Several newspaper articles below capture the significance of this match:
Hillcrest eliminates Rock Hill in Upper State wrestling
Wildcats reach State Final
Wildcats just miss title, Hillcrest declared winner on sixth tiebreaker
Lexington rebounds nicely at season mat finale
YouTube of entire match - 2012 SCHSL 4A Final
2012 4A State Duals Final (boxscore at link) - Hillcrest 27 *, Lexington 26 (* Hillcrest wins on tiebreaker criteria #6, most tech falls)

Coach Tommy Bell, head coach of the 2012 Hillcrest wrestling team, took time recently to reflect and share his memories (see below) from this great State Duals Final:

"In 2012, Lexington was clearly the favorite. Future Hall of Fame Coach Derek Strobel had built that program up and his group had made the state finals against us in 2011 with 9 freshmen and sophomores. We had lost so many state placers from the previous year, but we had really come on the second half of the season. I always tell coaches that after you win a state title, something happens to your program. It is like there is a belief that we know what we do is good enough and our 2012 team was a great example of that. We just believed we were going to win.

The other thing I remember, that 2012 was the first year of the new National Federation weight classes, where they took out a light weight and added one up higher. That fit our team much better because Ellison Sanders and Landon Sayegh could move up and down the lineup easily and let us play the best matchups because of their versatility. If we would have wrestled Lexington with the 2011 weight classes in 2012, we would not have beaten them. So that was just a complete luck that the NFHS mandated that change for that year.

The match started at 106 and we wrestled out of our minds early in the dual and picked up momentum in the middle weights. Bronson Delgado was a backup we inserted at 182 and he won a match in the ultimate tiebreaker to put us in control. As we went into the final match, we were able to bump our 220, all state wrestler Justin Boozer, up to wrestle heavyweight. We were up by 3 and knew that if the match was tied, we would win on criteria. We typically do a lot of scouting of opponents, but the Lexington heavyweight was a mystery to us. We knew he had won two big matches in the dual playoffs with rolls from bottom so we tried to just stay on our feet and win the match. I have been told by many that they thought our wrestler tried to lose on purpose. That certainly wasn't true, we just knew that if he was to win it would have to be a different way. So the match ended in regulation tied. Then it went into the tiebreakers and we chose top, and then let the Lexington wrestler up for an escape. The announcers were confused, but at that point we were just not going to take any chances. As the clock got closer to all zeros, the Lexington fans started to cheer, but our bench went crazy celebrating the state title that we knew we would win on criteria. It was certainly unique to see everyone celebrating at the same time."

Some interesting trivia from this match:
1. The 2012 4A State Duals Final was a rematch of the 2011 Final, with Hillcrest defeating Lexington in both State Finals. In 2013, Lexington would return to the State Finals and defeat Rock Hill for their first wrestling State Title.

2. Lexington would win the 2012 Traditional State team points two weeks later, finishing comfortably ahead of the #2 through #5 teams - Rock Hill, Dorman, Summerville and Hillcrest.

3. This match was only the second State Duals Final in SC that ended with tiebreaker criteria. The other tiebreaker criteria Final was the 2010 2A State Duals Final, with Loris defeating Woodruff 31-30 on tiebreaker criteria #4, most wins 8-6. The 2012 4A Final between Hillcrest and Lexington went to the #6 tiebreaker criteria, most tech falls.

4. In this 2012 defensive classic, 3 matches would end up tied after three periods and go into overtime. 8 matches would be decided by 5 points or less (both teams winning 4 each). Each team had 1 pin. In the four other matches, Lexington would have 2 major decisions and Hillcrest would have 1 decision by 7 points and 1 technical fall. The technical fall made the difference.

5. In a much hyped match-up like 2012, coaches know the coin toss and starting weight class can be essential. Hillcrest would win the coin toss and have choice. 106 lbs. was the starting weight class. As Coach Bell eluded to above, the choice for them, winning the coin toss, would be critical at 220 lbs. when Hillcrest bumped their 220 to HWT.

6. 30 is the magic number. Coaches have shared, the magic number of points to reach in a highly touted defensive match is 30 points (of course higher is better). The first team that reaches 30 points, has a greater likelihood of winning.
In 31 years of SC State Duals and 97 Finals (across all classifications), only 4 times have we seen both teams held to less than 30 points:
2022 5A - Ashley Ridge 27, Hillcrest 26
2014 4A - Rock Hill 28, Summerville 23
2012 4A - Hillcrest 27 *, Lexington 26 (* tiebreaker criteria)
2009 4A - Rock Hill 28, Fort Dorchester 24

7. Where are they now?
Coach Tommy Bell (Hillcrest head coach in 2012) - now Athletic Director at TL Hanna
Coach Robby Bell (Hillcrest assistant coach in 2012) - now Athletic Director and head wrestling coach at Fountain Inn
Coach Derek Strobel (Lexington head coach in 2012) - now head wrestling coach at West-Oak
Coach Mitch Hudson (Lexington assistant coach in 2012) - now head wrestling coach at Gilbert

Watch the entire 2012 4A State Final on YouTube:
YouTube - 2012 SCHSL 4A Wrestling Dual Championships

This nine-part series will continue next week with #1 on our list of the Greatest State Duals Finals.

If you notice a correction, addition or just want to comment to these historical articles, please send a reply to scmat@hotmail.com

thanks,

Mark Buford