Furman, Morris have right number for WPIAL championships
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter Brendan Furman of Canon-McMillan get his hand raised after winning the WPIAL heavyweight title over Isaac Reed of Kiski Saturday.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter Logan Macri of Canon-McMillan is alone with his thoughts before his 120-pound bout against Vince Destefanis of Hempfield Saturday. Macri lost a 3-1 decision in overtime.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter Kyle Homet of Waynesburg is checked by trainers after coming down hard on the mat during his 170-pound finals bout against Tim Wallace of Albert Gallatin Saturday. Homet lost 5-0.
CANONSBURG – For Brendan Furman, the number is 4. For Caleb Morris, it’s 2.
Four is the number of consecutive wins Furman has over Isaac Reed of Kiski. The fourth one, a 5-2 decision, netted the Canon-McMillan senior a WPIAL Class AAA championship Saturday night in the C-M gym.
Two is the number of WPIAL titles Morris has won in his young career. The Waynesburg junior won as a freshman and wrapped up his second in 132-pound weight class with a 2-0 win over Hunter Baxter of Pine Richland.
And let’s not forget the number 12.
That’s how many area wrestlers advanced to the PIAA Class AAA Championships, which begin Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Four wrestlers from Canon-McMillan – Logan Macri (120), Gerrit Nijenhuis (152), Furman (Hvy) and Matt Oblock (126) – and three from Waynesburg – Morris (132), Kyle Homet (170) and Colin McCracken (195) – will join Belle Vernon’s Zach Hartman (160), Billy Korber (220), Jacob Dunlop (113), Tyler Seliga (145) and Brock Godzin (152) in Hershey.
In finals matches, Macri lost a 3-1 overtime decision to Vince Destefanis of Hempfield; Nijenhuis fell 5-2 to defending state champion Cam Coy of Pine-Richland; and Homet was shut out by Tim Wallace of Albert Gallatin 5-0. Korber lost a 3-2 decision over Ian Edenfeld of Laurel Highlands at 220 and teammate Zach Hartman fell to Eric Hong of North Allegheny, 5-2, at 160.
Furman got a takedown 1:05 into the bout and never looked back. He added another takedown in the third period.
“I’ve choked the last three years,” said Furman. “It just took me that long to realize I love the sport. The last three years I was worried about winning and I wasn’t worried about wrestling my match.”
Morris got the first and only points of the match with 31 seconds remaining in the first period. From there, it was a struggle to get out and neither wrestler did for the remaining 4:31.
“I never beat that kid before,” said Morris. “That’s a first for me. A W is a W and now it’s onto states, where I hope to do better.”
Homet was knocked out for a brief moment on a hard lift and takedown by Tim Wallace of Albert Gallatin. It was a legal throw but Homet was stunned for minutes after returning to the mat and appeared to have lost his aggressiveness.
“It was just wrestling,” Homet said of the heavy fall. “It happens all the time in the room. That took me out of the match. I was kind of dazed.”
Macri pushed the pace throughout the match, driving Destefanis back and drawing a stalling warning in the third period. But the only points scored in the six minutes were escapes for each at the start of the second and third periods. Macri’s best chance to score came in the second period, when he got in on Destefanis’ leg near the edge of the mat.
Destefanis got in on a single early in the overtime and took Macri down for the win.
Nijenhuis wrestled hard but could not stop Coy from winning his third WPIAL title. Coy got the first takedown just 20 seconds in and another with two seconds to go to pretty much put the match out of reach.
“My plan was to keep attacking and push the pace,” Nijenhuis said. “I’ll watch film and see what I can improve on.”
Spencer Lee of Franklin Region became the 27th wrestler in WPIAL history to win four titles. The latest came after Lee dismantled Noah Levett of Kiski. The senior heads to Hershey at 32-0 this season and with a 141-0 career record.