While the football recruiting season is still hot and heavy, and much of the news that surrounded athletes in South Florida the past week centered around the annual Nike Miami-Dade/Broward Football Game, which was played at Flanagan High this year, we will take a step back this week and talk about wrestling.

At a time when Broward was putting away Miami-Dade, 29-20, on the football field, the annual BCAA Wrestling Tournament was in full swing at the City of Coral Springs Gymnasium, where the attention shifted to some of the BCAA’s top wrestlers.

When the dust had settled on the two day event,  St. Thomas Aquinas won its first Broward County Athletic Association championship since 2001.

With five champions, the Raiders, who won from 1998-2001, took home the team title, fighting off rival Cardinal Gibbons, which had not only own the BCAA tournaments over the past decade, but had proven to be one of the state’s best as well.

The Raiders used solid performances from freshman Alex Uhre (103), senior Joey Eterno (135), sophomore Geordan Spielar (160), senior Paul Weiss (189) and senior Mike Montejo (215) to beat out Cardinal Gibbons, Cypress Bay, Douglas and host Coral Springs.

Weiss, who remained undefeated, was named Outstanding Wrestler in the Upper Weights. Coral Glades standout Sergio Martinez remained unbeaten by winning the 145 title and the Most Valuable Middleweight Award, and Martavious Crocker of Stranahan won the 112 title and the Most Valuable Lightweight honor.

The event, which annually brings in some impressive crowds, once again took center stage this year with tremendous talent attracting fans from all over.

On Saturday night, with Damien Huttenhoff and Rocky Gillis of the BCAA on hand, the evening moved along with some great matches as well as special awards.

Longtime wrestling official Wilbur Johnson was added to the BCAA Wrestling Hall of Fame for his over three decades of service to the sport.

The Hall of Fame, headed up by Allen Held (South Broward), Frank Pettineo (Cardinal Gibbons) and Ron Schulz of Nova, annually inducts wrestlers, coaches, officials and contributors into the Hall.

While Johnson was the only recipient of the award this year, 2011 has already had a list of names that will join the many who have been enshrined.

“We have already started to work on a list that could be our largest ever for 2011,” said Held. “Each year we are excited to add more into this fraternity that brings those who have done so much for the sport.”

Here is a look at the results of the finals and consolation matches:

BCAA Championships:
103: Alex Uhre (St. Thomas Aquinas) maj. dec. Rafael Arvelo (Monarch) 14-0. 112: Martavious Crocker (Stranahan) maj. dec. David Walters (Cardinal Gibbon) 12-1. 119: Andrew Wisdom (Nova) tech. fall Mattheus Souza (Taravella) 19-3. 125: Marcos Gomes (Douglas) p. Elijah Bowles (Nova) 1:53. 130: Kester Mark (South Broward) p. Elias Kawaja (Douglas) 5:37. 135: C.J. Burke (Cardinal Gibbons) dec. Joey Eterno (St. Thomas Aquinas) 13-8. 140: Max Becks (Nova) dec. Sam Grossman (Douglas) 8-2. 145: Santiago Martinez (Coral Glades) dec. Vinny Jiovenetta (Douglas) 5-2. 152: Alex Dahl (Cypress Bay) dec. Nic Lagriola (Cardinal Gibbons) 11-5. 160: Geordan Speillar (St. Thomas Aquinas) p. Sam Friedfeld (Everglades) 3:15. 171: Walid Boggio (Cypress Bay) p. Richard Englar (Flanagan) 5:18. 189: Paul Weiss (St. Thomas Aquinas) inj. def. Elson Civilma (Deerfield Beach). 215: Mike Montejo (St. Thomas Aquinas) dec. Djwany Mera (South Broward) 12-4. 285: Kevin Williams (Flanagan) p. Robert Whittaker (Cardinal Gibbons) 2:32.

Consolation finals:
103: Brandon Sierra (Coral Springs Charter) dec. Ryan Kuse (Everglades) 7-4. 112: Nick Christos (Deerfield Beach) p. Jordan Clein (Cypress Bay) 3:25. 119: Ari Malca (Western) dec. Lucas Gama (Monarch) 3-1 (OT). 125: Dwanill Sutton (Coconut Creek) p. J.T. Mitchell (South Broward) 5:00. 130: Tyler Goodman (Northeast) dec. Andrew Kenna (St. Thomas Aquinas) 2-1. 135: Gio Jiovenetta (Douglas) p. Jeremy Campbell (Stranahan). 140: Andrew Schot (St. Thomas Aquinas) p. George McKay (Plantation) 2:48. 145: Alex Pellecer (St. Thomas Aquinas) dec. Michael Mancino (Cypress Bay) 7-2. 152: Dennis Waters (Western) dec. Joey Darshan (Coral Springs) 3-0. 160: Elliot Brady (Cardinal Gibbons) dec. Josh Goulet (Cooper City) 5-4 (OT). 171: Miguel Baeza (Western) dec. Dylan Kolley (NE) 9-7 (2 OT). 189: Clemente Cassius (Everglades) p. Brian Jones (Plantation) 2:23. 215: Derrion Pittman (Miramar) dec. David D'Attilo (Taravella) 9-1. 285: Juan Montoya (Cypress Bay) dec. Jordan Smith (Cooper City) 3-2.

Team results:
1. St. Thomas Aquinas 257.5; 2. Cardinal Gibbons 171; 3. Cypress Bay 163; 4. Douglas 159; 5. Coral Springs 121.5; 6. South Broward 119; 7. Cooper City and Flanagan 112.5; 9. Deerfield Beach 101.5; 10. Nova 100; 11. Western 96.5; 12. Miramar 89; 13. Stranahan 86.5; 14. Everglades 84.5; 15. Coral Glades 77.5; 16. Monarch 75.5; 17. Northeast 69; 18. Coconut Creek 68.5; 19. Plantation 64.5; 20. Fort Lauderdale and Taravella 63; 22. Coral Springs Charter 57; 23. McArthur 53; 24. Dillard 28.5; 25. South Plantation and West Broward 19; 27. Piper 16; 28. Hallandale 11; 29. Boyd Anderson 9; 30. Hollywood Hills 5.

You can reach Larry Blustein via e-mail at FloridaKids1@hotmail.com. He can also be heard every Thursday night (9-10) on the Miami Dolphins High School Gridiron Report on WQAM (560 AM).