Top-ranked Fort Mill opens Region IV schedule with win over Northwestern

The Fort Mill wrestling team bounced back from the Wildcat Duals by opening up its Region IV schedule beating Northwestern 46-27.

Fort Mill now heads into this week still ranked No. 1 in 5A and will face No. 3 ranked Rock Hill at home in an important region match. Against Northwestern, the Jackets got wins from Jacob Sturgeon (113), Brody Claassen (126), Chris King (132), Jake Hart (152), Wade Brock (195), Jack Kelley (220) and J’Quan Johnson (Hwt.).

The Jackets were without senior A.J. Leitten, sitting at 156 career wins – just 10 wins away from setting a new school record, who missed the match with an injury. Leitten is 29-0 this season.

Fort Mill is coming off a less than normal performance at the Wildcat Duals, where they went 3-3 and finished sixth in the tournament. The Jackets opened the duals falling to River Bluff 40-18, but bounced back in their second match to beat Westside 56-21. They kept that momentum in their match against Spring Valley with a 45-22 win, but were tripped up against Rock Hill 37-26.

In day two of the tournament, Fort Mill opened the day by beating Summerville 44-27 after taking a 38-0 lead. The Jackets got wins from Zach Hornbrook (120), Claassen (126), Joseph Banny (132), Leitten (138), Hart (145), Josh Cizmadia (152), Malik Campbell (160), Brock (195), and McKenzie Larson (113).

In their final match of the duals, results came down to the final weight class, which the Jackets lost by decision to fall to Chapin 33-31. Fort Mill again started out of the gates on fire going up 22-0, but faltered some in the heavier weight classes. Chapin rallied back to go up 24-22 before Fort Mill got a 9-7 decision by Avery Wilcox at 106. They would then go up 31-24 with a pin coming from Sturgeon, but would fall in the final two weight classes. Others getting wins for Fort Mill against Chapin were Banny (132), Leitten (138), Hart (145), Cizmadia (152), Campbell (160), and Caden Haverson (170).

Besides the region match with Rock Hill, Fort Mill heads to the King of Kings Classic this weekend at Waddell Language Academy in Charlotte. Their next home match is scheduled for Jan. 17 against South Pointe and Indian Land in a three-way dual.

This story was originally published January 9, 2017 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Top-ranked Fort Mill opens Region IV schedule with win over Northwestern."