ROCK HILL – Some sporting events have that extra little rush of adrenaline to them. When the Fort Mill and Rock Hill wrestling teams square off, that rush gets amplified.
Fifth-ranked Fort Mill (16-5, 1-0 Region 3-5A) edged seventh-ranked Rock Hill (21-10, 1-1 Region 3-5A) on the road 36-28 in another classic battle between the two schools, which saw the lead change seven times during the dual, as the match wasn’t decided until the final weight class.
“This is a classic Rock Hill-Fort Mill dual,” said Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock, who recently got his 400th career dual win. “Sometimes wrestling can be flat, but no matter how the season is going, it is always something between us. There is always going to be fireworks.”
Fort Mill rallied from down by seven points with three matches to go and won the last three matches of the evening with Avery Wilcox coming up big for the Jackets. Wilcox went into his match at 182-pounds needing to win to give Fort Mill the dual victory. He would get a second period pin fall allowing the Jackets to secure the win.
Recent history has usually foreshadowed the winner of the dual between the two schools going on to win the region title. However, with realignment coming next school year, Rock Hill and Fort Mill won’t be in the same region, so there won’t be as much riding on the duals between the two schools if they were to meet head-to-head.
The two schools started the match off at 195-pounds with Fort Mill getting a slim 1-0 win by Dylan Honaker to take a 3-0 lead. Rock Hill came right back to tie the match at 3-3 as Maurice Bonneau picked up a 6-4 decision for the Bearcats at 220-pounds.
Rock Hill would then take their first lead at heavyweight getting a first period pin by Garrett Pfirman. Each team would start trading wins, but the Bearcats would hold onto the lead. Rock Hill’s Colton Smith would get a pin fall at 106-pounds, and Fort Mill’s Sebastian Colon would come back to get a pin of his own at 113-pounds, along with a pin from Cayden Richard at 120-pounds to allow the Jackets to climb back into the match trailing 15-14.
At this point, the intensity that is widely known between the two schools started to pick up as they would each swapped the lead over the next five matches.
Fort Mill would take the lead at 18-15 with a 14-6 decision by Joshua Sturgeon at 126-pounds, as the Jackets rattled off their third straight win. Rock Hill was coming into the heart of their lineup as Bailey Wilkins would get a tech fall 18-3 to give the Bearcats the lead once again.
A 5-4 decision by Nick Stalford at 138-pounds put Fort Mill back in front, but just long enough for Jose Mora to give Rock Hill that lead right back at 145-pounds with a 12-3 major decision to make it 24-21.
With only four matches left, it looked as of Rock Hill was going to win as they got a 11-3 major decision from Michael Ramirez at 152-pounds to make it 28-21, before Fort Mill would win three straight matches.
The first of those three wins came with a forfeit win for Josh CIzmadia for Fort Mill at 160-pounds to close the score again to within one at 28-27. The Jackets would then take the lead for good as Aubrey Schaffer would pick up a 7-4 decision at 170-pounds to give Fort Mill the 30-28 lead heading into the Wilcox match at 182-pounds.
The win for Fort Mill opened their region schedule as they now focus their attention on an away dual at Clover Jan 21.
Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM
