By Randy Lefko randy@claytodayonline.com

OAKLEAF – With three individual titles, the Oakleaf High wrestling team snuck away from Clay High for second place at their Hammer Invitational held Saturday, Dec. 20 with Georgia powerhouse Camden County taking top honors.

“We want to be a part of the conversation about the good teams in Clay County with Clay and Middleburg doing well,” said Connor Barnes, Oakleaf 126 sixth place state finisher last year. “They are all in Class 2A with us in Class 3A and sometimes we get lost in the shuffle, but we are a pretty good team.”

Camden County, with an A Team going to Kissimmee for the Knockout Christmas Classic, had an equally adept B Team that scored 197.5 team points with Oakleaf second at 190 and Clay third at 165. Pedro Menendez was fourth with 132 with Orange Park seventh at 115, Ridgeview 10th at 85 and St. Johns Classic scoring six points for 19th in the 21-team format.

Top matchup included undefeated Connor Barnes of Oakleaf at 126 with a championship win over Clay High’s Calvin Wells; 4-1, with Oakleaf teammate Sebastian Bonachea also undefeated thus far in his season with back-to-back dominant wins over two separate Camden County foes—9-1 and 10-1.

“Our seasons are both starting pretty good, both being 11-0,” Barnes said. “We’ve been working on footwork all summer; getting quicker, stronger, faster. I think we are 10 times better than last year.”

Barnes credits his training with Bonachea plus some extra conditioning with former Fleming Island High coach Nick Gibson at his Applied Pressure gym in Jacksonville.

“We have a good core of guys here that all wrestle hard together and train as one,” Barnes said. “The hard work in the room is very contagious.”

For Bonachea, tougher tournaments in the future are what coach Rory Roderick has promised.

“My footwork is getting a lot better,” said Bonachea, who won a match at the Bobcat Invite a week ago against a Georgia state finalist. “At state, I got sick like a flu and want to go back and do it right.”

Bonachea, notably nimbler on his feet in his Hammer matches, said that his preparations are to attack from the neutral position with both wrestlers standing and facing each other.

“With that, my footwork has gotten faster and more precise and I can get shots in quicker for takedown points,” Bonachea said. “I am getting early quick points and that makes the other guy a little more defensive.”

Oakleaf got a third individual title from Cedric Harris at 165 with a 17-6 win over Pedro Menendez.

At 285, Oakleaf’s Daquan Beacham had four straight three-point matches: 3-0, 3-0 over Orange Park’s Terrick Moore and 3-1 before losing 3-0 to Camden County in the championship match.

Also at 285, Vladimir Adamcy lost in his semifinal to eventual champion Colton Hersey of Camden County, 5-0.

For Clay, who was without state wrestlers Landon Martin and Drew Holmquist, the Blue Devils got a second to Calvin Wells at 126 with Connor Barnes, a second to Benjamin Mitts at 120 with a finals loss to Camden County and a third at 175 from Drew Loveland also with a loss to Camden County.

Ridgeview, with first year coach Mark Detoro running the show, got a fourth place from 285 Garrett Davis who got to the third-place match with three straight wins after losing his second match to Bishop Kenny. In consolations, Davis beat Clay’s Ryan Collins 1-0 with an escape in the second period and Oakleaf’s Vladimir Adamcy, 5-0, to get to the third-place match.

“We got a lot of young guys. Inexperienced, but scrappy and tough on the mat,” said Detoro, who coached Oakleaf High to district titles three times in his tenure. “We will be better as the season progresses and the guys get beat up a bit but learn what wrestling is really about.”

Orange Park had three second place finishers with Jago Murphy at 113, Elijah Grant at 132 and Terrion Butler at 190.