Fort Mill’s slow start too much to overcome as Hillcrest ends its dual wrestling season

A slow start by fifth-ranked Fort Mill was too much to overcome against No. 1 Hillcrest as the Rams ended the Yellow Jackets season in the third round of the 5A state playoffs.

The Rams, who are last season’s 5A state champions, beat the Yellow Jackets 48-20 and will take on Lugoff-Elgin in the Upper State finals Wednesday.

Fort Mill fell behind 9-0 after the Rams won the first two weight classes 16-1 and 12-3 at 145-pounds and 152-pounds respectively and set a dominating pace early on in front of a rowdy crowd at Hillcrest’s AC Duckett Gym. Fort Mill finished its dual season 21-6, as Hillcrest improved to 30-5.

The dual was tight until Hillcrest won four consecutive matches and started pulling away.

The Jackets picked up the first of six wins at 160-pounds as Josh Cizmadia got a first period pin. Fort Mill tied the match at 9-9 at 170-pounds as Avery Wilcox got a 7-4 decision. From there, the Jackets dropped the next four matches, three of them by pin fall.

“Hillcrest is a tough team,” Fort Mill assistant coach Adam Marullo said. “We came out and lost a lot of close matches. We have got to now focus on the Upper State tournament.”

Fort Mill head coach Chris Brock missed the match due to a family medical issue.

The Rams took a 30-9 lead in winning those four matches, but Fort Mill fought back and won the next two matches. As the match circled around to the lower weights, McGuire Harms picked up a second-period pin over Tyler Grindstaff at 106 pounds and Sebastian Colon got a 4-2 decision at 113 pounds.

With the two wins, Fort Mill clung to life trailing 30-18. The Yellow Jackets then took a fall at 120 pounds and needed to win the remaining three matches all by pin fall to make up the 18-point deficit. However, their only win in those three matches was by Joshua Sturgeon at 126 pounds in an 11-4 decision over Darren O’Keefe.

Fort Mill will now focus on qualifying its wrestlers for the individual state tournament on Feb. 21-22 at Laurens High. The top four finishers in each weight class will qualify for the state tournament, which will be held Feb. 28-29 at the Anderson Civic Center.

Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM