Milligan turns tide in C-M’s win over Belle Vernon
Canon-McMillan’s Bryan Milligan controls Belle Vernon’s Mason Nicholson in the 182-pound bout. Milligan’s 11-8 decision helped the Big Macs beat the Leopards.
Canon-McMillan’s Brendan Furman smiles and holds up six fingers after pinning Belle Vernon’s Nino Kuntz in six seconds during the 285-pound bout Wednesday at Canon-McMillan High School during the WPIAL Team Tournament.
Belle Vernon’s Zachary Hartman controls Canon-McMillan’s Gerrit Nijenhuis in the 160 pound bout. Hartman won with a 5-0 decision.
CANONSBURG – With a spot in the semifinals at stake and Belle Vernon closing in, Canon-McMillan needed a big win.
Actually, the Big Macs needed any type of win to break a 16-16 tie in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament Wednesday night.
So Bryan Milligan went out to the encouragement of the home crowd and produced the most important win of the night, 11-8, over Marshall Nicholson that helped send the Big Macs to a 43-23 victory over the Leopards.
The Big Macs will wrestle North Allegheny in the semifinals at noon Saturday in Penn Hills High School’s gymnasium. The top three teams in Class AAA advance to the PIAA Team Tournament, which gets underway Monday with various preliminary-round sites around the state. The top two teams from Saturday’s action receive a first-round bye and go right to the Giant Center in Hershey.
“I was a little nervous at first because I knew that kid was a decent wrestler,” said Milligan. “I know it was an important match so I went out and wrestled as well as I could. … I stuck to what I knew and it worked. When I let him go with three seconds left, I had no idea there were three seconds left. It was nice to beat that kid because he was better than me, to be honest.”
When Milligan took the mat, Canon-McMillan wrestlers had just witnessed four consecutive losses, including Zach Hartman’s 5-0 decision over Gerrit Nijenhuis at 160 pounds. The mood on the Big Macs bench was somber.
But Milligan rallied from a 2-1 deficit after one period and tied the bout, 5-5, after two. He then rattled off six points with two escapes and two takedowns over a startled Nicholson.
“He went in with a little slower start because of the momentum they had,” said Canon-McMillan head coach Jason Carpetta. “It takes something out of your guy when he sees his teammates take a tough loss. … That played a little bit in his head and it took him a while to say, ‘Hey, I’m better than that guy.’ Once he started taking his shots, he took control of the match, and got the win, which we really needed.”
Alec Hendle pinned Hunter Moody at 192 to stretch the Big Macs’ lead to 25-16. Bill Korver, who got his 100th career win last week for the Leopards, took a major decision from Zach Rohaley, 11-3, at 220. But Brendan Furman electrified the crowd when he pinned Nino Kuntz in six seconds – yes, six seconds – to make it 31-20. Belle Vernon forfeited its first of two bouts at 106 – the other came at 120 – to give C-M an insurmountable 37-20 lead with two bouts left.
“We’ve been forfeiting 106 all year but we forfeited (120) because we had four starters out of the lineup,” said Belle Vernon head coach Mike Doppelheuer. “We had some injuries here, injuries there. When you wrestle with backups and have forfeits, it makes it hard to beat any team, let alone a team in the quarterfinals of the WPIALs.”
Brock Gozdin had a pin at 152 for BV. Matt Oblock (132) and Tim Hritsko (138) each won by technical fall.
Canon-McMillan made it to the quarterfinals with a 55-13 win over North Hills. Logan Macri (120), Matt Oblock (132), Tim Hritsko (138), Stefen Richer (152), Nijenhuis (160), Milligan (182) and Furman (Hvy) had pins for the Big Macs.
Belle Vernon got there with 43-30 win over West Allegheny. Brock Gozdin (152), Zach Hartman (160) and Scott Joll (182) won by fall for the Leopards.