Feb 7, 2017 4 min read

CANONSBURG – Things had been tight throughout the scholastic rifle season this year, so much so that seven teams tied for the three section championships.

It was no surprise to anyone the WPIAL Rifle Team Championships also was close, so much that a tiebreaker was needed to determine the champion.

Trinity, which had won its share of close matches this season, came out on the winning side of this one, edging three-time defending champion Woodland Hills on a tiebreaker after the two matched scores of 800-63X at Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club Tuesday. The Hillers, who won their 18th WPIAL championship and 13th under head coach John Husk, took home the title when the scoring was advanced to nine shooters. Azriel Florian, Alyssa Nemeth and Erica Miller each shot 100-6X for Trinity, tying for spots 7 through 9 in the scoring and giving the Hillers nine shooters with 100 scores.

Woodland Hills, which had tied Trinity for the Section 2 championship, got a 99-5X from its ninth shooter – each team has 10 competitors and the worst two scores are thrown out – giving the Hillers their first title since 2011.

“I think Woodland Hills had won too many championships lately, so it’s good to take them down a little bit,” Husk joked about the Wolverines, who had won four of the past five titles. “We were in the same situation a couple of years ago when we won four in a row (1994-1997). Maybe this will help get us back to that.”

Depth was a key in this match.

Trinity got a pair of 100-10Xs from Krista Huffman and Sarah Hritz, Justin Walther shot 100-9X and Jessica Baker had a 100-8X. Chris Knabb and Derek Till each fired 100-7X to go along with the 100-6Xs shot by Florian, Nemeth and Miller. Carly Croft just missed a 100 for the Hillers, shooting 99-7X.

“It was pretty much these 10 kids all year,” said Husk. “We needed more than 800. All year, with us, Woodland Hills and Bethel Park, the matches we shot against each other were within a couple of Xs. I knew we would need an 800.”

Isabella Brawdy shot 100-10X – one of just five perfect scores in the finals – to lead Woodland Hills, which also got 100-9Xs from Aleah Atkinson and Bobby Carr.

Section 3 co-champion Hempfield dropped a point or would have beaten both scores on X-count, firing a 799-65X. Jordan Miller and Kayla Brownfield each had perfect scores for Hempfield.

Butler finished fourth at 798-57X, edging Waynesburg, which shot a 798-56X, for fourth and a spot in the state championships. The top four teams from this tournament advanced.

Dylan Crockard (100-9X), Hunter Wasson (100-8X), Tristan Cole (100-7X), Abby Ozohonish (100-7X), Cameron Cernuska (100-6X) and Dylan Henkins (100-5X) had solid scores for the Raiders, who finished in a three-way tie for the Section 1 championship with McGuffey and West Greene.

McGuffey was sixth with a 798-56X. Anja Eshbaugh (100-9X) and Haley Wilkerson (100-8X) led the way, with Madison Ryburn, Kyle Dietrich, Tabitha Baker and Eric Klages shooting 100-6Xs.

West Greene, which won its first section title, was led by Sheyann Watson’s 100-7X, Noah Lemley’s 100-6X and a 100-5X from Makenzie Thomas. The Pioneers finished seventh with a 795-47X.

It was a strong day, overall, by all of the teams. But the match belonged to the Hillers.

“It’s been a while,” said Husk. “We started shooting 800s at the end of the year. You always try to get them to peak at the end, not too early. At the end, we were shooting a lot of 800s.

“We haven’t really been that close the past couple of years, but this team really came together.”

Quick shots

The WPIAL Individual Rifle Tournament will be held at the same venue Thursday with the top four shooters from each team in the WPIAL shooting. The top 15 from that event advance to the state tournament. There are expected to be 74 competitors in that event, with four schools sending individual shooters. … Since 1992, either Woodland Hills or Trinity has won 17 of the 26 WPIAL championships, with the Hillers taking 11 and Wolverines six. … Munhall, which won 21 titles from 1942 through 1969, won the most WPIAL titles.