Laurence Manning boys reach state semifinals for first time in 14 years with win over Hammond

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.