Welsh completes cycle, adds Powerade title
Church — Powerade
Joe Tuscano / Observer-Reporter
Mac Church, top, of Waynesburg fights for control of J.J. Robinson in the 145-pound semifinals of the Powerade Tournament Friday. Robinson upset the top-seeded Church, 3-2.
Joe Tuscano / Observer-Reporter
Gage Wright, right, of Parkersburg South in West Virginia, holds the leg of Rocco Welsh of Waynesburg Friday in the 172-pound finals of the Powerade Tournament. Welsh won a 5-3 decision.
Joe Tuscano / Observer-Reporter
Rocco Welsh of Waynesburg knows who is No. 1 at 172 pounds in the Powerade Tournament.
Joe Tuscano / Observer-Reporter
Eli Makel, top, of Waynesburg, tries to control Austin Johnson of Muncy during their 215-pound final at the Powerade Wrestling Tournament at Canon-McMillan High School. Johson won an 8-3 decision.
CANONSBURG – Rocco Welsh has won his weight class in a lot of tournaments.
He’s won Super 32, Ironman, Who’s No. 1 and a PIAA title to name a few.
The only thing missing was a Powerade title.
Until now.
Welsh, a senior at Waynesburg Central High School and returning PIAA champion, completed the cycle Friday with a 5-3 decision over Gage Wright of Parkersburg South in West Virginia.
Welsh was the lone local winner in this prestigious tournament. Teammates Eli Makel finished second at 215 pounds and Mac Church took third at 145.
“This is a pretty big win for me,” said Welsh. “I’ve come up short a few years in a row. Especially being from this area, it means a lot.”
Welsh took a 4-2 lead in the first period and stretched it to 5-2 after two. Wright escaped after being rode for most of the third period but couldn’t get the takedown to tie the bout.
“He’s strong, but I got to my attack early,” said Welsh.
Makel, a senior, went from never placing in this event to second place.
“I was the seventh seed so I wasn’t expected to make it that far,” said Makel. “This boosts my confidence. I felt a lot better than I have in a long time.”
Wyoming Seminary defended its team tournament title, outdistancing Malvern Prep by 51.5 points and Delbarton in New Jersey by 61.5.
The semifinals were not kind to local wrestlers, especially to two-time state champion Mac Church of Waynesburg. He dropped a 3-2 decision to unseeded J.J. Robinson of Homewood Flossmoor in Illinois.
A bad shot by Church turned into a takedown by Robinson and a 3-1 lead with 1:32 to go. Church immediately escaped to make it 3-2.
Then things got a little crazy.
Robinson took injury time at 1:23 and then seemingly again with 27 seconds remaining in the bout. That should have given Church the restart option.
But the official had actually called blood time but the clock operator started the injury time. The time was immediately changed.
“I don’t remember that happening before,” said Waynesburg head coach Kyle Szewczyk. “The blood time superceded the injury time.”
Church was attempting to become the 14th four-time finalist in the tournament history.
What bothered Szewczyk was that two trainers were on the mat when it was changed to blood time.
“A lot of firsts,” he said.
Szewczyk said he would like to see the restart option be included following the first injury time, like it does in college. He believes wrestlers take advantage of injury time, especially in overtime.
“College has it down pat,” he said. “The first injury time, the other wrestler has choice. That would eliminate a lot of these kids taking advantage of injury time.”
Szewczyk said he felt Church would get third place.
“The adversity you deal with reveals your character,” he said.
Church decisioned Asher Cunningham of State College 7-2 in the blood round, then knocked off Vincent Bouzakis of Notre Dame Green Pond 5-1 to take third place.
“I’m not worried about the loss,” Church said. “I think anyone who watches me can tell I’m the better wrestler. It’s like I said to my coaches, if I’d take a 20-second break in all my matches, I’d be hard to beat.”
One interesting point: Church has finished second the last two Powerade tournaments and gone on to win the state title twice. He won the Powerade title as a freshman and finished third in Hershey.
Canon-McMillan’s Tanner Mizenko made it through the blood round with a 4-1 decision over Liam Davis of Lake Highland Prep in Florida. He went up against Ethan Timar of St. Edwards for fifth place and dropped an 11-5 decision.
Andrew Binni of Canon-McMillan took seventh place with a 12-5 victory over Manuel Saldate of Slam Academy in Nevada.
“I was looking to do my best,” said Binni. “Last year, I didn’t get on the podium. This year, I wanted to get on the podium.”
Trinity had two placewinners: Ty Banco, fourth place at heavyweight, and Bodie Morgan, seventh place at 172.
“I’ve got to work on my conditioning,” said Banco. “It’s a hard tournament and I think I should’ve done a little better.”
Matt Furman, a senior at Canon-McMillan, took third place at 172 with a 3-2 decision over Dom Federici of Wyoming Seminary. After the win, Furman dove into the arms of assistant coach Mark Powell.
“When I shook hands (to start the match), that was the most worried I’d been for a match,” said Furman. “When I shook hands at the end of the match, that was the most confident I’d been for a match.”
Brody Evans of Waynesburg finished in eighth place at 189 pounds.