By CINDY CROSBY
Three Colleton County Cougar Wrestlers, Gage Thomas (145), Demar Bodison (220), Brock McHugh (285), qualified to compete in the SCHSL AAAA Lower State Individual Wrestling Championships held on Saturday, February 19.
In the first match, No. 5 seed Gage Thomas defeated No. 12 Peter Graf (Lucy Beckham). “Gage quickly took control of the match with a quick takedown of Graf and turned him to his back at the top of the first,” said Coach Jaques Glover.
Thomas faced No. 4 Cayden Hart (South Aiken High School) in round two, but after a tough match fell 8-4. In the consolation bracket, Thomas earned wins over No. 11 Kerry Nguyen (West Florence) and No. 7 Grant McDonald (South Florence).
He would be eliminated following a loss to No. 3 Eric Seman (May River).
No. 12 seed Demar Bodison fell to No. 5 Kane Walker (Midland Valley) in round one. Bodison moved into the consolation match where he fell to Braven Shapiro (Hilton Head High School) and was eliminated. “Bodison came out aggressive at the beginning, but unfortunately got taken down and pinned in the first,” said Glover.
No. 11 Brock McHugh lost to No. 6 Anderson Richbourg (Airport High School) in round one. McHugh earned the win in the consolation match against No. 14 Jerome Triplin (James Island) but fell in round three against No. 4 Justin Joe (South Florence).
“McHugh wrestled a tough match in round one, but ultimately lost 6-0,” said Glover. “In the consolation match, Triplin, quickly went up two points on McHugh. In the second period, McHugh chose to go top, and it turned out to be the right decision as he was able to turn Triplin to his back for the pin.”
