Question for Waynesburg: What now?
So what happens now?
Mac Church will be heading to Virginia Tech soon and Rocco Welsh to Ohio State. The other three state qualifiers – Nate Jones (152), Brody Evans (189) and Eli Makel (215) – are also seniors.
While the celebrations from all the victories will live in the memory, the small Class 2A-sized school in Greene County that competes in Class 3A has to rebuild. And it might take years to accomplish this type of success again.
This situation is not unlike the last great Greene County team that haunted the mats three decades ago. Jefferson-Morgan, complete with Cary Kolat, Justin Tracana, Jimmy Howard, Billy White, Brandon Teasdale, Travis and Jason Makel revived wrestling in the county and dominated all comers.
One person who experienced that transition at Jefferson-Morgan and who has a pretty good idea what lies ahead for Waynesburg is Scott Rhodes. He was an assistant under Ron Headlee at Jefferson-Morgan and is the Raiders assistant coach.
“Rebuilding,” Rhodes said when asked what Waynesburg has to look forward to.
“The quality that we have with this senior group, you have to remember that they were freshmen when they started making the team states. They are battle-tested. They know what it takes to win and it will take years to replace it, if you ever do.”
The state team tournament didn’t exist when the Jefferson-Morgan team was formed but its difficult to believe that there was a better Class 2A team in the state at that point in time.
“It was like last year’s seniors left but you knew you were going to still have a good team,” said Rhodes. “It was the same thing when Cary and Jimmy and those guys left. You knew you still had Justin Tracana and Travis Makel. You knew you had a good team coming up. It’s just that in our area, it takes time to rebuild.”
Unlike schools such as Bethlehem Catholic and other private institutions, recruiting can keep a program strong while sapping from others.
“This is not like a Catholic school that can get anyone it wants,” Rhodes said. “You have to go recruit the halls and hope parents don’t move out. You have traditions like the Makels.”
Eli Makel became the third generation of his family to win a WPIAL championship. Few private schools can make that boast.
“I grew up watching Joey Throckmorton, Doug Haines and those guys wrestle,” Rhodes said. “It’s a tradition in that area. The people there bleed Waynesburg wrestling. They’re starting to build the youth back up. Parents like Lanfer Simpson have boys.
“You don’t get 1,000 victories by people moving out of the district.”
Assistant sports editor Joe Tuscano can be reached at jtuscano@observer-reporter.com.