Fort Mill wins 2, rolls into third round of wrestling playoffs

It wasn’t your typical competitive wrestling meet, but at this point in the season it’s safe to say it’s what the Fort Mill Yellow Jackets will take.

Ranked No. 1 in 5A, Fort Mill tore through Spartanburg 53-30 in the first round of the 5A dual playoffs Saturday morning and then did just as well in the second round against Woodmont winning 47-30, also on Saturday. The Jackets will now take on the fourth-ranked Dorman Cavaliers at 7 p.m. Monday night at home in the third round of the 5A playoffs.

The Jackets weren’t wrestling at full capacity, preparing to sub in some other wrestlers if it got to that point as injuries had some key wrestlers missing form the heavier weight classes. It didn’t matter, as they dominated early on from 106 through 160-pounds.

“Hopefully, we can get everyone back in our line-up,” said head coach Chris Brock. “The playoffs are about getting bonus points and we did that through pins. Hopefully, we can keep that up going into the next round.”

Pins were something that came in bunches in both duals for Fort Mill. The Jackets went down early in the opening match 6-0 after losing at heavyweight, but then rattled off nine straight wins to take a 53-6 lead, with eight of those coming in the form of pins.

Picking up wins for Fort Mill against Spartanburg were Jackson Strong (106), Jacob Sturgeon (113), Zach Hornbrook (120), Brody Claassen (126), Nick Greek (132), AJ Leitten (138), Jake Hart (145), Malik Campbell (152) and Jordan Markowski (160).

After leading 53-6, Brock decided to forfeit the four remaining weight class and wait on the Woodmont/Laurens winner, who were also wrestling in the first round.

The fast start in the second round dual against Woodmont was all Fort Mill needed. From the beginning, Fort Mill dominated the meet and went up 30-0 through the first five matches getting five straight first period pins from Strong, Sturgeon, Hornbrook, Claassen and Greek.

Ranked No. 1 at 138 pounds, Leitten won by tech fall 17-0 over fourth-ranked Garrett Starks to put the Jackets up 35-0 before Hart and Campbell got back-to-back pins putting Fort Mill up 47-0. The Jackets then forfeited the remaining matches to end things quickly.

Fast starts in both the Spartanburg and Woodmont duals took early pressure off the Jackets as they quickly secured enough points to lock in a win. Fort Mill also finished both match-ups early, allowing time for them to actually go practice after the second one concluded. Leitten, who is committed to wrestle at N.C. State next year, won both his matches, tying and then breaking the school’s career win mark held previously by Max Simons. Leitten’s second win of the day was career win No. 165. A two-time defending state champion, Leitten said the accomplishment was nice, but he is keeping his mind on one thing.

“It feels great,” Leitten said. “All the hard work has paid off. Right now I am focused on winning a team state title. I feel like we got a great group of guys that can do it.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2017 at 6:42 PM with the headline "Fort Mill wins 2, rolls into third round of wrestling playoffs."