Lake Highland Turns School Day Into Statement Win Over Malvern Prep

In a rare midday dual packed with students and elite matchups, No. 2 Lake Highland Prep dominated No. 7 Malvern Prep 38–15 in a national showcase.

Lake Highland Prep's Nadav Nafshi picked up a win at 175 with an 8-3 decision over Malvern Prep's Chase Hetrick. / Lake Highland Prep Wrestling

On Friday afternoon at Lake Highland Prep in Florida a unique set of circumstances played out as the No. 2 Highlanders hosted No. 7 Malvern Prep from Pennsylvania in a high school wrestling match while classes were being held throughout the school.

A School-Day Dual That Felt Like a Championship Event

“(It was) super fun to have the event actually the during school,” offered Lake Highland coach Mike Palazzo. “For us a very big deal considering how rare it is to be in our home gym. Our student body was loud and proud. The future is bright! Gotta give a big thanks to our Administration in supporting the decision to do so.”

A stream of classes poured in and out of the gym as time progressed. They would stay in 30-minute increments. It kept the excitement high, but on this day, the wrestlers didn’t need the extra pomp surrounding their “Senior Day” match as their exploits on the mat would have energized them alone as they nailed down wins in four of the first six bouts and then reeled off an five-match winning streak to seal what would be a 38-15 victory.

“It was a good day; once a year we are able to compete at home and the guys definitely made the most of it,” Lake Highland coach Mike Palazzo elaborated. “(It’s) hard to get the competition to come down; and hard to find the dates that work to get our gym. The future will look different with our new Wrestling Facility and Athletic Complex, which has broken ground and is in progress.”

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Seventh Grader Sets the Tone With Statement Win

Since this was on their campus, Lake Highland could dictate the terms to Malvern as Blair had done to them in regard to top-rated middle schooler, Lucas Layne. In Florida, seventh graders can and do wrestle varsity matches, so Layne would be strutting out to face Beast of the East Champion, No. 2 Evan Cies at 106 pounds.

Layne gave a glimpse of what his inclusion in the Highlander lineup will look like next yar at the National Prep Tournament when he set the tone for how the whole affair would go by tearing into Cies and working to a 13-4 major decision. Eighth graders are eligible for the National Prep Tournament.

“(I was) happy to hopefully see the nation give our 106 pounder his due and include him as a true LHP standout,” said Palazzo. “He’s 14-0 in his high school debut with some truly significant wins. Excited to continue to see his progress.”

Top-10 Matchups Highlight National Showcase

The rankings we are referring to here are from the third edition of the National Prep Tournament rankings where Malvern Prep’s Justin Farnsworth sits atop the 113-pound order. The junior was not in the fold, and the Friars had no one in his stead, so they forfeited to No. 6 Liam McGettigan.

Given the end result, Mr. Farnsworth’s attendance would have probably resulted in a more respectable outcome for the Friars, but it would not have swayed the ultimate result. It could have changed the early tone of a match that was overflowing with excitement after No. 4 Liam Davis secured the third straight win for the Highlanders, 1-0, over No. 5 Rocco Lombardo for a 13-0 start.

It was the third meeting between the 120 pounders with Davis winning all of them and this one earned on an escape marking the closest of the batch as PowerAde was the scene of a 12-4 major decision and Davis added a 5-3 decision at Ironman to their rivalry.

Lukas Littleton-Mascaro is rated number three at 132 pounds and made the drop to 126 here and got Malvern off the schneid with a banging 16-1 technical fall over Ethan Reilly. No. 1 Shamus Regan beat the guy Littleton switched with, No. 12 Brendan Kelly, 4-1, at 132 pounds.

An Escape the Rock rematch was slated for 138 pounds between the hosts’, No. 3 Yandel Morales and Malvern’s No. 2 Tyler Conroy. Conroy put up a major decision, blanking Morales 9-0 the first time. On this occasion, buoyed by the friendly faces surrounding him, Morales closed the gap to a 1-0 loss.

After Conroy’s hard earned “W”, the Friars were trailing by eight points, 16-8. No. 2 Matt O’Neill was coming out at 144 pounds for another rematch, this one from the Beast of the East Finals, which No. 1 Tyler DeKraker won 7-2 in the ultimate tiebreaker when he hit a big series to finish.

Five-Bout Run Breaks Match Wide Open

It appeared, O’Neill was the one who was making a late splash this time out, but the ending flurry was negated and DeKraker put a second win over O’Neill on his profile, 5-4, firing off the first of five victories that put the dual away.

Three National Prep Champs in a row, Charlie DeSena (150 pounds), Zeno Moore (157), and Lucas Boe (165) set the stage for No. 3 Nadav Nafshi to snuff out the Friars at 175 pounds when he won an 8-3 encounter with No. 4 Chase Hetrick. Nafshi’s points raised the count to 35-8 in favor of the Floridians with three left to contest.

DeSena, who is top rated at 150, came out ahead of an 8-3 tally with No. 4 Declan O’Byrne. Moore is the top man at 157 pounds and discarded No. 5 Raymond Fitzgerald on a 17-1 tech fall. Boe is ranked fourth and manhandled the unranked Charlie Morgan, 18-3.

After the good vibes of the win simmered a bit, Malvern’s No. 5 Mason Chamberlain stepped in as the buzz killer when he had an easy time taking out No. 2 Jackson Angelo, 10-3.

At 215 pounds, Lake Highland’s No. 4 Colton Bell won the rubber match with No. 5 Bradley DiMiglio, 2-2 in the ultimate tiebreaker. DiMiglio won 11-9 at PowerAde and Bell edged him 3-2 at Escape the Rock. Malvern Prep closed it out with a win as No. 2 Lukas Zalota posted a 10-0 shutout of No. 8 Grant Silverfield at 285 pounds.

What the Win Says About Lake Highland’s Title Ceiling

“Overall, solid; I have liked seeing our progress through the season and today kept that in forward motion” Palazzo said. “We take on a real deal schedule and today was the first time we have been able to have all pieces of the puzzle running. And that’s a very hard group to beat.” 

Lake Highland Prep 38, Malvern Prep 15

(match started at 106)

106-Lucas Layne (L) maj-dec Evan Cie, 13-4

113-Liam McGettigan (L) won by forfeit

120-Liam Davis (L) dec Rocco Lombardo, 1-0

126-Lukas Littleton-Mascaro (M) tech-fall Ethan Reilly, 16-1

132-Shamus Regan (L) dec Brendan Kelly, 4-1

138-Tyler Conroy (M) dec Yandel Morales, 1-0

144-Tyler DeKraker (L) dec Matt O’Neill, 5-4

150-Charlie DeSena (L) dec Declan O’Byrne, 8-3

157-Zeno Moore (L) tech-fall Raymond Fitzgerald, 17-1

165-Lucas Boe (L) tech-fall Charlie Morgan, 18-3

175-Nadav Nafshi (L) dec Chase Hetrick, 8-3

190-Mason Chamberlain (M) dec Jackson Angelo, 10-3

215-Colton Bell (L) dec Bradley DiMiglio, 2-2 UTB

285-Lukas Zalota (M) maj-dec Grant Silverfield, 10-0