Jan 17, 2018 4 min read

McGuffey strung together five consecutive wins early in the match, then held off a late charge by host Beth-Center to defeat the Bulldogs 40-27 Wednesday night and give Highlanders coach Mark Caffrey his 400th career victory.

Caffrey, in his 35th season, now has a career record of 400-92.

The victory also gave McGuffey first place in Class AA Sub-Section 2A as it won a showdown of teams that were unbeaten in league competition.

Beth-Center took a 6-0 lead when James Gwyer (120) opened the bout with a pin. McGuffey, however, won the next five bouts, forged a 22-6 advantage and Beth-Center was never able to recover from the early deficit.

Jett Pattison (126) and Ethan Barr (152) each had a fall for McGuffey during the pivotal stretch. Nate Yagel (113) closed the match with a fall.

Beth-Center’s J.J. Berish (160) and Ron White (heavyweight) also had falls for Beth-Center.

McGuffey and Beth-Center each will be on the road in the team section tournament next Wednesday.

Bentworth 48, Mapletown 24:

Bentworth won eight weight classes and collected six points in each en route to a 48-24 victory over host mapletown in Class AA Section 2-A.

Bentworth (2-3 in section) won four bouts by fall and another four via forfeit. The Bearcats had a pair of falls in the lightweights and two more in the upper weights.

Larry Camito (106) and Manny Dovshek (120) each won by fall in the third period, and John Vargo (195) and Ashton Lopez (220) had first-period pins.

Mapletown (1-4 in section) received a pin from Kevin Hayes at 160.

Burgettstown 48, Chartiers-Houston 25:

Burgettstown dominated in the lower weights and that was enough to carry to the Blue Devils to a 48-25 victory over Chartiers-Houston.

The Blue Devils, who are 4-0 in Class AA Sub-Section 1A, finished as the top team in the loop with a 5-0 record.

Burgettstown combined pins by Shane Kemper (120), Garrett Stephens (138) and T.J. Smith (145) to build a big lead that was enough to offset wins by Chartiers-Houston in the final four bouts.

Riley Kemper (220) had a fall for Burgettstown in the night’s second weight class.

Waynesburg 69, Central Catholic 5: 

Waynesburg used seven pins en route to a 69-5 victory over Central Catholic in a Class 3A Section 4A match.

Luke Robinson (220) began the night for Waynesburg with the fastest pin of the night in 24 seconds on Central Catholic’s Michael DeLuca.

Luca Austustine (138) and Darnell Johnson (195) followed suite with pins in under one minute. Augustine earned his pin in 55 seconds, while Johnson only needed 36 seconds.

The Raiders four other pins came from Hunter Shriver (106), Caleb Morris (132), Jackson Henson (145) and Caleb Blair (182).

With a Trinity loss to Canon-McMillan, Waynesburg (4-1) moved up to the No. 2 seed in the section.

Fort Cherry 35, Washington 24: 

Nick Candelore and Aaron McIntyre earned pins as Fort Cherry controlled the middle weights and defeated Washington 35-24 in a Class 2A Section 1A match.

Candelore (145) began the success in the middle of the match with a pin in the second period of Washington’s Asa Charnick. 

McIntire (160) then followed two bouts later with a pin against Cashmere Johnson at the 3:23 mark for Fort Cherry (4-1).

Brenden Hanning (120) and Tiki Glenn (182) won decisions for Washington.

Peters Township 64, Ringgold 16: 

Peters Township dominated in the upper weights and used seven pins to defeat Ringgold 64-16 and win the Class 3A Section 2B title.

Tairen Bundy gave Ringgold an early lead with a major decision to open the match at 106 before the Indians rallied by winning the next four bouts to control the match.

In those bouts, Will Kail (120) earned a pin at the 1:42, Jordan Marosz (126) won by fall at 5:58 and Donavan McMillan earned a major decision at 132.

Jacob Hurley (145), Brandon Matthews (160) Jeff Markert (195) and Grant Nelson (Hvy) also earned pins for Peters Township (5-0), which will host the section tournament next Wednesday.

Trent Girard (138) had a pin for Ringgold (1-4).

Jefferson-Morgan 39, West Greene 18:

Jefferson Morgan won the final four bouts of the night to pull away from West Greene, 39-18, in a Class 2A Section 2 match.

Highlighting the run at the end by J-M (3-2) were pins from Alex Lange (126) in 1:04 and Josh Agnew (132) in 42 seconds.

Isaac Courtwright (170) won by fall for West Greene.