Big Macs don’t make their point in loss to CRS
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter Tim Hritsko of Canon-McMillan works for position against Mike McKinney of Council Rock South Thursday in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey. Hritsko won a 12-1 major decision but the Big Macs lost the dual meet, 30-29.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter Blaze Kansco of Canon-McMillan is tangled up with Robert Cooper of Council Rock South Thursday in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey. Kansco won a 9-1 major decisionn but CRS won the dual meet, 30-29.
HERSHEY – In high school wrestling, especially at the highest level, it’s not always winning a bout that matters in a dual meet, but the way you win it.
Canon-McMillan’s wrestling team learned that cruel situation Thursday in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament at the Giant Center.
The Big Macs won just as many bouts as Council Rock South – seven – but were on the losing end of a 30-29 score because the Golden Hawks got bonus points in two critical bouts and Canon-McMillan failed to earn them in one.
That’s why Canon-McMillan, the WPIAL runner-up, will be wrestling Dubois in a 10 a.m. consolation-round match with a chance to still finish third. District 1 champion Council Rock South (15-0)will take on Erie Cathedral Prep in today’s quarterfinals at 2 p.m. with a chance to still be a state champion.
“It’s not a good feeling,” said a disappointed Canon-McMillan head coach Jason Cardillo. “We’ll see how we bounce back.”
The Big Macs had to win the dual meet outright because they were going to lose the tiebreaker on number of pins. C-M had one and Council Rock South had two, the latter one coming in the final bout, where Joe Doyle, the top-ranked 220-pounder in District 1, pinned Zach Rohaley in 1:55 to cap a CRS comeback that saw it erase a 29-21 deficit in the final two bouts.
“Cole Flanigan wrestled one of the best kids in the state and one of the best in the country,” said Council Rock South head coach Brad Silimperi. “He came close to getting pinned but he kept fighting. Ours kids didn’t give up many bonus points and we got some in key spots.”
The other big bout came at 160, where Canon-McMillan’s Gerrit Nijenhuis had Flanigann on his back for a good portion of the bout but couldn’t the pin. What made it worse at the time was Nijenhuis didn’t get the technical fall either as Cole escaped with only a 14-1 major decision defeat. Not getting those two bout points from a fall were devastating for the Big Macs.
“Nijenhuis had him pinned but the referee didn’t call it,” said Cardillo. “But we can’t leave it with the referee. We would have liked to at least get the technical fall. We didn’t know how important that would be until the end of the match.”
The Big Macs trailed only twice in the dual meet, 21-18 after Riley Palmer pinned C-M’s Stefen Richer in 44 seconds at 152 and after Doyle’s pin. Heavyweight Brendan Furman started the Big Macs off with a pin of Shane Anderson and it would be their only fall of the match.
Things looked even better when Ken Hayman won a 1-0 decision over Council Rock South’s Braden Ricchini at 113. It was arguably Hayman’s biggest win of the season, giving Canon-McMillan a 9-4 lead after three bouts.
The always dependable Logan Macri won by 21-6 technical fall over Collin Watterman to extend the lead to 14-7 and gain his 100th career win.
Council Rock South began its rally with Zach Trampe’s 22-9 major decision over Matt Oblock at 138, Ricchini’s pin, and a 10-2 major decision by Cary Palmer over C-M’s Dimitri Pihiou at 145.
Bryan Milligan gave the Big Macs a boost with a thrilling 7-5 overtime decision against Nik Korbich and Alec Hendal had a chance to win at 195, but Council Rock South’s Tyler Gettmann came away with a 3-2 decision that set up Boyle’s heroics.
“He came close,” said Cardillo. “He wrestled his best match. The effort was certainly there.”
Council Rock South has never won a team title but Silimperi felt this effort might project them his team to one. “Every single point counted,” he said. “This wasn’t just one match (deciding it).”