C-M wins rematch with Waynesburg for 4-AAA title
CANONSBURG – Bryan Milligan has only been wrestling for three seasons, but he’s been in enough tough situations to fill a career worth of memories.
Milligan, a sophomore 160-pounder for Canon-McMillan, went out onto the mat Wednesday night trying to protect one of the most impressive section winning streaks in WPIAL history. Canon-McMillan, looking for its 14th straight section title and 36th overall, would have it if Milligan did not make a major mistake against Frank Crawford, a senior from Waynesburg.
Milligan’s job was to protect a five-point lead.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Milligan held off Crawford, securing a 14-4 major decision to cap a 31-22 victory for Canon-McMillan over Waynesburg in the finals of the Section 4-AAA Team Tournament at the C-M gymnasium.
The dual meet was a rematch from two weeks ago when the Big Macs rallied for a 29-24 victory in Waynesburg’s gymnasium.
The win probably assures Canon-McMillan a high seed when the pairings are released for the WPIAL Team tournament, which gets under way next week.
So what’s the secret to having such an impressive win streak?
“I’m not telling,” said head coach Jason Cardillo.
Getting clutch performances such as the one Milligan gave is part of it.
“There was a lot on the line, and I was pretty nervous,” said Milligan, who also plays football and wanted to wrestle because “it seemed like fun.”
The Big Macs, thanks to a strong effort up top and a big win at 106, had a 27-22 lead going into the final bout. Milligan wrestled in the first meeting and lost a 4-3 decision to Terry Victor at 160 pounds.
“I knew I couldn’t risk anything,” said Milligan. “I just had to stay out of any sucker type moves. I needed to keep my mind straight.”
After the first period ended in a 2-2 tie, Milligan recorded an escape, takedown and backpoints for a 7-2 lead heading into the third period. Milligan
“I just told him what the situation was. He’s pretty new to the sport. I told him he couldn’t get teched or pinned,” said Cardillo, who is 2-0 in section final matches since becoming the Big Macs head coach. “He wrestled that kid at Powerade but it’s different when you are doing it here. He went out and didn’t look nervous.”
Crawford was not in the lineup for the Raiders’ opening match, a 38-30 win over West Allegheny. Waynesburg forfeited 160 and got a strong effort from the light and middleweights to erase a 27-12 deficit. Crawford had a brace on his left knee during his match against Milligan.
“Give him credit,” Cardillo said.
Waynesburg left right after the dual meet and head coach Joe Throckmorton was not available for comment.
Canon-McMillan, which beat Hopewell 69-3 in the semifinals, got another strong effort from the upper weights against Waynesburg. James Zeremenko (195) got a pin, Jared Hladycz (220) a decision and Brendan Furman (Hvy) a pin to turn a 6-0 deficit into a 15-6 lead.
“Furman did his job,” Cardillo said. “We expect him to pin. Jared did a nice job winning again.”
Hladycz put the first meeting between the two teams in the win column for Canon-McMillan by pinning Brad Arnold in the final bout of the match. This time, he won a 5-2 decision over Sam Augustine.
The Big Macs also got a key win at 106, where Logan Macri lost a 7-3 lead over the second half of the match but rallied in overtime to win 11-8 against Caleb Morris. The gave C-M an 18-6 lead.
Cole Rush gave Waynesburg momentum when he pinned Tim Hritsko after trailing in the bout 9-1. Rush drove Hritsko to his back and pinned him in 4:34 to move Waynesburg within nine, 21-12. Shane Piper’s 5-0 decision over Blaze Kansco made it a only a five-point Big Macs’ lead, 27-22, and set up Milligan’s big effort.
“Winning the section title is really exciting,” said Cardillo. “If you told me three or four years ago that winning a section title would be exciting, I would have said no. But this is exciting for me.”