St. John Neumann advances, has sights on bigger goal
BY BRANT PARSONS —St. John Neumann doesn’t have to look hard for motivation in the FHSAA state duals, they just need to remember back to last season when they finished second in their first season.
On Friday, the Celtics took their first step toward getting back to the final, winning the 1A-3 region duals title with a 59-14 win over SLAM Tampa.
“We’ve leaned on losing last year and how that felt,” St. John Neumann head coach Blaine Ison said. “We’ve been talking about and being in that moment and obviously it’s a great accomplishment but we are taking it one match at a time with the goal to get back there and have another shot at it.”
St. John Neumann raced out to a 15-0 in the dual with Jalal Naghib (132), Russ Haas (138), and Lincoln Sledzianowski (144) all scoring bonus point wins.
After Noah Leota earned a decision at 150 pounds for SLAM, Richmerlins Cliferme (157), Braeden Mills (165), and Johnathan Moder (175) rolled off three straight for the Celtics.
Ari Rupe scored a bonus point win at 190 pounds for the Spartans before St. John Neumann won four more straight matches.
Following forfeit wins for Jeremiah Anzualda (215) and Gabe Harris (285), Greyson McDonald (106) and James Sanders (113) each earned wins by fall.
Ben Iorio (120) added six points for SLAM before Erik Perez finished off the dual with a technical fall win at 126 pounds.
St. John Neumann advances to the state semifinals on Saturday morning against Cocoa Beach.
“We’re going to go back tonight and we know that Cocoa Beach is a great team and we match up well with them,” Ison said. “It’s going to come down to getting bonus points when we can and fighting for your teammates.”
For SLAM Tampa, the run to the region final in the programs first year was a bonus and the team performed well in adversity after one of its wrestlers lost his brother this past week.
“We knew they were going to be tough but I think we wrestled well,” SLAM Tampa coach Grayson Fisher said. “It was a lot for us this week that included grieving and being there for one another while also firing each other up to perform here.
“They did a tremendous job of finding that middle ground and we are a young team and being able to see them form that familial bond has been amazing to see and we want to come back here and win next time.”
St. John Neumann 59, SLAM Tampa 14
106: Greyson McDonald (SJN) p. Jermiahs Lara (S) 1:51; 113: James Sanders (SJN) p. Declyn Wilson (S) 3:24; 120: Ben Iorio (S) p. Miles Merves (SJN) 3:26; 126: Erik Perez (SJN) tech. Isaac Leota (S) 21-5; 132: Jalal Naghib (SJN) tech. Nathan Henderson (S) 17-1; 138: Russ Haas (SJN) p. Julian Almeida (S) 12-3; 144: Lincoln Sledzianowski (SJN) p. Tripp Wilson (S) 0:57; 150: Noah Leota (S) dec. William Buckley (SJN) 5-4; 157: Richmerlens Cliferme (SJN) dec. Calvin Nguyen (S) 11-5; 165: Braeden Mills (SJN) p. Owen Thomson (S) 2:55; 175: Johnathan Moder (SJN) p. Rafael Medina (S) 0:10; 190: Ari Rupe (S) tech. Hunter Born (SJN) 20-4; 215: Jeremiah Anzualda (SJN) by FF; 285: Gabe Harris (SJN) by FF.
Brant Parsons is the founder and executive editor of Kabra Wrestling. He has been covering high school wrestling in Florida since 2004. He can be reached at brant@kabrawrestling.com.
