The Colleton Prep Wrestling team traveled to Bluffton High School Wednesday Jan. 15 for a tri-match that included Colleton County High School. The War Hawks faced the Cougar Wrestling team in the opening match and fell 54-18. In an upset, the War Hawks downed Bluffton in the second match of the day 36-30.
The match against Colleton County High School pitted Colleton Prep’s current wrestling coach, Packy Burke, against his former wrestling team and former assistant coach, now Head Coach Jaques Glover. Colleton Prep picked up wins from Carter Sims (FF),Ryan McMillen (pin over Ethan Beach), and Jackson Sims (overtime win over Q. Stokes).
“The atmosphere was what you want out of a wrestling match, intense and competitive, with good head-to-head matchups between two schools who value sportsmanship,” said Burke. “Even though there has to be a winner and a loser declared, everyone came out a winner tonight.”
But the highlight of the evening came in game two of the tri-match against Bluffton High School.
“Unfortunately, our weights didn’t match-up well against Bluffton and we had a lot of forfeits,” explained Burke. “Thomas Craven fell just short against Bluffton’s R. Ruiz and got pinned with just :30 seconds left in the match. Jackson Sims, who went up a weight class for the match, just didn’t have gas left in his tank after his overtime win and he was pinned in the second period.”
In the last match of the evening with the teams tied at 30 points, seventh grader Carter Sims stepped on the mat to face-off against freshman Matt Bostonio.
“Sims was quickly taken down and was losing 2-0,” said Burke. “Bostsnio immediately went to work for a pin. As Sims was getting turned to his back , he counter attacked and scored a reversal. Wasting no time, Sims performed his signature cradle move and pulled off the upset to pin the upperclassmen and bring home the victory for the War Hawks.
“It was a great win for ‘Cradle Carter,’” said Burke. “He has shown a lot of interest in the sport and is willing to work hard to get results — and it shows.”
Colleton Prep was scheduled to travel to John Paul II on Monday Jan. 20, and then to Lakewood for a tri-match that includes East Clarendon on Wednesday Jan. 22.
