Hilton Head High’s journey toward its first wrestling state championship in school history will have to wait.
The Class 3-A state championship match featuring the Seahawks and top-ranked Lugoff-Elgin — originally scheduled for today at Ridge View High School — has been postponed. It has been rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night and moved to Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School — a neutral site the two schools agreed on Friday afternoon.
The change of location prevents the Seahawks from gaining an edge in terms of familiarity. This is their third straight season competing for the state title. Each of the last two took place at Ridge View, both losses to Eastside.
“I would’ve liked to have gone back to the same venue,” coach Mike Newton said. “It’s a process that we’re accustomed to. We wanted to go back there and try to win this one.”
Instead, the match will now take on a more of a dual meet atmosphere. Whereas they were originally scheduled to immediately follow the Class 2-A and Class 1-A title matches in the same gym, Hilton Head High and Lugoff-Elgin will be the only two schools in Orangeburg-Wilkinson’s gym on Wednesday.
The team had planned on traveling to the match a day earlier and staying overnight in a hotel as a way to mix things up and become more well-rested for the championship match, Newton said. With the postponement, that plan has been scratched and the Seahawks will use a similar itinerary to their first three playoff matches — all of which forced them to travel for a road contest.
“We’re comfortable with this situation,” Newton said. “I like the fact that we did this before when we went to St. James and Airport (in the playoffs). We had to deal with getting of school early and getting on the road, and we were successful. This is kind of the same thing.”
The postponement provides an interesting factor for many of the wrestlers. With the match being pushed back four days, wrestlers who are forced to cut weight will have more time to do so. But those who have a difficult time keeping it off will have to make that effort for four more days.
“In some ways, that’s probably the biggest factor in wrestling,” Newton said. “… But the majority of our guys don’t cut a lot of weight. We only have a couple that have to really watch it. So I don’t think that’s as big of an issue for us.”
February 13, 2010 | Island Packet (Hilton Head, SC)
Author/Byline: SAM McDOWELL smcdowell@islandpacket.com 843-706-8123