After a near-stale mate for the first period and a half, Tyler Marler took the advice of Palmetto’s coaching staff.

Marler jostled with Chesterfield senior Dustin Gooden until he went to the cradle move, and flipped Gooden on his back with about a minute remaining in the heavyweight match. With that move, Marler took a 4-2 decision, and the Palmetto senior became the Mustangs’ and Anderson County’s first two-time state champion.

“He was a lot like me, but a lot stronger than me, but I just knew I had a little bit more experience. That’s the only reason I won,” said Marler, who improved to 27-1 and was the school’s first junior state champion last season. “That saved my tail. My coach here told me to go for the cradle, and that’s what I got.”

Marler was one of five local state champions on Saturday at the Class AA-A state tournament here. Of the 28 local state qualifiers, nine made the final round led by four from Walhalla. The Razorbacks had two champions, sophomore 103 Andrew Rankin, and senior 112 Ethan LeCroy. West-Oak also had two champs led by three-time winner Eric Rholetter, a junior 125. Warrior sophomore 145 avenged last week’s Upper State loss to Ninety Six’s Chris Curreri with a commanding 16-5 victory.

For Rholetter, it was another narrow escape against Crescent junior Cody McCall. After last week’s 2-0 victory, Rholetter took the top step of the podium with a 2-1 decision.

“He’s gotten so much better on his feet, playing defense on me, he did a great job doing that,” Rholetter said.

Rholetter and Chesterfield 135 Trey Alley are the only current AA-A three-time state champions. And Rholetter became West-Oaks’ third three-time state champion after Adam Duncan, and Chip Sandifer from 1994-96 and ‘99-01, respectively. This time was the first title Rholetter secured without a pin.

“I can’t even explain it,” Rholetter said. “There’s not words for it. Three down, one more to go. That’s my plan.”

Last year, Rholetter said he’d celebrate with a visit to McDonalds. This time, he said he was thinking about a steak from Olive Garden or Outback.

“But I’ve got to watch my weight,” he said. “I’ve got nationals coming up. Gotta cut down to 119.”

As Rholetter digested his win, Hunnicutt worked on a rematch of last week’s Upper State final. This time, he turned the tide on Curreri, who he’d lost to twice before.

Hunnicutt’s initial takedown caused Curreri to sprain an ankle. After that, the 16-5 decision was nothing like last week’s 9-4 Curreri win.

“I guess I just wanted it more,” said Hunnicut, who went from 11-46 last season to 54-6 this season.

Both of Walhalla’s champions pulled off upsets to reach their crowns. Rankin beat Bishop England sophomore Derrick Geiges in a battle of the state’s top two lightest weights.

“It’s just all fuzzy,” said Rankin, who finished fourth last season, trying to recount the match after bopping around the gym in celebration. “I wrestled him last year, and from what I heard he was a freaking animal on the mat, so I didn’t know what to expect.”

LeCroy, who was still “numb” and speechless several matches after his win, avenged two earlier losses to Woodruff sophomore Jeremy Phillips.

“I just knew I couldn’t wrestle him on the mat, and I had to take him down,” LeCroy said. “That was my mentality going into the match, and I sticked to it. It worked.”

Of the wrestlers returning next season, Rankin offered a slogan.

“It makes me want to work even harder next year to try to win it again,” he said.

Noted

Two wrestlers became four-time state champions: Chesterfield 140 Dalton Harper and Loris 189 Jonathan Willard. Harper also won his titles at 130, 125, and 112. Willard won three at 189 and at 171 as a freshman. Harper was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler in a poll of coaches.

103 - Andrew Rankin (Walhalla) 7-1 over Derrick Geiges (Bishop England); 112 – Ethan LeCroy (Walhalla) 16-7 over Jeremy Phillips (Woodruff); 119 – Ian Harper (Chesterfield) pinned Raffeal Burkette (Cheraw); 125 – Eric Rholetter (West-Oak) 2-1 over Cody McCall (Crescent); 130 – James Long (Ninety Six) 9-1 over Joseph Winkler (West-Oak); 135 – Trey Alley (Chesterfield) 4-1 over Andrew Vaughn (Walhalla); 140 – Dalton Harper (Chesterfield) 14-2 over Justin Christopher (Woodruff); 145 – John Hunnicutt (West-Oak) 16-5 over Chris Curreri (Ninety Six); 152 – Zane Newton (Emerald) pinned Alfonzo Oliver (Loris); 160 – Maurice Morris (Loris) 14-1 over David Ingle (Woodruff); 171 – Joe Boykin (Bishop England) 18-1 over J.T. Fessenden (Broome); 189 – Jonathan Willard (Loris) pinned Jared Clark (Broome); 215 – Bernard Kendall (Cheraw) 16-11 over Austin Hedden (Walhalla); Hvt. – Tyler Marler (Palmetto) 4-2 over Dustin Gooden (Chesterfield).