NMB faced Hartsville with a chance to return to the state wrestling finals. How it fared
North Myrtle Beach fell behind early and was unable to complete a comeback, falling 42-29 to Hartsville in the Class 4A Lower State wrestling finals.
The Chiefs fell behind 6-0 but rallied to take an 11-6 lead. In the first matchup of the night, North Myrtle Beach’s Clay Butler was forced to withdraw from competition due to a shoulder injury after just 19 seconds of action. His teammates, Malachi Black and Jackson Smith, gave North Myrtle Beach a short-lived lead by earning points in the next two contests.
Hartsville then took points in the next six matches to build a 33-11 advantage.
“Wrestling is a game of matchups and they have some lightweights that scored on us early,” Chiefs coach Chris Mazyck said. “I thought we had some pretty good matchups going into the heavier weights, but it just didn’t work out. Hats off to (Hartsville), they earned it. We’re not going to hang our heads, we’re just going to get back to work and get better for next season.”
North Myrtle Beach dropped 27 straight points in the 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, and 145 weight classes.
The Chiefs began a comeback when Jackie Gore pinned Hartsville’s Alex Hunt, then North Myrtle Beach’s Andre Giddens followed with a pin of Wyatt Wilson to cut the Red Foxes’ lead to 33-23. A three-point decision for Hartsville’s Rob Williamson pushed the lead to 36-23, and the final points for North Myrtle Beach came from a quick pin by Chase Simmons.
Richard Williamson earned the final points to secure the victory for Hartsville.
“This team doesn’t know how to quit,” said Black, one of four Chiefs to earn a pin on the night. “All of our guys gave it their all and we had a lot of momentum going. You could feel it building with our guys, we just ran out of chances at the end.”
In his second year at the helm of the Chiefs program, Mazyck was looking for his second trip to the state finals. North Myrtle Beach lost in the Class 4A state championship last season.
“We wanted to get to [Columbia] and bring home a title, so I’m a little disappointed right now,” Black said. “We put so much into this season and had a really great run. (Personally) I have gotten so much better during my time at North Myrtle Beach with both technique and strength. Winning over 100 matches is a great accomplishment for my career, especially since I got off to a slow start in my freshman and sophomore years.”
Although the team portion of the wrestling season is over, individuals can look to earn a spot in the state contests in their respective weight classes.
“This is a special group of seniors,” Mazyck said. “These five guys have meant so much to this program and the success we’ve been able to have over the past couple of years.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 9:49 PM.