It was a day of highs and lows for local wrestlers, as day two of the 5A Upper State individual wrestling tournament saw the host Nation Ford Falcons qualify three for the state tournament.
While the Falcons qualified three of four wrestlers, Fort Mill, who qualified four in day one of the tournament, was shutout in day two with none of their other four making it to the state tournament.
Nation Ford saw Caden Brandenburg (145), Steven Johnson (152) and Clayton Rygol (220) lock in their places for the 5A state tournament next Saturday at Dreher High School.
“I’m really excited,” said Falcons’ head coach Tony Forte. “The kids wrestled well. I think we did okay.”
Johnson finished second falling in the Upper State finals 4-3 for his first loss of the year to two-time defending state champion and number one ranked David Hunsberger of Byrnes. Johnson would maintain his second-place finish holding off TL Hanna’s Trajan Carrol 18-7 in the wrestle-backs.
Rygol finished third initially in the consolation finals coming back from down 4-0 to Rock Hill’s Waverly Brooks, to get a third period pin. Rygol would then challenge Clover’s Graysen Latham for second place in the wrestle-backs and win 5-4 to move up to second place.
Brandenburg would win 8-3 in the consolation finals over Clover’s Wilton Grice, but wouldn’t need to participate in the wrestle-backs for second place.
Fort Mill will be taking four wrestlers, all in the lower weight classes, who qualified on day one of the tournament. Those wrestlers are Aiden Eubanks (106), Sebastian Colon (113), Noah Kitchton (126) and Joshua Sturgeon (132).
“The four we have are all capable of placing,” said Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock. “Some may have a more difficult time than others. I am just glad we made it to this point.”
In the 4A Upper State tournament at Eastside High, Catawba Ridge had just one wrestler in RJ Lincoln. Lincoln failed to qualify for the state tournament falling in the 195-pound consolation finals 10-8 needing a win to qualify for the 4A state tournament.
Boys soccer
In the Bryan Ostrower High School Soccer Showcase, Nation Ford boys’ soccer punched their ticket to the tournament semifinals with a 2-0 win over Dorman. Nation Ford lost to Rock Hill earlier on Saturday 1-0. They will face Northwestern in the semifinals of the tournament Sunday morning. Clover will play Dorman in the other semifinals.
In the same tournament, Catawba Ridge beat Brookland-Cayce 3-0 and played TL Hanna to a 4-4 tie. Fort Mil tied James Island 0-0. In the tournament Friday, Nation Ford beat Indian Land 6-0 and Clover and Catawba Ridge battled to a 1-1 tie. Northwestern beat Fort Mill 1-0 on day one of the tournament as well.
Lacrosse
In local lacrosse, the Nation Ford girls beat Catawba Ridge 23-3. Nation Ford girls are 3-0, while Catawba Ridge girls are 1-2 on the season. The Catawba Ridge boys’ team beat TL Hanna 9-8 to improve to 1-1 on the season and the Nation Ford boys team beat Myers Park 9-6 to improve to 1-1 as well.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
