Waynesburg takes 1st step; Church in a pickle
By Joe Tuscano/Staff writer/jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
Darius Simmons of Burgettstown has Chris Carroll of Brookville on his back during their 106-pound bout in the PIAA Class AA Team Tournament in Hershey Thursday.
Hunter Guiddy, right, of Burgettstown breaks free from Coyha Brown of Brookville during their 160pound bout in the PIAA Class AA Team Tournament in Hershey Thursday.
Jacob Houpt, left, of Canon-McMillan lifts Charlie Pavis of Bethlehem Catholic during their 120-pound bout in the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament in Hershey Thursday.
Andrew Binni, left, of Canon-McMillan is tangled up with Dante Frinzi of Bethlehem Cathic during their 126-pound bout in the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament in Hershey Thursday.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Mac Church, back, of Waynesburg drive Anthony Carulli of Dallastown to the mat during their 132-pound bout in the PIAA Team Tournament Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey.
HERSHEY – On the way back from the Giant Center, the Waynesburg High School wrestling will have to make a stop at the grocery store.
On the list are bananas and pickle juice.
Supposedly, that is a sure cure for what ails Mac Church. The 132-pound junior, who is a returning state champion, suffered what appeared to be a cramp in his left leg during his match with Anthony Carulli of Dallastown.
Church won a 15-0 technical fall to help the Raiders take a 45-21 victory from Dallastown in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament Thursday.
Waynesburg takes on Mifflin County today at noon.
“I think he just pulled a muscle in the calf,” said Waynesburg head coach Kyle Szewczyk. “Oh yeah, he’ll be able to go. He’s a tough kid. He’ll suck it up. Coach (Scott) Rhodes knows all the tricks and he said pickle juice. So I guess we have to pick up some pickle juice.
“He’s very important to us. Mac is a leader in the room and on the mat. He’s very vital to us.”
Church was one of four consecutive winners in the middle weights that turned the match. Zander Phaturos had a 1-0 decision over Zack Luckenbaugh at 126 pounds. Church followed with his technical fall, Colten Stoneking won a 14-6 major decision over Owen Bricker at 138 and Nate Jones got a pin at 145 over Evan Baldwin to put the match away.
Rocco Welsh won by technical fall at 172 and Eli Makel (215) and Noah Tustin (285) had falls.
“I thought our team competed well.” said Dallastown head coach John Gable. “We have only one guy on our team who has ever been to states.”
Bethlehm Catholic 51, Canon-McMillan 12: In the wrestling workout room, there is a wall with the name of every state champion from the school.
And Bethlehem Catholic has a simple rule for his wrestlers.
“If your name is not on the wall, you don’t get to touch it,” Karam said.
Well after a dominating display of wrestling against Canon-McMillan Thursday in the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament in Hershey, there are sure to be a number of touch-eligible wrestlers after the individual championships in March.
BeCa tore up the Big Macs, 51-12, in the Giant Center.
Canon-McMillan, the fourth-place finisher in the WPIAL Team Tournament last week, will wrestle LaSalle College – no it’s just a high school – at 10 p.m. this morning.
Bethlehem Catholic moves on to another District 7 team in Connellsville in the noon matches.
“We were down two starters and that put a lot of pressure on the guys,” said Canon-McMillan head coach Brian Krenzelak.
“They’re very tough until 45. If we had Broxton Dean and Gabe Stafford, we could have won some bouts up top. Maybe we wrestle the match a little different.”
Josiah Gardner, a 152-pound sophomore, and Gianmarco Ramos, a 172-pound senior, missed the bouts because of injuries.
But Jacob Houpt was healthy and he had a nice decision over Charlie Pavis, 5-2, at 120 pounds.
Brookville 31, Burgettstown 30: An 18-0 run in the later rounds was all Brookville needed to take a 31-30 victory from Burgettstown in the first round of the Class AA Team Tournament.
Burgettstown opened a 9-0 lead when Anthony Lancos got a pin at 145 pounds to start the match and Eric Kovach followed with a 4-2 decision over Carson Weaver at 160.
From then on, it was all Brookville, which gor three major decisions and a pin in the next four bouts.
“We came out strong,” said Burgettstown head coach Joey Vigliotti. “Again, we had one of our starters sitting over there with a (medical) boot on, Gaven Suica. Our kids have been fighting tooth and nail ever since the one-point loss to Quaker Valley in the WPIAL semis. I give our kids a lot fo credit.”
Heavyweight Joe Baronick snapped the Blue Devils losing streak with a hard-fought 1-0 decision over Porter Kahle. But Brookville won three of the next four bouts to put the match out of reach.
“You certainly don’t want to start off a dual meet with a couple losses,” said Brooville head coach Dave Klepler. “We thought they might get out to a lead but we had our kids came through after that.”
It was a bad day for WPIAL Class AA teams here.
Besides Burgettstown’s loss, WPIAL champion Quaker Valley gave up two late pins and lost a 45-30 decision to Saucon Valley and Burrell’s first-round problems continued with a 34-27 loss to Bishop McDevitt of Harrisburg.