After ending the state’s longest-running championship earlier this week, Fort Mill wrestling extended its own Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets defeated Lugoff – Elgin 33-28, to win the South Carolina Class
5A Division II championship on Saturday at Dreher High School .
It was Fort Mill’s third straight title. The Yellow Jackets ended Eastside’s title reign Wednesday with a 34-33 win to advance to the championship.
The match was decided in a tiebreaker with Fort Mill winning the most matches by pins. Eastside was going for its 10th straight state championship.
“It feels awesome,” Fort Mill coach Adam Marullo
said. “I am a very lucky guy and I have great kids that I coach and great staff. I’m very excited about running back for No. 4.”
Fort Mill defeated Lugoff – Elgin , 56-12, earlier this season but Marullo said Lugoff – Elgin created some problems by moving guys around in its order to give them problems.
But Fort Mill rallied in a pair of individual matches on its way to the third title Saturday.
Tucker Gibson
rallied from 8-6 down in his 126-pound match to win 9-8 and give Fort Mill a 22-7 lead.
But the Demons hung tough and cut the lead to 30-19 following Gabe Rush’s pin at 150 pounds with three matches left.
It looked like Lugoff – Elgin would get even closer as Rivers Moak
led his 157-bound match at 14-2 before Vincent Damico
rallied to win 15-14 and clinch the title.
“Vincent’s been a backup guy all year but he was ready to perform and all these guys are ready to perform. My assistant coaches get these guys ready to compete,” Marullo said. ” … And Vincent stepped up and did his job.”
It was the third straight title loss for Lugoff – Elgin , which lost to Eastside the two previous years. The Demons have five five titles in program history but none since 2010.
“We put together a really good game plan. We just came up a little bit short,” L-E coach Ted Monroe
said. “It had nothing to do with our effort but they are really, really good.”
February 8, 2025 | State, The: Web Edition Articles (Columbia, SC)
Author/Byline: Lou Bezjak, The State | Section: high_school