Ready for some good action on the wrestling mats?
If so, the place to be is Rock Hill High School on Friday and Saturday for the 27th annual Piedmont Medical Center Bearcat Invitational.
The field has been expanded to 26 teams this year, and it's stacked with talented teams and individuals. Greenville's Eastside, No. 1 in Class AAA, is coming back to defend its title.
The other teams in addition to Rock Hill and Eastside are Byrnes, Dorman, Fort Mill, Gaffney, Greenville, Greer, Indian Land, Irmo, J.L. Mann, Lancaster, Lugoff-Elgin, Madonna (W.Va.), North Davidson (N.C.), Northside Christian (N.C.), Northwestern, Owen (N.C.), South Pointe, Spartanburg, T.L. Hanna, Weir (W.Va.), Veritis Sports Academy (N.C.), White Knoll and York.
Matches begin at 5:50 p.m. Friday and resume at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. The two final rounds are scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets are $5 at the door each day.
TAKEDOWNS: Several local wrestling teams are off to great starts.
South Pointe is 21-0, and Sean Hira, the Stallions' stud at 103, is 28-0. Heavyweight Ra'mon Truesdale is 27-1, but recently beat the state's No. 1-ranked wrestler, Irmo's Jimmy Carson, in their weight class.
The Stallions are No. 9 in the latest poll put out by SCMat, but expect them to move up.
Fort Mill, No. 3 in Class AAAA, is 13-3, and has three wrestlers sporting 26-0 records: Brandon Fiex (130), Thomas Mockridge (160) and Max Simons (189).
That brings us to Rock Hill, which after going 2-1 at the Irmo Quads on Tuesday night, is 15-2. The Bearcats were state runners-up in Class AAAA last season and are No. 2 in the poll. That is likely to change. In Irmo, Rock Hill blasted No. 1 Fort Dorchester, 40-24.
The Bearcats beat Irmo 54-14, but lost to Class AAA's No. 1 team, Eastside, 39-28. Rock Hill has won four tournaments, including last weekend's Lexington Duals.
Rock Hill, one of the state's most storied programs, is stacked again.
The Beck brothers are back. Weston is No. 1 at 112, Seth No. 2 at 119 and Chad No. 2 at 140. Josh Tuck is No. 1 at 171.
Fort Mill has a pair of No. 1's in Fiex and Mockridge. Simons is No. 2.
South Pointe's Hira and Truesdale are ranked second in their weight classes.
REUNION: The Bearcat Invitational will be sort of a family reunion for one family.
Included in this year's field is Weir High School from Weirton, W.Va., coached by Ray Purnell. Two of his former wrestlers, brothers Perry and Kenny Montuori, live in Rock Hill. Perry Montuori's stepson, Chase Ballard, wrestles for the Bearcats.
"I think it's neat that I wrestled for coach Purnell 20 years ago, and now he's bringing his team down here to wrestle on the same floor where my son wrestles,'' Perry Montuori said. "I've taken Chase up there and let him work out with coach Purnell's wrestlers, so they know each other.''
Perry helps coach wrestling at Sullivan Middle School. Kenny is a long-distance truck driver and plans to catch the entire tournament when he returns home after stops in Nashville, Tenn., and Greenville.
Another former Purnell wrestler, Nick Pergelli, lives in Dallas and is flying in Friday.
"We're all so excited,'' said Fort Mill's Susan Richmond, mom to the Montuori brothers and grandmom to Ballard. "We get to see coach Purnell and his team, and Nick is like another son to us.
"We are a wrestling family. We are looking forward to this weekend, and it will be fun having all of us together at the tournament.''
OTHERS: Indian Land is ranked No. 2 in Class A. Chester is No. 22 in Class AAA.
In the latest rankings, which include Class AA and A wrestlers, Indian Land's Reco Hayden (215) is No. 2, Dillon Creed (140) No. 3. and Thomas Harris (145) No. 4.
Chester has no individuals ranked at this time.
