So close: C-M edged by late pin
Tim Hritsko of Canon-McMillan works a cradle on Zack Stedeford of North Allegheny in their 120-pound bout Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament. Hritsko won 6-0.
Logan Macri of Canon-McMillan works for the pin against North Alleghenyís Jacob Downing in the 106-pound bout Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament. Macri pinned Downing in 3:30.
Dimitri Pihiou of Canon-McMillan tries to escape the grasp of Gabe Falo of North Allegheny during the 113-pound bout Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament. Pihou won a 7-2 decision.
WEXFORD – Place your index finger a couple inches from your thumb.
That’s how close Canon-McMillan came to advancing in the WPIAL Class AAA Team tournament Wednesday evening.
North Allegheny led the dual meet just twice, after the first bout and the last.
Zach Smith pinned first-year wrestler Jared Hladycz in 5:13 to give North Allegheny a 27-24 victory over Canon-McMillan in a quarterfinal round dual meet at NA.
The victory sends the Tigers (12-2) into the semifinals, where they take on No. 2 seed Franklin Regional at Penn Hills at 1 p.m. Saturday. The finals are at 3:30 p.m.
Canon-McMillan finished the season at 14-4.
“We left some points out there,” said C-M head coach Jason Cardillo. “There were matches out there I thought we could win that we didn’t.”
Canon-McMillan was holding a 21-10 lead after Blaze Kansco took a 3-2 decision from Sean Hoover at 152 pounds. But North Allegheny won four of the last five bouts to secure the victory.
“We know Canon-McMillan well,” said North Alllegheny head coach Jamie Kyriazis. “The last thing I wanted our wrestlers to do was come out here and think they were better than them.”
Jake Woodley cut the C-M lead to 21-14 with a major decision over Bryan Milligan at 160, and Jacob Fritch won a 3-1 overtime decision against Jesse Lesko at 170. Suddenly, the Big Macs’ lead was 21-17 with three left.
Tommy James gave C-M a big win at 182, moving up to knock off Clay Byerly, 5-2, but Jeff Clemens cut C-M’s lead to three withh a major decision over Jesse Zeremenko at 195.
That left Smith and Hladycz, who won the Waynesburg match in the regular season with a pin in the final bout.
“I told Zach we just needed a major,” he said. “He got the pin for us though.”
Canon-McMillan built a 15-3 lead with a strong effort in the lightweights. Logan Macri pinned Jacob Downing in 3:30 to make it 6-3. Dimitri Pihiou followed with a 7-2 decision over Gabe Falo at 113 to make it 9-3 and Tim Hritsko scored three backpoints in the third period with a cradle that helped secure a 6-0 shutout over Zack Stedeford.
“We knew they had studs down low,” said Kyriazis.
Cam Fontenot won an important 7-6 decision over Luke Landefeld at 126 to make it a 12-point lead for the Big Macs. Fontenot took Landefeld down with 16 seconds left for the win.
North Allegheny mounted a comeback, winning the next two bouts. Jake Hinkson stopped Matt Oblock 5-3 at 132 and A.J. Boeh came away with a 15-3 major decision to cut C-M’s lead to 15-10.
Just as quickly, the Big Macs pushed it back to 12 when Micah Kusturis knocked off John Kalmeyer 7-3 and Kansco edged Hoover at 152.
“We showed growth this year,” said Cardillo. “We’re still young and I think the future looks good.”
North Allegheny made it to the quarterfinals with a 66-6 win over Peters Township. The Indians were missing three starters – Phil Mary at 126, Mitch Fitzgerald at 170 and Alex Belak at 195 – and started five freshmen. Mary was nursing an injured ankle and was coming of the 100th victory in his career in Monday’s victory over Hopewell.
“We’ll be back, and we’ll be on the other end of one of these,” said Peters Township head coach Jason Carpetta. “This gives us much-needed experience. We were coming off a hard-fought win (against Hopewell). We made it to the final 16 teams and that says something. There are positives to that.”
Hempfield scratched 10 wrestlers for its bout against Canon-McMilln, including Sam Krivus, who has finished first, third and second in the past three state tournaments.