State champs! Clover wrestling wins thriller for first state title

For the first time in school history, the Clover wrestling team is state champions.

The Blue Eagles defeated James Island, 34-31, to win the Class 5A Division I championship on Wednesday at Lexington High School.

The championships were held at three sites in the Midlands after the playoffs were delayed because of the snowstorm a couple of weeks ago.

Clover finished the season at 30-3 and had playoff wins over Dutch Fork (68-12), Boiling Springs (45-29) and Rock Hill (40-29) to advance to its first state championship.

James Island and Clover came into the match ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in scmat.com Class 5A rankings. The Islanders defeated the Blue Eagles, 45-23, on Dec. 30. James Island was in its first state championship since the 1990s.

The match went back and forth. Xavier Gonzalez’s pin 144 pounds put the Blue Eagles up. But the match came down to the final two matches at 215 pounds and at heavyweight.

Jonas Plummer (215) put Clover up 34-28 winning on a technical fall. At heavyweight, the Blue Eagles’ Messiah Outing avoided a pin in the last match, won by James Island’s Slevenn Hernandez, to seal the Blue Eagles’ state championship victory.

This was Clover’s final dual match in Class 5A as the school will be moving to Class 4A next year in 2026-28 SC High School League realignment.

With the dual season over, Clover will prepare for this weekend’s individual state qualifier and next week’s individual state championships in Florence.

This story was originally published February 12, 2026 at 8:52 AM.