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When Sports Were Played: Trinity raises bar with WPIAL wrestling title

5 min read

The “When Sports Were Played” for today is from Feb. 2, 2002, when Trinity High School’s wrestling team won two matches in one day, including the championship matchup against Waynesburg, to win the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament.

MONROEVILLE – During the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament Saturday, the Trinity High School wrestling team faced two opponents it had wrestled during the regular season.

The Hillers posted their second conecutive victory against Connellsville in the semifinals, then avenged a loss to Waynesburg in the title match.

“I told the kids to go out and wrestle to win and not to lose,” Trinity coach Jeff Bricker said after the Hillers won 33-19 over Waynesburg. “I think we did that the first time.”

The win gives Trinity (14-2) its first title since the WPIAL switched to a team tournament format in 1979. The Hillers won the Class AAA title that year, but had made only two other appearances in the title match in the 23 years since.

“You have to have to have luck on your side when your in such a strong tournament,” said Bricker. “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. We were prepared to seize that opportunity and we did.

“The kids have a lot of heart and a lot of pride. We’ve been working so hard and it paid off. The kids had confidence and are peaking at the right time. The sky is the limit with these guys.”

The victory also earns Trinity a berth in the PIAA Team Tournament, which begins next week.

“We just raised the bar,” said Bricker. “I’m not here to just win WPIAL titles. I’m here to win state titles, too. And with the hard-nosed kids they are breeding at Trinity, I think we can do it.”

Waynesburg (15-3) jumped out to a 25-0 lead the first time they faced Trinity and recorded a 32-17 victory.

The rematch opened much differently, as Trinity began with a 6-2 win by Spencer Kahrig over Chris Neidermeier at 103 pounds.

“Spencer had never beaten him before,” said Bricker. “It was a big momentum turn for us. It only takes one takedown to get into your opponent’s head.”

Waynesburg followed with six consecutive wins to take a 19-3 advantage. Two of those bouts went to overtime, while another was decided in the last 10 seconds.

The Raiders’ Drew Headlee scored a reversal with nine seconds left to pull out a 6-5 victory over Steve Santi at 119.

Reimark Neidermeier scored a takedown 16 seconds into overtime to pull out a 3-1 victory over Dan Burkholder at 125.

Corbin Semple capped Waynesburg’s rally with a 7-5 overtime win over Aaron Jennings. Semple scored the winning takedown midway through the overtime.

“We know we have to put points on the board in the lower weights,” said Waynesburg coach John Yates. “They kept the score low in the lower weights.”

Brandon Henry began Trinity’s comeback by pinning Steven Ellis at 3:41 of the 145-pound bout. Waynesburg then forfeited to Trinity’s Scott Morgan, which cut the advantage to 19-15.

“We had four kids win in the rematch who had lost the first time we wrestled Waynesburg,” said Bricker, referring to Kahrig, Henry, Frank Zatta, and Joe West. “That was the difference. We couldn’t have won this match without those wins.”

Zatta pulled Trinity within one point with a 1-0 victory over Eric Phillips at 160. West capped the victory with a 7-3 win over Waynesburg’s David Gregg at 189.

“A half dozen teams could have won the title,” said Yates. “Trinity won it today. I’m very proud of the kids to get this far with an inexperienced team.”

Trinity, seeded sixth in the 18-team bracket, earned its first trip to the title match since 1990 with a 29-24 victory over two-time defending champion Connellsville (16-5), the No. 2 seed.

It was Trinity’s second victory over Connellsville this season, as the Hillers recorded a 33-19 win in the season opener Dec. 8.

The key victories for Trinity were by Mark Day and Henry. Day escaped with 51 seconds left in the 112-pound bout to edge Connellsville’s Josh Martin, 1-0.

Henry scored a takedown with eight seconds left in his 140-pound bout against Brenton Tony to send it to overtime. He then capped a 7-5 victory with a takedown 28 seconds into the OT. That victory gave Trinity a 15-9 advantage.

West iced the win with a 3-2 decision of Connellsville’s Ben Benzio at 189.

Waynesburg, seeded fourth, earned its championship berth with a 30-26 semifinal win over ninth-seeded Latrobe (11-3).

Waynesburg jumped out to a 23-0 lead with wins in the first six bouts. The key victories for the Raiders were recorded by Headlee and Chad Seybold.

Headlee had a 6-1 victory over Mike Ciotti at 119. The victory avenged Ciotti’s 2-1 win over Headlee in last year’s Southwest Regional semifinals.

Seybold pulled out a 6-5 victory over Jon Stovich at 130.

Gregg clinched the victory for Waynesburg with a 14-2 major decision of Josh Turnbull at 171 pounds.

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