Columbia-bound again: Battery Creek wrestlers rout Timberland to win Lower State title

For the third time in four years, the Battery Creek High School wrestling team will grapple for the state championship.

With defending state champions Omar Daniels and Cooper Kaminsky leading the way, the Dolphins beat Timberland 56-9 Wednesday night in Beaufort to claim the Lower State title. They will face West Oak in the state championship match, which is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Dreher High School in Columbia.

“This is what we prepare for, but it doesn’t mean anything when we get (to Columbia) and don’t win it,” said Kaminsky, who pinned David Mitchum.

“Our goal is to win the big one.”

Kaminsky, a senior who wrestles at 220 pounds, won an individual state championship at 195 last year.

Wednesday’s victory took place on the same floor in which Battery Creek was edged 37-35 by eventual state champion Marion in last year’s Lower State finals.

The Dolphins won 12 of the 14 matches against Timberland, with the team’s other state champion, senior Omar Daniels (138 pounds), taking out Emanuel Moultrie by technical fall 20-5.

Battery Creek won the state title in 2014 and 2015, beating Liberty both times.

This story was originally published February 8, 2017 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Columbia-bound again: Battery Creek wrestlers rout Timberland to win Lower State title."