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Canon-Mac takes control with win over Waynesburg

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Canon-McMillan’s Logan Macri takes Waynesburg’s Colby Morris to the mat in the 113-pound bout Wednesday. Macri won by technical fall.

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Waynesburg’s Caleb Morris turns Canon-McMillan’s Skyler Adams in the 120-pound bout during Wednesday’s match.

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Canon-McMillan’s Micah Kusturiss controls Waynesburg’s Terry Victor in the 152 pound bout on Wednesday, January 13. Kusturiss won the match.

CANONSBURG – Just in case having six wrestlers each meet in the winner’s bracket of the Tri-CADA Tournament wasn’t enough, Waynesburg travelled to Canon-McMillan for a key Class AAA Section 4-A match Wednesday night.

Individual tournaments and team battles can often be different, but this one was not, as the Big Macs won this Class AAA Section 4-A match, 8-6 in bouts and 40-26 on the scoreboard.

Canon-McMillan rode a fast start and jumped out to a 16-0 lead, then held off a Waynesburg rally in the middle weights to beat the Raiders to first place in the sub-section.

The match began at heavyweight, a good spot for the Big Macs, who improved to 3-0 in the section. That sent Canon-McMillan’s talented junior heavyweight Brendan Furman to the mat. Furman, ranked No. 3 in the WPIAL, pinned Austin Riggleman in 1:33 for a 6-0 lead.

Michael Binni and Logan Macri, the latter the WPIAL’s top-rated 113-pounder, followed with technical falls, and the Big Macs were off to a nearly perfect start for head coach Jason Cardillo.

“With our heavyweight, Furman, we expect him to go out and do what he did,” said Cardillo. “Then Logan, he was able to score a lot of points on him and we told him to go for the tech, so he did. And Binni did a nice job at 106. He was coming off a nice tournament. He didn’t see (Waynesburg’s Jesse Johnson) at the tournament, but he did a nice job on him.”

Waynesburg, which fell to 2-1 in the sub-section, chipped away at Canon-McMillan’s lead but couldn’t get all the points it needed heading back into the upper weights.

Caleb Morris put the Raiders on the scoreboard with a pin at 120 and Cole Rush followed by avenging a Tri-CADA loss to Matt Oblock with a 2-1 overtime victory that trimmed the Big Macs’ lead to 19-9. Oblock was penalized a point in overtime during a scramble when the match official said he had used a head scissors.

Just as Rush had turned the tables on Oblock, so, too, did Canon-McMillan’s Tim Hritsko at 132 against Logan Henderson. Henderson beat Hritsko, 3-0, last week, but Hritsko made a pair of takedowns stand up, riding out Henderson in the third period.

“Hritsko had a nice match,” said Cardillo. “He lost to that kid in the finals at Tri-CADA. We worked on a few things and they seemed to work. They’ll see each other a couple of more times this year. The same can be said for Matt Oblock. That’s a tough loss in overtime. You hate see it decided by the ref, but he saw it and he called it.”

Shaun Wilson and Trey Howard followed with a major and regular decision, respectively, for the Raiders, before Michael Kustriss edged Terry Victor, 1-0 at 152 to make it 22-16.

Howard’s bout also ended in a 1-0 score.

Kyle Homet recorded a pin at 160 pounds to tie the match at 22-22, but the Big Macs quickly regained the lead with a pin of their own. Blaze Kansco, Nick Konyk and David Ainscough each recorded falls at 170, 195 and 220, respectively.

“We needed a lot of those close matches in the middle to determine it,” said Waynesburg coach Joe Throckmorton.

And it’s one that will likely be played out several more times in the upcoming team and individual tournaments.

“These guys will wrestle each other again and again, but that’s high school wrestling,” said Cardillo. “This was a good step for us.”

Though his team came out on the losing end, Throckmorton agreed.

“We’ll see a lot of each other over the last month,” said Throckmorton. “It’s always a great rivalry and always a good time. It’s good, quality wrestling when we see them.”

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