Area high school wrestling teams begin quest for state championships | Sports | Our Gazette

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Area high school wrestling teams begin quest for state championships

Published Thursday, February 03, 2011 11:45 AM

By Rob Gantt
The Gazette

photo provided

Area high school wrestling teams begin their quests for state championships this week.

In Class AA, Hanahan is the top-ranked team in the state and was tabbed the Lower State’s top seed. The Hawks receive a bye through Wednesday’s first round and will host either Pelion or Timberland in the second round on Saturday. Subsequent rounds are Feb. 7, 9 and 12, with the finals set for Dreher High School in Columbia.

A year ago, the Hawks earned a spot in the finals before they were stripped by the South Carolina High School League because of a violation of a weight management rule during the Lower State finals against Loris.

“We’ve gotten the No. 1 seed based on what we did during the regular season,” Hanahan coach Ray Adkins said. “This year has been building up to this point. Our goal is to win the state championship. Everything’s gone according to plan. Every match from now on has to be better than the last one.”

The Lions went on to win the state title last season and are the top threat to Hanahan in the Lower State.

“Loris has had a great season and they’ve got some great athletes that know how to wrestle,” Adkins said. “They present a challenge we’re looking forward to.”

Woodruff, last year’s runner-up, is the top seed in the Upper State and Chesnee is No. 2.

In Class AAAA, the Stratford Knights will enter the playoffs on Saturday as the host squad for a four-team postseason event. The top-seeded Knights will first wrestle Irmo then face the winner of Lexington and Beaufort.

“There will be two mats,” Nearhood said. “The two losers are done for the year and the two winners will wrestle to move on to the third round.”

A third-round matchup would mostly likely be against either Sumter or Summerville on Feb. 7.

“We’re just going to try to be as good as we can be,” Nearhood said. “We’ve got a real young team and we’re trying to build on something here. We’ve got a few seniors but we’ve got a lot of good young kids.

Goose Creek finished third in Region 7-AAAA and will face second-seeded Carolina Forest at top-seeded Fort Dorchester on Friday night.

The Patriots receive an opening-round bye and will wrestle the winner of the Goose Creek-Carolina Forest match.

In addition to Stratford and Fort Dorchester, White Knoll and Sumter are No. 1 seeds in the Lower State.

The top seeds in the Upper State are Laurens, Hillcrest, Lugoff-Elgin and Rock Hill. The other playoff dates for Class AAAA are Feb. 7, 9 and 12, with the finals to be held at Dreher.

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