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Section titles long time coming for Trinity’s West, Waynesburg’s Piper

5 min read

As the final seconds of his 6-2 victory over Hopewell’s Stephon Peake ticked off the clock, a smile grew on the face of Trinity 220-pound wrestler Robert West that could have melted the amassing snow outside.

Finally, he would have his hand raised as a section champion. And he did it in his own gymnasium.

“It kind of hit home,” West said. “I walked back over to my family, my mom and my pap were crying. It was my last match here at Trinity, so I’m just going to give everything like it’s my last match at WPIALs and try to make a push.”

West, who had finished sixth, third and second in previous sectionals, was one of 14 individual champions crowned Saturday at Trinity High School in the WPIAL Section 4-AAA Sectional Wrestling Tournament.

Because of weather concerns, the finals of the tournament were pushed up two hours. The time change made for a quick tournament.

But the section title was a longtime coming for West, a state champion at the junior levels who had yet to achieve that same kind of success in high school.

Now, he will be one of the top four seeds at next week’s WPIAL Class AAA championships, which begin Thursday at Penn Hills High School. The top five placewinners from each section advance.

This will be West’s third trip to the WPIAL tournament, which doubles as the Southwest Regional. He’s still looking for that first trip to the PIAA championships. The top four placewinners next week move on to the state finals in Hershey.

“Last year, I came in second in sections, so there was kind of one guy already in my mind that I had to overcome,” said West, who lost to Montour’s Cole Macik a year ago here in the 195-pound finals and went 1-2 at the WPIAL tournament. “Now, going in as one of the four section champions, it kind of gives you that momentum to push through and make a state run.”

He won’t be the lone local senior hoping to take one last shot at reaching Hershey as a first-time section champion.

Waynesburg’s Shane Piper recorded a pair of pins in less than one minute each in his first two bouts, then received an injury default in the finals at 152 pounds to win his first section championship. His best previous finish was third last year.

“The whole day, I spent less than two minutes on the mat,” said Piper. “That’s not how I wanted to win. I didn’t want it given to me. I wanted to wrestle for it.

“I’m going to give it all I got. It’s my last year. If I don’t make it to states, I’ll make sure I’ve made a good effort. It’s the best year for me to get up there as far as the brackets and everything else is concerned and it’s my senior year.”

Piper was one of eight Waynesburg wrestlers to make the finals and one of five to win as the Raiders brought 12 competitors into the tournament and advanced all 12.

“That was our goal to get everybody through to regionals,” said Waynesburg coach Joe Throckmorton. “It’s nice. We had eight in the finals. Of course, I want to win them all, but I thought they came to perform.”

Perhaps none were more impressive than freshman Caleb Morris, who edged top-ranked Logan Macri of Canon-McMillan, 4-2, in the 106-pound final.

It was the fourth time the two have met this season and they have now split matchups evenly.

“And they’re probably going to wrestle again next week and at states,” said Throckmorton of Morris and Macri, who are two of the top-rated 106-pounders in the WPIAL. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Also winning for the Raiders were Cole Rush at 120 pounds, A.C. Headlee at 132 and Shaun Wilson at 138.

Headlee and Wilson were top seeds, while Rush, who was seeded third defeated No. 2 seed Tim Hritsko of Canon-McMillan and Ryan Cunningham of West Allegheny to win the title.

Cunningham was one of five top seeds to lose Saturday, while Hritsko was one of five No. 2 seeds to fall before reaching the finals.

While Macri and Hritsko were among those upset, the Big Macs pulled off some of their own, none bigger than at heavyweight, where sophomore Brendan Furman got a takedown in overtime to hand unbeaten Zach Jablonski of Montour his first loss of the season, 3-1. Jablonski entered the postseason as the WPIAL’s top-rated heavyweight.

Furman was joined atop the podium by teammates Camden Fontenot (126) and Micah Kusturiss (145) as the Big Macs advanced nine wrestlers.

In addition to West, Trinity also had a first-time champion in sophomore Michael Kalosky, who won the 113-pound title. The Hillers will send eight wrestlers to the WPIAL tournament.

Other individual champions included Nate Hall (160) and Josh Barr (182) of West Allegheny, Hopewell’s DiMantae Bronaugh and Moon’s Nathan Barcaskey.

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