The Summerville and Fort Dorchester wrestling teams will again meet in the 4-A Lowerstate championship match.
The two Lowcountry heavyweights have met in the Lowerstate finals three times, with mixed results. Summerville defeated the Fort in the 2005 and 2008 Lowerstate championship and the Fort defeated Summerville in the 2007 match. All three of those years, the Dorchester team that won the match went on to claim a state title.
Last year, Summerville didn’t make it to the semi-finals due to a first-round upset by White Knoll. However, the Green Wave defeated Goose Creek 43-33 Monday in the third round to return to the event, where it will face the Patriots, 62-7 winners over Lexington. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 10 at Fort Dorchester High School.
Since the high school league went to a playoff system that features Lowerstate and Upperstate matches seven seasons ago, the Lowerstate match has included either a Summerville or Fort team every year. The only year a Dorchester team didn’t win the match was in 2003 when Dutch Fork defeated Summerville 35-32.
This week’s championship offers as much promise as the prior three that involved both Dorchester teams. When the Patriots and the Wave met in the regular season, the match didn’t disappoint as the Fort earned a 37-27 victory. The Fort enters this week’s match as the top ranked team in the state 4-A coaches poll and Summerville is ranked fourth.
Summerville wrestlers ranked in their weight class include Corey Hall (No. 13 at 103), Jordan Wigger (No. 1 at 112), Joseph Thomas (No. 12 at 119), Aaron Hansen (No. 2 at 125), Bobby Hunter (No. 6 at 130), Eli Ashby (No. 1 at 135), Matt Pantone (No. 5 at 160) and Dajon Weston (No. 4 at 215).
Fort wrestlers who are ranked include Brent Barfield (No. 8 at 112), Marquise Robinson (No. 5 at 119), Nick Maniche (No. 10 at 125), Sonny Bugarin (No. 4 at 130), Daquon Wilson (No. 3 at 135), Ashley Bracklein (No. 3 at 140), Michael Young (No. 1 at 145), Seiji Borja (No. 1 at 152), Alex Bugarin (No. 6 at 160), Evan Thompson (No. 9 at 171), Keyshon Flores (No. 5 at 189), Geno Porter (No. 2 at 215) and Michael Sellers (No. 3 at 285).

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.