IVA — Even though Cody McCall lost to Eric Rholetter twice this season, including once by nearly a major decision, he entered the Upper State championship like he was playing with house money.

Rholetter, a two-time defending state champion, who is on pace to be the best wrestler West-Oak’s ever seen, and perhaps one of the Skyline’s all-time greats, has been ranked No. 1 in the state at 125 pounds all season. At No. 2? McCall, a Crescent junior.

In one of the more defensive matches of Saturday afternoon at Crescent, McCall nearly pulled off the upset, but instead settled for a 2-0 loss to Rholetter, who improved his season record to 63-4.

In yet another example of the quality and depth of the Skyline region, six local wrestlers won an Upper State championship and will take No. 1 seeds next week to the state tournament at Gilbert. Walhalla led the region with three top seeds, while Palmetto sent two to the top of the podium.

McCall, though, was visibly upset by the loss in the moments following the match.

“I felt like I should have a chance to beat anybody I wrestle,” McCall said. “But from just the hype, everybody thinks he’s going to, and he should beat me. So when I go out there, it’s his to lose. I got nothing to lose, and everything to gain.”

Reminded that the top five wrestlers in the state hail from the Upper State, McCall understood that next week’s state championship at Gilbert may be easier than this weekend, “at least until the last match.”

And despite going 0-3 against Rholetter in his career, McCall still wants another shot.

“That’s what I’m hoping for,” McCall said.

Rholetter, meanwhile, noticed McCall’s improvement since the earlier meetings.

“It’s hard for me to set my shots up,” Rholetter said. “He’s been getting better and better on his defense.”

Rholetter scored a quick first period takedown, then took bottom on a restart, and rode out the victory.

“I was just trying to finish it out,” Rholetter said, “and get out with a win. It’s harder and harder every year, you can’t take it for granted.”

McCall, meanwhile, kept his chin up, and realized that taking Rholetter to the wire helps his own cause.

“It helps how good of a wrestler he is, you can go toe-to-toe with him,” McCall said. “It really doesn’t matter whenever you don’t wrestle anybody that good. When it’s something this important, and it’s against somebody that good, it really shows something about you.”

There were plenty of highlights outside of Rholetter and McCall’s marquee match. Walhalla sophomore Andrew Rankin avenged an Upper State semifinals duals loss to Woodruff sophomore Akierrian Gilliam.

“I knew I could beat him, I just made the mistake of not wrestling all three periods last time,” Rankin said. “It was very frustrating, kind of embarrassing, too.”

Rankin’s teammate, junior 215 Austin Hedden saw his 37 straight pin streak end, but he still beat Broome’s Jesse Simpson, 14-5. Hedden didn’t seem to mind, since the previous school record was 14.

“I don’t think anybody will come close to it,” Hedden said of the record. “That’s just a great reflection of the team, more so than me.”

Hedden already beat Simpson once this season, but said, “I barely got out of there with a pin.”

At 135, Walhalla senior Andrew Vaughn had the only shutout of the championship, beating Chapman’s Jarrett Loftis 10-0. Vaughn pinned Loftis in two earlier meetings.

“I knew what moves to use to win the match,” Vaughn said. “This is big, but next week’s bigger.”

The heavyweight championship pitted the state’s top two wrestlers, Palmetto’s Tyler Marler, and Crescent’s Sergio Smith, who had split two earlier meetings.

Marler took a shot early, which Smith said took him by surprise, and held on for a 3-2 victory, despite a late charge from Smith.

“I was trying to do something he hadn’t seen before,” said Smith, whose record is 34-6. “I guess I’ll have to wait until next weekend.”

The margin wasn’t a surprise since all three meetings have been decided by one point.

“I was just trying to score as many points as I could, and not go for a pin,” said Marler, a defending state champion, who is 24-1 this season. “Because if I went for a pin I knew I was going to mess up.”

A year after let teammate Robert Woodcock take his place at 119, Palmetto junior Marcus King notched the only pin in the championship round, beating Crescent’s Anthony Bianco in the second period. King trailed 2-0 after the first period, and attributed the deficit to a week off, and several hours of down time before the championship bracket began.

“It means a lot,” said King, who didn’t qualify for state last year. “I just started off slow, it’s hard to get into it after you’ve been out for a while.”

Keith Farner can be reached at (864) 260-1236 or by e-mail at farnerkb@IndependentMail.com

Wrestling

AA-A Upper State championship at Crescent

103 — Andrew Rankin (Walhalla) 13-3 over Akierrian Gilliam (Woodruff); 112 — Jeremy Phillips (Woodruff) 10-7 over Ethan LeCroy (Walhalla); 119 — Marcus King (Palmetto) pinned Anthony Bianco (Crescent); 125 — Eric Rholetter (West-Oak) 2-0 over Cody McCall (Crescent); 130 — James Long (Ninety Six) pinned Skylar Johnson (Emerald); 135 — Andrew Vaughn (Walhalla) 10-0 over Jarrett Loftis (Chapman); 140 — Justin Christopher (Woodruff) 15-10 over Will McClam (Ninety Six); 145 —Chris Curreri (Ninety Six) 9-4 over John Hunnicutt (West-Oak); 152 — Zane Newton (Emerald) 8-2 over Bill Glace (Abbeville); 160 — David Ingle (Woodruff) 9-7 over Brad Sieckman (Emerald); 171 — J.T. Fessenden (Broome) pinned Tyler Neal (Ninety Six); 189 — Jared Clark (Broome) 4-2 over Bryan Glace (Abbeville); 215 — Austin Hedden (Walhalla) 14-5 over Jesse Simpson (Broome); Hvt — Tyler Marler (Palmetto) 3-2 over Sergio Smith (Crescent).