Wave top rival Patriots

Summerville knocks Fort Dorchester, advances to state final

Summerville 25, Fort Dorchester 22

After a 6-4 loss in the final bout of the night, Miles Perkins was carried off the wrestling mat by his Summerville teammates as a conquering hero.

By avoiding a pin against Fort Dorchester's Sonny Bugarin, Perkins clinched a 25-22 road victory over the Green Wave's biggest rival on Wednesday and earned his team the Class AAAA Lower State wrestling championship.

Summerville will face Upper State champion Rock Hill for the state title on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Ridge View High School.

Perkins said he never imagined being carried off the mat after a loss, but he had a premonition that he would be successful.

"It was weird. I told my dad I had a dream that I beat him. I remember having my arm raised," he said. "I didn't think I'd have a loss and do that."

Fort Dorchester's gym was packed with energy on both sides of the stands. A crowd of about 900 — evenly split between the two schools — gave equal measure of support to their teams. Summerville's victory ended a string of three straight losses to their school district rival, the most recent was a 31-28 loss to end the regular season on the same floor.

"That's what a rivalry's about," said Summerville coach Kenny Walker, buzzing with emotion from the tight match. "What a high school match to come down to the wire. I've been in a lot of matches, that was probably the most gratifying win.

"We wrestled with some urgency. The kids got after it."

There were no pins in the match, which helped Summerville more than Fort Dorchester, which has four wrestlers who are ranked first in their weight classes. Bugarin at 119, Robert Quinn at 285 and Wesley Dallas at 135 were held to decisions, and Seiji Borja at 140 could only get a major decision for a total of 13 team points. In the Patriots' previous victory, those four accounted for 18 points.

"They wanted it more," said coach B.D. LaPrad, whose team had won last year's title. "They did a good job of preparing their kids. They were ready. Ours weren't."

The Green Wave didn't just limit its losses. Berlin Oliver got a technical fall at 145 and Greg Felder picked up a major decision at 171 for some important bonus points. Also, a trio of close matches all went Summerville's way. Eli Ashby edged Michael Young, 2-1, at 130; Bobby Holmes defeated Evan Thompson, 3-2, at 160, and Willie Thomas scored a late takedown at 189 to beat Geno Porter, 3-1.

Summerville led 22-10 with five matches left and only won one — Aaron Hansen defeated Clement Metrejean, 8-3, at 112. Even though the Patriots couldn't get a quality victory with their two heavyweights, 103-pounder Marquise Robinson gave his team an unexpected chance with an 8-6 win againt Cory Hall, who had won by a pin in the previous meeting. Even Metrejean's loss had a silver lining as it kept the match close enough for Bugarin to have a shot at pinning Perkins to tie the score where the Patriots might be able to win on a tie-breaking criteria.

Though Bugarin controlled the match from the start, he could never get Perkins to his back.

AAAA Lower State Championship

Summerville 25, Fort Dorchester 22

103-Robinson (FD) dec. Hall; 112-Hansen (S) dec. Metrejean; 119-Bugarin (FD) dec. Perkins; 125-Reddinger (FD) dec. Turner; 130-Ashby (S) dec. Young; 135-Dallas (FD) dec. Bracklein; 140-Borja (FD) maj. dec. Stanley; 145-Oliver (S) tech. Walker; 152-Porter (S) maj. dec. Champaigne; 160-Holmes (S) dec. Thompson; 171-Felder (S) maj. dec. Smith; 189-Thomas (S) dec. Porter; 215-Stewart (FD) dec. Ball-Collins; 285-Quinn (FD) dec. Deweese. Note: Matches began at 125.

Reach Bill Henley at 937-5595 or bhenley@postandcourier.com.