Wellington builds big lead and holds on to win region duals title
KISSIMMEE — Two of the deeper programs in Class 3A battled hard for the Class 3A-3 region title and in the end, it was Wellington who won a fourth region duals title with a 34-24 win over Harmony.
The Wolverines built a lead early by winning seven of the first eight bouts before the Longhorns battled back to make it close.
“The lighter weights definitely stepped up and build a nice lead," Wellington head coach Travis Gray said. "Getting majors early on helped - that was a big thing."
Wellington lead 25-6 before Harmony won four of five matches.
"I thought we were a little bit safer at the top but they scrapped in every single match and I know they had some guys out - and we had some guys out - but their backups wrestled well and it was a fun dual that almost came down to the last match."
Liam Higgins started the dual with a major decision victory at 285 pounds before Nathan Lyttle gave Harmony their only lead at 6-4 with a pin at 106.
Cameron Gibson (113), Tyler Gray (120), Mark Bonfante (126), Sam Marvel (132), Russell Crum (138), and James Kosza (144) then put together the run of wins for Wellington.
Three of the six decision wins earned the major decision bonus point.
Harmony’s Jeremiah Gomez (150), Shawn McCallister (157), John Fernandez (175), and Seth Scutero (190) claimed the final four wins for Harmony while Franco Rivas (165) and Connor Olivares (215) won for Wellington.
Wellington moves on to face top-ranked South Dade in the semifinals.
“We talked about and we didn’t want to look ahead but they knew who would be there,” Gray said. “So we’re looking at it as we are working for every point, every second of the match and compete the best we can. The state title goes through them each and you want to wrestle the best.”
The semifinals take place on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at Kissimmee Osceola High School. Tickets can be purchased here.
Wellington 34, Harmony 24
106: Nathan Lyttle (H) p. Aiden Sandlofer (W) 0:20; 113: Cameron Gibson (W) dec. Tristan Horn (H) 8-2; 120: Tyler Gray (W) maj. Max Butler (H) 16-8; 126: Mark Bonfante (W) dec. Gabriel Nascimento (H) 3-1; 132: Sam Marvel (W) maj. Brody Williams (H) 11-3; 138: Russell Crum (W) maj. Cris Rodriguez (H) 14-4; 144: James Kosza (W) dec. Carson Estrada (H) 5-0; 150: Jeremiah Gomez (H) dec. Nikolas Gray (W) 6-3; 157: Shawn McCallister (H) p. Ethan Gardner (W) 1:54; 165: Franco Rivas (W) p. Kainoa Harrington (H) 4:39; 175: John Fernandez (H) dec. Dwayne Shaw (W) 7-5; 190: Seth Scutero (H) p. Leland Snelgrove (W) 0:57; 215: Connor Olivares (W) dec. Case Roberts (H) 7-3; 285: Liam Higgins (W) maj. Aiden Maldonado (H) 11-1.
Brant Parsons is the founder and executive editor of Kabra Wrestling. After learning and competing in the sport as a kid growing up in Ohio, he started covering Florida high school wrestling in 2004 and formed Kabra Wrestling in the summer of 2021.
