Marvels punctuate Wellington comeback; Flagler Palm Coast, Palmetto Ridge, South Dade advance

BY BRANT PARSONS

KISSIMMEE — Sam Marvel knew he had a chance to win a region title for Wellington on Friday night if he just kept pushing.

Despite trailing 5-2 with 1:30 left in his 126-pound match with Fort Pierce Central’s William McArdle, Marvel was still in the match and a win would clinch the region final dual between the two teams.

Marvel scored a takedown with 1:20 left and then after letting McArdle up, he tied the match at 6-6 with another takedown.

Sensing the momentum in the moment, Marvel let his opponent up again and scored the winning takedown with 23 seconds left in the match.

“I was tired and was just trying to do what I do best,” Marvel said. “He was tired too and I just out-conditioned him in the end.”

The win secured the region title for the Wolverines with a match to go, but Sam’s brother James had a big match too.

James Marvel scored a takedown in sudden victory to defeat Russell Raabe, the top-ranked 132-pounder in Class 3A, to give Wellington the final winning margin of 37-25.

It also punctuated a 22-0 run for Wellington at the end of the dual.

“Sometimes you just get on a roll and it keeps going,” Wellington coach Travis Gray said. “We’ve been preaching to our guys that every point matters and we have a tight-knit team and they all look out for each other.”

Fort Pierce Central and Wellington traded leads early in the dual with Cameron Howard starting the night off with a decision victory at 138 pounds.

Jacob Fleitas tired the match at 3-3 with a win at 145 pounds before Seth Rhodes gave Wellington another lead with a major decision at 152 pounds.

JT Apicella (major decision at 160) and Riley Orr (pin at 170) pushed the Cobras back into the lead at 13-7.

After Edol Adonis (decision at 182) and Juan Quintero (technical fall at 195) put Wellington back in front, Hernan Ortiz scored a surprise pin at 220 pounds and top-ranked heavyweight Gabriel Jacas gave Fort Pierce Central their last points with a first period pin.

Wellington then won five straight matches with Quang Phan (forfeit at 106), Cameron Gibson (major decision at 113), and Patrick Jones (fall at 120) setting up the Marvel theatrics.

“I feel great and doing it for the team is even bigger,” Sam Marvel said. “Now we’re on to the state semis and we’ve got to go out tomorrow and perform.”

Wellington will face Flagler Palm Coast in the Class 3A state semifinals on Saturday.

The Bulldogs also won a tight battle, coming from behind to beat Hagerty 36-30.

The Huskies won five of the first seven matches with David Mejia (138), Blake Watts (152), Kamdon Harrison (160), Ethan Gomez (182), and Hunter Tate (195) picking up big wins.

Hagerty led the dual 21-9 at that point with FPC getting wins from Felipe Costa (145) and Kenneth DeFord (170).

“I knew we had some hammers at the end but their bump game worked really well, hats off to Scotty (Diaz) for that,” Flagler Palm Coast coach Zach Sanford said.

Flagler won 5 of the next 6 bouts to seal the win with Dalton Schell (220), Seth Davis (285), Timothy McLean (106), Kole Hannant (120), and John Hald (126) all putting up points.

“I’m very fortunate to have a team that understands how a dual goes and they knew where our hammer were and they just needed to keep their heads and do what they needed to do,” Sanford said.

Hagerty also got wins from Lochlann Higgins (113) and Logan Acey-Kreigshauser (132).

On the other side of the bracket, the two Class 3A favorites set the stage for a monster semifinal dual on Saturday morning.

Four-time state champion South Dade beat Cypress Bay for the fifth time in five years to win the 3A-4 region title.

The Buccaneers won 10 of 14 bouts to win the dual 54-21.

Alex Couto (152), Cordell White (160), William Strickland (170), Chris Sanchez (182), Ansel Cervantes (195), Sawyer Bartelt (220), Luis Acevedo (113), Adrian Morales (120), EJ Solis (132), and Misha Arbos (138) all won matches for South Dade.

Cypress Bay earned points from Andrew Punzalan (106), Gabriel Herrero (126), Rafael Diniz (145), and Gozie Mosi (285).

Palmetto Ridge did its part to set up the showdown, topping Kissimmee Osceola 54-20.

The Bears won 6 of 10 matches contested with the Kowboys forfeiting four weights on the night.

Brennen Van Hoecke (145), Carson Miller (152), Roman Garcia (160), Aiden Vega (182), Austin Foye (285) and Bernardo Barnhart (120) all won head-to-head matches for Palmetto Ridge.

“I thought we had a good performance and we also had some things we’ll need to fix for tomorrow,” Palmetto Ridge coach Blaine Ison said. “All of these teams are quality teams and we have to get exposed in a couple areas.”

Osceola received wins from Cooper Haase (138), Bryan Gari (195), Jomar Sanchez (220), and Anderson Heap (126).

The two dual wins sets up a Saturday morning semifinal between the top two teams in Class 3A duals rankings.

“We’re fully prepared, we’re healthy and we’re excited,” Ison said.

South Dade has won all four Class 3A state duals titles but this year’s road might be the toughest with a loaded Palmetto Ridge in the semifinals.

“My guys don’t want to be the ones to break the streak of winning state titles,” Balmeceda said. “Our studs need to get pins and our underdogs need to get a couple wins.”

“They know what they want to accomplish and they know they are capable of doing it.”

Box scores

Wellington 37, Fort Pierce Central 25

106: Quang Phan (W) by FF; 113: Cameron Gibson (W) maj. Connor Harris (FTPC) 12-1; 120: Patrick Jones (W) p. Konrad McArdle (FTPC) 3:47; 126: Sam Marvel (W) dec. William McArdle (FTPC) 8-7; 132: James Marvel (W) dec. Russell Raabe (FTPC) SV-1 5-3; 138: Cameron Howard (W) dec. Damion Allison (FTPC) 7-6; 145: Jacob Fleitas (FTPC) dec. Mario Trigazis (W) 12-6; 152: Seth Rhodes (W) maj. Brian Melara (FTPC) 13-5; 160: JT Apicella (FTPC) maj. Jorge Garcia (W) 10-0; 170: Riley Orr (FTPC) p. Sebastian Perez (W) 0:58; 182: Edol Adonis (W) dec. Aiden Madden (FTPC) 11-5; 195: Juan Quintero (W) tech. Malankov Daceus (FTPC) 16-0; 220: Hernan Ortiz (FTPC) p. Pedro Ricardo (W) 4:20; 285: Gabriel Jacas (FTPC) p. Roman Davilla (W) 1:09.

Flagler Palm Coast 36, Hagerty 30

106: Timothy McLean (FPC) by FF; 113: Lochlann Higgins (H) dec. Carson Baert (FPC) 9-3; 120: Kole Hannant (FPC) p. Carson Greenier (H) 1:17; 126: John Hald (FPC) d. Jacob Genao (H) ID; 132: Logan Acey-Kriegshauser (H) by FF; 138: David Mejia (H) p. Danya Cherry (FPC) 1:23; 145: Felipe Costa (FPC) dec. Gavin Nelson (H) 5-4; 152: Blake Watts (H) dec. Timothy King (FPC) 8-5; 160: Kamdon Harrison (H) p. Bryce Dodge (FPC) 3:29; 170: Kenneth DeFord (FPC) p. Connor Gilliam (H) 3:04; 182: Ethan Gomez (H) dec. Marcelo Gonzalez (FPC) 6-5; 195: Hunter Tate (H) dec. Garrick Schwartz (FPC) 4-3; 220: Dalton Schell (FPC) dec. Landon Revis (H) 12-6; 285: Seth Davis (FPC) p. Thad Elam (H) 3:53.

South Dade 54, Cypress Bay 21

106: Andrew Punzalan (CYB) by FF; 113: Luis Acevedo (SD) p. Michael Carsten (CYB) 0:13; 120: Adrian Morales (SD) by FF; 126: Gabriel Herrero (CYB) dec. Joshua Aviles (SD) 6-5; 132: EJ Solis (SD) p. Gil Torres (CYB) 1:21; 138: Misha Arbos (SD) tech. Jonathan Spurlock (CYB) 16-1; 145: Rafael Diniz (CYB) p. Gavin Balmeceda (SD) 2:20; 152: Alex Couto (SD) tech. Zach Weidler (CYB) 17-0; 160: Cordell White (SD) dec. Connor Ivory (CYB) 9-5; 170: William Strickland (SD) p. Ryder Lewin (CYB) 0:32; 182: Chris Sanchez (SD) tech. Tristan Brown (CYB) 18-3; 195: Ansel Cervantes (SD) p. Gyani mosi (CYB) 3:00; 220: Sawyer Bartelt (SD) p. Jared Campbell (CYB) 0:29; 285: Gozie Mosi (CYB) by FF.

Palmetto Ridge 54, Kissimmee Osceola 20

138: Cooper Haase (OSC) p. Vincent Sasso (PR) 2:38; 145: Brennan Van Hoecke (PR) p. Joseph Fernandez (OSC) 0:39; 152: Carson Miller (PR) p. Deacon Delong (OSC) 1:28; 160: Roman Garcia (PR) dec. Gunner Holland (OSC) 3-1; 170: Leonard Feliciano (PR) by FF; 182: Aiden Vega (PR) p. Akeem Knox (OSC) 2:51; 195: Bryan Gari (OSC) dec. Aurelius Walton (PR) 4-3; 220: Jomar Sanchez (OSC) p. Jordan Peralez (PR) 1:11; 285: Austin Foye (PR) p. Elijah Vansickle (OSC) 1:01; 106: Xavier Barnhart (PR) by FF; 113: Tyler Washburn (PR) by FF; 120: Bernardo Barnhart (PR) dec. Isfandier Sharipov (OSC) 10-3; 126: Anderson Heap (OSC) tech. Jean Valoria (PR) 15-0; 132: Demetri Zertopoulis (PR) by FF.