LEXINGTON – Fort Mill assistant wrestling coach AJ Leitten summed it up the best.
“This team will go down as one of the best in history,” Leitten said, after the Jackets won their fourth consecutive dual state title.
It was supposed to be difficult, but it wasn’t as the Fort Mill Yellow Jackets wrestling program cruised to a fourth consecutive state championship rolling through the Lugoff-Elgin Demons on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at White Knoll High School. Fort Mill pummeled the Demons 52-11 and trailed just one time in the match finishing the season at a perfect 30-0.
“We grind every day,” said Fort Mill senior Lincoln Greene. “There is so much pain that goes into it. It proves that everyday we work hard. It is amazing what we were able to accomplish. It is everyone that accomplished it.”
Fort Mill came into the match going for their 67th consecutive win and fourth straight state championship. The Jackets beat Lugoff-Elgin last season in the state championship for its third consecutive title. Only boys’ tennis with five consecutive state titles in the 1990s had more consecutive state championships than the Jackets wrestling program.
“We didn’t let off the gas during practice,” said Fort Mill head coach Adam Marullo. “Our guys stepped up and competed. These kids are putting in the work and getting the job done. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Fort Mill had been used to plowing through people for the most part this season, but Marullo felt like it wasn’t going to be as easy against Lugoff-Elgin as it had been all season. He was wrong.
“We beat some really good wrestlers,” Marullo said. “When we beat those, it really helped us. They moved some guys around and gave us some tough matches.”
The draw for the dual started at 132-pounds, as Cole Wartinger led off for the Jackets. Wartinger lost 9-4 by decision, but didn’t give up any bonus points at the Demons went up 3-0 early.
Cooper Van Beynum (138) tied the match for Fort Mill with a 7-6 decision and Jayden Nguyen (144) picked up the first pin of the match with a fall in the third period to put the Jackets on top.
Keenan Coston (150) picked up a 15-0 tech fall and Lincoln Greene (157), who bumped up a weight class, locked up a 16-0 tech fall as well for Fort Mill.
The Jackets’ Broden Mitcheson (165) kept things rolling for Fort Mill with a 13-7 decision to push their lead to 22-3.
Lugoff-Elgin picked up a 13-3 major decision at 175-pound, picking up just one bonus point in the process. Despite the loss, it allowed momentum to stay with the Jackets.
Fort Mill got the bonus points back as Maurice Lawrence (190) picked up a 21-5 tech fall to separate the Jackets from Lugoff-Elgin by 20 points.
The Demons picked up another major decision at 215-pounds, but at heavyweight Krystian Villatoro picked up a first period pin to push the score to 33-11. Then Peter Escudero (106) cliched the title with a 19-4 tech fall.
Morrison Murphy (113) also picked up a 21-6 tech fall for the Jackets and Luke Van Beynum (120) won with an 18-second first period pin.
Grayson Wallen (126) finished off the dual with a 4-1 decision for the Jackets.
The team state championship for the Jackets was No. 43 for the athletic department.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
