Southeast Wrestler Manages Consolation Victory

Southeast High did not advance any individual wrestlers to state Saturday at the Class 1A-Region 3 meet it hosted, but there was one match, a consolation quarterfinal, that Josh Gordon was proud of.

Against Cypress Lake's Josh Rohde, the Southeast 189-pound senior stopped simply trying to throw a man around.

“I just like to wrestle,” Gordon said.

Instead, he went in with – imagine this – a plan.

And he defeated Rohde, a former state qualifier, in a 5-1 decision.

“I kept my mind straight and I stayed focused,” Gordon said. “I'm not one of those guys with all kinds of weird moves.”

But Gordon didn't need weird moves.

“He was riding real well on top and he just managed the match,” Southeast coach Daniel Bradshaw said of Gordon. “Normally he goes in without a plan, and that match he went in with a plan – to go the distance, keep it close and not to be risky.”

Gordon lost a fifth-place final, however, to Tampa Jesuit's Max Gallagy.

Southeast's Bobby Wooten also dropped a fifth-place final. Wooten said he was glad he was able to score two takedowns in a consolation match against Lutz Steinbrenner's Tyler Reed. Still, Wooten lost, 7-4.

“I thought he was going to totally annihilate me,” Wooten said. “I'm normally not a 'shot' person. But I thought it was my senior year, and I wanted to do something. So I shot when I had a chance.”

The top four individuals in each class went to state, so the Southeast duo came up a win short of qualifying.

Northside Christian won the meet - qualifying the team for state - with 147.5 points, followed by South Fort Myers (131), Jesuit (90.5) and Steinbrenner (87).

Sarasota Booker placed 16^th as Dymek Kazimierz won the 285-pound championship, pinning Berkley Prep's Greg Tomlin at 4:33.

Gordon, meanwhile, hopes Southeast will return to prominence behind freshmen Joey Fazio and Kane Takacs, both of whom went 2-2 in the tournament.

“We're very excited for next year,” Gordon said.