Second-ranked Lake GIbson advanced into the first-ever Florida High School Dual Wrestling State Championship Class 2A finals on Saturday after dominating St. Johns Creekside 57-17 in the semifinals.
Editor's Note: Saturday's Class 2A FHSAA Dual Wrestling State Championship final between Lake Gibson and Fort Myers was not completed by press time. Check www.theledger.com/sports for the result or see Monday's sports section.
KISSIMMEE — No matter what happens in the finals, Lake Gibson has another wrestling state finals trophy.
The second-ranked Braves advanced into the first-ever Florida High School Dual Wrestling State Championship Class 2A finals on Saturday after dominating St. Johns Creekside 57-17 in the semifinals.
Lake Gibson faced No. 1-ranked Fort Myers Riverdale in the state championship dual match, which was past The Ledger’s press deadline.
“We didn’t come here to just get a participation award. We came here to win it all,” said Lake Gibson head coach Danny Walker, whose team finished as 2A state runner-up to Brandon this past March in the traditional individually bracketed tournament (IBT), missing their first wrestling state championship by a mere 3.5 points after watching Brandon win the final match of the night.
“We don’t want to be the Buffalo Bills,” said Walker, referring to the Bills’ four Super Bowl losses. “I am proud of the fact we got here for the first (Dual) tournament and making a great showing, but our biggest thought is to win.”
The Braves came out scorching-fast against Creekside, delivering back-to-back pin victories by Jesse Gehr at 106 and defending 2A, 106-pound IBT-champion Connor Williams at 113.
The Braves won 11 of the 14 weight divisions against Creekside, including winning the first-seven matches of the dual and actually held a 36-0 lead at one point.
They scored seven of the 11 wins by pin including Nathan Lawwell (132), Elijah Gray (138), Ashton Habeil (170), DeYaveyun Joseph (195) and Jean Thomas (220).
Lawwell had suffered a tough loss in the quarterfinals a night earlier and pumped up the Braves sidelines when he rebounded with a huge pin against Jake Summers at the 1:24 mark.
“You just have to wrestle one match at a time," Lawwell said. "You can’t let any losses decipher how you are going to wrestle later on. You have to have short-term memory and wrestle one match at a time."
It was Thomas who put the icing on the cake against Creekside when he turned Caleb Dickens and drove him into the mat for a pin at 6:13.
“I like this tournament," Walker said. "Our 220-pounder (Thomas), he’s won maybe five matches all year, and for him to get a win to feel so special like that. It keeps him involved in the sport. This format is going to help the sport grow more than it already is.”
Walker was the assistant coach to Riverdale head coach Chris Haywood for four years at Lake Region, where together they produced a state runner-up team. The Braves wrestled Riverdale the past two years and beat them.
“But we graduated a lot of guys last year and they hardly graduated anybody,” Walker said.“But (Haywood) is my Nick Saban. I have a great deal of respect for him. He means so much to me as far as what he did when I was younger. We still have conversations weekly, and I think they make me a better person.”
Though Haywood was Walker’s mentor, the Lake Gibson coach was actually hoping to wrestle Jensen Beach in the final because the matchups looked more favorable for the Braves on paper.
“I think we'd matchup better with Jensen Beach, especially in the lower weight classes,” Walker said.
The Duals tournament was added to the FHSAA calendar this year and was really working on a trial basis. But FHSAA executive director George Tomyn said the reviews have been outstanding.
“We are not exactly sure what we are going to do for next year, we are just thrilled that we had the chance to come to Osceola,” Tomyn said. “We wanted to see if this activity is really what we thought was going to be, and it is outstanding. It has far surpassed what we thought it would be.”
Tomyn also did not rule out the possibility of the event moving to the R.P. Funding Center in Lakeland in the near future. Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee is also being considered.
“We are going to continue to have Duals wrestling. We will find the right place for it and it will stay here in the state of Florida. This was absolutely not a one-hit wonder, we are definitely coming back,” Tomyn said.
Bill Kemp can be reached at Bill.Kemp@newschief.com; follow him on Twitter @BillKempSports