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Osceola News-Gazette
hIGh sChOOL WREsTLING
Forty-one teams, including some of the best in Florida and Georgia, descended on Osceola High School this past weekend for the annual Osceola Knockout Christmas Classic wrestling tournament.
When the dust had lifted, Lake Gibson High School – the defending state champions in Class 2A – captured the team championship in the prestigious event – edging Woodland-Cartersville High School (Ga.) by 14 points (218.5-204.5).
Jesuit High (203), the runner-up to Lake Gibson in the 2A tournament last year was third; while Miami-South Dade, the defending Class 3A Florida State champion was fourth (153); followed by 3A state power Miami Southwest (143). Host Osceola was 12th with 91 points.
The event featured several state championship teams, including Georgia’s Class 4A Champion Woodward Academy, 5A Champion Woodland-Cartersville, and 6A Champion Valdosta.
In addition to 3A Champion South Dade and 2A Champion Lake Gibson; the event featured seven other Florida teams that finished fifth or higher in their respective classification of state championship tournaments.
It was Lake Gibson’s depth that secured the title.
The Braves scored points in 12 different weight classes, including a first place by Ashton Habeil at 182-pounds and three second place finishes by Hayden Whidden (106), Connor Williams (126), and Brendon Abdon (138).
Behind undefeated Caleb Henson (27-0) first place finish at 145-pounds, Woodland-Cartersville also had a second place finish, four third place finishes and a fourth, in falling just shot of Lake Gibson for the team title.
The Kowboys top finishes came at 132, where junior Jaekus Hines finished second and at 182, where junior Nolin Eaddy also finished second.
Hines, 22-1 and the state’s top-ranked wrestler in Class 3A, pinned Gonzalo Perez (Mater Lakes) in the second round; pinned Joe Gallo (Springstead) in the third round; took a 9-2 decision over Lake Gibson’s Alejandro Rosario in the quarterfinals; before advancing to the finals with a 4-1 decision over Christian Moder (Golden Gate).
That win set up a championship match between two undefeated wrestlers, Hinds (22-0) and Woodward Academy’s Nick Masters (36-0), the top ranked 4A wrestler in Georgia. Masters defeated Hines by pin fall with two seconds remaining in the first period.
Eaddy, who was also undefeated headed into the tournament with an 17-0 record, received a first round bye and then won his next three matches by pin fall to move to 20-0 on the season and advance to the semifinals. Eaddy would defeat Bucholz’s Armando Acosta in sudden victory overtime to advance to the finals, where he would be pinned by Habiel at the 3:06 mark of the second period.
Several other wrestlers did well for Osceola.
Freshman Cooper Haase (21-4) won his first two matches and then fought thru the consolation bracket to take fourth place.
He lost a highly-competitive match to South Dade’s Adrian Morales, losing 3-0, in the consolation finals.
George Duncan won three matches and picked up 11 team points for the Kowboys at 120 pounds and Dylan Ruiz scored seven points with two wins at 220 pounds.
