Two of the top teams in the state hit the mats in the finals of the Venom Duals at Catawba Ridge Wednesday.
The No. 2 ranked 5A team in Fort Mill beat the No. 2 ranked 4A Northwestern Trojans 38-25 in the finals of the Venom Duals. Fort Mill went 2-0 in the dual tournament that also featured Nation Ford, Catawba Ridge, South Pointe and Lancaster. Fort Mill is 3-0 on the season.
“Northwestern is an awesome program,” said Fort Mill head coach Adam Marullo. “I knew it was going to be a good test. It is a good win for us. We aren’t where we need to be.”
Northwestern went up 3-0 winning the first match of their dual, but Fort Mill quickly bounced back after getting a pinfall win from Keenan Coston at 144-pounds. Cade Simpson got a forfeit win at 150-pounds to put Fort Mill up 12-3, but Northwestern won at 157-pounds, before the match got interesting.
Fort Mill got a win at 165-pounds with Jack Kadish picking up a forfeit after Northwestern got three team points deducted and their coach pulled their wrestler off the mat. That gave Fort Mill an 18-6 lead, versus a 12-9 lead.
The Jackets got two more wins by Sebastian Villatoro at 190-pounds and Joseph Richardson at 215-pounds to go up 27-12. Fort Mill clinched the match getting wins at 106-pounds by Luke Van Beynum and a tech fall by Jacob Nally at 113-pounds.
Fort Mill got to the finals of the tournament by beating Nation Ford 70-4. Winning for the Jackets in that match was Tucker Gibson (126), Logan Shope (132), Gavin Mitcheson (138), Simpson (150), Jalen Cundiff-Potts (157), Kadish (165), Theodore Ernst (175), Villatoro (190), Richardson (215), Grayson Sykes (hwt.), Van Beynum (106), Nally (113), and Lincoln Greene (120). The only wrestler getting a win for Nation Ford was Mitchell Ladamus at 144-pounds.
Catawba Ridge finished third in the Venom Duals beating Nation Ford 40-37 in a back-and-forth match. The lead changed six times in the match with Catawba Ridge getting a dual clinching victory from Josh Gets at 126-pounds to put them up 40-31 at that point in the second to the last match of the dual.
Getting wins for the Copperheads was Ryan Stukitz (150), Jackson Rozelle (165), Jarrett Eubanks (190), Alex Johnson (215), Jacob Webster (hwt.), and Angel Acosta (120). Winning for Nation Ford was Jace Smith (138), Ladamus (144), Todd Lindquist (165), Deshaun Flowers (175), Avneet Kaur (106), Jacob Moore (113), and Danny Gilstorf (132).
Earlier in the event, Catawba Ridge beat Lancaster 48-36 and lost to South Pointe 51-24. The Copperheads are 2-1 on the season.
“We didn’t start off too well,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Nick Hansen. “We had to pick it up. I am proud of them. They worked hard.”
Nation Ford also got wins over Lancaster 58-18 and South Pointe 46-30 and went 2-2 in the dual competition to open their season.
Nov. 29 Roundup
The Fort Mill boys’ basketball team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 55-51 win over Christ Church. AJ Washington and Christian McCain each had 16 points to lead the Jackets. Nas Berry finished with 11 points in the win as well.
The Fort Mill girls’ basketball team also improved to 2-0 beating Christ Church 52-20. Clare Moore led Fort Mill with 14 points.
Fort Mill will play Catawba Ridge next on Friday, Dec. 1 at Nation Ford High School.
(John Turner contributed to this article)
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
