- January 26, 2025
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FPC's Braden Dailey attempts a single-leg takedown on Matanzas' Jacob Gibson. Dailey won the match with a pin in 2:41. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Andrew Sanchez won the 144-pound match. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's T.J. McLean wrestles Matanzas' Terry Marchman. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's T.J. McLean wins the 120-pound match. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Landen Blackburn pins FPC's Austin Cochran at 138 pounds in 3:35. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Landen Blackburn wins the 138-pound match. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Jackson Marchman wrestles FPC's Yousef Hashem at 190 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Lenny Fries wins the 132-pound match with a pin against Matanzas' Xachary Heselton. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Ronden Ricks won a 9-1 major decision over Matanzas' Andrew Kerek in the 150-pound match. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC honored senior T.J. McLean with his family. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC honored senior Austin Cochran with his family. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC honored senior Carson Baert. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC honored senior Yousef Hashem. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC senior Harlem Slay is honored with his family. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC sneior Melique Joseph is honored with his family. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Abe Mills and Juliana Mills sing the national anthem. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Braden Dailey attempts a single-leg takedown on Matanzas' Jacob Gibson. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Braden Dailey wins the 106-pound match with a pin at 2:41. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas 190-pounder Jackson Marchman walks to his seat after winning his match. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Andrew Kerek (right) wrestles FPC's Ronden Ricks at 150 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas' Jackson Marchman (right) wrestles FPC's Yousef Hashem. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's wrestling team honored six seniors on Senior Night before the dual with Matanzas. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas senior wrestler A.J. Sanchez was wrestling for the first time after breaking his nose 10 days earlier.
“I just got cleared today,” he said. “I was wearing a mask. It was hard to see, but I kind of just went with the flow to did what I practiced.”
Sanchez was one of three Matanzas wrestlers to win their matches in a boys dual meet against Flagler Palm Coast on Jan. 22 at the Bulldogs’ gym.
FPC won 61-15 on the Bulldogs’ Senior Night. The score included six Matanzas forfeits. The Pirates sent eight wrestlers to the mat, losing five of those matches.
Sanchez won a 12-6 decision over Gabriel Moy at 144 pounds. He broke his nose in practice when his partner popped his head up and hit Sanchez in the face.
“This was my first match back and I could barely see, but I wrestled hard and I just kept pushing,” he said. “I hit a bar tilt, and that caught me up by a bunch of points. And then I hit a couple doubles.”
Matanzas is a rebuilding program under new head coach Dennis Kitko, while FPC has a full squad that won its regional quarterfinal and semifinal duals a week earlier to advance to the Class 3A state dual championships on Jan. 24.
“The beginning of the season, we had a lot more kids,” said Matanzas assistant coach Caleb Bower. “We were almost able to fill every weight class, and then when our dual (tournament) season ended, some of them left. Most of them are first-year wrestlers and they’re kind of figuring out if they really like it. We’ve got eight strong and a lot of them are freshmen and sophomores.”
FPC coach David Bossardet gave a “hats off” to Kitko who wanted his team to wrestle the Bulldogs a year after the Pirates canceled because they only had a few wrestlers who were healthy.
But Bossardet said dual meets with several of his wrestlers forced to sit out are not helping his program, especially with state duals just two days away. As a result, FPC may end the county rivalry for a time.
“Is us taking a day out of training to wrestle (eight) guys, when we have state duals on Friday, is that in our best interest? I don't think it is,” Bossardet said. “We’ve got to wrestle schools with full lineups, and our guys got to get matches. We need to be smarter with our scheduling, and that's obviously on my shoulders.”
The Bulldogs honored their six seniors — T.J. McLean, Austin Cochran, Carson Baert, Yousef Hashem, Harlem Slay and Melique Joseph.
“It was a good night for our seniors, and we had a great crowd,” Bossardet said. “Our lady wrestlers have the week off, so they put (the senior celebration) together. Ana Vilar put it all together. She did a great job.”
In Matanzas’ other two wins, Jackson Marchman pinned Hashem at 2:47 in the 190-pound match, and Landen Blackburn pinned Cochran at 3:35 at 138 pounds.
Marchman, who transferred from Atlanta last April, said when he was down 7-3, he was able to set up the pin with a lat drop.
“It was a very big win (for me),” Marchman said. “We fought well. For having half a team, we did good.”
In the other contested matches, FPC’s Braden Dailey pinned Jacob Gibson in 2:41 at 106 pounds, McLean pinned Terry Marchman in 3:35 at 120 pounds, Lenny Fries pinned Matanzas’ Xachary Heselton in 1:27 at 132 pounds, FPC’s Randen Ricks won a 9-1 major decision over Andrew Kerek at 150 pounds and Baert won a 15-9 decision over Mason Obama at 157 pounds.
“Hats off to them. They came in and they wrestled hard. And they beat us at three weights,” Bossardet said. “(But) I feel those matches we lost were winnable matches. We were winning all three of those matches, and then we get pinned in two of them and we get decisioned in the other one. And that's not good wrestling on our part.”
