Rock Hill tops Jackets, headed to 5A state championship

FORT MILL The teams came into the Upper State finals evenly matched, but the Rock Hill Bearcats took major advantage of Fort Mill in its most vulnerable spots to earn a trip to the 5A state championship Saturday, winning 43-29.

Fort Mill came into the match ranked No. 1 in 5A, with the Bearcats right behind them. The teams have traded that top spot several times this year when the rankings were updated. This was the third time Fort Mill (20-5) and Rock Hill (52-7) met this season. The first was at the Wildcat Duals in December when the Bearcats beat the Yellow Jackets 37-26. Ten days later, the two met up again in a new year at Fort Mill with the Jackets getting a 48-28 win in a highly contested Region 4 battle.

The third match-up was so anticipated that the start was delayed because of a line of spectators outside still trying to get in the door at Fort Mill High.

The draw came down starting at 138 pounds meaning No. 1-ranked AJ Leitten started things off for Fort Mill against Rock Hill’s Bailey Wilkins. Wilkins is ranked second at 126 pounds, but weighed in at 130 for the match. Leitten, who turned 18 Wednesday, started things off with a pin to put Fort Mill up early at 6-0.

“We would like to have started around 60 or 70 (pounds),” said Rock Hill head coach Cain Beard. “But our guys did a great job. I can't say enough about the job they did. We put together a great performance.”

Rock Hill bounced back at 145 pounds with a 9-5 decision from Chris Clayton to get on the board. Rock Hill won at 145 pounds, a weight class it had lost to in the second meeting with the Jackets, which Beard said he felt was key for his team. Fort Mill's Jake Hart came out at 152 for the Jackets and re-energized the home crowd with a technical fall over Alex English 16-1 to extend the Fort Mill lead.

Rock Hill bumped up several of its wrestlers to wrestle at heavier weights, while others fell into their normal spot in the line-up. At 160-pounds, Fort Mill's Jordan Markowski and Coleman Hoffman battled to the buzzer with Markowski getting the 12-10 win.

Turning point

Rock Hill was able to get back in the match with a quick pin at 170 pounds by Noah Reynolds, which pulled the Bearcats back to within 5, 14-9. Rock Hill got another pin at 195 pounds by Brandon Mills, which put the Bearcats in control. From there, they dropped one match, but never lost the lead.

"We really have no margin for error in those upper weights," said Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock. "We just wrestled poorly."

Critical

Fort Mill was able to get a decent draw and got a lead early. The Jackets got wins from their most experienced wrestlers, such as Leitten, Hart, Markowski and Brock.

Star contributions

Rock Hill was strong where Fort Mill was weak. The Bearcats got key wins from Jose Mora at 106 pounds and Jose Nunez at heavyweight.

On deck

Rock Hill will face the winner of the 5A Lower State championship between River Bluff and Ashley Ridge. River Bluff is ranked third in 5A and Ashley Ridge is ranked sixth.

The state finals are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Dreher High School in Columbia.

Rock Hill 43, Fort Mill 29

138 - AJ Leitten (FM) pinned Bailey Wilkins (RH), 145 - Chris Clayton (RH) dec Josh Cizmadia 9-5, 152 - Jake Hart (FM) tech fall Alex English (RH) 16-1, 160 - Jordan Markowski (FM) dec Coleman Hoffman (RH) 12-10, 170 - Noah Reynolds (RH) pinned Caden Haverson (FM), 182 - Garrett Davis (RH) pinned Greg Vernon (FM), 195 - Brandon Mills (RH) pinned Triston Morris (FM), 220 - Wade Brock (FM) dec William Ramirez (RH) 6-2, 285 - Jose Nunez (RH) pinned JaQuan Johnson (FM), 106 - Jose Mora (RH) pinned Jackson Strong (FM), 113 - Eli Rhodes (RH) major Jacob Sturgeon (FM) 19-6, 120 - Justin Beck (RH) pinned Zach Hornbrook (FM), 126 - Brody Claassen (FM) win by forfeit, 132 - Nick Greek (FM) win by forfeit.

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Rock Hill tops Jackets, headed to 5A state championship."