Sumter – Fort Mill High School may be the defending AAAAA wrestling state champion, but getting back to the title match this year wasn't an easy task.
The Yellow Jackets received a first-round bye before beating Byrnes 42-23 in the second round. They edged Chapin 34-31 in the third round before rallying from a 21-3 deficit to edge Rock Hill 36-28 for the upper state championship on Wednesday.
“We’ve had a couple of competitive matches in the playoffs,” said first-year FMHS head coach Adam Marullo said. “We’re fortunate to be in the championship match.”
Yet here Fort Mill is. The Yellow Jackets, who are 24-2 on the season, will wrestle the team they beat for state last year, Summerville, again this season. FMHS and the 27-2 Green Wave will hook up on Saturday at Dreher High in Columbia beginning at 5 p.m.
Summerville lost to Fort Mill 34-32 in last year’s match. Green Wave head coach Darryl Tucker said that is something that has stuck with his squad.
“We lost to Fort Mill and it left a sour taste in our mouths,” said Tucker, whose team is ranked No. 1 in the scmat.com poll while Fort Mill is ranked third. “Our goal for our wrestlers was being state champions. From Day 1 of preseason, our goal was to get back and compete at a high level.”
Summerville edged Goose Creek 37-34 to win the lower state crown again,.
Summerville has seven wrestlers ranked in the top eight of the 14 weight classes, according to scmat.com. The top ones are seniors Hassan Williams and Xavier Anderson. Williams is ranked second in the 150-pound weight class. He finished third at 152 in last year’s individual state tournament. Anderson is ranked second at 126 after finishing fourth at 113 as a junior.
Junior Landon Deaton is ranked fourth in 113 after making state at 106 last year. Other ranked wrestlers for Summerville are Angel Lopez at third at 285, Luke Ballard at sixth at 120, junior Caleb Herring at sixth at 144, and Jonas Haynes at fifth at 157.
Herring finished second wrestling at 126 last year.
Fort Mill has six ranked wrestlers, each of them being in the six lightest weight classes. Four of them wrestled in the individual state meet last season.
The highest ranked Yellow Jacket is senior Logan Shope at 132. Shope finished fourth at 132 last year and qualified at 120 as a sophomore.
Senior Aiden Banks is ranked third at 138. He has qualified for state in three different weight classes, starting at 106 as a freshman. He finished third at 113 in 2022 and third at 126 as a junior.
Junior Jacob Nally is ranked second at 113 after qualifying in the weight class last year. Sophomore Lincoln Greene is ranked fifth at 120 after finishing fourth at 106 last year.
Lucas Van Beynum is ranked fourth at 106, and Tucker Gibson is ranked seventh at 126.
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