Senior moment: C-M’s Shanahan sticks pin in McGuffey comeback
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Canon-McMillan’s Johnathan Shanahan wins by fall in 5:11 over McGuffey’s Seth Burgdolt during a 160-pound bout Saturday night at Canon-McMillan High School.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
McGuffey’s Ethan Barr wins by fall in 5:15 over Canon-McMillan’s Blake Joseph in a 152-pound bout. The Big Macs beat the Highlanders, 46-21.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
McGuffey’s Rocco Ferraro wins 4-2 over Canon-McMillan’s Remington Ross at 138 pounds during Saturday night’s match.
Canon-McMillan’s Costa Moore wins by fall in 1:36 over McGuffey’s Wyatt Rogers at 120 pounds
CANONSBURG – Nothing beats the satisfaction of getting the big win on Senior Night.
Especially if you are a senior.
That’s the way John Shanahan felt after his pin of Seth Burgdolt at 160 pounds. Shanahan’s win was the back-breaker in Canon-McMillan’s 46-21 victory over McGuffey in Saturday night’s non-section wrestling match at the C-M gym.
“That was the plan,” said Shanahan. “I didn’t want a loss on Senior Night.”
The two wrestlers met in the Tri-CADA Tournament at Trinity High School and Shanahan needed overtime to come away with a 5-3 decision.
Last night, Shanahan was clinging to a 1-0 lead in the third period when he got Burgdolt on his back and pinned him.
“Going into that match, everybody was saying it’s going to come down to you,” said Shanahan. “I did what I had to do. I put everything I had in that match. We know each other’s moves. There weren’t going to be any surprises, just a tough match.”
Shanahan’s pin stopped a fierce McGuffey rally that began at 138 pounds and cut a 25-point lead by Canon-McMillan to 13 after Ethan Barr pinned Blake Joseph in 5:16 at 152 pounds.
“The pin at 160 was really big,” said Canon-McMillan head coach Jeff Havelka. “He’s a senior and a hard worker. I’m happy he got the pin for us.
“They wrestled at Tri-County last week and it went to overtime, so we knew it was going to be a close match. McGuffey wrestled us tough top to bottom so it was a good match all around.”
McGuffey was in the hole almost immediately, losing a major decision to Big Macs heavyweight Gio Ramos, then forfeiting at 106 and 113. Canon-McMillan led 16-0.
“We knew we were in trouble down below, when we had to forfeit two weights,” said McGuffey head coach Mark Caffrey. “They have another good team. They have a great tradition here but I thought we battled them pretty hard.”
A pin by Costa Moore at 120 extended Canon-McMillan’s lead to 22-0.
Just as the dual meet was looking like a blowout, McGuffey roared back.
Jett Pattison got the Highlanders on the board with a hard-fought and entertaining 1-0 decision over Jacob Gardner at 126 pounds.
Rocco Ferraro started a McGuffey run with a 4-2 decision over Remington Ross at 138. Jake Garrety followed with a 9-2 decision over Ryan Clendaniel at 145 and Barr’s pin cut the Big Macs’ lead to 28-15.
The teams traded pins at 170 and 182. McGuffey’s Christian Clutter pinned Tyler Kerr in 52 seconds and Canon-McMillan’s Gerrit Nijenhuis stuck Billy Loya in 52 seconds.
Evan Miller (195) and Alec Hendal (220) wrapped up the dual meet with decisions.
“There were a lot of good matches,” said Caffrey. “We won some they lost at Tri-County but we lost some, too” said Caffrey. “Wrestling good competition is never bad for you.”
Canon-McMillan (4-2) travels to South Fayette Wednesday for the 4A subsection title in Class AAA. McGuffey (10-5) hosts Beth-Center for the 1B Subsection title in Class AA.