Dec 28, 2019 4 min read

CANONSBURG – With six minutes of magical wrestling, Mac Church firmly entrenched himself into the annals of the Powerade wrestling tournament and wiped away more than a decade of frustration for Waynesburg High School.

Church snapped a 15-year drought of individual champions from Waynesburg when he came away with a 9-1 major decision over Briar Priest of Hempfield to win the 106-pound championship Saturday at Canon-McMillan High School.

Church was one of two local champions as Gerrit Nijenhuis of Canon-McMillan won the 182-pound title with a dominating 10-0 major decision over Cole Rees of Wyoming Seminary.

The last time Waynesburg had an individual champion was 2004, when Chris Neidermeier won his second in as many years.

Church became Waynesburg’s 40th individual champion in the history of this event and capped a strong performance by the Raiders.

Wyatt Henson took third place at 138 pounds with a 13-5 major decision over Chanz Shearer of Seneca Valley, Rocco Welsh was fourth at 126 pounds after a 1-0 loss to Meyer Shapiro of Bullis, Md.; Cole Homet was sixth at 132 after an 8-0 loss to Ian Oswalt of Burrell and Luca Augustine finished fifth at 160 after Gabe Arnold of Wyoming Seminary defaulted because of an injury.

Only a freshman, Church is in position to become the seventh four-time Powerade champion. The last one to win four was Luke Pletcher of Latrobe, who got his fourth in 2015.

“I don’t think I was born the last time we won a title,” said Church. “I think we had a couple seconds. That’s pretty cool.”

Church was up 4-0 after one period and 6-1 after two. A cradle in the first period accounted for two backpoints.

“I figured this match was going to be tough so I just went out and wrestled like myself,” said Church. “Those backpoints early were important. It woke him up. I knew if I could get those backpoints, it would build my confidence.”

Church’s victory, head coach Joe Throckmorton believes, is rooted in the strength of his workout partners and the competition he faces.

“Everyone knows Mac has put the time in to reap the benefits,” Throckmorton said. “It shows our program that even though you are young, you can do great things. They realize we have some great workout partners.”

Henson found his tempo at the end of a semifinal loss and looked more like the wrestler who won a Missouri state title last season.

“In my semifinal match, I was timid,” he said. “I need to work on some stuff. I know where my weaknesses are.”

The top eight wrestlers in each weight class received medals.

For the fourth time in the last five years, Wyoming Seminary won the team title. The school did not participate in last year’s tournament. Waynesburg finished third.

It was a rough semifinals for the Raiders as three of their four wrestlers were sent into the consolation rounds.

Church was the only survivor, shutting out Ethan Liptzin of Howell, N.J., 8-0. A four-point second period gave Church a 6-0 lead, pretty much sealing Liptzin’s fate.

Welsh ran into a stud in the 126 semifinals: Kurt Phipps of Norwin, who was a PIAA Class AAA runner-up at 120 pounds last season. Phipps shut down Welsh’s offense in a 3-0 shutout.

Augustine had the same problem at 160, dropping a 7-1 decision to John Martin Best of Parkersburg, W.Va.

Henson had a rough go in the 138 semifinals but it was understandable. He was going against Sam Hillegas of North Hills, a two-time PIAA champion. Hillegas came away with an 8-3 decision.

Interestingly, Henson’s brother, Jackson, who wrestled for Waynesburg, was in the corner as an assistant coach for the Raiders. Jackson Henson is pursuing a career with Mixed Martial Arts.