Belle Vernon tops Canon-McMillan for team title
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Belle Vernon wrestlers carry head coach Mike Doppelheuer on their shoulders after the Leopards defeated Canon-McMillan, 42-18, in the finals of the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament at Penn Hills in the 2015-16 season.
Derek Verkleeren of Belle Vernon celebrates a 16-7 major decision over Canon-McMillan’s Micah Kusturiss in the 152-pound match at the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament Saturday at Penn Hills. Belle Vernon won, 42-18.
Matt Oblock of Canon-McMillan controls Mat Siszka of Kiski in the 126-pound match in the semifinals of the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament Saturday at Penn Hills. Oblock’s 3-0 decision helped the Big Macs to a 27-25 win over Kiski.
PENN HILLS – Just as Canon-McMillan and Franklin Regional did before them, the Belle Vernon Leopards wrestling team dominated Class AAA from beginning to end.
From the 51-10 victory over Connellsville in the first dual meet of the regular season to the last, a rout of Canon-McMillan, Belle Vernon controlled its destiny, winning 15 of 16 dual meets.
In front of a good crowd at Penn Hills High School, Belle Vernon rumbled to a 42-18 victory over Canon-McMillan to win the first WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament title in the program’s history.
Belle Vernon crushed North Allegheny, 54-12, in the semifinals, winning 11 of 14 bouts, then took aim at Canon-McMillan, winning nine bouts.
“Winning this match is a little bit of a relief,” said Belle Vernon head coach Mike Doppelheuer. “These kids worked so hard, they are so determined, and they achieved greatness today. They won a WPIAL championship, the first one in our history, so this wrestling team at Belle Vernon will be remembered for a long time.”
The top three teams advanced to the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament, which begins Monday with preliminary round matches. Belle Vernon gets the winner of the preliminary-round match between the District 3 champion and third-place finisher in District 1.
Canon-McMillan, in second place thanks to its 27-25 win over Kiski in the semifinals, heads straight to Hershey, where the Big Macs take on the District 4 champion Thursday afternoon.
The Cavaliers finished in third place following a 43-21 win over North Allegheny and will travel to the District 10 champion Monday. North Allegheny was eliminated.
Canon-McMillan jumped to an 18-10 lead midway through the championship match, thanks to three straight wins from 113 to 126. Logan Macri won by technical fall at 113 pounds to make it 12-10, Skyler Adams had a decision at 120 and Matt Oblock won by 5-4 rideout over Tyler Seliga at 126.
But the Leopards roared through the final seven, shutting out the Big Macs, 32-0, with the help of a pin by Jarod Verkleeren at 145. Mike Fine (220) and Milt Kobaly (182) had pins earlier in the dual meet, which began at 195.
“It’s huge to get the Hershey experience, especially for the kids we think are going to make it up there (for the individual tournament),” said C-M head coach Jason Cardillo. “That’s a good experience. … We missed out the past two years so we didn’t want to miss out this year. It’s a big part in growing our program. We want to get there every year.”
Doppelheuer said he wasn’t sure who to prepare for in the finals because he felt the match between Canon-McMillan and Kiski was going to be close.
“Looking at the matchups once they were released, where they had the kids weighed in, we didn’t know,” said Doppelheuer. “I sat down with my assistant coach and he had the match 26-24 Canon-Mac and I had it, 27-27. So we knew it would be close. They got a big pin at 182 and that through it over the top.”
The dual meet arguably was decided in the first bout when James Zeremenko, a 182-pound senior, was nearly pinned by Kiski’s Tyler Worthing, then turned Worthing on his back and pinned him in 45 seconds.
“My coach said to go out and keep it tight, and I said I’ll do my job. I did it better than expected,” said Zeremenko. “It wasn’t a very tight hold. I just said to myself, ‘Get that shoulder down for a couple more seconds and you can help your team out here.’ I think that set the tone. We came through and everyone did their job: win big and lose small.”
Had Zeremenko been pinned, it would have been a 12-point swing and Canon-McMillan might have lost.
“Obvously, Zeremenko came up to bat. We weren’t expecting that,” Cardillo said. “That was awesome. He was put on his back and rolled through. That gave momentum to our kids.”
Holding a 27-22 lead heading into the final bout, Canon-McMillan sent Tommy James went out against Vinny Roman, despite nursing a severely sprained ankle suffered last week in practice. James had to stay off his back against the Kiski junior and he did, dropping a 9-2 decision.
“We punched our ticket early,” said Cardillo. “That was the game plan. We knew it would be close against Kiski, but we pulled it out.”