Lake Gibson uses team effort to win fifth state duals title
BY BRANT PARSONS — All of the excitement of state duals weekend culminated at the state duals final between Lake Gibson and Fleming Island, the top two teams in Class 2A according to Kabra Wrestling’s team rankings.
A rowdy crowd was treated to a hard-fought battle on the center mat as eight of the 14 bouts were six points or closer and in the end it was Lake Gibson rising to the challenge with a 37-19 win to claim it’s fifth state duals title in school history.
“It’s that team mentality and you can’t say enough about these guys,” head coach Daniel Walker said.
Tristan Vann started the match off with a 6-2 win at 195 pounds to give Lake Gibson a lead before Fleming Island answered with three straight wins to take a 16-3 lead.
Jhoel Robinson (220), Ethan Hoffstetter (285), and Matthew Newman (106) all won for the Golden Eagles.
Then Lake Gibson picked away at the lead and eventually took a 28-16 lead with three matches to go with seven straight wins.
Elijah Lowe (113), Christian Fretwell (120), Colt Brown (126), Gaetano Tedesco (132), Ny’Travious Walker (138), Hayden Whidden (145), and Gianni Maldonado (152) all earned wins for the Braves.
Five of the seven victories came by decision including a match-changing win for Brown.
The 3rd-ranked Brown rallied against the 2nd-ranked Jayce Paridon in the final 30 seconds of the third period and then the Lake Gibson crowd exploded when he scored the victory in overtime.
“I just stayed focused and tried not to get frustrated,” Colt Brown said. “In a match like that you need to be ready to go for six minutes - seven minutes in that case - and the team score pushed me to get it done.”
Christopher Chop got a win for Fleming Island at 160 pounds before Jace Brownlow (170) and Frank Solorzano (182) finished the dual off for Lake Gibson.
For Fleming Island, the loss stings as the Golden Eagles returned 10 state placers this year and looked poised to get their first state wrestling title.
“That was a great match, the atmosphere was nuts and that’s a class act group that we faced,” Fleming Island head coach PJ Cobbert said. “We had some good matches and they won some matches we thought we’d win.”
Both teams will likely renew the battle in 39 days at the state IBT tournament at Silver Spurs Arena.
“There’s another state tournament, we’re going to back to work,” Cobbert said. “They’re hungry now.”
Lake Gibson has won three consecutive state duals titles but haven’t won a state IBT title since 2020. They’ll look to change that this year.
“Now we have to switch the focus to the individual goals and I don’t know if we’ve done a bad job of that over the past couple years or maybe the brackets didn’t help so hopefully we can keep this momentum rolling the next few weeks and dig deeper and win them both like we did the first couple years,” Walker said.
Final
Lake Gibson 37, Fleming Island 19
195: Tristan Vann (LG) dec. Walter Poe (FI) 6-2; 220: Jhoel Robinson (FI) maj. Brayden Kahelin (LG) 10-1; 285: Ethan Hoffstetter (FI) p. Leyland Callahan (LG) 1:04; 106: Matthew Newman (FI) p. Gabriele Tedesco (LG) 4:00; 113: Elijah Lowe (LG) dec. Shane Duhaylungsod (FI) 8-2; 120: Christian Fretwell (LG) maj. Laird Duhaylungsod (FI) 11-2; 126: Colt Brown (LG) dec. Jayce Paridon (FI) SV-1 7-5; 132: Gaetano Tedesco (LG) p. Cooper Beck (FI) 3:13; 138: Ny`Travious Walker (LG) dec. Dylan Beck (FI) 12-7; 145: Hayden Whidden (LG) dec. Kaden Schaefer (FI) 7-2; 152: Gianni Maldonado (LG) dec. Matthew Kotler (FI) 8-7; 160: Christopher Chop (FI) dec. Connor Hackett (LG) 1-0; 170: Jace Brownlow (LG) p. Ronan Bozeman (FI) 6:49; 182: Frank Solorzano (LG) dec. Joshua Sandoval (FI) 7-3.
Semifinals
Fleming Island 51, Merritt Island 18
182: Joshua Sandoval (FI) p. Dominick Smith (MI) 0:32; 195: Seven Tornga (MI) p. Walter Poe (FI) 1:22; 220: Jhoel Robinson (FI) p. Kaleb Ivie (MI) 1:46; 285: Ethan Hoffstetter (FI) dec. Gabriel Arnold (MI) 5-1; 106: Landon Quiroga (MI) dec. Matthew Newman (FI) 5-2; 113: Shane Duhaylungsod (FI) p. Kaden Barrial (MI) 2:40; 120: Laird Duhaylungsod (FI) p. Titus Deyoung (MI) 4:00; 126: Jayce Paridon (FI) p. Finn Tornga (MI) 0:25; 132: Kyle Mulley (MI) dec. Cooper Beck (FI) 8-3; 138: Judge M. Deyoung (MI) dec. Dylan Beck (FI) 3-1; 145: Kaden Schaefer (FI) p. Elijah Barrial (MI) 1:42; 152: Dylan Quiroga (MI) dec. Matthew Kotler (FI) 3-2; 160: Christopher Chop (FI) p. Tre` Driggett (MI) 1:52; 170: Ronan Bozeman (FI) p. Kurtis Laite (MI) 2:50.
Lake Gibson 40, Charlotte 28
106: Matthew Schuler (C) dec. Gabriele Tedesco (LG) 4-1; 113: Camren French (C) dec. Elijah Lowe (LG) 5-1; 120: Christian Fretwell (LG) p. Kaiden Ballinger (C) 3:25; 126: Colt Brown (LG) p. Cody Holt (C) 0:45; 132: Gaetano Tedesco (LG) dec. Eric Clary (C) 4-3; 138: Ny`Travious Walker (LG) maj. Luke Davis (C) 15-7; 145: Hayden Whidden (LG) p. Carson Bennett (C) 1:38; 152: Gianni Maldonado (LG) p. Nicholas Gjerde (C) 0:54; 160: James Baltutis (C) p. Connor Hackett (LG) 0:00; 170: Jace Brownlow (LG) tech. Isaac Schaeffer (C) 20-5; 182: Frank Solorzano (LG) maj. Jett McCauley (C) 17-5; 195: Nathaniel Box (C) maj. Tristan Vann (LG) 14-6; 220: Cael Newton (C) p. Brayden Kahelin (LG) 1:22; 285: Nikko Frattarelli (C) p. Leyland Callahan (LG) 0:45.
