Jan 15, 2019 5 min read

Canon-McMillan’s rare trip to McDonald to wrestle South Fayette will have much at stake.

Namely, the subsection title in Class AAA Section 4A.

The match between the Big Macs and Lions is one of four local encounters that will determine first place in the subsection. The others include Mt. Lebanon (4-0) at Peters Township (4-0) in Subsection 2B and Trinity (3-0) at Waynesburg in Subsection 4B in Class AAA. Beth-Center (3-0) is at McGuffey (3-0) for the Subsection 1B title in Class AA. Burgettstown has already clinched first place in Subsection 1A.

Canon-McMillan and South Fayette are each 3-0 in the subsection. The Big Macs have outscored opponents by an average of 60 points. South Fayette’s average winning score is by 29 points.

“Canon-McMillan is a good program with a lot of history,” said South Fayette head coach Rick Chaussard. “It’s going to be an uphill battle. If we don’t show up to wrestle, it will be ugly.”

This is South Fayette’s first season in Class AAA, moving up from Class AA in the last WPIAL realignment. Canon-McMillan was switched from 4B to 4A in that same shuffle.

“All of the bouts are important,” said Chaussard. “Canon-McMillan is well-balanced and we are going to need to steal a few bouts to win.”

The outcome of these matches determine the seeding for the WPIAL Team Section Tournament, which will be held Jan. 23. The winners of the subsection on the A side wrestle the second-place finishers on the B side, and vice versa. The two third-place teams in the subsections wrestle each other for the fifth, and final, seed out of the section.

The A side of the section hosts the WPIAL Section Tournament.

Mapletown wrestling shelved

After a seven-season run, Mapletown’s wrestling program has been halted because of a lack of numbers.

But Mapletown athletic director Linda Messich is hopeful the program can be placed back onto the WPIAL schedule in 2020.

The program had only five wrestlers sign up in the fall to compete, one short of what the school board required to keep the sport on the varsity level.

“Our school board mandated we needed six wrestlers to continue and we didn’t have them,” said Messich. “We had to disband it. If we have six next year, we could get started again but we wouldn’t be able to have a WPIAL schedule (for the 2019-20 season).”

Mapletown had 10 wrestlers on the roster last season but four were seniors. The junior high program also is hurting for numbers and a co-op agreement was established with Waynesburg, about a 20-mile drive away.

“They tried to rustle up six kids right until the start of the season,” Messich said. “Then they pulled the plug. I do hope we can get it re-established when we have the numbers to support it.”

Because Mapletown dropped off the WPIAL schedule so late, the program must wait until the 2020-21 school year to be put back on the schedule.

Mapletown resurrected the program in 2011 after nearly three decades and earned a spot in the section team tournament in 2017.

Marshall into wrestling hall

Floyd Marshall, a 1960 graduate of Burgettstown High School and 1965 graduate of Findlay College in Ohio, will be inducted with nine others into the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame this spring.

Induction ceremonies will be held May 19 in the State College area, the Mountainview Country Club in Boalsburg, beginning at 12:30 p.m. with a hospitality hour. The banquet meal will follow at 1:30 p.m. and induction of new members will start at 2:30 p.m.

Marshall was a three-time WPIAL champion, winning titles from 1958-60. In his sophomore season, he dropped a 2-1 semifinal decision to Mechanicsburg’s Gary Fake in the PIAA Championships. In 1959, Marshall advanced to the PIAA finals at 145, where he dropped a 3-1 decision to Frank Eisenhower of Bald Eagle-Nittany. In 1960, as a senior, Marshall advanced to the 154-pound state finals, where he again suffered a loss to Eisenhower, 3-0.

At Findlay College, Marshall was a three-time NAIA placewinner. Marshall finished third at 157 pounds in 1963 before becoming Findlay’s first NAIA national champion in 1964, defeating Eastern Oregon’s Rollin Schimmel in the 157-pound finals. In 1965, Marshall, the defending champion as a senior, advanced to the championship finals before dropping a decision to Lock Haven’s Frank Eisenhower.

He competed in the United States Olympic Trials in 1964. Marshall had a 26-year coaching career at four different high schools – Albion, Mich., Ogdensburg, N.Y.; Parma, Mich., and Norwin, where he compiled a 130-98-3 record. He also coached at Delaware Valley College. Marshall is a member of the Findlay College Sports Hall of Fame, the Hancock County Hall of Fame, the NAIA Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Tickets, which run $35, can be obtained by contacting Hall of Fame chairman Gene Waas at 610-428-4686 or by mail to 1604 Riegel Street, Hellertown, PA, 18055.