Middleton, Fla. — The Villages High School wrestling team was good — but not quite good enough — to take home a trophy Saturday at VHS.

The Buffalo claimed five runner-up individual finishes en route to finishing fourth as a team at the seventh annual Amanda St. John Memorial Holiday Tournament, tallying 110 team points in a 14-squad race inside the Mark G. Morse Sports Complex.

Lake Mary finished atop the team standings with 240.5 points, while Vero Beach (177.5) and Tavares (131) rounded out the top three.

"I'm really proud of our kids," said VHS head coach Wayne Terry. "We had four holes in the lineup and a couple JV guys slide in, so I can't complain too much. We're a young team and the guys scrapped hard all day long."

VHS had its opportunities to make a climb up the standings in the championship round, sending five grapplers into the finals with unblemished records on the day. But it wasn't meant to be, as all five Buffalo were denied — four via bonus points — of a first-place medal in their own building.

Junior Aaron Spratt fell via third-period pinfall to Nathan Walck (Lake Mary) to open the final round at 106 pounds, before fellow junior Jonathan Overstreet was pinned in the second period by Lake Mary's Damonyai White at 120 pounds.

VHS sophomore Devinn Dunn surrendered a 13-5 major decision to Leesburg's Zavien Pennington at 126 pounds, while senior Jayce Charpentier suffered a 12-2 major decision to Vero Beach's Kevin Benjamin at 144 pounds.

Senior Karson Stanage gave the Buffalo their best shot at an individual title at 138 pounds, as he entered the third period against Leesburg's Cameron Dillon in a scoreless tie. Dillon took Stanage to his back after starting the final frame in the top position for a 3-0 lead, however, before adding a takedown with :43 seconds remaining to ultimately secure a 5-2 win.

The Villages will return to the mat at 4 p.m. on Jan. 3, when they participate in the Class 1A-District 6 Duals at Mount Dora High School. VHS captured the program's first-ever district duals title last January.

"Our coaches will have a lot to look at and talk about over these next couple days going into the holiday break," Terry said. "We'll be able to fine-tune what we've seen and hopefully head into the district duals ready to defend our title."


Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org or by calling (352) 259-6890.