Apr 13, 2022 4 min read

This was supposed to be another outstanding season for Waynesburg Central High School’s wrestling team.

Coming off their first PIAA Class 3A Team Tournament championship, the Raiders were ready to make another run at the title this season.

But before the first whistle blew, the Raiders suffered two devastating losses in Cole Homet, a state runner-up last year, and head coach Joe Throckmorton.

It would have been easy for the team to mail it in but instead, the Raiders used the possible distractions as motivation.

Waynesburg won its third straight WPIAL Team Tournament title, finished third in the PIAA Team Tournament, and took third in the team standings at the PIAA Individual Championships.

Add to that two state individual champions in Mac Church and Rocco Welsh and you have the type of season just about any coach would be proud of.

For their efforts, the Waynesburg wrestling team is this year’s winner of the Observer-Reporter Sports Headliner trophy.

The award will be presented at the Tri-CADA Coach of the Year Banquet, which will be held Sunday, April 24 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Southpointe.

“I have high expectations for myself and the program has high expectations as well,” said Kyle Szewczyk, who replaced Throckmorton as head coach after spending a decade as his assistant.

“One of the goals was to get better as the year progressed and how many state champions can we get. Those two (Church and Welsh) weren’t the only two. Reaching the podium in Hershey is a hard thing to do.”

Homet mangled his left arm in an automobile accident over the summer. Homet was a key piece to Waynesburg’s PIAA team championship but the accident robbed him of almost all of the season.

Homet was driving to St. Louis to take part in Sammie Henson’s wrestling camp and to attend a celebration party thrown by former teammate Wyatt Henson. Homet lost control of the car and the crash severely injured his left arm.

Throckmorton submitted his letter of resignation to the Central Greene School Board and they voted 9-0 to accept it at a September meeting.

Throckmorton was charged with conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking, criminal mischief and receiving stolen property at the Green Cove Marina by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

In the state team tournament, Waynesburg knocked off Dallastown in the first round, 45-21, then dropped Mifflin County, 31-24. In the semifinals, Nazareth defeated Waynesburg, 38-17.

Waynesburg dropped Connellsville, 27-25, in the consolation semifinals and edged Williamsport, 31-30, to earn third place.

“We came here for first but we will settle for third,” Szewczyk said after the state team tournament. “Third place sometimes show you can handle adversity because you have to deal with a loss along the way. So I couldn’t be prouder of my guys. They competed all weekend.”

During the dual meet season, Waynesburg got satisfying blowout victories against the Raiders’ two main rivals: Trinity and Canon-McMillan.

Waynesburg went on to defeat Canon-McMillan for the Section 4 team title and beat the Big Macs a third team on their way to winning the WPIAL Team Tournament.

The Raiders got a first-round bye and disposed of Thomas Jefferson, 61-3, in the quarterfinals. A 36-22 win over the Big Macs in the semifinals put Waynesburg in the finals, where the Raiders wrapped up the title with a 35-18 victory over Connellsvile.

Waynesburg became the fourth team in the 44-year history of the WPIAL Team Tournament to win three or more consecutive Class 3A titles. The Raiders will enter the 2022-23 season with a chance to tie Canon-McMillan (2010-13), the only Class 3A team to win four consecutive titles. The other two schools who have won three consecutive Class 3A titles were North Allegheny (1986-88) and Kiski (2017-19).

In the PIAA Individual Championships, Mac Church won the 132-pound title and Welsh the 172-pound title.

Church decisioned Matt Repos of Central Dauphin, 3-1, in the finals and Welsh rolled over Dom D’Agostino of Interboro, 24-8, for a technical fall.

Other medal winners for Waynesburg at the Giant Center in Hershey included Colton Stoneking, who took fifth place at 138 pounds; Zander Phatorus, who was sixth at 126; and Noah Tustin, who finished seventh at heavyweight.