Jan 25, 2017 3 min read

CLAYSVILLE – The stage couldn’t have been bigger for McGuffey sophomore Noah Cline.

Trailing 1-0 to start the third period in the final bout of the WPIAL Section 2-AA team tournament, with his team trailing 33-32, it was now or never for Cline and McGuffey.

With the McGuffey crowd chanting his name, Cline scored a late reversal and pulled out a dramatic 4-1 victory over Derry’s Hunter Edminston to give the Highlanders a 35-33 victory and the section championship.

“It was a total team effort,” Cline said. “I’m humble so I don’t want to take too much credit. We all pulled through and everyone just told me to believe in myself. My teammates stepped up when they had to and everyone wrestled well when we needed it. Once it was over, I heard the whole crowed chanting my name which was awesome. But it isn’t about me, it’s about the team.”

The Highlanders led 32-24 with three bouts remaining but saw that lead slip away when Derry’s Dom Deluca pinned Luke Shingle at 182 pounds and Matt Marron followed with a 7-1 decision over Marshall Mounts.

That set the stage for Cline.

“I told him before the match that this kid had lost like 10 matches this year,” McGuffey head coach Mark Caffrey said. “I told him you can beat him. I don’t know if that helped but he went in with confidence and sometimes that pays off.”

The Highlanders trailed 24-13 early after Derry got pins from Noah Wiencek (heavyweight), Jason Baker (120) and Trey Weinell (138).

McGuffey started to turn things around and gain some momentum after a 7-1 decision from Jeffrey McConn (145) and a pin by Bryton Johnson at 152, which pulled the Highlanders to within 24-22.

“Johnson’s pin was big,” Caffrey said. “He’s only a freshman but has a ton of ability.”

Christian Clutter (170) scored a major decision and Teague Nicolella (132) added a pin in the McGuffey win.

“That’s what you call a barn burner,” Caffrey said. “Our guys were loose tonight. We talked about it before we got started tonight and sometimes you can only say so much. We wrestled loose and they really wanted it.”

Both McGuffey and Derry made quick work of their first-round opponents.

The Highlanders defeated Elizabeth Forward 54-18.

McGuffey built a 39-0 advantage, winning the first seven bouts of the night. The Highlanders ended up winning five bouts by forfeit and received pins from Jake Garrety (120), Nicolella (132) and McConn (145).

EF had pins from Noah Hunnell at 138 and RJ Buchina at 182.

Derry advanced to the finals by cruising by Beth-Center, 42-16. Beth-Center received a major decision from Jacob Baker at 170 pounds.

The Trojans had pins by Wiencek (220) and Colton Nemcheck (160).

The Bulldogs defeated EF in the consolation match, 63-8.

Jimmy Gwyer (126), Jacob Housel (145), Dominic Fundy (182) and Garrett Dillon (195) each won by fall Beth-Center in the win.

“We bounced back nicely,” Beth-Center head coach Gary Welsh said. “We knew we were a bit outmatched against Derry and it would have taken wrestling a perfect match to beat them. I didn’t think we wrestled that great against Derry but we regrouped and wrestled pretty good to close it out.”