Jan 27, 2016 3 min read

IMPERIAL – Death and taxes are considered two absolutes.

Canon-McMillan winning a section wrestling title is nearly at that point.

The Big Macs won their 15th consecutive section title Wednesday night at West Allegheny High School, dismantling Montour in the opening round before defeating Waynesburg, 39-27, in the final of the WPIAL Team Section 4-AAA Tournament.

The Big Macs, who likely earned a top seed and a home match in next week’s WPIAL Team Tournament, had their way with Montour in the first match, winning 60-12. But, much as they did a couple of weeks ago in a regular season match at Canon-McMillan, Waynesburg nearly took the Big Macs to the limit before finally falling.

“There were some pivotal ones, 132, 126 and 152 were the ones that have been back and forth all year,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton. “They won two of the three, which is a big difference when you start looking at team score swapping.”

And the Raiders got off to a bad start in that respect as Micah Kusturiss got the match off to a great start for the Big Macs, making a late first period takedown stand up for a 2-0 win over Terry Victor at 152 pounds.

Kusturiss, a third-place finisher in the WPIAL last year, battled a lower leg injury throughout this season that kept him on the sidelines for several weeks. But he looked in fine form against Victor. The two entered the bout ranked second and third, respectively in the Observer-Reporter’s 152-pound rankings, and neither disappointed.

“That was a great place to start for us,” said Canon-McMillan head coach Jason Cardillo. “That’s where I wanted to start. We lucked out and it was a great match, a pivotal match. He got the early takedown and was tough on top.”

Kusturiss’ takedown came with 10 seconds remaining in the first period.

Victor, however, then rode Kusturiss the entire second period, with Kusturiss returning the favor in the third period.

“Those guys are two tough all-around wrestlers,” said Cardillo. “It was a very smartly wrestled match. It started us rolling.”

The Big Macs will need a healthy Kusturiss in the middle of their lineup if they hope to make a run at a WPIAL team title.

“He’s getting there. He’s getting more like himself when it counts,” Cardillo said. “He’s still not quite 100 percent, but he’s getting there.”

After the Big Macs forfeited to Kyle Homet at 160 pounds, Tommy James recorded a pin at 170 to give Canon-McMillan a 9-6 lead. Colin McCracken returned the favor for Waynesburg with a fall at 182, but the Big Macs took control after that, rattling off five consecutive wins, including pins by Nick Konyk at 195, Brendan Furman at heavyweight, Michael Binni at 106 and Dalton Macri at 113.

Waynesburg did pick up wins at 120 and 126 to stem the tide, with Cole Rush grabbing an impressive 8-4 win over Matt Oblock, but it was too little too late.

“They’re a good team,” said Throckmorton. “We needed to wrestle a perfect match and we didn’t do that.”

In the win over Montour, Furman scored an impressive win, pinning Montour’s Zach Jablonski in 5:17.

“That was a good win for Brendan,” conceded Cardillo. “He had more gas in the tank tonight.”

Waynesburg, meanwhile, made short work of host West Allegheny in its first-round match as well, whipping the Indians, 58-12.

West Allegheny edged Montour, 36-33, in the third-place match.

All four teams will move on to next week’s WPIAL team tournament with sites and dates yet to be determined.