The two frontrunners for the Lowerstate wrestling title clashed at Fort Dorchester Jan. 21.
The Patriots, the No. 1 ranked 4-A team in the state according to the scmat.com coaches’ poll, defeated Summerville, the fifth-ranked team, but the match was closer than many may have expected. Fort Dorchester earned a 37-27 victory, but the Green Wave looked strong for much of the match.
“This will keep us going,” Fort senior Michael Young said following the match. “The Lexington Duals gave us an idea of what we might have to deal with down the road and we did well there, but Summerville just showed us we need to go back to work. We aren’t where we need to be yet, but we are getting there and this is another win. Hopefully, this will keep us motivated.”
Wrestling began at 140 pounds and the Patriots won six of the first seven weight classes. It was looking like it might be a route as Ashley Braecklein, Young and Keyshon Flores won by technical fall at 140, 145 and 189 and Geno Porter and Michael Sellers won the 215 and heavyweight classes by pin.
But Summerville quickly made up ground in the lighter weight divisions. Bryan Harwood (103), Corey Hall (112) and Jordan Wigger (119) all earned pins for the Wave to narrow the Patriot lead to 31-21.
A win in the next class, 125, would have given the Wave a huge lift and Summerville almost got it. Joe Thomas put Fort wrestler Nick Maniche on his back and seemed to have him dead to rights.
However, Maniche fought off the attempt and managed to turn things around, pinning Thomas for the win.
“My adrenaline started flowing and I was able to get up off the mat,” Maniche said. “He was sitting up so I grabbed his head and upper body, took him over and stuck him.”
The pin delighted the home crowd and gave the Patriots a 16-point lead. Summerville had two of its best wrestlers on deck, but it didn’t mater because the most points they could earn in the final pair of matches were 12. They each got 3 with back-to-back 2-1 decisions.
The matches featuring ranked wrestlers went pretty much as expected. The closest thing to an upset on the night was in the 112-pound class where Hall, who is ranked No. 9 at 103, pinned Brent Barfield, who is ranked No. 12 at 112. Wigger, Thomas and Hanson also jumped up a class for the match.

FORT DORCHESTER 37, SUMMERVILLE 27

103--Harwood (S) p. Romero. 112--Hall (S) p. Barfield. 119--Wigger (S) p. Robinson. 125--Maniche (FD) p. Thomas. 130--Hanson (S) d. S. Bugarin 2-1. 135--Ashby (S) d. Wilson 2-1. 140--Braecklein (FD) majd. Korn 19-8. 145--Young (FD) techf. Hayes 23-7. 152--Borja (FD) d. Windham 8-4. 160--Pantone (S) d. A. Bugarin 6-4. 171--Thompson (FD) d. Brown 9-3. 189--Flores (FD) techf. Ambrose 18-2. 215--Porter (FD) p. Weston. HWT--Sellers (FD) p. Harrison. Records: FD 13-2. Next: FD at Berkeley Wednesday.

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