C-M celebrates win over Council Rock South
Canon-McMillan's wrestling team celebrates a win in the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament Thursday in Hershey.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Kenny Hayman of Canon-Mac controls Shane Hanson of Council Rock South in their 126-pound bout. Hayman won 1-0.
Jimmy Baxter of Canon-Mac tries to turn Kyle Waterman of Council Rock South at 106 pounds. Waterman won a 9-7 decision.
HERSHEY – Canon-McMillan’s wrestling team had a lot to cheer about in its dual meet against Council Rock South Thursday night.
Kenny Hayman celebrated his 17th birthday with a crucial 1-0 decision over Shane Hanson at 126 pounds.
Zach Rohaley had the fastest pin of his varsity career when he stuck CR South’s Robert Wilkinson in eight seconds at 220 pounds, the final bout of the match.
Most notable, of course, was the thrilling 36-24 victory over Council Rock South in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament.
The victory raised Canon-McMillan’s record to 11-1 and sends the Big Macs into today’s 2 p.m. quarterfinals against Erie Cathedral Prep, a 58-6 winner over Shikellamy in the first round.
Maybe the best sight inside the Giant Center was Skyler Adams sitting alongside the team. Adams suffered a neck injury in the WPIAL Team Tournament finals against Kiski last week. Adams was wearing a neck brace and said his recovery is coming along nicely.
“We all feed off each other’s energy,” said Hayman. “It was awesome to have Skyler here. We went to see him when he came home from the hospital, me and some other guys. He was pretty (happy) to see us.”
Gio Ramos got the Big Macs, the District 7 runner-up, off to a strong start with an 8-0 major decision over Emmanuel Anton at heavyweight.
Council Rock South, the District 1 champion, would win the next two but Jimmy Baxter and Micheal Binni kept the losses at regular decisions against two of CRS’s best wrestlers in Kyle Waterman at 106 and Max Mendez at 113.
Logan Macri won by technical fall, 25-10, over Braden Ricchini at 120 pounds. So both teams won two of the first four bouts but C-M had a 9-6 lead because of bonus points.
That’s when Hayman won maybe his most important bout this season, making an escape stand for a 1-0 win over Shane Hanson at 126.
“I just think about what we practice on,” said Hayman. “I’m pretty good at scrambling so I scrambled out of some tight situations.”
Canon-McMillan won three of the next five bouts to forge a 24-18 lead. Tanner Rohaley won a 5-4 nail-biter over Landon Moore at 145 and Dimitrii Pihiou needed just two points for a win because he shut out Peter Eklund at 160 pounds.
“He was a bigger guy and he tested my riding skills,” said Pihiou. “I was giving up a few pounds to him. I think that win gave our team a boost of energy.”
Gerrit Nijenhuis pinned John Caplan in 27 seconds to make it 30-18 and Zach Rohaley sealed the match with a pin over Wilkinson.
“We’ve been busting our butts working hard and we wanted to come out here and show everybody what we’re all about,” said Zach Rohaley. “It seems like every single times I’ve wrestled this year, I’ve been the last match. Last week, you have to put that in the past and look to the future.”