Kiski defeats Canon-McMillan in WPIAL AAA final
The Starrs came out for Kiski, leaving the Canon-McMillan wrestling team in the dark.
Danny Starr and his brother, Tommy, had two crucial pins in back-to-back weight classes, 195 and 220, to propel the Cavalier to a 41-21 victory and their Cavaliers’ first WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament title in 14 years.
Kiski, Canon-McMillan and North Allegheny, which lost to the Big Macs in the semifinals but beat Franklin Regional in the consolation bout, qualified for the PIAA Team Tournament, which commenced with preliminary-round matches on Feb. 6. Canon-McMillan (10-2) and Kiski will next wrestle Feb. 9 in the Giant Center in Hershey. In first-round action, the Big Macs faced Council Rock South.
Kiski, now 18-0 and the No. 3-ranked team in the state, snapped that 14-year drought thanks in part to its Starr power.
There was more than one moment, though, in Danny Starr’s bout, where it looked like it might all fall apart. Alec Hendal, a sophomore with a 1-3 record and a decided underdog in the match against the 24-5 junior, hit a headlock seconds into the match and put Starr on his back as the crowd inside Penn Hills High School roared. Starr twisted and turned for a good 12 seconds before freeing himself. He then pinned Hendal in :53 seconds.
“It was scary. I was freaking out,” Starr said. “I was doing everything I could to stay off my back.”
Hendal’s start was reminiscent of the Kiski-C-M bout in last year’s semifinals in this tournament, when James Zeremenko pinned Tyler Worthing in 45 seconds. That huge upset proved the difference in a 27-25 victory by Canon-McMillan in 2016.
“If we get that pin there, the match might end up different,” said C-M head coach Jason Cardillo. “We might see these guys again and it might be different. They were the better team today.”
“Their kid came out and dumped him to his back and he had him close a couple times,” said Kiski head coach Chris Heater. “It just showed you his will and desire to get off his back. Then, for him to put (Hendal) on his back, that lit our bench a little bit and put a fire under these guys. I think we controlled the match after that.”
Tommy Starr had no such nightmares. He pinned Zach Rohaley in 1:36 to give Kiski a 21-9 lead and the Big Macs never recovered.
“We’ve been in the Final Four many times but in Triple-A, it’s so hard to win it,” said Heater. “There is so much talent. It’s very special for me.”
The Cavaliers got two other big wins by the same decision score, 3-1. Noah Levett stopped Matt Oblock in the 132-pound bout and Cam Connor got a takedown early in overtime. Reverse those outcomes and the Big Macs trail by two with one bout remaining. Instead, Kiski had a 35-21 lead and fans were putting on their coats.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Cardillo said. “They wrestled hard. They work hard in the room and it shows on the mat. This match, I wish we could have done more. They got their bonus points when they needed them and we didn’t.”
Another key move by Kiski was moving Matt Siszka up a weight to 126, where he rolled past Anthony Mastrangelo with a 19-6 major decision. Logan Macri, who might have wrestled Siszka if it were C-M’s choice at 120, instead got a forfeit victory to move his record to 29-5.
Oblock proved the hero in the semifinals when he pinned Will Baierl in 3:19 to sew up a 34-28 victory over North Allegheny. Oblock’s pin gave the Big Macs a nine-point lead with one bout remaining.
“I just had to get a little bit more motivated,” said Oblock. “I knew I had to do what I could and let it fall together.”
Macri and Brendan Furman had pins for Canon-McMillan against NA. Gerrit Nijenhuis had the only C-M pin against Kiski. Ken Hayman, Blaze Kansco and Brendan Furman won by decisions for the Big Macs against the Cavaliers. Mastrangelo, Kansco and Bryan Milligan had the decisions against the Tigers.
Milligan was the hero in Canon-McMillan’s 43-23 win against Belle Vernon. The victory vaulted the Big Macs into the Final Four. His 11-8 decision against Marshall Nicholson snapped a 16-16 deadlock and propelled C-M to victory.
“I was a little nervous at first because I knew that kid was a decent wrestler,” Milligan siad. “I know it was an important match so I went out and wrestled as well as I could. It was niced to beat that kid because he was better than me, to be honest.”
When Milligan took the mat, his team had just suffered four consecutive losses. After Milligan’s win, Alex Hendle and Furman picked up pins. Furman’s fall in six seconds electrified the crowd and afforded C-M a comfortable lead, 31-20. After BV forfeited three of the next four bouts, Oblock and Tim Hritsko recorded technical falls to seal the win.
Canon-Mac opened tournament action with a 55-13 win against North Hills. Macri, Oblock, Hristsko, Stefen Richer, Nijenhuis, Milligan and Furman all had falls for the Big Macs