2 other Kowboys runners-up
-
Alt Text for Image
Best of the Best! The champions of the 2023 Knockout Christmas Classic wrestling tournament (First Row, left to right): 106-Gabe Swann (Central Carroll); 113-Christian Vazquez (Doral); 120-Teague Strobel (West Oak); 126-Antonio Mills (Mill Creek); 132-EJ Solis (Somerset); 138- Drew Gorman (Buford); 145-Jaydon Robinson (Winter Springs); Second row, left to right: 150- Anderson Heap (Osceola); 158-Gianni Maldonaldo (Lake Gibson); 165- Logan Flower (Cleveland); 175- Dominic Bambinelli (Mill Creek);190-Jordan Mills; 225-Sawyer Bartelt (South Dade); 285-Kayden Darwin (Palmetto Ridge) PHOTO/RICK TRIBIT
Host Osceola sent three wrestlers to the finals of the prestigious Knockout Christmas Classic at the Silver Spurs Arena, and came away with one champion and two silver medals in an event that featured some of the top high school wrestling talent in the southeastern United States.
Kowboy Anderson Heap became a three-time Knockout champion with a 10-3 win over Jefferson’s Dallas Russell -- a defending Georgia state champion—in the 150-pound class.
OHS freshman Adaias Ortiz reached the 113-pound final, but fell 7-2 to Doral Academy’s Christian Vazquez, a threetime FHSAA state runnerup, controlled most of the match from the top— recording three take downs.
Senior Gunner Holland, a two-time FHSAA state champion, was denied his first Knockout title by topseeded Dominic Bambinelli, a two-time state champion from Mill Creek (Ga.), who came into the match with a 26-0 record, in the 4-2 win at 175 pounds.
“I thought we had a very productive tournament,” Osceola coach Rick Tribit said. “Anderson did what Anderson does—he simply dominated his class and forced his will on his opponents. For a youngster wrestling at this level for the first time, I thought Adaias was outstanding. This was the fourth time in the last couple of years that Gunner has faced Dominic, who is a nationally-ranked guy. He’s been able to close the gap each time. He had a great game plan and got into his opponent’s legs several times, unfortunately he wasn’t able to finish.”
Tribit also said his other younger wrestlers did well. “A tournament of this magnitude is just stacked at every weight class. Our younger guys got a lot of experience this week against high level competition and that will only make them better the rest of this season and into the future.”
The three Osceola wrestlers who advanced to the finals did so in impressive fashion. Ortiz, a freshman, easily won his first three matches before disposing of Suwannee’s Topher Pearson via technical fall (18-2) in the quarterfinals. He then took a 4-0 shutout over second-seeded D.J. Clarke of Buford, Ga., in the semifinals by a 4-0 count.
Osceola was the only team to place three wrestlers in the finals.
A highly anticipated semifinal match between Heap and fourth-seeded and defending Georgia state champion Tristan Busch never materialized, as Heap advanced via injury forfeit. Still, the two-time Florida 3A champion was impressive in his preliminaries, pinning his first three opponents before taking a 21-4 technical fall over Buford’s Hudson Danielson in the quarterfinals.
Holland was also equally impressive in making the finals. He won a 10-2 major decision over Satellite’s Ryan Bierne in the quarterfinals before a dominating 7-2 win over two-time Georgia state champion Tyler Secoy (Columbus) in the semifinals.
Osceola, with 121 team points, finished in seventh place in the team title race. The Kowboys were helped by several solid performances by younger wrestlers. Ehab Shalaby picked up seven team points at 126 with a 3-2 record, Jason Ortiz (144), Nathan Cabrera (157), and Deacon Delong (165) all won two matches.
The 11th edition of the classic saw some history being set. South Dade Sawyer Bartelt won his fourth title to join Woodland (Ga.) Taylor Henson and Osceola’s Malyke Hines as the only wrestlers to claim four Knockout championships.
The featured class of the tournament came at 126, where 12 different state champions competed.
Overall, Cleveland (Tenn.) took the team title (193.5 points) over state 3A power South Dade (189).
More than 70 teams sent competitors to the Girls’ Knockout Tournament that concluded on Thursday. Cleveland (Tenn.) won the team title with 153 points. Gateway (57), Osceola (53) and Harmony (48) placed 13th, 14th and 16th respectively. Top county finishers included Harmony’s Emari Brown, who won the 190-pound championship— pinning all four of her opponents.
Genesis Fuentes (135) placed fifth and Elody Rodriguez (145) took third place for Gateway. Osceola’s Paola Ramirez took second place. She lost 7-4 to Charlotte’s Iyonna Ross in the finals.
