COLUMBIA – Nation Ford’s Steven Johnson finished second in the state at 152-pounds and was the highest finisher of the seven local wrestlers between the Falcons and Fort Mill to make the 5A state individual tournament Saturday at Dreher High School.
“Steven got the job done to get to where he was at,” said Nation Ford head coach Tony Forte. “I am proud of him. He made this program better. He showed up every day and did what he needed to do.”
Johnson ran into a freak of nature in Byrnes’ David Hunsberger, who won by tech fall in the finals 22-7 to become a three-time state champion with the win. Hunsberger also was named Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament as well.
Fort Mill had four wrestlers in the tournament, three of which made the consolation finals. Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock was hoping for another state champion, but things didn’t go the Jackets’ way.
“I am disappointed,” he said. “I felt like we had a great week of practice. I saw a lot of improvement. Our under performance was a lack of a high intense sense of urgency. When you get to this level you have to be wide open. We were a little to reserved.”
Nation Ford had three wrestlers in the tournament, two of which fell in the first round and were eliminated.
“I would have liked to see Caden (Brandenburg) and Clayton (Rygol) wrestle a little longer,” Forte said.
In the consolation finals for Fort Mill, the Jackets’ Sebastian Colon took on Ashley Ridge’s Ben Singletary at 113-pounds and came away with a 13-8 win to finish third in the state. The Jackets’ Joshua Sturgeon faced off with Wando’s Nick Kotiw at 132-pounds in the consolation finals and won 9-6 to take third place as well. Fort Mill’s Noah Kitchton faced off in the consolation finals at 126-pounds against Hillcrest’s Colton Holmes and lost to finish fourth in the state.
Colon, an Upper State champion at 113-pounds, didn’t have to wrestle until the semifinals. Colon struggled to get any offense going against Summerville’s Ben Guilliam and ended up losing 3-2 dropping him to the consolation finals wrestling for third place. It was his first loss of the year.
Sturgeon fell 4-2 to Northwestern’s Kareem Heard in the semifinals after taking a head butt and hard fall off the mat hurting his hip in the process during the first period. The loss knocked him to the consolation bracket.
In the semifinals at 126-pounds, Kitchton lost 8-5 to Cane Bay’s Brandon Flory to move to the consolation bracket also.
The first round for the two local schools was a mixed bag of results. Fort Mill’s Aidan Eubanks lost in the first round, which was single elimination, 11-3 at 106-pounds. Nation Ford’s Caden Brandenburg also fell at 145-pounds in the first round by third period pin and the Falcons’ Clayton Rygol lost at 220-pounds to Ashley Ridge’s Chris Garland 14-9, knocking all three individuals out of the tournament.
Kitchton won his first-round match 6-2 at 126-pounds for the Jackets over Socastee’s Carmen Knapper and Sturgeon won at 132-pounds 16-2 over Chapin’s Porter Lesesne. Johnson for Nation Ford won 17-8 over Chapin’s Vince del Priore and Colon had a first-round bye for Fort Mill, the only one out of the seven local representatives to have a first-round bye.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
