Check out The Herald’s 2020-21 All-Area wrestling teams and honorable mentions

The Herald’s choices for Wrestler of the Year and Coach of the Year reflect two of the more interesting stories to emerge from this past season.

First, consider our choice for Coach of the Year — Michael Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald, who started the Clover High School wrestling program 18 years ago, saw success he’d never seen before in 2021. His program defeated three teams ranked in the South Carolina preseason top-15 — Dorman, Chapin and Fort Mill — en route to Clover’s first-ever region championship.

The Blue Eagles were talented and deep. Led by a group of seniors determined to “go out as winners” and their Region 3-5A Coach of the Year, they put together an admirable postseason run: Clover fell to eventual 5A state champion, Hillcrest, in the second round of the dual season playoffs. And they also had several go on to qualify and place in the individual 5A state tournament — a feat made more impressive when you consider that the field of state qualifiers was limited to just the top-three finishers at the Upper State championships this year.

The second interesting story? Consider our choice for Wrestler of the Year — Kaleem Heard.

Heard (132) notched his fourth straight state title this year. The senior and North/South All-Star selection, who spent his first three seasons competing for York Comprehensive High, transferred to Northwestern this season and was part of one of the best Northwestern wrestling seasons ever. The Trojans defeated Rock Hill for the first time in 15 years and for only the third time since 1977.

Another interesting point on Heard’s success was that he emerged as the best wrestler in an incredibly competitive 132 weight class in the Tri-County this year: The top three finishers in the weight division at 5A came out of York County — including Heard’s 5A state final opponent, Yannis Charles of Clover.

Others had years to remember besides Fitzgerald and Heard. See The Herald’s full All-Area team selections and honorable mentions below.

The Herald’s All-Area wrestling teams

Coach of the Year: Michael Fitzgerald

Wrestler of the Year: Kaleem Heard

First team

(106) Jaden Charles of Clover: The Blue Eagle freshman was this year’s 5A Upper State champion. He finished fourth at the state tournament.

(113) Sebastian Colon of Fort Mill: The decorated senior and North/South All-Star selection had an overall season record of 17-1 and finished third in the 5A state tournament.

(120) Irving Cabrera of Northwestern: Cabrera, a sophomore, finished with an overall record of 19-2 and second in the 5A state tournament.

(126) Alan Powell of South Pointe: The senior Stallion was the 4A Upper State champion and the state runner-up.

(132) Kaleem Heard of Northwestern.

(138) Dylan Layton of Indian Land: Layton won a 4A Upper State and state championship this season. Layton also won an individual state title in 2020.

(145) Cole Arrington of South Pointe: Arrington, a senior, finished second at the state championships.

(152) Steven Johnson of Nation Ford: The Nation Ford senior had a special year: He finished with a record of 15-2 and placed second in the end-of-year state tournament. Johnson went his junior and senior seasons without losing a match in dual meets, too, and was selected to the North/South All-Star team.

(160) Pearson Borders of South Pointe: The senior and North/South All-Star selection finished third at the state tournament.

(170) Asa Walton of Clover: Walton, a senior, finished second at states and also was selected to the North/South All-Star match.

(182) Nygel Moore of South Pointe: Moore, a senior, was this year’s 4A state champion in his weight division. He also was the starting running back on the South Pointe football team.

(195) Noah Lee of Northwestern: Lee finished his junior season with a 14-6 record. He was the Region 4-5A champion and a state qualifier.

(220) Isaac McLellan of Northwestern: McLellan — another Northwestern state champion — went 20-2 in his junior season. He also won a Region 4-5A championship.

(285) Octaveon Minter of Chester: The senior finished second in the 3A Upper State tournament and fourth at states. Minter will play football at South Carolina State next season.

Second team

(106) Aiden Eubans of Fort Mill: Eubanks qualified for the 5A state tournament and finished his season with a 12-4 record.

(113) Colton Smith of Rock Hill: The Bearcat sophomore (7-2) finished as the Region 4-5A champion and qualified for the 5A state tournament with a runner-up finish at Upper States.

(120) Drew Endres of Indian Land: Endres won a 3A state title last year at the 106 weight, and had another good showing this year: The junior finished second in the 4A state tournament.

(126) Noah Kitchton of Fort Mill: The sophomore finished fourth in the 5A state tournament.

(132) Yannis Charles of Clover and Spencer Cox of South Pointe: Charles finished second in the 5A state tournament, and Cox finished second in the 4A tournament.

(138) Enoch Long of Clover and Javon Pacheco of Northwestern: Both Long and Pacheco qualified for the 5A state tournament.

(145) Caden Bradenburg of Nation Ford: The junior state qualifier finished with a 12-4 overall record and placed third in the 5A Upper State tournament.

(152) Grant Witherspoon of Indian Land: Witherspoon, a senior, finished fourth at the 4A state championship tournament.

(160) Eric Byrd of Lancaster: Byrd finished fourth at the 4A state tournament.

(170) Jordan Bowser of Chester: The junior finished third in the 3A state tournament.

(182) TJ Stacey of Clover: Stacey, a senior and a wrestler head coach Fitzgerald once called his team’s “go-to” guy, finished fourth in the 5A state tournament.

(195) RJ Lincoln of Catawba Ridge: Catawba Ridge head coach Scooter Weathers wishes he could have Lincoln for four years: The senior — who won two region championships in the school’s first two years of existence and finished fourth in the 4A Upper State tournament in 2021 — will graduate as the school leader in wins (45) and pins (44). Lincoln also was a key part of the Copperheads’ football team.

(220) Graysen Latham of Clover: The sophomore finished fourth at the 5A state tournament.

(285) Garrett Pfirman of Rock Hill: The junior finished his season 5-3 and as the Region 4-5A champion.

Honorable mentions

▪ Daniel Barfield, Andrew Jackson (106)

▪ Kameron Read, Rock Hill (106)

▪ Cory Dye, Northwestern (113)

▪ Trent Bowser, Chester (126)

▪ Joshua Sturgeon, Fort Mill (132)

▪ Wilton Grice, Clover (145)

▪ A’Michael Green, Northwestern (152)

▪ Rathael Pendergrass, Chester (160)

▪ CaLique Cunningham, Northwestern (160)

▪ Dawson Cashier, Rock Hill (160)

▪ Trent Ottinger, Indian Land (170)

▪ Foster Lambert, Indian Land (182)

▪ Demetrius Bledsoe, Rock Hill (182)

▪ Kaevon Gardner, Clover (195)

▪ Clayton Rygol, Nation Ford (220)

The boys’ basketball All-Area teams published Tuesday online, and the girls’ basketball All-Area teams dropped Wednesday.

This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Check out The Herald’s 2020-21 All-Area wrestling teams and honorable mentions."

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.