Eagles fly away with Ridge View Duals title
Photos and Story
By Mike Maddock
Mike@TheColumbiaStar.com

A.C. Flora's Jacob Easterly takes down Dreher's Carl Herro. Easterly won the match, but Dreher took this dual.

Real wrestling is just about as individual a sport as it gets. Even within teams, it's mano a mano on a mat with no place to hide and no help from a teammate. Wrestling can be a very lonely sport, unless the dual format is used, which was the case with the Ridge View Duals held Jan. 20 at Ridge View High School.

In the dual format, teams wrestle teams. The wrestlers are still by themselves on the mat, but teammates are there to offer support and the individual goes only as far as the team in the tournament.

A total of 16 wrestling teams from high schools such as A.C. Flora, Dreher, Chapin, Spring Valley, Hammond, Richland Northeast, Blythewood, Brookland- Cayce, Ridge View, and others from around the state and North Carolina participated. The teams were divided into four groups and wrestled in a round robin format. Points were awarded to the teams from each individual match as follows: six points for a pin, five points for a tech fall (wrestler wins by 15 or more points), four points for an eight point margin, and three points for a minor decision. The team with the most points won the dual. The teams with the best dual records from each group then wrestled each other for first, second, third, and fourth place.

Spring Valley's Jordan Smith sneaks a peak at his coach Rob Wells for some advice on his next move against Hammond's Ramsey Ugarte. The Skyhawks took this dual.

The Chapin Eagles took this year's title, wrestling it away from two- time defending champ Mitchell High School out of NC. The team format suited the Eagles who have no real superstars just yet, but are loaded with quality wrestlers, nine of which are ranked in the 3A top 13 by SCMAT.com. Chapin, as a team, is ranked fifth.

This year's Ridge View Duals were sponsored by Hardee's, which also sponsored the Blue Devil Invitational Jan. 12- 13.

Pools

A1

Mitchell(NC) def. A.C. Flora 71-9

Brookland- Cayce's Ryan Branham slams Berkeley's Derik Winningham to the mat. Branham won this match, but Berkeley won the dual.

Mitchell(NC) def. Dreher 51-30

T.L. Hanna def. Dreher 42-36

Dreher def. A.C. Flora 60-12

Mitchell(NC) wins pool.

A2

Chapin def. Hammond 48-23

Hammond def. Marion 57-19

Chapin def. Spring Valley 63-9

Chapin def. Marion 65-11

Hammond def. Spring Valley 52-27

Chapin wins pool.

B1

Blythewood def. North Central 72-9

Camden def. RNE 57-24

Blythewood def. RNE 60-24

Camden def. North Central 72-9

RNE def. North Central 42-30

Camden def. Blythewood 51-21

Camden wins pool.

B2

Berkeley def. BC 48-46

Charlotte Christian(NC) def. Ridge View 48-24

BC def. Ridge View 43-40

Charlotte Christian(NC) def.

BC 63-21

Charlotte Christian(NC) def. Berkeley 50-12

Ridge View def. Berkeley 41-37

Charlotte Christian(NC) wins pool.

Semi Finals

Camden def. Charlotte Christian(NC) 29-24

Chapin def. Mitchell(NC ) 25-19

Consolation Finals

Mitchell(NC) def. Charlotte Christian(NC) 24-19

Finals

Chapin def. Camden 24-15

Source: Ridge View High School

Complete results not available.