Lake Gibson's Jorge, Terrell, Moody Advance to 2A Semifinals

THE LEDGER 

LAKELAND | Heading into the state wrestling tournament, Lake Gibson senior Brandon Jorge spoke about pressure.

 

The pressure to win a third straight state title.

 

The pressure to outdo his brother, Anthony, who won two state titles during his high school years at Lake Gibson.

 

The pressure to win it all because, well, he's expected to.

 

But he seems to be handling it all just fine.

 

Jorge, a senior who wrestles at 138 pounds, cruised through two matches Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Class 2A FHSAA state wrestling tournament.

 

He'll wrestle today in the morning against Palm Bay's Steven Vonniederhauser, who knocked off top-seed and unbeaten Beau Doerr of Gulf Breeze in a quarterfinal match.

 

Finals are expected to start at 5:30 p.m. at the Lakeland Center.

 

Lake Gibson, which is currently in third place in Class 2A in the team standings with 42.5 points, also has two other wrestlers still in the running for a state title. Skyler Moody, a regional champ at 113 pounds, won one match by pin and another by way of a 4-2 decision to advance. Devante Terrell, a heavyweight, had two quick pins to move forward.

 

Robert Thornton (heavyweight) of Winter Haven won to get into the semis in Class 2A and Lakeland's Alec Nutting (220) advanced in 3A.

 

Jorge stands alone when it comes to the feat he's trying to accomplish. If he wins a state championship today, it will be his third.

 

No one in the history of high school wrestling in Polk County has done it since Trenton Lawhon of Kathleen won three in the late 1990's. No one at Lake Gibson has done it. No one in the Jorge family has done it.

 

"It is a lot of pressure but I want to go out on top," Jorge said before the state tournament.

 

He made the work look easy Friday. And he did it with Anthony watching, an anomaly considering he hasn't watched Brandon wrestle at all during his high school career.

 

Anthony won state titles in 2005 and 2006 and currently wrestles at Duke University.

 

Jorge pinned Belleview's Landen Delk at the 3:26 mark in the opening round and won by technical fall, 19-3, against Aiden Collins of Charlotte.

 

"He's been wrestling for so long that he just makes things look so natural and easy," Lake Gibson coach Daniel Walker said.

 

"He's got great ability and he knows where to go. But these matches are going to get tougher moving forward so that's when we'll need him to just bite down and go after it."

 

Three other wrestlers from Polk County made it out of the opening round in the championship bracket but lost in the quarterfinals. McKeel's Alex Probosco (195) pinned Wesley Chapel's Thomas Fee in a Class 1A opening match but lost by decision, 15-9, to Chaminade's Samuel Adams.

 

Also in 1A, Clayton Farrer (160) of Frostproof lost in the quarterfinals to Jake Bain of Clay by decision, 14-6.

 

Lake Gibson's Chase Krutzky (145) was one point away from getting into the state semis, but lost to top-seed Mike Hess of Jensen Beach, 3-2.

 

Jacob Tarvin (Lake Gibson), Krutzky and Probosco still have a shot at finishing in third place.