Mar 22, 2021 3 min read

Part 2 of The Great Season begins Wednesday night for Waynesburg High School in the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament at the EQT Center near the Waynesburg prison.

That’s where the Raiders take on either Erie Cathedral Prep, the District 10 champion, or Carrick, the City League champion. Those two teams wrestle tonight at the Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie. First whistle is 6 p.m.

Waynesburg, which won the District 7 over a disinterested Seneca Valley, had a bye in today’s first round.

If successful Wednesday, Waynesburg heads to Cumberland Valley High School Saturday for the semifinals, which starts at 4 p.m., and, hopefully, the finals at 6 p.m.

“We’ve had this goal for a long time,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton. “Our goal is to be individual team champs and  (regular) team champs.”

The PIAA, for some reason, gives away two team title trophies, one at the individual tournament, which concluded last week, and the regular team tournament, which runs this week. Normally, the regular team tournament is contested in February but was moved to the end of the season because of fears of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waynesburg blew away the field in winning the team title at the individual tournament, nearly doubling the point total and the second- (Hempfield) and third-place (Bethlehem Catholic) teams. Waynesburg had three first-place finishers, two runners-up and fifth-place finisher at the Giant Center in Hershey.

“We have one of the best incentives to do this,” said Throckmorton. “If I were on the other side of that, I’d have a had time. I know there were coaches who were concerned whether they could keep their guys (ready) if they lost in the section or district. Can they keep them down in weight and could they keep them at practices.”

Throckmorton said every wrestler on the Waynesburg roster will be ready to go and that none has left the team, even the reserves.

“They’re motivated,” said Throckmorton. “They still have goals.”

Last season, Waynesburg won the District 7 Team Tournament over rival Canon-McMillan, then knocked off favorite Bethlehem Catholic, thanks to a slam call at 113 pounds against BeCa that gave Waynesburg an unexpected six points at that weight and a 33-31 victory.

Waynesburg went on to lose in the state finals to Nazareth, 38-21. Nazareth, out of District 11, is not in this year’s tournament. The District 3 representative is Central Dauphin, which is 17-0.

If Waynesburg and Bethlehem Catholic reach the finals, it will mark the first time two teams with Class AA enrollment will meet for the Class AAA title.

“We have check marks for things,” said Throckmorton. “Our last one is the state dual team title. We’ve done a lot of things that we haven’t done before. That was one of the last goals. I told our guys after the individual tournament that you have two weeks to suck it up. They’re going to remember this as much as the state titles. You may not think so now, but it will be important. This is about the whole team.”