Kiski delivers KO punch to C-M in Hershey
Logan Macri of Canon-McMillan works to free himself from Kiski’s Matt Siszka during the 120-pound bout Saturday in the consolation round of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey. Macri won a 9-3 decision but Kiski won the match, 29-24.
Ken Hayman of Canon-McMillan is about to pin Jared Curcio of Kiski in the 113-pound bout Saturday in the consolation round of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey. The pin came in 4:47. Kiski won the dual meet, 29-24.
Jacob Gardner of Canon-McMillan tries to control Darren Miller of Kiski during their 106-pound bout Saturday in the consolation round of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey. Miller won a 5-1 decision to help Kiski to a 29-24 dual meet win.
HERSHEY – Throughout the season, Kiski has been the nemesis of Canon-McMillan High school’s wrestling team.
The Cavaliers seemed to have this perplexing spell over the Big Macs that even the most effective witch doctor could not dissolve.
Even when the matchups fell their way as they did Saturday, the Big Macs received nothing but another frustrating loss.
Winning eight of the 14 weights, the Cavaliers notched their third straight win of the season and fourth overall over C-M with a hard-fought, 29-24, outcome in the consolation round of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey.
The loss ended the dual meet portion of the season for the Big Macs, who will have a weekend off before the start of the WPIAL section tournaments.
“I thought we were going to steal a couple wins,” said C-M head coach Jason Cardillo. “It was definitely a big improvement from the last time we wrestled them. And that makes it hard, because we were right there.”
Canon-McMillan dropped a 31-25 decision to Kiski in a regular season encounter the week before Christmas and fell, 41-21, in the District 7 finals.
To their credit, the Big Macs wrestled arguably their best match of the state tournament against Kiski but two key bouts turned the match. The first came at 182 pounds, where Vinny Romano earned a 3-2 decision over Bryan Milligan; and at 138, where Cam Connor scored late in the third period for a 7-6 decision over Tim Hritsko. That victory pushed Kiski’s lead to 26-18 with two bouts remaining.
“We did our job in a lot of matches,” said Cardillo. “It just wasn’t enough.
“That’s why we kept Gerrit (Nijenhuis) in the back (instead of leading off at 160). If it came down to a pin, we felt he could do that for us.”
Joe Blumer put the match away with a 3-1 win over Dimitri Pihiou at 145 then Kiski forfeited to Nijenhuis to start the end-of-match handshake procedure.
Kiski’s only pin was at 160, where Logan Pollick stuck Stefen Richer in 45 seconds. That made it 6-0 and Kiski would not trail the rest of the way. The closest Canon-McMillan got later in the match was four points after Logan Macri decisioned Mat Siszka at 120 to make it 19-15. That followed a big pin for C-M’s Ken Hayman at 113.
“I was happy where we started but I was not happy about losing the flip,” said Kiski head coach Chris Heater. “They benefitted because it gave them three scenarios against us (for thier lineup). We had to overcome that and our guys did that.”
In many ways, it was as much a match that depended on good losses as it did big wins. The Big Macs shaved some points when Alec Hendal lost 8-0 to Danny Starr at 195. Starr pinned Hendal in 53 seconds of their last meeting. Zach Rohaley lost 4-2 to Starr’s brother, Tommy, after being pinned in the first period of the last match.
Kiski held Macri to a decision and Brendan Furman, who was a pinning machine in this tournament, decisioned Isaac Reed, 5-3. Siszka was in the process of going to his back when the buzzer sounded to end the bout.
“In these matches, it is important how you lose,” said Heater. “Cam and Hritsko went back and forth. Cam beat him (in the WPIAL finals) in overtime and he beat him again today. We needed that so it didn’t force us into a pin for Joe Blumer (against Pihiou). … You know, we wrestled them six times over the last two years. We’re two very good programs. Six times is a lot.”
Cardillo said the experience in Herhsey was important for the individual tournament and next year’s team event.
“This brings them together as a team,” he said. “It will be beneficial for the kids coming up in March.”