Chesnee defeats Edisto 70-12 to claim AA wrestling state championship

Lexington -- The “Redemption Tour” ended in championship fashion on Wednesday at

White Knoll High School for Chesnee wrestling.

The Eagles dominated Edisto 70-12 to win the AA state title. It was the program’s second

championship in three years and helped erase the memory of last year’s playoff loss to

archrival Chester.

          “I’ve got a bunch of seniors on the team, and I knew they would take control,” CHS head

coach Jon Rentz said. “We were kind of worried about wrestling on Wednesday than Saturday,

especially against Chester. It took a lot out of us when we wrestled them, but we had two good

practices.

“Our seniors took over the room and we just came in here and said we’re going to line up like

we normally do and just do what we do.”

As senior Tyler Henderson sported his gold medal, he said that was the moment his team began

to envision themselves as champions again.

“After we lost to Chester, everybody was ready,” he said. “We were ready to come into the

season. Going into the summer, it was like completely different from prior years. Going into the

summer, we had way more practices, were getting more prepared and we started a lot earlier.

“We focused on getting stronger, weightlifting, everything. So, I think, at that point, I knew this

team was going to be special.”

Having to defeat Liberty and Chester in the Upper State bracket also bolstered Chesnee’s

confidence. This was especially true facing an Edisto team that was making its first-ever

appearance in the state final.

The Eagles’ Cranston Crane picked up a forfeit victory in the opening match in the 106-pound

weight class. After a pinfall victory by Wayne Felder at 113 ied the match at 6-6, Chesnee responded

by winning the next 11 matches.

          It was a succession of pinfalls starting with Bryson Chappell (120) followed by Eli Barnhill (126),

Kameron Hall (132), Taven Pisaro (138), Cullen Bradley (144), ThadeusGerstenacker (150), --  who won

in 15 seconds -- Quinton Gerstenacker (157.), Zach Henderson (165) and ending with Cristian Barrera (175).

The run of pinfalls ended with Cameron Gallegos outpointing Michael Charlton 15-2 at 190. With the

score 63-6, Edisto picked up a victory by way of medical decisionDuring the 215-pound matchup, Chesnee’s

Timothy Reznichenko lifted Zachary Robinson in the air and powerslammed him to the mat.

Reznickenko was penalized for the “Rock Bottom” slam and Robinson was awarded the victoryas he could

not continue. Chesnee then closed out the championship with a pinfall win by DavisMatthews at 285 pounds.

          Despite the lopsided loss, Edisto head coach Melvin Wright believed its appearance showed the

possibilities attained through belief and hard work. Along with looking at returning wrestlers Felder, Kamari Rivers

and Jah’mir Wright to provide leadership, Coach Wright expects to make other adjustments.

“I realize these boys cross-train all year around,” he said. “So that’s one thing that we’re going to do different.

The only thing we do is we wrestle during the rest of the season. But it takes off-season workouts. It takes us going

to camps.

“Now I feel like we have more support from the parents. The district is really supportive. It’s a village approach.

I think we’ll get there next year and it will be different.”