Nazareth puts end to Waynesburg’s reign
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Zander Phaturos, left, of Waynesburg is about to turn Colby Seiler of Mifflin County during the 126-pound match in the PIAA Class 3A Team Tournament in the Hershey Giant Center Friday.
By Joe Tuscano/Staff writer/jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
Mac Church of Waynesburg has blake Aumiller in trouble during their 132-pound bout in the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournament in the Hershey Giant Center Friday. Church won by fall.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Rocco Welsh, top, of Waynesburg keeps Trey Shoemaker of Mifflin County close to the mat during their 189-pound bout in the PIAA Class 3A Team Tournament in the Hershey Giant Center Friday. Welsh won a major decision.
Colten Stoneking, left, of Wayneburg is knocked off balance by Nazareth's Ayden Radar in their 138-pound match during the semifinals of the PIAA Class AAA Team Tournamennt in the Giant Center in Hershey Friday. Stoneking won by decision.
HERSHEY – The end of the road came quick and sudden for Waynesburg High School’s wrestling team.
They are the returning PIAA Team Tournament champions no longer. Nazareth saw to that Friday night at the Giant Center in the tournament’s semifinals.
And the reason for the 38-17 loss was clear. It didn’t have anything do do with the Raiders losing their head coach. It didn’t have to do with the automobile accident suffered in the summer by Cole Homet that very nearly killed him and left him with only a portion of the talent that made him a state runner-up last year. It didn’t have to do with the loss of Wyatt Henson, who went to Iowa, Luca Augustine, who went to Pitt, Ryan Howard and others to graduation.
But it did have to do with little pieces of each body blow.
“From where we started, it was a good start,” said Waynesburg head coach Kyle Szewczyk. “We got the ball rolling early.”
Waynesburg, now 18-1, had Cole Homet in the lineup at 145 pounds and Joe Simon out of the lineup because of what Szewczyk called a “growth spurt.”
He is not sure either will return.
Homet lost a 3-2 decision to Nicholas Foster. It was appparent Homet was not the same because of the injury and Foster, in a show of sportsmanship, gave Homet a hug after the match.
“We wanted to give him a chance for another win and Foster is top-5, maybe 8th in the state. Homet almost always pulls it out,” said Szewczyk.
“After this is over, I don’t think he’ll participate in the individuals. He’ll probably be my assistant and put college off for a couple years. Feeling is coming back slowly, very slowly. Hopefully, in about 18 months, he’ll be able to use his hand again and get some muscle in his shoulder and arm.”
Waynesburg wrestles Connellsville today in its quest for third place.
“Anything can happen,” said Szewczyk. “You’ve got to put your best time out there and give it everything you got. We still can finish third and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
The match started at 132 with Mac Church setting off two bout wins in a row with a technical fall and Colten Stoneking folowed with a decision to make it 8-0.
Nazareth then won the next three bouts, taking control of the bout.
To win at this level requires a certain amount of good fortune and the Raiders found the jug maybe half full this year. It was not like last year when all the starters returned and you knew this team was special
Earlier in the day, Waynesburg outmuscled Mifflin County, 31-24, to go 18-0 on the season.
Mac Church, who suffered what appeared to be a cramp or pulled muscle, was back to normal against Mifflin County. Showing no signs of the pain or limping that were apparent yesterday after a win over Dallastown.
Waynesburg got some pickle juice from the grocery store to speed the recovery process. It worked and Church pinned Blake Aumiller.
Church’s pin was the lone fall of the match for Waynesburg, it’s lowest total for the season.