INDIAN LAND, S.C. – It may have been a tri-match, but all the attention was on the closing act between the No. 1 ranked Fort Mill Yellow Jackets and the No. 3 ranked Indian Land Warriors.
A good start and finish by the Jackets helped overcome struggles in the middleweights, as Fort Mill won 36-25, but not after having to rally late in the match.
“Our guys fought,” said Fort Mill head coach Adam Marullo. “Every point mattered. That was what we needed, every point.”
Fort Mill opened the match with quick first period wins by Luke Van Beynum (120) and Jacob Nally (126) to go up 12-0.
Indian Land picked up a 9-6 win in overtime at 132-pounds. The Jackets bounced back with a 14-7 win by Lincoln Greene at 138-pounds as the top two wrestlers in the state at that weight class faced off.
Fort Mill kept the momentum with a 7-2 win by Jayden Nguyen (144) to push their lead to 18-3.
However, the Jackets then hit a bad stretch.
The Warriors fought their way back into the match with a 9-7 decision at 150-pounds and a first period pin at 157-pounds. Indian Land pulled within two at 18-16 with a 15-5 major decision at 165-pounds and then took a 19-18 lead with a 9-3 decision at 175-pounds.
Indian Land kept the momentum with a second period pin at 190-pounds, but the Jackets got back in the match with a first period pin by Ted Ernst (215) to pull within one and ending five straight wins by the Warriors.
Fort Mill regained the lead at heavyweight with a 3-2 win by Jonathan DaSilva to go up 27-25 with two matches left.
The Jackets clinched the match with a 15-0 tech fall by Brody Harris (106). Morrison Murphy (113) finished the dual off for Fort Mill with a 9-1 major.
The Clover Blue Eagles was the third team in the tri-match, but lost both of their matches.
Fort Mill got off to a great start against Clover to go on and get a 54-18 win.
Against Clover, the Jackets started with a pin from Van Beynum (113) to go up early. Nally (120) made quick work of his opponent to put Fort Mill up 12-0. Lincoln Marks (126) got a 20-3 tech fall and Gibson (132) got a 17-0 tech fall as well.
Greene (138) picked up a second period pin and Nguyen (144) grabbed a hard fought 13-9 win.
Keenan Coston (150) won by forfeit to put the Jackets up 37-0, while Broden Mitcheson (157) rallied to get a 9-8 decision.
Clover picked up their first win at 165-pounds, but Fort Mill bounced back with a 2-0 win at 175-pounds by Mason Metcalf.
The Blue Eagles won at 190-pounds and heavyweight, but the Jackets picked up a win at 215-pounds by Maurice Lawrence in between those weight classes. Fort Mill closed the dual out with Harris (106) winning 16-0 for a tech fall.
Fort Mill is now 13-0 on the season and 4-0 in Region 3-5A with two more region matches next week as they host Catawba Ridge and Nation Ford on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
