BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Jared Goetzman was a runner-up and one of five Keystone Heights High School wrestlers to qualify for region-level competition at the District 4-1A meet on Feb. 15 in Palatka.
Goetzman advanced to the championship match of the 120-pound class off a 17-1 technical fall over Florida Deaf and Blind’s Marshall Garton. He was then pinned in 3:34 by Union County’s Jonathan Howard.
The top four in each weight class qualified for the Region 1 meet, which will be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-24, at Wewahitchka High School. Joining Goetzman will be teammates Marcellus Beem, Atreyu Contes, Phoenix Contes and Mikey McCall, all of whom earned third-place finishes.
Atreyu Contes began his day in the 106 class by pinning Providence’s Easton Tapley in 4:39. He lost 4-1 to Baker County’s Brayden Martin, but bounced back, pinning Union’s Aidan Hancock in 1:37. Contes won the third-place match by recording a 15-0 technical fall over Florida Deaf and Blind’s Gabe Mitchell.
McCall, who wrestles in the 113 class, pinned the first opponent he faced (Providence’s Johnathan Kuca) in 50 seconds, but was then pinned in 1:52 by St. Johns Country Day’s Howard Hill in the second round. McCall pinned two straight opponents to close out his day, defeating Baldwin’s Ian Rhoden in 1:23 and Baker County’s Clayton Hoden in 2:49.
Phoenix Contes was pinned in 2:56 by Palatka’s Ismael Foster in the first round in the 132 class. Contes then pinned two straight opponents, defeating Bishop Snyder’s Nabil Halabi in 44 seconds and Florida Deaf and Blind’s Khayree Lofton in 2;53.
Beem went 3-1 in the 150 class. He won in the first round by pinning Palatka’s Dalton Kerwin in 1:52. After getting pinned in 48 seconds by Bishop Snyder’s Amari Akel, he pinned Florida Deaf and Blind’s Moses Jeudy in 2:05. Beem faced Kerwin again in the third-place match, this time pinning him in just 55 seconds.
Keystone had two other competitors, who each earned a fifth-place finish: Henry Carhuayo and Arthur Durning.
Carhuayo began his day in the 138 class by pinning Florida Deaf and Blind’s Dino Jeudy in 5:36. After two straight losses, he pinned Baldwin’s Chance Parsons-Crawford in 2:31.
Durning went 2-2 in the 144 class. He rebounded twice from losses, pinning Bishop Snyder’s Daniel Ortiz in 42 seconds and pinning Palatka’s Josmil Montanez in 24 seconds.
Keystone placed fifth out of nine teams with a score of 106. The Indians finished 28 points ahead of sixth-place Baldwin and 14 points behind fourth-place Florida Deaf and Blind.
Baker won the championship, while Union was runner-up.
