Teamwork lifts Green Wave to wrestling championship

Summerville 35, Rock Hill 31

COLUMBIA — As championship medals were being passed out, the Summerville Green Wave held a yellow rope over their heads and wouldn't let go until they had their hands on something better — their Class AAAA state championship wrestling trophy.

The Green Wave battled past old rival Rock Hill, 35-31, on Saturday at Ridge View High School, using a blue-collar mentality befitting a team with no stars. The Wave brought out the rope for the state final to remind themselves that they had to pull together to be successful.

"Everybody put the effort in it. Everybody's part of the team," said 145-pounder Berlin Oliver, who scored an 18-2 technical fall. "You don't want to let anyone down. You hold onto the rope until the last minute."

Summerville (24-2) won its 12th wrestling championship and seventh since Kenny Walker took over as head coach in 1998. This title season definitely had a different feel for Summerville which, for the first time in many years, didn't have a returning state champion on the roster.

"We've got some guys who will be some eventual stars and we've got some seniors who just give a workmanlike effort," Walker said.

It was a pair of unheralded seniors — Justin Ball-Collins in the first match at 215, and Miles Perkins at 119 — who set the tone for the day with pins to help Summerville take a 21-4 lead after five matches.

Ball-Collins caught Mark Watkins with a reversal to his back and held on for an unexpected pin midway through the second period.

"I just tried my hardest to put my team in a good position to start," he said. "I wasn't thinking pin the whole time because sometimes you get too aggresive and make a mistake."

Rock Hill (29-3) then forfeited the 285 match to Andre Deweese and, like Ball-Collins, Perkins pinned his opponent off a reverse.

Rock Hill leads the state with 15 overall titles, many at Summerville's expense. The Bearcats began to make some headway with Jake Grav's pin at 125 and Chad Beck's decision at 135 to cut the lead to 24-13, but it was the last team points they would win on the mat. Summerville's Mike Stanley earned a win, Oliver dominated his opponent and Josh Porter clinched the victory with a 6-3 decision at 152. Once the Wave went ahead 35-13 with only three matches left, Walker forfeited the rest of the matches to get on with the victory celebration.

"Every (title's) a relief," Walker said. "This one I had a lot of trouble keeping this group together. A lot of times, I thought I was preaching more than coaching. That's why I'm grateful to my assistants. They took over for me on some of the day-to-day things and gave me the break I needed."

The championship match came three days after the Green Wave won an emotional Lower State title match against region and school district rival Fort Dorchester. The match had a state championship atmosphere, and there was some question about whether the Wave would suffer from a letdown for Saturday's final.

"Most people come off a big win and lose their focus," Oliver said. "We knew what we wanted and what we needed to do. Every day, we got closer and we kept pushing ourselves and it paid off. (Fort Dorchester was a big match, but this was bigger."

In Saturday's other state finals, Eastside beat Hilton Head, 45-19, for the Class AAA title; Loris got by Woodruff, 38-24, in Class AA; and Chesterfield pounded Bamberg-Ehrhardt, 61-6, in Class A.

SUMMERVILLE 35, ROCK HILL 31

103—W.Beck (RH) maj. dec. Hall; 112—Hansen (S) dec. S.Beck, OT; 119—Perkins (S) p. Sharette; 125—Grav (RH) p. Turner; 130—Ashby (S) dec. Durham; 135—Beck (RH) dec. Braecklein; 140—Stanley (S) dec. Jeffcoat; 145—Oliver (S) tech. Ballard; 152—Porter (S) dec. Tuck; 160—Brown (RH) wbf; 171—Boulware (RH) wbf; 189—Helms (RH) wbf; 215—Ball-Collins (S) p. Watkins; 285—Deweese (S) wbf.

Note: Matches began at 215.