 189 with Louis Ruiz (decision) and at 215 with Fernandez (pin).

The Kowboys won at 112 with Cody Dana (pin), at 119 with Kevin Santos (pin), at 130 with Tim Locksmith (pin), at 145 with Paul Zupofska (pin), at 152 with Pete Baldwin (pin) and at heavyweight with Trevor Darnell (pin).

Kelly was pleased, but said the Chargers still have room for improvement.

Kowboys Coach Jim Bird said Liberty deserved their victory.

“Their guys wrestled great,” he said. “I said at the beginning of the season that Liberty was one of the teams to watch out for.”

The Kowboys, Bird said, have work to do.

“We’ve got some people who aren’t in as good a shape as they need to be,” he said. “We’ll get to work and get some things straightened out.”

Celebration Coach Vic Lorenzano saw his team win three matches at the Kup and said his team generally performed well despite giving up 18 points each match due to forfeits.

A highlight was Josh Douglas’ victory over Osceola 119-pound state qualifier E.J. Jiminez, and the team’s 48-27 win over St. Cloud thanks to pins from Skylar Lerner (135) and Everett Suarez (140) and a double-overtime win by J.J. Francis over Kyle Glunt at 145 pounds.

After beating Poinciana, 54-18, the Storm later fell against Liberty, 46-33, before defeating Gateway, 40-36, thanks to another big win from Douglas over Gateway’s two-time state qualifier Alex Velez, who wrestled up to 119 pounds.

Douglas improved to 23-0 after winning seven matches at the Kup.

Francis won all six of his matches and 215-pounders Brandon Harris and Brandon Guerrero combine to win seven matches at the Kup.

Justin Temple (160) and Cameron Ward (189) each went 6-1 for the Storm.

The new OHS gym made this year’s Kup perhaps the best in the tournament’s history, Bird said.

“It was the smoothest-running tournament we’ve had. It was great to have six mats in action, and our volunteers made everything move along without any problems,” Bird said.

The county’s wrestlers will remain busy next weekend as they compete in four tournaments.

Osceola goes to the South Dade District Duals Friday and Saturday. The Kowboys will return to the Powerade Christmas tournament in Pennsylvania Dec. 28.

Harmony will host its fourth annual Longhorn Christmas Tournament Friday beginning at 4 p.m. The 16-team tournament resumes Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Gateway will compete.

Liberty, St. Cloud and Celebration go to the Lyman Christmas tournament beginning Friday at noon.

Poinciana travels to Dr. Phillips for the House of Payne Duals Friday at 5 p.m.