Kiski goes back-to-back, downs C-M for team title
Only one team disrupted Canon-McMillan’s march to a WPIAL team title and it was the same one from last year: Kiski.
Danny Starr sealed back-to-back titles for the Cavaliers, when he pinned Zach Rohaley in 1:22 in the final bout of the dual meet to cement a 33-24 victory Saturday at Hiller Hall.
It was the first loss of the season in 11 dual meets for the top-seeded Big Macs, who defeated Kiski, 36-27, when these two teams met Dec. 22 in Canonsburg.
The Big Macs (10-1) qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament and wrestles Council Rock South in Thursday’s first round at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Kiski (17-1) enters as the District 7 champion and Seneca Valley, which got a second chance in this tournament when Hempfield was disqualified for using an ineligible wrestler, finished third after defeating Waynesburg, 39-31.
“I’m proud of all the kids,” said C-M head coach Jeff Havelka. “They all wrestled hard. We figured there would be a lot of close matches. We won some close ones, they won some close ones. We figured it would by tight.”
The dual meet had a scary moment when Skyler Adams, a junior, suffered what appeared to be a neck injury while getting pinned by Nick Delp in the 160-pound bout.
The dual meet was stopped for about a half hour as Adams was attended to by trainers and coaches in the middle of the mat. Adams was taken out of the gymnasium by EMTs and then by ambulance to an area hospital.
After the match was concluded, Havelka said he believed Adams was going to be all right.
“He had movement in his hands and feet,” said Havelka. “He had feeling in his hands and legs. The first thing I’m going to do when I get out of here is call his mother (and get an update).”
Canon-McMillan trailed, 24-18, with three bouts remaining and two of its better wrestlers yet to wrestle in Gerrit Nijenhuis, who moved up to 182, and Zach Rohaley, who was undefeated in seven bouts heading into this match.
Nijenhuis tied the dual meet when he pinned Logan Pollock in 3:10. But Kiski’s Troy Kuhn came up big with a 2-0 win over Alec Hendal at 195.
Rohaley, who came out for the team when injuries left C-M without a viable option at 220, needed a major decision or better over Starr to win the dual meet and avenge last year’s, 41-21, loss to Kiski in the team finals at Penn Hills.
But Starr fought off one pinning attempt and put Rohaley on his back and pancaked him for the pin and victory.
“A couple things didn’t go our way but that’s why we feel we’re a complete team,” said Kiski head coach Chris Heater. “If somebody goes down, somebody picks up the slack.”
The match was close throughout and both teams missed opportunities to build big leads.
Sammy Starr, who missed the December meeting, was back for this one, but Jimmy Baxter pinned Starr in 5:40 to tie it, 6-6. Isaac Reid, who also missed the first meeting because of a medical condition, opened the dual meet with a pin in 36 seconds of Gio Ramos.
Michael Binni won an 8-7 decision in ultimate tiebreaker over Dom Giordano at 113 and Logan Macri won a 5-1 decision to give the Big Macs a 12-6 lead after the 120 bout.
Kiski, the second seed in the tournament, won four of the next five to forge an 18-15 lead.
That’s when the Adams match came up. Delp was attempting to sit out after a double-arm bar and Adams tried to bridge out. Adams’ head got stuck on the mat for a moment,causing it to twist, and he lay in obvious pain after the pin was called. It was an emotional Big Macs team that went back at Kiski.
“Obviously, it picked (Canon-McMillan) up a little bit and it kind of turned the tide a little bit,” said Heater. “But we regrouped and came back. Our concern was that Skyler Adams was OK.”
Canon-McMillan made it to the finals with a 47-17 rout of Seneca Valley. Macri (126), Tanner Rohaley (145), Nijenhuis (170) and Zach Rohaley (220) won by fall.
Kiski made it by defeating third-seeded Waynesburg, 39-26, in the semifinals. Sammy Starr (106), Giordano (113), Delp (160) and Kuhn (220).
Waynesburg missed a chance to get into the PIAA tournament, losing the third-place bout, 39-31, to Seneca Valley.
“We had a lot of matches we could have won,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton. “We beat them earlier in the season but they had a different lineup this time around. We’ve never been in this situation before.”