Columbia -- West-Oak High School wrestlers wasted no time on the mats at Dreher High School on Saturday.
In the first nine minutes of action in the AAA state championship match, the Warriors recorded four pins of Gilbert wrestlers and jumped to a 24-0 lead.
About one hour later, West-Oak hoisted its third straight state championship trophy with a 52-24 victory. It was the fourth state title under head coach Derek Strobel and eighth in the school’s history.
“It’s always special, anytime you can get in here and win it. It’s always hard, it’s tough,” Said Strobel, who was the Lexington head coach for 17 years before taking the job with the Warriors. “Anytime you can walk away with a championship it’s a great feeling, and I’m so happy for our kids, and very happy for our community and our school.”
The Warriors won the upper state championship by beating Chester 35-30 two days earlier.
West-Oak made it difficult for the Indians to compete, but Gilbert did take pins in the 150-, 157- and 190-pound weight classes.
Gilbert head coach Mitch Hudson was an assistant to Strobel at Lexington for those 17 years before heading to the Indians program in 2018. Since then Gilbert reached the AAA state finals three times from 2019 through 2021. This season had been a struggle until recently when the Indians captured the lower state championship with a 39-30 win over Dreher.
“Two weeks ago we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Hudson said. “We were beat, we lost the region to a tough Dreher team. We fixed some things, we got to work, our kids never gave up on each other. This is a tough sport by yourself. Twenty-five kids stayed with each other and fought and gave ourselves an opportunity to be back here.”
West-Oak wrestlers didn’t let Gilbert enjoy the return. The match began at the heavyweight class, where Jared Cruz pinned Xavian Davenport early in the third period.
Gunner Mease pinned Jack Turner early in the second period at 106, and at 113 Peyton Dunham pinned Jerrilyn Zulick 47 seconds into the first period.
When Teague Strobel pinned Josh Rhodes with 32 seconds left in the first period of the 120 bout, West-Oak was up 24-0.
Gilbert’s Hayden Schroeder got the Indians on the scoreboard with a forfeit win at 126, but the Warriors’ wins kept on coming.
A.J. DeLaCruz beat Anthony Culick 9-5 at 132, Sy Strobel pinned Tebow Doria at 138, and Landon Allen pinned Talen Bonds at 144. Those bouts gave West Oak a 39-6 lead.
Marcus Thaxton won a decision over Levi Robinson at 165, Patrick Rholetter defeated Jax Mullins at 175, and Corbin Dixkson closed out the match with a decision over Kelvin Blackwell at 215 to round out the Warriors victories.
“They all wrestled so solid,” Coach Strobel said. “From 106 on up, we’re confident in our whole lineup. All of our guys battle and that’s the big thing. Our guys battle and they don’t face away from competition. That has been our whole mindset this whole season, and that’s why we traveled and faced really stiff competition all year, to get ready for this.”
All Rights Reserved | The High School Sports Report 1986-2021