North Carolina Wrestling Scout Report

Anthony Clinton wins the 189lb title

On Saturday October 20^th, Anthony Clinton did something that no other North Carolina wrestler could do. He won a “Championship Belt” at the Super 32 Challenge wrestling tournament in Greensboro, NC.  

Clinton is no stranger at winning big matches; after all, he is a two-time state champion. This past Saturday at the Greensboro Coliseum, he added to his credentials, as being one of the top college prospects in North Carolina, by beating a couple of All-Americans and national ranked wrestlers.

Clinton’s road to the 189 pound Super 32 title started with two easy wins in the first and second round, but by the third round the competition got progressively tougher.

In his third round match, Clinton defeated Virginia state runner-up Chase Ennis (Grafton High School) by a 7-3 decision.

Clinton headed into his semi-final bout against a double Cadet All-American, Andrew Campolattano of Bound Brook high school in New Jersey. Campolattano had won the USA Wrestling Cadet National Greco Championship, and had also finished as a Cadet National Freestyle runner-up this past summer in Fargo, ND.

In his match with Campolattano, Clinton had a couple of dramatic come-from-behind takedowns to win the bout. Clinton was down by 3-2 deficit going into the start of the 3 period. Campolattano choose down to start the period and added a quick escape point to increase his lead to 4-2. Clinton then turned up the intensity to get two huge takedowns within the next 30 seconds to secure a 6-5 decision.

In his finals match, Clinton squared off against Maxwell Huntley of Colonial Forge high school out of Virginia.  Like his previous opponent, Huntley was a double Cadet All-American in both freestyle and Greco from this past summer. This was not the first time that Clinton had faced Huntley.

Early in the year at the East Coast Duals, Clinton had defeated Huntley in freestyle. His win over Huntley helped propel Team North Carolina to the gold medal at the duals.

The finals match started with some exciting action with several shots and scrambles. In fact, one of these attempts almost knocked both wrestlers out, as the two collided with their heads and shoulders. Clinton scored off a nice double leg to go up 2-0 in the first. Huntley quickly add an escape to make it 2-1 in favor of Clinton. The period ends and Clintons chose down to start the second. Clinton scores an escape with a standup to go up 3-1. Mid-way through the second, Clinton knee taps Huntley and switches off to a blast double. Clinton scores the takedown to go up 5-1, but Huntley bangs his head on the mat during the takedown, and he is knocked out. Clinton records the win with an injury default, as Huntley was unable to continue.