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By Brian Pitts
Davie Enterprise Record

South Davie and Ellis got the wrestling season off to a thunderous start on the evening of Halloween.
It was a slugfest that went all the way down to the sixth tiebreaker. The visiting Tigers wound up celebrating a 55-54 victory because they had fewer forfeits. It was a true heartbreaker for the Jaguars, who led 30-18 after the eighth of 18 weight classes.
“(Ellis coach Brian) Murphy was missing two of his kids and I had two of mine not make weight,” South coach Russell Hilton said. “We had one or two wins that I thought they may get, and Murph had one or two wins that I thought we would get. That’s what a middle school match is. In a good middle school match, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The weight classes were split 9-9. Ellis had nine pins to South’s six, but that advantage was negated by Ellis’ three forfeits.
“Two of my starters were not there,” Murphy said. “If I put a body out there for one of those matches and they don’t get pinned, we win that match.”
Vincent Clements and Colby Mason pinned for Ellis at 157 and 175, respectively. South received the forfeits at 165, 190 and 215 to take an 18-12 lead. Ellis went on an 18-0 run to take the 30-18 lead, getting pins from Henry Butler (250), Chase Murphy (76) and Jaxon Gay (83).
“(Mason’s) an eighth grader but he’s a new kid,” Murphy said. “He’s had two first-period pins. He’s doing really well. He’s a great addition.”
South found its groove at 90, with 24 unanswered points staking the Tigers to a 42-30 lead. The pins in that stretch came from Colton Beck (90), Rico Evans (98), Elijah Tatum (106) and John Meija (113).
“Colten wrestled a tough kid,” Hilton said. “That was one that was 50-50. I wanted it to go my way, but I would not have been shocked if it had gone the other way.
“There were two that I had down as wins for them, but I knew we had a chance to win at 106. Elijah got pinned last week at the scrimmage. Elijah did not wrestle his best and he got pinned by that kid. This time it was the opposite. That’s one I was hoping for, but I was not expecting (a pin).”
Ellis fought back to a 42-42 tie behind pins from Mason Barnes (120) and Tyler Robinson (126).
“(Robinson’s) a sixth grader and (the South) kid is an eighth grader. That was his first win. He got beat twice in scrimmages. His first win was a big one.”
Then it was South’s turn to regain the momentum, with KJ McClelland (132) and Harris Wagstaff (138) putting the Tigers in front 54-42.
With two weight classes remaining, the Jaguars had their backs against the wall. Jaleel Collins and Connor McNeil absolutely had to pin at 144 and 150. They rose to the moment. Collins dug deep to get his pin in the third period. McNeil tied things at 54 with a second-period pin.
“I told (Collins) we had to have a pin,” Murphy said. “He was making some mistakes. He kept trying to run the same move and it wasn’t working. Eventually he let (the South wrestling) up and took her down straight to her back.
“I told (McNeil) just to go out there and wrestle smart. He’s a smart kid. He knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t get bad positions. There was nothing really to tell him; he went out there and took care of business.”
To settle the tie, the referee went to criteria. South came away the winner to get a measure of revenge for 57-46 and 54-48 losses to Ellis in 2023.
“This is the first time I’ve seen F before,” Hilton said of the criteria.
“The first criteria was the most matches won, and that was 9-9,” Murphy said. “The next criteria was most six-point wins, and that was tied 9-9. It was the sixth criteria – most forfeits given up. So yeah, I was a little hot.”
Earlier in the day at Ellis, both teams had a cupcake in their season openers. The Tigers belted Southeast 78-30. Recording nine pins were Tucker Mason, Maurice McKee, Alex Rueda, Kaden Howell, Tatum, Meija, Jaxson Belcher, McClelland and Wagstaff.
The Jaguars dished out the same punishment on the Patriots, winning 81-18 in Murphy’s debut as coach. Eight pins came from McNeil, Mason, Butler, Gay, Connor Cornatzer, Jason Moxley, Colton Roseman and Collins. Ayden Davis won by technical fall and Clements had a major decision.
Notes: Murphy replaced Charles Compton as coach. Compton guided the Jags for two years. … Murphy has 31 wrestlers, but “half of mine are 113 and below,” he said. “I’ve got a bunch of little ones.” … Hilton is in his seventh year of leading South. He has a whopping 40 wrestlers.