‘We will be back’: North Myrtle Beach wrestling looks to future after loss in title match
Moments after the Class 4A championship match ended, North Myrtle Beach wrestling coach Chris Mazyck already was looking toward the future.
The first-year coach helped the Chiefs to their first state title appearance. Unfortunately, North Myrtle Beach ran into powerhouse Eastside program in the final.
The Eagles turned in a dominating performance to defeat North Myrtle Beach, 66-15, for their fourth state title and 14th since 1999.
“We have a strong nucleus with the young guys and this is a lesson learned from it. I think we will be back,” Mazyck said. “Didn’t get them in the weight room until December, which is just a few months ago. But we are going to have them for whole year and I think we can build on it.”
The first-year coach praised the senior leadership for helping carry the Chiefs early on the season. Now, it will be up to the younger guys to continue that going forward. The wrestlers will get a full offseason with him.
And the fact they made to the championship will be a driving force to keep the program going forward.
“We know that we can get here. The whole message through the offseason will be finish,” he said.
Eastside, which has six wrestlers ranked No. 1 in the state by scmat.com, made sure North Myrtle Beach never got on track. The Eagles won the first five matches by pin to take a 30-0 lead.
Tucker Allen, Riley Augustine, Ben Maholtz, Bryson Ethington and Ryan Augustine all notched victories to start for Eastside.
“We wrestled really well and we dominated,” Eastside coach Jack Kosmicki said. “We kicked it off with a majority of our strong kids and really sent a message. Those guys really get it rolling.”
The Chiefs’ first win came on Chase Simmons’ pin at 170 pounds. North Myrtle Beach’s other two wins came by Curtis Wolfe by pin at 220 and Malachi Black at heavyweight.
Black, one of the team’s four seniors, is excited about the future of the program and will cherish being part of the school’s first championship trip.
“We are the first ones to do this and this is something we can look back on,” Black said. “I take a lot of satisfaction in getting here because of where this program was and how far we made it. These guys should be excited and I’m excited for this program. Hopefully, they can get to this level again and finish it.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2019 at 5:21 PM.
