Pirates, Tigers send six to states
The Braden River High School wrestling team brought three wrestlers to the Class 2A-Region 3 tournament at Charlotte High School this weekend.
And did it ever get a bang for its buck, sending two into the regional finals and into next week’s state meet.
Palmetto, which brought a full contingent of 14 wrestlers, sent four wrestlers into states and two into the finals. The four matches the most ever sent by the Tigers to a state tournament.
While no Manatee County wrestlers brought home regional gold, several will head to states with strong expectations of a medal.
Braden River rode the performances of Brendan Bengtsson at 285 pounds and Christian Sharbono at 138. Both reached the final in their weight classes. However, Bengtsson never had a chance to win the title. He defaulted in the final due to an unspecified injury.
Sharbono, who is 51-5 this season, faced Cypress Lake’s Jalen Soto, the top wrestler in the state. Soto, who is 44-1, scored an early takedown and held off Sharbono for the 3-1 win.
Braden River coach Cezar Sharbono said the performance wasn’t unexpected, adding he doesn’t want to indicate what exactly is wrong with Bengtsson.
“We knew both were finalist contenders and they did as we asked. Brendan got a little dinged up so he didn’t wrestle in the finals,” coach Sharbono said. “We have to wrestle in states, so I don’t want to put it out there. It’s like hockey, upper body injury, lower-body injury. He’ll be ready for states.”
Palmetto also put a pair in the finals: Kevin Schneider at 120 and Dominic Bass at 152. Two others, Travis Murway (106) and Brian Ormsby (285) finished in the top four and earned a state berth. The latter two lost in their third-place matches. Ormsby lost 1-0 to Jesse Smith of Dixie Hollins. Murway was pinned in overtime by Venice’s Nathaniel Parker.
The two finalists didn’t experience that heartbreak; both were beaten soundly. Schneider was pinned by Chris Rivera of Fort Myers at 3:51. Bass fell behind early and escaped two near pins in the first period before finally getting his feet under him in a 7-0 loss.
Bryan Wilkes, Palmetto coach, said though he wished the results could have been a little better, many schools would love to put four in states.
“You want to take everyone you bring to states. It’s what we expected. We thought we might take six, but as tough as these kids are, you may not have any,” Wilkes said. “Both our finalists pulled the No. 1 guys in the state. We didn’t get a good draw, but they’re in our region.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 11:37 PM with the headline "Pirates, Tigers send six to states."