Feb 6, 2018 3 min read

The wonderful aspect of competing in the wrestling team tournaments is the number of second chances a program receives.

If a coach is unhappy with his team’s performance in the WPIAL Section Team Tournament, there is always the WPIAL team championship to compete in.

Come up a little short there, and there is always the PIAA Team Tournament in Hershey to rally the troops.

That’s where Canon-McMillan finds itself now after winning a section team title and coming up just short in the WPIAL event.

The Big Macs (10-1), the District 7 runner-up after losing a close match against Kiski, will wrestle Council Rock South in Thursday’s first round of the state’s Class AAA portion at the Giant Center in Hershey.

First whistle is at 6 p.m.

“Each week, you get a chance to start over,” said Canon-McMillan first-year head coach Jeff Havelka. “Our focus now is on Council Rock South. Fortunately, I have assistant coaches who are really good at finding things on the internet, videos and other things, about them.”

The Big Macs will be without junior Skyler Adams, who was injured in a first-period pin by Nick Delp at 160 pounds. Adams tried to bridge out and his head stuck in the mat, injuring his neck. He was taken off the mat by EMTs and taken to a hospital during Saturday’s match.

Adams will not wrestle in this event and is questionable for the individual tournaments.

“Skyler is doing well,” said Havelka. “He has some ligament strains and muscle strains.”

Havelka said he has a number of options to replace Adams’ spot in the lineup and will make it a match-time decision.  

This will be the third time in this season that Canon-McMillan and Council Rock South have bumped into each other.

The first was at the Cumberland Valley Tournament Dec. 9-10 and Escape The Rock event at Council Rock South Jan. 12-13. Interestingly, there were only a few head-to-head matchups among the two schools in those events.

Win or lose, one benefit Canon-McMillan receives from competing is to have the younger wrestlers get a taste of wrestling in the Giant Center. This also is the site for the PIAA individual tournament March 8-10.

“It’s definitely a plus to wrestle in that building and in that atmosphere,” Havelka said. “They will have a chance to get comfortable there if they make it back (in March).”

Notes

Kiski wrestles Central Dauphin and Seneca Valley takes on Archbishop Wood in the first round. Both dual meets begin Thursday at 8 p.m. … Finals for both classes are Saturday at 1 p.m. … Nazareth upset Bethlehem Catholic in last year’s Class AAA final and Reynolds routed Northern Lebanon for the Class AA title.