North defeats South, 35-27, in Touchstone Energy Bowl; Northwestern Safety Tamarrion Watkins Named SC Mr. Football

12 state championship games set for March 5-7 at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Gilbert — May River’s second straight AAAA SCHSL wrestling championship, over Traveler’s Rest (31-29) at Gilbert High on February, 11 wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the Sharks rallying from a 35-11 deficit against Laurens in 2025 to win by one point; but the match had a turning point very early in the competition. After the state title win, May River head coach Ashley Powell shared his feelings with the HSSR, “Our senior Blake Butler came through for us with a pin at 157, and he has been coming through for us throughout his career and we knew we could count on him,” said Coach Powell. “His younger brother (Bryce Butler) was the big win for us at 113 when he defeated a returning state champion and his win helped set the tone for us tonight. “We feel like we are a very disciplined team and we train very hard,” said Coach Powell. “Our goal was to take them to the third period in every match, and we felt like if we could do this, we could break them. It feels great to come away with our second straight state championship. “Winning one in a row was special but to now have won two in a row this moment is really special,” said Coach Powell. “Most importantly this is a completing different team this season. We had a bunch of different leaders last year. We have 10 seniors on this year’s team, and I am so proud of them all for answering the bell tonight.” These same two teams had competed against each other on January 3 with the Sharks winning 37-33 earlier. Traveler’s Rest head coach Ted Henderson was just as proud of his team who were competing for their first wrestling title in school history. “This is the first time we have made it past the third round,” said Coach Henderson. “We overcame a lot of injuries throughout the season, and we battled back to get to the finals, and I am very proud of this team and how they competed tonight.  “You have to give credit to May River, and they are a well put together team,” said Coach Henderson. “We had a great season considering all the adversity we overcame to compete for a state championship. I am proud of our kids. We only graduate three seniors, so we expect to be very good next season also.” After May River’s Stephano Calderon’s pin at 106 gave the Sharks an early 6-0 lead in the first match of the event with 8 seconds left in the opening period, it was the 113 pound competition that appeared to favor Traveler’s Rest when state champion and number ranked Stiles Stevens squared off against Bryce Butler who is ranked third over-all by SCMat.com. The first period between Stevens and Butler finished 0-0. At the end of the second period Stevens held a 4-2 lead with Stevens breaking a 2-2 tie with an escape move with six seconds left. In the third period Butler gained the upper hand, nearly pinning Stevens with 1:23 left in the match. Butler went on to win the 113 class, 11-4 to put the Sharks up 9-0 after two matches. This win gave the Sharks momentum going forward. Travelers Rest won the 120-weight class, trimming the deficit to 9-3, when Isaiah Simmons defeated Parker Israeo . 15-9 in a highly competitive match. May River went up 12-3 after four matches when Marcus Foulk defeated Isaiah Simmons 7-3 in the 126-weight class. In the 132-weight class TR’s Jayce Batson gave his team their second win of the title match with a 6-3 win over Liam Engblom. The third period began with a neutral start with Batson holding a 3-2 advantage. His take down with 1:20 left in the final period, along with his escape with seven seconds left gave him and TR the win to cut the deficit to 12-6 at this point. May River sophomore Jacob Alfonso had a dominating 14-1 over John Stevens in the 138-weight class to extend the Shark’s lead to 16-6. Alfonso held his opponent in a pin position for the final 20 seconds of the first period when he built a 7-0 lead early. TR’s Jackson McLees pinned Oliver Wang in the 144-weight class, with 1:04 left in the third period of their match, to earn the Devildogs six points to cut the deficit to 16-12 at that point. In the 150-weight class competition Ayden Hicks of TR defeated Thomas Brough 13-11 in a three-period back-and-forth match, which trimmed the deficit to 16-15. In the 157-weight class, May River senior Blake Butler demonstrated why SCMat.com ranks him number one in AAAA, when he pinned his opponent 30 seconds into the match to put May River up 22-15. Travelers Rest then won the 165-weight class and the 175- pound weight class to take the lead 23-22 with three matches left. TR’s William Jenkins defeated Andre Cavalheiro 6-2 in the 165 match and then Riley Broderick gave the Devildogs a one-point lead when he defeated Leandro Larranaga 15-1. May Rivere rallied to win the 190 and the 215 weight classes to seal their second straight state title. At 190, the Shark’s Henry Santiz put his team back in front 28-23 when he pinned Bryce Muchow with 29 seconds left in the first period. Then at 215, the Shark’s Sean McNulty clinched the title with his 5-2 win over David Hernandez. With the match tied at 2, McNulty scored a take down with seven seconds left to earn a dramatic 5-2 win. At this point, May River led 31-23 and the Sharks forfeited the heavy weight class at 285 to conclude the matches with a 31-29 win.

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer LEXINGTON — The 3A state championship streak for the West - Oak wrestling team continues after a 54-15 victory over Hanahan Wednesday night at the Lexington High School gym.  The Warriors overcame two early Hanahan pins to secure the school’s fifth straight state wrestling championship and 10 th since 1994. They finished 33-1. “We knew they were tough down low, so we knew we had to get through a few early matches,” White-Oak head coach Derek Strobel said. “Then we got to the main part of our lineup with our guys. Give credit to Hanahan, they wrestled us tough. They weren’t laying down, I can tell you that.” Hanahan got two early victories, with Andrew Avery pinning Zier Swilling in the 106-pound weight class and Eddie Yambao pinning Avery Davis at 113. Down 12-0 on the scoresheet, the Warriors went to 21-12 with Gunner Mease pinning Hanahan’s William Pichay at 120. Pichay suffered a neck injury with the pin and had to be transported to a hospital, where he is expected to recover fully, according to the team. A.J. DeLaCruz pinned Jayden Serrano at 126, Peyton Durham pinned Trey Holcombe at 132, and Efrain Rivera won by decision over Owen Miller at 138. The Hawks’ Jackson Stuckey scored a decision win over King Orvosh at 144, but West-Oak wrestlers swept the rest of the classes. Will Hair won by decision over K’Von Ingram at 150, Drake Smith pinned Pedro Afonso at 157, Ryan Driver pinned John Kahnel at 165, Sy Strobel won a technical fall over Tanner Ritche at 175, Wyatt Saxon won by decision over Brody Abrams at 190, Elijah Weston pinned Donovan Manigault at 215, and Logan Whitfield won by decision over Joseph Ivey at 285. “West-Oak has a really good team and they showcased that tonight,” Hanahan head coach Roy Atkins said. “Our guys did come out and fight. We gave them our best match tonight and hat’s off to Coach Strobel and his guys.” With West-Oak wins in all but three weight classes, the match seemed lopsided on the scoreboard. Several Hawk wrestlers battled the length of three two-minute periods, only to come up short. “I’m really proud of the way our guys fought each round. We put a couple of guys out there who went the distance and we have a couple of individuals coming up next who will wind up getting a trophy at the end of the year (in the individuals tournament),” Atkins said. “I’m really proud or our guys. We had a great season. Any year you get a trophy at the end it’s a great year,” Atkins said. “I’m really proud for our kids. We didn’t get the ‘W’ but they fought their butts off tonight, everybody saw that.” What distinguishes this year’s West-Oak team from the other state championship winners Strobel has coached is the Warriors’ resilience over the 2025-2026 season. “They were a lot of fun,” Strobel said. “We had guys who always stepped up, and even when they’re not at their best, they were always working hard and battling, fighting. They were a lot of fun.”

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer LEXINGTON — Clover heavyweight wrestler Messiah Outing’s mission at the 5A Division 1 state championship match Wednesday night was not to get pinned. Going into the 285-pound match between Outing and James Island’s Steven Hernandez at the Lexington High School gym, the Blue Eagles held a 34-28 advantage, and a pin by the Trojan wrestler would subject the matchup to tiebreak criteria established by the National Federation of High School Sports. “We knew it was going to be a tough match,” Clover head coach Michael Fitzgerald said. “We’d wrestled them earlier in the season, we’d seen them at other places, and it was going to be a grind,” Fitzgerald said. “there was a late move there at the end that really put us in a position to win, but yeah it was a nail-biter to say the least.” Outing accomplished the mission and spared the finer points of determining a winner. Through three rounds and six minutes of action, Outing’s defensive posture resisted every effort Hernandez exerted to turn Outing’s shoulders to the mat. While Hernandez won with a score of 8-1, his victory brought only three points to James Island—while Outing’s resistance secured a 34-31 victory and gave the Blue Eagles their first state wrestling championship. “We talk about it with our guys all the time, it’s not necessarily the guy who gets the pin, it’s the guy who doesn’t get pinned,” Fitzgerald said. Taking points away from their opponent was the strategy for the Blue Eagles from the start. Keygan Waters avoided a pin from James Island’s Robby Baty in the 106 match. Even though the Trojans took a 3-0 lead, the Blue Eagles won the next three classes— Beckham Boggess pinned James Baty at 113, Luke Hudson won a technical fall over Caedman Stoyles at 120, and Aiden Santiago won by decision over Sam Harris at 126—to take a 15-3 lead. James Island’s Luke Ridgeway got the Trojans back into it with a pin of Henry Parker at 132, and Trent Collins followed up with a decision over Jamison Smithers at 138 to make it 15-13 Clover. After that match the teams exchanged victories in each weight class. Clover’s Xavier Gonzales pinned Jacob Rasamee at 144, but James Island’s Sebastian Bruno won by decision Keller Brunnelson at 150. Clover’s Tyrone Norris III won by a technical fall over Mikah Brown at 157, but James Island’s Mark Johnson pinned Casey Roden at 165. Clover’s Owen Tatum won by decision over Marcus Van Sickle at 175, but James Island’s Copeland Grooms pinned Will Naves at 190. At that point Clover clung to a 29-28 lead, but when Ethan Vought won by technical fall of James Island’s Morris White at 215, the Blue Eagles were in a position to win—all that was left for Clover to clinch the win was for Outing to outlast Hernandez. “We thought we had a couple of places where we could flip some matches, we knew they were going to kind of flip some as well,” Fitzgerald said. “We kind of stole some points there, but when we won at 157, then we were in a position to match our best with good matchups and seal the victory.” James Island was looking for its first state wrestling championship since 1997 and came close to turning the tide of Clover throughout the match. “I’m definitely super proud of the team,” head coach Tony Bolen said. “They fought, and even our last guy did everything he could. There’s a lot of little things that each guy could do. Three points, you could find that about anywhere in that match. You feel good to get here, but you also hurt for the guys, especially the seniors.”

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Orangeburg Prep senior Avery Ravenell is averaging 23 pts per game and on pace for another 400 point season.

Curtis Baptist Senior Maci Butler averaging 20 points per game and closing in on a third straight 300 point season.