Orlando area teams went two for two in Friday’s FHSAA State Dual Championship quarterfinals at Osceola High School in Kissimmee.
In its sixth appearance in the eight-team regional finals, Hagerty won for the second year in a row, 40-27, over Flagler Palm Coast.
Freedom, making its first duals state meet appearance, also rolled to victory, beating Wellington 44-23 despite missing a pair of key wrestlers.
Brothers Ehab Shalaby (165 pounds) and Nadir Shalaby (106) aren’t able to participate due to a family emergency.
“Missing two guys, we showed resilience and toughness,” Freedom coach David Bush said. “We had to get points in other spots.”
He specifically mentioned Isaac Velazquez to illustrate the toughness after he recorded a pin — good for the maximum six points — in the 144-pound match.
Other weight class winners for the Patriots were Jaykob Ortiz (132), Ismael Robles (138), Kingsley Mincer (150), Christopher Aubain (175), Joshua Ramirez (215), Jordyn Martin (285), Magnum Colon (120) and Xavier Santiago (126).
The Patriots’ roster composition makes them a distinctive regional champ. Almost all of the starters are ranked outside of the top 10 in KabraWrestling.com’s individual rankings, and they don’t have a lot of experience.
“We have a lot of first- and second-year kids with no middle-school wrestling in Orange County,” Bush said. “I have to give credit to my staff for putting in countless hours to help raise the level of these kids in the [wrestling] room.”
Among those coaches are David’s brother Michael and assistants Marcus Jean-Baptiste, Jayquon McEntyre and Randall Grant, who has been with the Bushes since they took over the program in 2012.
“We’ve had some good dual teams in the past,” Bush added. “We’ve put in the work to finally get to this point.”
Freedom’s opponent in Saturday’s semifinals at 11:30 a.m. will be Palm Harbor University, which defeated another first-time duals quarterfinalist, Venice, 52-23.
Hagerty’s formula consists of more seasoned wrestlers who have been coached by Scotty Diaz and his staff going back to youth club wrestling.
That includes seniors Nikolas Blake (157 pounds) and Ben Wolgamuth (165), who have been coached by Diaz all four years in high school, and beyond.
“Those are kids you want in your program, to get in the room and keep in the room,” said Diaz, who hopes sophomore Brentley Crawley will be one of those guys for two more years.
“Brent seems to wrestle the best kids on other teams,” he added.
Hagerty heavyweight Renzo Cooligan (right) won his state duals quarterfinal match against Aiden Korth of Flagler Palm Coast on Friday. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Crawley opened the match with a 4-2 decision over Flagler’s Robert Twilley at 132 pounds, which was drawn as the first weight class to wrestle on Friday.
Blake and Ben Wolgamuth also won, as did Ben’s brother, Chase (106 pounds), Hunter Jessee (144), Thomas Thorne (190), Jude Dicicco (215), and Renzo Cooligan (285).
Hagerty’s reward for a second semifinal trip is a matchup against Florida’s wrestling powerhouse, South Dade, which defeated South Plantation 53-24. South Dade has won seven of the first eight state dual titles.
The Huskies defeated the Broncos for the first time in a tournament earlier this season, but the squad from Miami-Dade was missing some starters.
“They are South Dade, but we know we can compete with them,” Diaz said. “It’s going to take a really good effort.”
The 1A, 2A and 3A championship matches will play out simultaneously on three adjacent mats, starting at 2 p.m.
Admission for spectators is $13 if purchased in advance and $16 on day of play via GoFan.co FHSAA.
Hagerty wrestlers make Huskies history; winter sports news | Varsity Weekly
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.