Waynesburg’s Homet no longer in the dark at Tri-CADA
Cole Homet of Waynseburg makes his move and holds down Jimmy Baxter of Canon-McMillan. Homet defeated Baxter, who was trying to win his third Tri-CADA title, with an 8-2 decision.
Eli Brinsky
McDONALD – Cole Homet doesn’t mind the shadows.
While Mac Church, Rocco Welsh and Wyatt Henson get the lion’s share of attention, Homet is carving out a strong season.
The sophomore from Waynesburg won his second title in the Tri-County Athletic Directors’ Association Wrestling Tournament Saturday at South Fayette High School.
“They deserve the hype they’re getting because they are great wrestlers,” he said of his teammates. “I like being in the shadows, being the underdog, being unseeded. Attention is nice sometimes but I like the shadows.”
Homet took an 8-2 decision at 132 pounds from Canon-McMillan’s Jimmy Baxter, who was gunning for his third Tri-CADA title. If he keeps wrestling like that, there will be no shadows.
Am I in the right line?
Before the tournament’s Parade of champions, Beth-Center sophomore Trevor Pettit was wondering if he was in the right place.
Pettit was one of the finalists but felt, well, separated.
“I looked to my left. All Canon-McMillan wrestlers,” he said with a smile. “I looked to my right. All Waynesburg wrestlers. I was like, ‘Gee, am I in the right line?'”
He was.
Wrestlers from either Waynesburg or Canon-McMillan won titles before Pettit stopped the run with a 4-0 shutout of Rocco Ferraro of McGuffey in the 145-pound final.
Brinsky doubles his fun
Eli Brinsky had two things to celebrate yesterday.
The senior from South Fayette High School not only won the 170-pound title over Owen Petrisek of Bentworth but also notched his 100th varsity victory with a 5-1 decision over Matthew Furman of Canon-McMillan in the semifinals.
“I was trying not to count it down,” Brinsky said. “I was aware of it but I just went out with the same approach. I was more nervous about it than I should have been. I’m just happy to get it over with.”
Brinsky entered the season with an 88-42 record. His latest win pushed his season record to 13-0.
Seeing double
The Tri-CADA is one of the tournaments that allows two wrestlers from the same team to compete in the same weight class.
There were two instances in this tournament’s medal round where the two wrestlers competed against one another and both were in the same weight class, 195 pounds.
Garrett Boone of McGuffey pinned teammate Rocco Falosk in 2:05 to win the third-place match. Joe Black of Ringgold pinned teammate Joey Verscharen in 46 seconds for fifth place.
One change to this rule would be welcomed: wrestlers must wear different uniforms so as not to confuse the scoring.
Ramos update
Canon-McMillan get some hopeful news on the injury status of heavyweight Gio Ramos.
The senior appeared to severely injure his knee during a quarterfinal bout against Cameron Carter-Green of Washington. He was helped off the mat and needed crutches to make his way out of the gymnasium.
On Saturday, C-M head coach Jeff Havelka said Ramos was feelng better and the hope was the injury was not so severe.
Ramos will be examined this week.