Columbia – Being displaced from their gymnasium much of the season didn’t slow down the Fort Mill High School wrestlers, so why would they let the top-ranked team in the state stand in their way?
Fort Mill handed Summerville a 32-27 loss in the AAAAA state championship match on Saturday at Dreher High School. The Yellow Jackets were ranked third in the class entering the playoffs by scmat.com while the Green Wave was ranked first, as it has been for much of the season.
“We came here with confidence and planning to control the things we could control and our guys did a great job of that tonight,” Fort Mill head coach Adam Marullo said. “Hats off to all of my assistant
coaches and every single one of these kids because they all did a great job tonight. I’m proud of
everybody.”
For the second straight year, the underdog Yellow Jackets battled through their playoff bracket to
win the title. Both this season and last, the Yellow Jackets upset higher-ranked Chapin en route
to defeating higher-ranked Summerville in the finals.
Wrestling began in the 165-pound weight class and Fort Mill jumped out to an early lead. Jack Kadish won a major decision and then Theodore Ernst won 6-4 at 175 with a move in the closing seconds for a 7-0 Yellow Jackets lead.
Summerville’s Isaiah Frasier was set to claim a major decision at 190, but Fort Mill’s Sebastian
Villatoro was awarded an escape at the buzzer for the third period to prevent Summerville from gaining a bonus point. The Green Wave won tight decisions in the next two classes to take a 9-7 lead into the lighter weight classes.
Fort Mill claimed a pin in the next two classes and a major decision at 120 for a 22-9 lead.
“We took a little bit of a gamble and moved some guys around, at 126, and we bumped some other
guys up and it paid off,” Marullo said. “I thought we could score some points down low, but I knew
they were going to score big points up top. Our guys battled and kept it close and that is what we
needed to do. Everyone did their job tonight and that is why we are walking away with the state
championship.”
Summerville’s Xavirer Anderson pinned his opponent at 126 to keep the Green Wave in the match.
However, Fort Mill claimed a decision in the next three classes to clinch the victory. The exclamation point was the 7-0 decision by Aiden Eubanks at 144 that gave the Yellow Jackets a 32-15 lead.
Fort Mill forfeited the next two classes for the 32-27 final.
“We just didn’t do enough,” Summerville coach Darryl Tucker said. “I’m not sure what was going
on during the first match and then at 175 we were up 4-1 but ended up losing the match. Up top we
thought we would get bonus points, but they kept us to decisions and then we got pinned at 106 and
113. You just have to do better in big matches.”
Both teams overcame adversity this season.
Summerville suffered through the loss of loved ones and a battle with cancer and lost a starter to a
knee injury last week who was the runner-up for his class last season. The Green Wave finishes the
season with a 27-3 record and as the Region 7 Champion and lower state champion for the third
time in the past four seasons. The Green Wave’s other duals losses came to Eastside, which captured
the AAAA state championship Feb. 10, and a team from Virginia.
Fort Mill had to scramble to find places to practice and compete early this season due to water
damage at the school’s athletic facilities.
“We got better from that,” Marullo said. “We lost our gym the day before practice started, and we lost
our wrestling room so we had to adapt and adjust and find a way to get better and that is exactly what
these guys did. Overcoming adversity was part of the entire season. It didn’t slow us down one bit.”
Fort Mill finishes with a 27-2 record. The Yellow Jackets' only losses of the season came to Lugoff-
Elgin, the 4A state runner-up, and River Bluff.
Fort Mill 32, Summerville 27
165: Jack Kadish (FM) maj.dec. Brayden Burns (S), 10-1
175: Theodore Ernst (FM) dec. Ethan Woods (S), 6-4
190: Isaiah Frasier (S) dec. Sebastian Villatoro (FM), 8-1
215: Jacob Cotterill (S) dec. Joseph Richardson (FM), 4-2
285: Angel Lopez (S) dec. Grayson Sykes (FM), 5-4 SV
106: Luke Van Beynum (FM) pin Devin Garza (S)
113: Jacob Nally (FM) pin Landon Deaton (S)
120: Lincoln Greene (FM) maj.dec. Jacob Bullard (S), 10-1
126: Xavier Anderson (S) pin Grayson Thom (FM)
132: Tucker Gibson (FM) dec. Kayleb Pinckney (S), 3-2
138: Logan Shope (FM) dec. Reese Hollingsworth (S), 5-3
144: Aidan Eubanks (FM) dec. Preston Smith (S), 7-0
150: Hassan Williams (S) forfeit
157: Jonas Haynes (S) forfeit
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