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Waynesburg’s Piper ready for postseason

4 min read

No one had a more painful wrestling season last year than Shane Piper.

The 18-year-old senior from Waynesburg High School suffered a spiral fracture to his ankle during practice just days before the start of the season.

He got around with the aid of crutches, went through a trying physical rehabilitation and managed to return to the mat in time for the WPIAL Class AAA Section Tournament.

The spirit was willing, but his lack of conditioning because of the layoff played a big part in him going 4-3 and missing a chance to earn a berth in the state tournament in Hershey.

The thought of reinjuring the ankle followed him through this season.

“I was just hoping all season, ‘Please, don’t let it happen again,'” Piper said.

It hasn’t, and Piper will be at full strength when the Section 4-AAA Tournament gets under way at Trinity High School today at 11 a.m. Finals will be held at 6 p.m. The top five finishers in each weight class advance to the WPIAL Championships at Penn Hills High School next week.

The other local Triple-A event – Section 2 – will be held at Ringgold High School

Piper takes a 26-6 record and the top seed into the tournament. He will wrestle the winner of the preliminary bout between Zack Magdich (0-3) of Trinity and Larry Stollenwerkk (3-15) of Blackhawk.

Kevin Holman (25-1) of Ambridge is the second seed, Blaze Kansco (17-15) of Canon-McMillan is third and Luke McConaghy (28-9) of Moon is fourth.

“It took some time to heal,” said Piper of the injury. “When I came back, physically, I was not 100 percent but mentally, I was completely back, 100 percent. The problem was I only had two or three weeks of conditioning and other wrestlers had two or three months.”

Still, Piper finished third in the section tournament at 152 and qualified for the WPIAL.

“He even knocked off the No. 4 seed (Jake Bombadier of Montour),” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton. “At that point, he was back as far as he was able to come. Conditioning is really tough to get back. He can wrestle hard in the room but on the mat, it’s very different.”

Piper has been a key component to Waynesburg’s middleweights, the strength of this year’s team. He helped the Raiders take second place in Section 4 and earn a berth in the WPIAL Team Tournament.

He has some strong competition in his weight class in the WPIAL, including Vincenzo Joseph, a defending state champion from Pittsburgh Central Catholic; Josh Maruca, a three-time state placewinner from Franklin Regional; Ethan Smith of Latrobe; Nino Bonaccorsi of Bethel Park and Derek Verkleeren of Belle Vernon. Only four wrestlers out of that group – one more than last year because of the expanded brackets – will make it to Hershey for the PIAA Championships.

And Piper has as good a chance as any.

“I don’t look at brackets,” said Piper. “All I need to know, I get from my assistant coach, Kyle Szewczyk. He’s like a walking stat book. The more I look at (brackets), the more it becomes like a mind game. Ii wrestle win no matter who the opponent is. If you worry about what your opponent is doing, you aren’t worrying about what you need to do. You can’t wrestle scared.”

Piper has some extra motivation this year, knowing that it will be his final year of wrestling. He has joined the U.S. Marine Corps and will be leaving for basic training shortly after graduation.

“I have an interest in aviation mechanics,” he said. “My dad and I have worked on engines around the house a lot.”

Locally, four wrestlers – Waynesburg’s A.C. Headlee (132), Shaun Wilson (138) and Colin McCracken (182) and Canon-McMillan’s Brendan Furman (Hvy) – return to defend their title in Section 4. In Section 2, it’s Phil Mary (126) of Peters Township.

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