Waynesburg runs away with AAA team title
HERSHEY -Their success magnifies the success of others.
Waynesburg winning the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament title at the individual tournament Saturday brought some familiar Waynesburg names into the conversation: James Conklin, Matthew Gusic, Earl Fuller and Keith Moore, to name a few.
The year was 1943. Current Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton was minus-19 years old, not being born until 1962.
For some bizarre reason, the PIAA hands out two team titles, one at the individual title and one in the team portion of the season.
“That was one of our many goals for the year,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton. “We wanted to make it a no-brainer because last year Nazareth won the team title, we were second. (Bethlehem Catholic) won it here and I read in some publication that BeCa won states. We said that is not happening to us.”
The Raiders finished with 100 points with three state champions and two runners-up. Hempfield was a surprise second with 57 points and Waynesburg’s arch-rival Bethllehem Catholic was third with 53 points.
“Starting with Canonsburg last season, they learned to win as a team,” said Throckmorton. “It took 10 tiebreakers to beat them. They used to go to clubs and were spread all around. That’s when the found Mac needs this person and Rocco needs this person.
“During COVID, we put them in pods and all our starters were separated. And our backups became really, really good.”
Throckmorton said there were about 1,000 fans at Giant Center Saturday and Waynesburg fans had more than 100 tickets.
“My daughter and wife got 60 tickets in 12 minutes,” said Throckmorton. “All the other families got tickets so I think we have about 10 percent of the audience today
Waynesburg took seven wrestlers to the state tournament in 1943. Charles Patterson, Bill Corwin and Nick Osso were the other three.
Waynesburg would have won the title in 1943 but it didn’t exist. James Conklin was in the process of winning his fourth state title and becoming the first wrestler in PIAA history to do so.
Under its current format, Bald Eagle Area defeated Upper Perkiomen in 1999 in the initial team portion of the season.
The PIAA Team Tournament runs next week with the finals March 27 at Cumberland Valley High School.