South Dade’s streak of Duals state titles ends
KISSIMMEE
One of several streaks for high school wrestling juggernaut South Dade came to an end Saturday.
Palmetto Ridge won nine of 14 matches — four by pin — to upend fourtime defending Class 3A state champions South Dade 39-26 in the semifinals of the Dual State Championships at Kissimmee Osceola.
Palmetto eventually surged on to win the state championship with a 42-25 win against Wellington in the finals.
“[Palmetto Ridge] is that good, nationally ranked studs and we almost survived,” South Dade coach Victor Balmeceda said. “There were matches where we actually beat their kid before and then we get pinned [today].”
One of those swing matches included Palmetto Ridge junior state champion Tyler Washburn pinning South Dade sophomore Luis Acevedo at the 3:31 mark of their 113pound match. Acevedo had beaten Washburn 6-1 in an earlier meeting and South Dade was anticipating a win in its prematch projections.
“That was a huge win for them. That was a ninepoint swing right there,” Balmeceda said. “We did some maneuvers, and our maneuvers worked, but they matched up really well with our best kids.”
South Dade sophomore state champion Sawyer Bartelt, who weighed in at 208 and was expected to grapple at 220, vaulted up to 285 and picked up a crucial pin over Palmetto Ridge junior Austin Foye at 0:51.
The pin, coupled with Ansel Cervantes’ pin against Palmetto Ridge junior Aurelius Walton in a 220 match, gave South Dade a brief 12-9 lead four matches into the duel. However, South Dade was forced to forfeit at 106 and eventually found itself trailing 21-12 after Acevedo’s loss at 113.
South Dade mounted a scrappy-but-brief comeback, picking up threepoint decisions from Nathaniel Williams at 120, Adrian Morales at 126, EJ Solis at 132 and a fivepoint tech-fall victory from Misha Arbos at 138 to seize a 26-21 lead.
But the momentum turned and Palmetto Ridge won the final four matches to pull away for the win.
“From the get-go at 182, we lost the swing matches. We felt like we could have won that one. You have to win those swing matches,” said Balmeceda, referring to the opening match where Palmetto Ridge senior Leonard Feliciano toppled South Dade sophomore Chris Sanchez 9-5. “That kind of set the tone. Those 50-50 matches they just won.”
Balmeceda said though hearts are broken across his roster, the loss is only going to fuel practice energy and escalate the focus for the upcoming IBT state championships in March at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.
“They are going to be the hunters again. They are not going to be the ones with a bull’s-eye on their backs. They are going to be the underdogs and we take that underdog role well,” he said.
South Dade reached the semifinals with a 54-21 win against Cypress Bay on Friday and entered the tournament as the only program to win a state championship at every Duals final since the competition was added to the FHSAA calendar in 2018.
South Dade has also won the past eight IBT state championships, giving the program a run of 12 consecutive championships and 20 state championships overall, dating back to its first in 1995.
In 2A action, Lake Gibson won its fourth Duals state championship and second in a row, rallying to beat rival Tampa Jesuit 36-30 in the final. Lake Gibson won 2A state titles in 2018 and 2019 before Jesuit broke through in 2020.
In 1A, Jensen Beach won its first Duals state title, routing Clay 42-21.