Region 2A-2: Preview and Predictions
FRIDAY-SATURDAY FEBRUARY 23-24, 2024 - At Brandon High School
Welcome to one of my favorite traditions - the region previews.
This is the sixth season I've written these but for those that are reading one for the first time, here's a quick summary of what the region preview is.
I start first by printing out each bracket - yes, this is one of the things I'm old school on.
I notate where wrestlers are ranked in the Kabra Wrestling Rankings and then start to break it down even more.
I look for head-to-head matchups, common opponents, and how each wrestler has been trending in the stretch run.
I then question my rankings - and myself - and play out the entire bracket.
What follows is my best guess for how 2A-2 will play out.
You can print the 2A-2 region bracket here. (PDF)
I've carefully predicted the four state qualifiers in the order that I think the will finish. I've also listed wrestlers that could prove me wrong and make it to Kissimmee.
I will be wrong with these picks, and I'm okay with that. In fact, I love when kids prove me wrong (or prove me right).
These previews and predictions are meant to bring excitement to one of the exhilarating and heartbreaking weekends in sports.
I assure you that I have no bias in my picks and truly wish the best for every wrestler competing this weekend.
And as always, these picks are for entertainment purposes only.
Now onto the preview:
Teams to watch
2. Lake Gibson, 4. Winter Springs, 6. Brandon, 16. Lakeland
Kabra's Picks
1. #8 Noah Scribner (Brandon)
2. #12 Zavian Chavoz (Winter Springs)
3. #16 Carter Rivera (St. Cloud)
4. Isaac Reynolds (Citrus)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #17 Aadyn Gruver (Lake Gibson); Brayden Austin (Land O’ Lakes)
Opening round match to watch: Charles Poole (Zephyrhills) vs. Jason Perez (Gateway)
Kabra says: On paper at least, we can’t find a lot different between Scribner and Chavoz. They have not faced each other and they have similar wins - and losses. If they reach the finals together, all best are off on if we got this pick right. The other end of the podium should be just as up in the air, with multiple wrestlers with the skillset to reach it and the bracket should play that out interestingly.
Kabra's Picks
1. #2 Erick Vargas (Lakeland)
2. #9 Pedro Sifuentes (East River)
3. #14 Tyler White (Lake Gibson)
4. #16 Francesco Alagna (WC Cypress Creek)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: Jimmikal Jackson (Citrus); Travis Beauchamp (Gaither)
Opening round match to watch: Trenton Smith (Winter Springs) vs. Jackson Stouffer (Brandon)
Kabra says: Vargas has been red-hot this year, with his only two losses coming to Top 3 wrestlers, one of which he has since avenged. And this bracket is dreamy for him. With no ranked wrestlers in the top half, he should find himself waiting to see who navigates successfully through a competitive bottom half.
Kabra's Picks
1. #2 Elijah Lowe (Lake Gibson)
2. #16 Vincenzo Lee (Springstead)
3. #9 Kalob Williams (Winter Springs)
4. #19 Jaden DeSantis (WC Cypress Creek)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #17 Gabriel Hendrickson (Citrus); Angel Castillo (Auburndale)
Opening round match to watch: John Dominique (Gateway) vs. Jamie Taylor (Lyman)
Kabra says: Another seemingly slam-dunk choice for first place for us as Lowe has been wrestling on a mission this year. He’s the favorite and despite possibly having a ranked opponent at each spot after the opening round, we feels he’s almost untouchable here. Something to watch will be how Williams bounces back in the consolation round, the youngster has the skills to finish third and will need to regroup quickly.
Kabra's Picks
1. #3 Luke Williams (Brandon)
2. #13 Zavier Pennington (Leesburg)
3. #5 Gaetano Tedesco (Lake Gibson)
4. Tyson Horol (Winter Springs)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #15 Jet Griffis (Land O’ Lakes); Norris Mayo (East River)
Opening round match to watch: Mayo vs. Jackson Bennett (Citrus)
Kabra says: The semifinal match in the bracket could have a 3 vs. 5 meeting in the bottom half between two wrestlers who have not faced each other this season. The region title likely is settled there. Because of the layout of the bracket, we could see a Top 15 matchup in the blood round here.
Kabra's Picks
1. #6 Jaden Weisgal (Brandon)
2. #8 Gabriel Jones (Lake Gibson)
3. #16 Charles Griffis (Land O’ Lakes)
4. #17 Christian Bonilla (Lyman)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: Evan Bozek (Springstead); Charles Smith (Citrus)
Opening round match to watch: Bozek vs. Travonte Burgess (Lakeland)
Kabra says: Weisgal is one of the hottest wrestlers entering the region weekend and could face his former Eagles teammate in the final. Last year, they wrestled four times during the season with Jones winning 3 of the 4 and getting the nod over Weisgal for the postseason. Yeah, there will be a few eyeballs on this one if they meet.
Kabra's Picks
1. #1 Christian Fretwell (Lake Gibson)
2. #3 Yianni Marinis (River Ridge)
3. #2 Ryan Phillips (Winter Springs)
4. #14 Alecsander Rego (Brandon)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #15 Kyle Yasses (Deltona); #16 Ariel Molina (Gateway)
Opening round match to watch: Molina vs. Kymontae Wright (Jones)
Kabra says: The top three wrestlers in the state are in this bracket and this promises to be a good one. Two-time state champion Fretwell owns a 5-4 win over Phillips this season. Marinis hasn’t faced either of the two ranked in front of him, but the River Ridge junior has gone unbeaten and has a healthy collection of big wins of his own. Then you have the battle for the final state qualifying spot and there are four wrestlers ranked from 14-17 in the top half of the this bracket. So much to watch here.
Kabra's Picks
1. #1 Jaydon Robinson (Winter Springs)
2. #2 Austin Chung (Lake Gibson)
3. #6 Brandon Austin (Land O’ Lakes)
4. #9 Gordon Watson (Brandon)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #10 Cameron Popeck (Lyman); Justin Morrill (Gaither)
Opening round match to watch: Xavier Aguirre (Zephyrhills) vs. Ruben Ocasio (Gateway)
Kabra says: Illinois transplant Robinson has been unbeatable in Florida this year, but Chung did give him a tough match, going to sudden victory. Meanwhile, Chung has been on a tear defeating guys ranked above him in two of the past three weeks. Can he get another one? Beyond that potential final, you have three more Top 10 wrestlers battling with the rest of the field for the final two state spots.
Kabra's Picks
1. #3 Thomas Gernhart (Brandon)
2. #9 Leomany Casado (Land O’ Lakes)
3. #11 LeAndre Campbell (Lake Gibson)
4. Thomas Weissert (Lyman)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #20 Nicholas Restrepo (St. Cloud); Anthony Acosta (River Ridge)
Opening round match to watch: Acosta vs. Kelin Hendrix (Kathleen)
Kabra says: Gernhart debuted a new look and took home the district title last weekend. He’s a heavy favorite here to go into the state tournament 52-0. The unluck of the draw could mean that a ranked wrestler isn’t heading to Kissimmee from here.
Kabra's Picks
1. #1 Gianni Maldonado (Lake Gibson)
2. #4 Evan Martinez (Lakeland)
3. #9 Gustavo Osorio (Gaither)
4. #10 Landen Holley (Wesley Chapel)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #19 Jackson Fredrickson (Lyman); #20 Preston Evans (Winter Springs)
Opening round match to watch: Jaden James vs. Wyatt Green (Land O’ Lakes)
Kabra says: We can get the obvious part out of the way first - Maldonado is as big a favorite as they come for a region title here. If Maldonado gets the region title win, he’ll hit 200 wins in his high school career. But wow, this bracket the rest of the way is loaded with ranked and almost ranked kids fighting for those other three spots. There are six ranked wrestlers here and if we expanded Kabra Wrestling’s rankings to 25 (maybe we should), there’d be nine here.
Kabra's Picks
1. #5 Ty Rodriguez (Brandon)
2. #8 Vincent Contreras (Pasco)
3. #6 Husam Mustafa (Lake Wales)
4. #9 Brayden Kahelin (Lake Gibson)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #10 Meison Brouche (Gateway); #19 Jaiden Gerena (Land O’ Lakes)
Opening round match to watch: Contreras vs. Broche
Kabra says: I feel like there’s an alarm here in my office that goes off every time I’m thinking about going against my rankings, but this was a tough one to pick. Mustafa has been wrestling so well down the stretch but Rodriguez gets the common opponent nod and our choice. The rest of the bracket isn’t any easier to pick with 8 ranked wrestlers competing, including a top 10 meeting in the first round between Contreras and Broche.
Kabra's Picks
1. #1 Elijah Penton (Winter Springs)
2. #3 Jace Brownlow (Lake Gibson)
3. #7 Austin Williams (Brandon)
4. #13 Raymond Shaw (Auburndale)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #12 Jaden Rosebury (Tampa Bay Tech); Aden Juan (Springstead)
Opening round match to watch: Rolando Ojeda (Edgewater) vs. Andrew Bray (Zephyrhills)
Kabra says: One of the big state favorites lines up here and even with four Top 13 wrestlers in the bracket, nothing makes us think that he won’t be the region champion again. But those four Top 13 athletes will be fighting for three spots and that means a hotly-contested blood round is in the future here.
Kabra's Picks
1. #7 Brody Switzer (Pasco)
2. #14 Jacob Rodriguez (Winter Springs)
3. #15 Clint Huggins (Springstead)
4. #16 Connor Hackett (Lake Gibson)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #18 Matteo Lasorsa (Horizon); #19 Hudson Merkle (WC Cypress Creek)
Opening round match to watch: Adrian Castillo (Auburndale) vs. Landon Daugherty (East River)
Kabra says: With Switzer looking the part in the top half of the bracket, we’re peeking at the bottom half semifinal where Rodriguez and Hackett could meet again this year. Rodriguez owns a tie-breaker win over Hackett. Nine wrestlers by our count have legit chances to make the state tournament here.
Kabra's Picks
1. #8 Jared Apple (Zephyrhills)
2. #15 Tre’vareie Jacobs (Tampa Bay Tech)
3. #17 Israel Thornton (Auburndale)
4. #19 Gabrial Solis (Lake Gibson)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: Kaleb Johns (Springstead); Jordan Bonacasa (Fivay)
Opening round match to watch: Marco Gonzalez (Winter Springs) vs. Timothy Cantrell (Citrus)
Kabra says: Apple is the only returning state qualifier in this bunch and if he wrestles how he should, he’ll be back in Kissimmee again, this time as a region champ. The bracket does lay out for the four ranked wrestlers to reach the podium, but there is some talent here that could shake all of that up.
Kabra's Picks
1. #2 Carmine Morton (Gaither)
2. #6 Ari Miguel Montalvo (Sebring)
3. #9 Luis Jimenez (Brandon)
4. #14 Chase Eckman (East River)
Wrestlers who could prove me wrong: #13 Franklie Marquez (Winter Springs); Xaviel La Paz (Gateway)
Opening round match to watch: Eckman vs. Abraham Bensaid (King)
Kabra says: Seven wrestlers in the Top 16 could be in the quarterfinals here - with an eighth wrestler who just missed out on the rankings. Like a crazy weight class didn’t need even more intrigue. Beyond Morton’s spot as the favorite, I feel a dartboard could pick the rest of the state qualifiers just as easily as I have. This one could go so many ways.