Coral Springs rolls by Aquinas

Host Coral Springs used pins from each of its first three wrestlers to defeat St. Thomas Aquinas 49-24 in the Region 3A final of the inaugural FHSAA Dual Wrestling State Championships.

The match started at the 195 weight class and Edsel Machevicz got the Colts got off to the great start with a pin over Noah Lusk from Aquinas. In the 220 weight class, Tyrae Session’s pin continued the momentum for Coral Springs and Nick Guerra’s pin just 39 seconds into the 285 bout gave the Colts an 18-0 lead it would never relinquish.

“[Guerra] wrestled him very well tonight and got the pin. That was a big win,” said Coral Springs coach Dan Jacob. “After that heavyweight [285-pound] match, it was our third pin, that really got us believing we could win this match.”

Trailing 18-0, Aquinas used a pin from Harrison Long at 106 to trim the Colts lead to 18-6 but Genesis Perez answered for Coral Springs with a pin at 113.

The Raiders’ Frank Messina secured a 11-9 decision at 120 before the Colts won the next three bouts to put the match away.

Coral Springs’ Raiden Johnson won a decision at 126, Chrisley Accime won the 132 bout with a pin and Felton Morris won a major decision at 138 to push the Colts into a 37-9 lead with five bouts remaining.

Vinny Sessa won a 14-7 decision at 145 for Aquinas, but the three team points earned for the win only brought the score to 37-12.

The 25-point deficit was insurmountable for Aquinas with only four bouts remaining, so the remaining four bouts were forfeits, with Aquinas receiving wins at 152 and 160, while Coral Springs winning forfeits at 170 and 182.

Earlier in the regional semifinals, Coral Springs defeated Santaluces 66-18 and Aquinas edged Park Vista 37-36.

The Colts advance to the third round of the championships Jan. 19 at Osceola High School.