Gilbert’s pursuit of the 3A state wrestling title concluded Saturday when the team fell in the championship match to West-Oak 52-24 at Dreher High School.

West-Oak’s win marked the school’s third straight state championship.

The Indians got off to a slow start, losing the first four bouts by a pin. This put West-Oak up 24-0 with momentum.

West-Oak won three of the next four matches after forfeiting the 126-pound match. Gilbert picked up two non-forfeit wins after pins from Shane Wise and Jonathan Brentlinger.

The contest was the first meeting between friends and former colleagues Mitch Hudson and Derek Strobel. Strobel, the head coach at West-Oak, was the head coach at Lexington when the Wildcats won the 2013 4A state championship. Hudson, Gilbert’s coach, was one of his top assistants.

Since both coaches moved on, they have found success with their new programs. Hudson has laid the foundation of a dynasty at West-Oak since taking over in 2021, while Hudson has shaped Gilbert into a constant contender.

In seven years with the Indians, Hudson has led his team to six state semifinal appearances and four state championship matches but has failed to win the whole thing yet.

The team did not have its best regular season this year, finishing second in 3A Region 5. When the playoffs came around the team caught fire, but unfortunately got burnt out during the final matches.

“It’s something we worked for, and we’ve struggled to have the right lineup and everything this year, but we finally got everybody here at the same time, but we’ve got to be able to pull it together,” Hudson said.

Gilbert was on the road for every match during its playoff run. Still, their supporters followed them every step of the way as the team piled up upsets.

“We’ve learned that no matter where you’re at, you got to fight,” Hudson said. “We’ve got to have our minds right. We’ve got to be ready for the scrap.”

The Indians won two matches on the road at Phillips Simmons, defeating Darlington 76-6 in round one and Waccamaw 54-29 in round two.

Gilbert then hit the road to face Aynor, a one-seed and won that match 48-33 to advance to the lower state championship. The team’s final win came against Dreher in the same gym they lost in on Saturday.

Gilbert and other teams around the state will now shift from focus on the duals tournament to the individual qualifiers and tournaments.

Qualifiers are set to begin this week for all classifications, running from Friday to Saturday. Title matches will take place the following weekend.

Individual wrestling rankings were scheduled to be released Feb. 14 before state qualifiers begin but after the Chronicle’s Tuesday press deadline. The rankings can be found at scmat.com.