GAFFNEY – The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets jumped out to a big lead in both Region 3-5A matches Wednesday night and cruised to wins in both.
Fort Mill opened their region season at Gaffney wrestling the host team and Boiling Springs. The Jackets are now 2-0 in the region, but still have tough matches ahead with Clover and Nation Ford to finish their region schedule.
The Jackets beat Boiling Springs 62-18 and then added a 56-11 win over Gaffney afterwards. Fort Mill will now host Buford Friday night at home in a previously unscheduled match, after having to scratch a tri-match at Indian Land off their schedule due to the Warriors having coronavirus issues within their school.
Against Boiling Springs, Fort Mill jumped out to a 32-0 lead before dropping a match. Aidan Eubanks (106) got the match started with a forfeit win, before Sebastian Colon (113) and Logan Shope (120) each got major decisions. McGuire Harms (126), Noah Kitchton (132) and Joshua Sturgeon (138) all got pins to extend the Jackets lead.
After dropping a match at 145-pounds, Fort Mill bounced back and won the next two with George Mandon (152) and Brian Kelley (160) each getting first period pins. Fort Mill would then win four of the next five matches with Kannon Osborne (182), Connor Montgomery (195) and Flynn Hyde (220) getting pins.
In the match against Gaffney, Fort Mill dropped the first match at 106-pounds, but then picked up eight straight wins. Colon and Harms won by forfeit, while Cayden Richard (126) won with a first period pin, before Kitchton would win by forfeit.
Sturgeon picked up his 100th career win with a second period pin as he becomes the 22nd Jackets’ wrestler to join the club. With the win, Sturgeon joins his older brother, Jacob, who graduated in 2019, in the 100-win club, as they become just the third brother duo (Leitten, Brotemarkle) to get 100 wins at the school.
Following his win, TJ Miller would get a 5-3 win at 145-pounds and Mandon would get a forfeit win, before Kelley battled to a 2-1 decision. Osborne would win with a pin and Montgomery would win 1-0 in sudden death. Hyde finished out the evening getting a forfeit win at heavyweight.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
