Feb 3, 2018 3 min read

HOUSTON – The 30-minute intermission between the semifinals and finals of the WPIAL Class AA Team Tournament were much needed for the McGuffey High School wrestling team.

That half hour was used by the Highlanders to make one of two decisions: bounce back from a 42-25 loss to top-seeded Burrell and defeat Freedom to qualify for the PIAA tournament or go home empty handed for the third year in a row.

“We went back into the locker room and just had to get it back together,” Christian Clutter said after the Highlanders dropped their semifinal bout to Burrell.

“There was a whole bunch (of things) talked about. Who had to get six. Who couldn’t give up six.”

McGuffey readjusted, leaned on its upperweights and pulled off a comeback victory, 44-31, over Freedom to finish in third place in this event Saturday afternoon at Chartiers-Houston High School.

The Highlanders will wrestle Harbor Creek in the first round of the PIAA tournament at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The winner will advance to Hershey.

“We haven’t been this far in a couple years, so it was nice getting back to the final four,” said McGuffey head coach Mark Caffrey. “I knew we would have our hands full with Burrell (in the semifinals). They had a lot of moves that we couldn’t counteract.”

Burrell defeated Derry 50-23 in the championship match to win its 12th WPIAL title in a row. It’s the 14th time the Buccaneers have been crowned WPIAL champions.

When McGuffey needed an answer against Freedom, Clutter responded.

Trailing Freedom 20-5 after the opening five bouts, Clutter stepped onto the mat for the 170-pound weight class and earned a pin at 1:24 to cut the deficit and shift the momentum.

“The No. 1 goal was to win the WPIAL,” Clutter said. “When that didn’t happen, we just had to step up and achieve that next goal, which was to advance. We did that.”

The Highlanders rattled off wins in five of the next six matches, including Luke Shingle (182) earning a fall and Marko Olivarez (Hvy), Rocco Ferraro (106) and Nathan Yagle (113) put together three consecutive pins to give McGuffey a 38-25 lead.

“Composure,” Caffrey said of what led to the Highlanders’ comeback.

“We did get far behind but knew our big guys were coming up. The three things that count in matches like this are who gets the falls, who gets the bonus points and who wins the close bouts. Our upper weights have been big for us the whole year. They held it together. We are happy to come out with third place.”

McGuffey dropped to the consolation round after a near comeback attempt was spoiled by the Burrell lightweights, allowing the Buccaneers escape with a 17-point victory.

Holding on a two-point lead entering the 106-pound weight class, and the final three matches remaining, Burrell’s Trent Valovchik (106) and Ian Oswalt (113) earned back-to-back victories to preserve the win.

“I knew we had our hands full with Burrell,” said Caffrey.

Falling behind 27-6 after being dominated in the middleweights, McGuffey started a comeback when Clutter won a 7-3 decision at 170.

The Highlanders won five straight bouts, including a Luke Shingle 4-0 decision at 182 for his 100th career victory and a Marko Olivarez pin only 45 seconds into his heavyweight match to cut the deficit to 27-25.

“We were just trying to hang close in the middle but we couldn’t hang close enough,” Caffrey said. “They got too many backpoints on us.”