COLUMBIA – Brock Solid! Caleb Brock that is.
For years, the climb to the mountain top has been the goal for Fort Mill head wrestling coach Chris Brock. On Saturday night he finally reached that summit winning the 5A state dual wrestling championship 34-32 over the Summerville Greenwave.
With Fort Mill leading 34-28 heading into the last match, Chris Brock’s youngest son, Caleb went out at 152-pounds wrestling up knowing all he had to do to give the program’s first state dual title was not get pinned and that is exactly what he did, despite losing 15-5. Caleb Brock was coming off not wrestling for the first time in nearly two weeks after a knee injury.
“All I had to do was stay alive,” Caleb Brock said. “My goal wasn’t to win; it was just to survive and stay off my back.”
Caleb Brock said he felt the extra pressure with everything coming down to his weight class, especially with his dad being the head coach.
“I know how long he has had this goal,” he said. “I know how important it is to him. I don’t know what I would have done had I got pinned out there. But I stayed alive and survived. I knew coming into that match, I had to not get pinned. This was the most important match of my life.”
It has taken Fort Mill 25 years to get back to the state team dual finals facing off with Summerville, who has been to the mountain top 12 times since 1981, but last won a title in 2008.
Fort Mill has been on the cusp of getting to the state finals since Brock has taken over the program in 2000. On six different occasions Fort Mill made it to the Upper State finals over the past 23 years, before finally breaking through Wednesday of this week by beating Chapin 36-31.
Chris Brock summed up his feeling after winning the state title in one word – relieved.
“It has been a long time coming,” he said. “I have been chasing this since I was a kid. Thirty-three years in the business wanting to win a state title as a head coach. Certainly excited and relieved.”
Chris Brock admitted he went through a wave of emotions knowing he was sending his youngest son out to win a state championship.
“It all worked out for us,” he said. “For it to come down to the last match, the last period with my last son wrestling was incredible. It was unbelievable. A surreal experience.”
The 5A state championship started at 160-pounds with Cade Simpson leading things off for Fort Mill. The Jackets went down 3-0 after the 5-0 loss by Simpson. However, they would never trail again.
Fort Mill’s Harrison Noll took the mat at 170-pounds for the Jackets. Noll started slow, but before the end of the first period had put Fort Mill ahead 6-3 with a pin.
The Jackets’ TJ Miller came out at 182-pounds and controlled the pace of the match, wrestling smart and methodical to extend the lead for Fort Mill with a 11-3 win to keep things moving for the Jackets.
Summerville rallied to make it 10-9 with a second period pin at 195-pounds. Henry Debbout came out for Fort Mill at 220-pounds and got a quick first period pin to put the momentum back in the Jackets’ corner.
The match moved to the heavyweights which consisted of Grayson Sykes getting a 1-0 win over his opponent.
With Fort Mill leading 19-9, Lincoln Greene got a quick first period pin to give the Jackets a strong commanding lead halfway through the dual. Summerville picked up a four-point win at 113-pounds to climb back into the match. The Greenwave continued into 120-pounds with a 10-6 decision in their favor.
Fort Mill got the momentum back in their direction with a pin by Aidan Eubanks at 126-pounds in the third period to give the Jackets at 31-16 lead. That lead was shortened as Summerville again bounced back at 132-pounds with a first period pin.
Summerville pulled within three at 31-28 with two matches left. Fort Mill got a 10-4 win by Noah Kitchton at 145-pounds giving the Jackets a 34-28 lead, but put the dual coming down to the final match.
Kitchton knew the job he had to do to win and give the Jackets that extra cushion.
“I knew I had to deliver,” he said. “I thought of it as an individual state championship. It all came down to this. It feels unreal.”
Fort Mill finished their historic season 27-1 on the year and gave the school their 30th state team title in the athletic department.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
