Both Fort Mill and Nation Ford opened their respective wrestling seasons with wins Saturday.
Fort Mill went 2-1 in a quad-match at York Comprehensive High, while Nation Ford beat Blythewood in a dual match.
The Jackets opened the day by running through the first opponent in Whitmire winning 72-6. Whitmire had just four wrestlers, so the match went rather quickly as 10 of the 14 weight classes were won in a forfeit for Fort Mill.
Those wrestlers getting forfeit wins for the Jackets were Aidan Eubanks (106), Sebastian Colon (113), McGuire Harms (120), Cayden Richard (126), George Mandon (152), Henry Debbout (170), Kannon Osborne (182), Connor Montgomery (195), Joshua Smith (220) and Flynn Hyde at heavyweight.
Getting actual wrestling wins were Joshua Sturgeon with a 16-1 tech fall at 138-pounds, TJ Miller with a 6-3 win at 145-pounds and Brian Kelley with a 13-1 major decision at 160-pounds.
The real competition for the Jackets started with York, as all 14 weight classes got into the mix leading to a 59-21 win for the Jackets. Fort Mill started at 113-pounds and won the first three matches to go up 18-0 with Sebastian Colon getting things started off with a first period pin. Also winning were McGuire Harms (120) and Cayden Richard (126) both by pinfall.
Sturgeon added another win with a pin followed by pins from Mandon (152) and Kelley to go up 36-12. Other Fort Mill wrestlers getting wins by pinfall were Osborne (182), Montgomery (195) and Smith (220). Rounding out the scoring for Fort Mill was a 15-0 win from Eubanks at 106-pounds.
Fort Mill’s toughest competition of the day was their match against South Pointe, who started strong and eventually pulled away from the Jackets after the first several matches, winning 43-26. South Pointe went up 6-0, but Fort Mill got a pinfall win from Richard to tie it at 6-6. South Pointe regained the lead and wouldn’t lose it again with a win at 132-pounds.
Sturgeon got a 6-1 decision and Mandon would win by pin to make it 18-15 in the Stallions’ favor. From there South Pointe would win the next four matches to go up 37-12. Fort Mill tried to rally winning three of the last four matches with Montgomery getting a 9-6 decision, Eubanks getting a pinfall win and Colon getting a 16-1 tech fall.
Overall Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock was just happy his team could get some actual matches under their belt having delayed the start of their season by three weeks because of coronavirus issues within the district cancelling the last two weeks of December for them.
“It is nice to finally wrestle,” he said. “I am glad to get them back on the mat. Hopefully, the worse is behind us (regarding the virus).”
Fort Mill is scheduled to open their Region 3-5A matches at Gaffney Jan. 13 in a tri-match with Gaffney and Boiling Springs, a match that was postponed from Jan. 4.
Nation Ford wins by criteria
The Falcons and Blythewood battled to a tie at 39-39 for their match, but Nation Ford got the win on criteria based on least number of forfeits.
Jake Moore started things off with a win at 106-pounds for Nation Ford with a first period pin. His win was followed by a forfeit for Mitchell Landaus at 113-pounds. Dalton Curtsinger got a 10-7 decision at 120-pounds to put the Falcons up 15-0.
Blythewood picked up three straight wins to tie the match at 15, before Nation Ford would rattle off three consecutive wins. Caden Brandenburg got a first period pin at 145-pounds and both Steven Johnson (152) and Isaac Nivens (160) got wins by forfeit to put Nation Ford up 33-15.
Blythewood would win four straight matches to go up 39-33 and needed a win at heavyweight to secure the win. However, Nation Ford’s heavyweight Alan Minarro would get a first period pin for the Falcons to tie the match at 39, before criteria would go into effect.
Nation Ford is scheduled to head into a very important Region 3-5A quad match Tuesday against Clover, Gaffney and Boiling Springs taking care of the majority of their region schedule in one night. The Falcons will also have a match next Saturday, Jan. 16 against Catawba Ridge.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
