By BILL MITCHELL
Sports Writer

Lugoff-Elgin finally pushed its way through the door of champions last week, beating Seneca for the Class AAA state wrestling championship last week.

The Demons had been close before, losing in the finals in 1990. 1992 and 1995. L-E lost in the quarterfinals to eventual state runner-up Dutch Fork last year.

This year coach Tim Wash knew that Demons had the talent, but did they have the right stuff?

The Demons put that question to rest by cruising through a season with only one loss, to Class AAAA champion Rock Hill.

A thin victory over three-time defending state champion Battery Creek in the semifinals set the stage for a relatively easy win over Seneca in the finals.

“We had some young kids who wrestled on the junior varsity last year and won the JV state champi-onship,” Wash said.

“I was real optimistic about this season. Then we did well at our tournament here and at Spring Val-ley”That gave us more confidence.” he said. “The kids were really excited.”

The Demons had quality through the lineup and although, he lost the individual championship this year Maurice Murphy was a team leader at 189.

Seven wrestlers won 30 or matches, indicating great depth.

Few teams can compete without having a full team, wrestlers in all

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13 weight classes. The Demons fill the bill exceptionally well.

“We were a pretty balanced team,” Wash said. “We’ve struggled at some spots, but the team has come together to overcome that.”

The Demons were especially strong in the upper weights with Daniel Norris, freshman Ben Connell, who lost only once at 215, Murphy and Jeremy Hightower giving them a real lift at the end.

“I like to compete,”‘ said Hightower who won more than 35 matches at 171. “It’s the one-on-one aspect of it that I like.”

Norris, who moved into L-E from out of state two years ago and is expected to be a fine football prospect as a fight end, finds the sport exciting.

“Getting and keeping your mind right is the hardest part,” Norris said. “You get the feeling at times that you can’t be stopped, but you have to develop courage and not give up.”

Norris sees the championship as something the Demons earned through hard work.

“We deserve it,’ he said. “We worked out butts off for it and we’ve been competitive.”

Bert Feltner at 135 won the weight’s state championship in the individual tournament. His successful formula is simple.

“We have people want it badly,” said Feltner. “We’ve worked very hard and our work ethic shows. The people who couldn’t take it are gone.

“We’ve been focused most of the year because this is a sport that can turn on you immediately.”

Some of the most important people on any team are not always readily seen or recognized.

“Peter Hemingway is one of those guys,” Wash said. “He’s a straight A student who probably should be wrestling at 125, but we works very hard to wrestle at 112.

That’s the kind of effort it takes.”

L-E loses five seniors and four starters, but the program is firmly established.

“We have some work to do, but we have a strong team returning,” said Wash. “We hope that we have a reputation of doing the right things witha class.”