Fort Mill wrestling caps unbeaten season with fourth straight SC state title
Tradition Never Graduates.
That’s definitely a mantra Fort Mill wrestling can take after the Yellow Jackets fourth straight state championship after a dominating 52-11 victory over Lugoff-Elgin Wednesday night in the Class 5A, Division II state championship at White Knoll High School.
Fort Mill senior Lincoln Greene, who earned a 16-0 technical fall victory in the 157-pound weight class, has been a part of that dynasty the entire time. He wanted to go out the same way the seniors went out when he was a freshman and just learning the ropes.
“When I came in as a freshman, my whole class, all we know is winning state championships,” Greene said. “But that started with the seniors when I was a freshman. I wanted to be like that and be a huge role model to all the underclassmen. They’re the future of this program, and it means a lot to show them how to grind it out every single day. It shows all our hard work pays off. It’s absolutely amazing.”
You will not get an argument from Lugoff-Elgin coach Ted Monroe that his team faced the best the state has to offer.
Fort Mill (31-0) only lost three dual matches over the course of four seasons, and the Yellow Jackets completed a second straight undefeated season in grand fashion.
“They’re the best team in South Carolina in all classifications,” Monroe said.
It would be hard to argue that point.
The two teams came into the finals ranked No. 1 and 2 in the SCMat.com polls, but there was a big difference between the top spot and second place. The championship was the third meeting between the schools with Fort Mill winning 44-18 on Nov. 22 and 54-19 on Dec. 16. The championship was more of the same.
The dual started at the 132-pound weight class and Tyler McChesney got the Demons off to a good start with an 8-4 victory. But Fort Mill got things rolling after that.
Cooper Van Beynum (138), Jayden Nguyen (144), Keenan Coston (150), Greene (157) and Broden Mitcheson (165) ripped off wins to make it 22-3. Lugoff-Elgin’s Jakaleb Robinson stopped the momentum for a short time with a 13-3 win at the 175-pound weight class to make it 22-7.
Maurice Lawrence (190) won for the Yellow Jackets before Logan Hinton (215) gave the Demons its final points of the night. Krystian Villatoro scored a first quarter pin at 285 to put Fort Mill on the brink of the title before Peter Escudero (106) clinched the match with a 19-4 decision that gave the Yellow Jackets a 38-11 lead. Morrison Murphy (113), Luke Van Beynum (120) and Grayson Wallen (120) each claimed wins to round out the victory.
“These guys have just continued to get better every day, every opportunity they have to get better, they continue to get better,” Fort Mill coach Adam Marullo said. “Obviously, the team state championship is done, but we still have two tournaments to wrestle. We’re going to continue to get better over the next couple of days and coming weeks.”
This is the fourth straight season Lugoff-Elgin has lost in the finals. The Demons last won a state championship in 2010.
“We don’t have anything to be ashamed of. We finished the season 40-3 with all three losses to Fort Mill,” Monroe said. “We didn’t wrestle well tonight. It was a snowball effect. We had one or two, we had a chance to win early on that got away from us. We had that deer in the headline look and we’re not used to having that. I don’t think it was an effort problem; it was an execution problem. We have to lick our wounds and get ready for individuals.”
SCHSL Wrestling Championships
Class 5A Division I
At Lexington High School
Clover 34, James Island 31
Class 5A Division II Boys
At White Knoll HS
Fort Mill 52, Lugoff-Elgin 11
Class 4A
At Gilbert HS
May River 31, Travelers Rest 29
Class 3A
At Lexington HS
West-Oak 54, Hanahan 15
Class 2A Boys
At White Knoll HS
Chesnee 70, Edisto 12
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 11:50 PM.