South Carolina 3A Wrestling State Dual Championship 2006-2007
Round 1 - Monday, February 5
Round 2 - Wednesday, February 7 (State Quarter-Finals)
Round 3 - Friday, February 9 (State Semi-Finals at Lugoff-Elgin)
Round 4 - Saturday, February 10 (State Finals at Lugoff-Elgin)
Upper State Bracket
#2 Eastside (1st seed) at home vs. #25 Chester (8th seed)
Eastside has been the top 3A team for 3 years, winning State titles in '04, '05 and '06.
This year has been a new experience for the Eagles since they have not had a full team
most of the season and slipped into the #2 spot of the rankings. But, don't count them
out just yet. Coach Jack Kosmicki now leads the pack of all time 3A coaches winning the
state title when he wrapped up his 5th State title last season, edging him in front of
Coach Nathan Day's 4 titles at Battery Creek. Swansea's Coach Jeff Slagle also won
4 titles while Swansea was a 2A school combined in the 3A-2A-1A state tournaments.
Coach Kosmicki now also sits in 4th place all time for coaching Individual State
Champions. His 27 Individual state title winners is tops amongst all-time 3A coaches and
puts him only behind 4A Coaches Jim Barnes (84), B.D. LaPrad (43) and Steve LaPrad (38).
Eastside is led by three #1 ranked wrestlers in Eddie Coles (112), Chris Teague (130),
and J.C. Oddo (189). J.C. Oddo just set the all-time State record for career wins over
the weekend with his 200th career victory, allowing him to surpass the previous best of
199 wins just set last year by former teammate and Citadel starter, Matt Leach.
Congratulations J.C. Oddo on an incredible milestone (200) achieved for the first time in S.C.!!
Chester brings the #8 seeded team in as a major underdog and will likely face their
toughest dual match of the season going home proud they made the playoffs but hoping
to build upon this success more next season.
SCMAT Prediction - Eastside wins
#8 Camden (4th seed) at home vs. #11 Greenville (5th seed)
This is a really great match up in our opinion ... two solid teams that have elevated their
wrestling teams over the last few years into Top 10 contenders. Coach Stephen Sutusky of
Camden has built a consistent winning program after his successful days wrestling at Dreher.
They are led by #1 ranked heavyweight Josh Austin seeking his second straight individual
title this year. Greenville's new head coach Troy Bowe takes over for outgoing coach Russ Howard
who became the AD at Greenville. Coach Howard had built a very successful tradition at Byrnes
and brought that passion for achievement to Greenville 2 years ago. Coach Bowe has continued
that successful march to the Top 10 and fields many talented wrestlers. This match should be
very close and the home mat edge goes to ...
SCMAT Prediction - Camden wins
#10 Pickens (3rd seed) at home vs. #14 Union (6th seed)
This first round match-up should also be very close. Pickens has been consistent all year and
won a lot of big matches with teams trying to crack the Top 10 in front of them. Coach Mark Barrett
has put Pickens into the optimal side of the bracket with a #3 seed, but a tough Lugoff-Elgin squad
may await them next round if they can slip past Union Monday. Union's team has risen in the rankings
in recent weeks with some big victories over Seneca, Riverside and Blue Ridge. Coach Mark Moss would
like for his team to pull this upset at Pickens, but we give the slight edge in the other corner ...
SCMAT Prediction - Pickens wins
#3 Lugoff-Elgin (2nd seed) at home vs. #12 Belton-Honea Path (7th seed)
Lugoff-Elgin has been one of the state's best wrestling programs in and out for many years. In fact,
Lugoff-Elgin has won the 3A State title 5 times which puts them in a tie with Eastside as the all-time
3A team leaders. If we had to go to the tie-breaker and see which 3A team (between L-E and Eastside)
has had the most Individual State Champions, believe it or not they are both tied with 37! Swansea,
Summerville and Rock Hill are the only 3 teams in the history of SC wrestling to produce more
Individual State Champions than Lugoff-Elgin and Eastside. Lugoff-Elgin has had a great season and
many in the wrestling community believe this team can knock off Eastside in the Upper State Finals
Friday night in the Lugoff-Elgin gym. It's nice to be on your home mat for such a big showdown,
if it occurs. Coach Kevin Knoerr from L-E was a state champion in his wrestling days at Seneca
and has continued the success at Lugoff, even winning the 2003 state dual title. Lugoff-Elgin is
led by three #1 ranked wrestlers - Justin McClester (103), Deral Brown (145) and Justin Ross (152).
Belton-Honea Path comes into the state dual playoffs with another solid team though they are not
the same caliber team that won 3A state titles in '83, '87 and '92. BHP has been in a rugged
seed position for a number of years and this year will prove to be another battle if they want
to make it to the next round. We give the balanced L-E team the large edge in this match ...
SCMAT Prediction - Lugoff-Elgin wins
Lower State Bracket
#1 North Myrtle Beach (1st seed) at home vs. #29 Darlington (8th seed)
North Myrtle Beach is led by three #1 ranked wrestlers - C.J. Clay (119), T.T. Prayther (125)
and Chip Hester (215). This is a team that boasts 13 out of 14 weight classes with returning State
Placers or State Qualifiers. I'm not sure if that has ever been seen in S.C. wrestling before!
It provides Coach Charlie Clay with a tremendous balance and experience up and down the lineup.
You would think with Lugoff and Eastside's minimal 5 returning State Placers/State Qualifiers that
this North Myrtle Beach team would breeze through the State Duals with 4 easy victories, but we all
know that to dethrone a defending 3x state title team like Eastside it's going to take a lot more
than what looks good on paper. Darlington will be out matched in this first round trip to the
coast so we'll go ahead and pick our winner ...
SCMAT Prediction - North Myrtle Beach wins
#19 Lake City (4th seed) at home vs. #9 Bluffton (5th seed)
WOW! Which team should we select to win this evenly matched battle? The #4 seed vs. the #5 seed,
and don't let the rankings fool you. With Bluffton being #9 in our polls and Lake City being #19 you
might think this is hands down going to Bluffton. But Lake City has been all the way to the Big Dance
before, losing in the State Finals just a few years ago (2004) to Eastside. Lake City always has a
solid team and they started to peak just in time. A number of other coaches have written to say
watch this Lake City team pull some surprises come playoff time. Coach John Hollman at Bluffton came
over from the successful Hilton Head program when Bluffton opened its doors a couple years ago.
Bluffton is led by #1 ranked Ryan Koons at 135 lbs. and has several other very solid wrestlers.
Lake City has no returning State Placers/State Qualifiers from last year but Timothy Mitchell (152)
and Jonathon Huge (189) both were State Qualifiers in 2005. In one of the tightest first round
matches we go with the slight edge to the traveling team, but I'm not putting money on this one ...
SCMAT Prediction - Bluffton wins
#5 Chapin (3rd seed) at home vs. #22 Myrtle Beach (6th seed)
Chapin's program has been a top tier program for so many years, going back to Coach Paul Lareau's successful
years when Chapin was in 2A, finishing state runner-up in 1980, and later with Coach Bob Taylor's (now at Irmo)
run at four state title with Chapin ('93, '96, '97, '98) back in the days of 2A wrestling for Chapin. As a side
note of interested, Coach Lareau's son Joe, started NCMAT.COM and THEMAT.COM back in the mid-90's
when he relocated to NC, inspiring the creation of SCMAT.COM shortly after NC's site was started.
Coach James Kratzer has picked up the reigns for Chapin and continued building a high performance team
that should easily handle Myrtle Beach in round 1. The long trip from the beach to wrestle at Chapin will
also mean a long trip home that evening ... that's about 6 hours in the athletic van in one 10 hour stretch!
SCMAT Prediction - Chapin wins
#4 Hilton Head (2nd seed) at home vs. #6 Airport (7th seed)
Hilton Head is led by #1 ranked Rocky Williams-McClure at 140 lbs. and boasts a solid team that moved from
4A down to 3A at the beginning of this season. The experience at the 4A level has certainly helped this
Hilton Head team maintain a top 5 ranking all season. Coach Mike Newton brings intensity to his wrestlers,
which makes them an exciting team that should go all the way to the Lower State Finals, but first they have
a very good Airport team that has not held back from pursuing tough competition this season. This may
have negatively impacted their #7 seed, when many feel they should have been a #4 or #5 seed based on
the teams they have beaten. At the Chapin Duals earlier in January, we saw the Top 3 Teams finish like this
1. Hilton Head, 2. Chapin, 3. Airport --- which leads us to believe this round and next will see Hilton
head bubble out as the winner to compete at Lugoff-Elgin Friday night for the Lower State Title.
SCMAT Prediction - Hilton Head wins
Higher seeded team will always be the Home team.
Brackets for some past SC State Wrestling Dual Tournaments can be located here --- 2006 4A State Duals < = > 2006 3A State Duals < = > 2006 2A-1A State Duals < = > 2006 SCISA State Duals 2005 4A State Duals < = > 2005 3A State Duals < = > 2005 2A-1A State Duals Please note in the 3A Dual bracket below - Lake City made it to the Finals in 2004, not Georgetown. 2004 4A State Duals < = > 2004 3A State Duals < = > 2004 2A-1A State Duals 2003 4A State Duals < = > 2003 3A State Duals < = > 2003 2A-1A State Duals 2002 4A State Duals < = > 2002 3A State Duals < = > 2002 2A-1A State Duals 2001 4A State Duals < = > 2001 3A State Duals < = > 2001 2A-1A State Duals Finally, a History of the SC 3A State Wrestling Tournament State Title determined by Duals Championship - 2007 - TBD 2-10-07 2006 Eastside 41, North Myrtle Beach 19 (Jack Kosmicki, Charlie Clay) 2005 Eastside 46, Chapin 24 (Jack Kosmicki, Scott Harmon) 2004 Eastside 59, Lake City 12 (Jack Kosmicki, Mark Tillotson) 2003 Lugoff-Elgin 58, Carolina Forest 20 (Kevin Knoerr, Bill Mayer) 2002 Eastside 36, Lugoff-Elgin 30 (Jack Kosmicki, Kevin Knoerr) 2001 Lugoff-Elgin 51, Seneca 14 (Joe Connell, Andy Smyth) 2000 Eastside 31, Lugoff-Elgin 27 (Jack Kosmicki, Tim Wash) 1999 Lugoff-Elgin 39, Eastside 25 (Tim Wash, Jack Kosmicki) 1998 Lugoff-Elgin 48, Fort Mill 12 (Tim Wash, ?) 1997 Lugoff-Elgin 59, Seneca 7 (Tim Wash, Andy Smyth) 1996 Battery Creek 34, Dutch Fork 20 (Nathan Day, B.D. LaPrad) 1995 Battery Creek 36, Lugoff-Elgin 19 (Nathan Day, Tim Wash) 1994 Battery Creek 37, Eastside 27 (Nathan Day, Ed Coles) State Title determined by Team Points Championship - 1993 James Island Nelson Huggins 119 - 98½ Eastside Ed Coles 1992 Belton-Honea Path John Abercrombie 130½ -89½ Lugoff-Elgin Tim Wash 1991 Battery Creek Nathan Day 98 - 80 Swansea Jeff Slagle 1990 Swansea Jeff Slagle 114½ -81½ Lugoff-Elgin Eddie Whitt 1989 Swansea Jeff Slagle 119½ - 119 Dreher Joe Soltish 1988 Dreher Joe Soltish 111½ -78½ Belton-Honea Path John Abercrombie 1987 Belton-Honea Path John Abercrombie 80 - 76 Hanahan Randy Learn 1986 Swansea Jeff Slagle 93 - 78 Camden John Thompson 1985 Swansea Jeff Slagle 91½ - 81½ Belton-Honea Path John Abercrombie 1984 St. Andrews Ed Coles 139½ - 35 J. F. Byrnes Roy Turner 1983 Belton-Honea Path John Abercrombie 91 - 81 St. Andrews Ed Coles 1982 St. Andrews Ed Coles 157½ - 37 Fort Johnson Mark Agner 1981 J. F. Byrnes Tim Ramaley 188-130½ Fort Johnson Mark Agner 1980 Fort Johnson Mark Agner 110 - 92 Mauldin Stan Hopkins 1979 Bonds-Wilson Mike Casey 110 - 92 Fort Johnson Mark Agner 1978 Greer Steve Woodward 96½ - 89 James Island Albert Spalviero (All Classifications 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A together) 1977 Airport Jim Barnes 122 - 80 Bonds-Wilson James E. Cox 1976 Airport Jim Barnes 75 ½ - 68 Fort Johnson Chester Willis 1975 Lower Richland Jim Fitzpatrick 73 - 57 Airport Jim Barnes 1974 Lower Richland Rudolph Cooper 55 - 41 ½ Summerville Jim Flowers 1973 Lower Richland Rudolph Cooper 65 ½ - 35 Union Jim Barnes 1972 Lower Richland William Tourek 48 - 41 ½ Bishop England Jack Cantey 1971 Fort Johnson M. Leroy Jackson 56 - 53 Brookland Cayce John Checkovich 1970 St. Andrews Rusty Hamilton 113 - 61 James Island Edward Hertwig 1969 St. Andrews Rusty Hamilton 130 - 93 James Island Edward Hertwig Best wishes to all teams that are competing in this year’s 3A State Wrestling Duals Tournament! Article by Mark Buford Wrestling USA Magazine’s SC State Editor