Waynesburg wrestlers earn county bragging rights
Joel Brewton | Herald-Standard
Waynesburg Central’s A.C. Headlee (top) gains control of Jefferson-Morgan’s Aaron Mylan during Friday’s non-section wrestling match at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Jefferson-Morgan's Brendan Howard (left) wrestles against Waynesburg Central's Cole Rush during Friday's non-section wrestling match at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Joel Brewton | Herald-Standard
Jefferson Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale (right) competes against Waynesburg Central’s Cade Rush during Friday’s non-section wrestling match at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
JEFFERSON — Friday night’s match between Waynesburg Central and Jefferson-Morgan featured just about everything a high school wrestling fan could want. There were highly-anticipated matches between individuals who are strong contenders to qualify for the PIAA championships, nationally-ranked individual standouts and bragging rights as the best team in tradition-rich Greene County.
The host Rockets jumped out to an early lead, but the visiting Raiders rebounded by winning the final four bouts of the evening to pick up a 38-22 non-section victory. With the win, WCHS improved to 5-1 overall, while J-M fell to 0-2 on the young season.
“I thought we wrestled well as a team. It’s great to have the county rivalry,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton. “After tonight, we go our separate ways, but it’s great for the county and it’s great for the community to bring people together.”
The match started at 152 pounds, where Waynesburg’s Shane Piper put the road team ahead 6-0 by pinning Tristin Yeager in 51 seconds. That contest was followed by the first of several highly anticipated showdowns, this one pitting the Raiders’ Terry Victor against the Rockets’ Trevor Kniha. The two went back-and-forth on the scoreboard and by the time six minutes of regulation had concluded, the score was tied up at 6-6. The bout was ultimately decided in the first sudden-victory period, where Victor picked up the winning takedown 24 seconds into extra time. His 8-6 win extended the Waynesburg lead to 9-0.
The 170-pound match-up was another hotly contested battle, which pitted J-M’s Parker Woodring against Waynesburg’s Frank Crawford. Woodring got his team on the board with a 9-3 decision.
The scheduled 182-pound bout was arguably the most anticipated the contest of the night. Waynesburg’s Colin McCracken, who was a WPIAL Class AAA qualifier last season as a freshman, was supposed to square off with Jefferson junior Billy Bowlen, who was a regional runner-up and state qualifier. Interestingly, neither team sent their wrestler out for a 182 showdown, but they competed at 195 pounds instead. McCracken looked strong in the contest and defeated Bowlen, 7-2.
“Colin’s improved a lot, so we wanted to get a high caliber match for him,” Throckmorton said. “We wanted to see something like this for him early in the season. Billy is very good and we just really wanted to see the match-up.”
McCracken’s win was a crucial won for the Raiders, who moved ahead 12-3 in the team score. However, the Rockets took their first lead of the evening with three-straight wins beginning at 220 pounds, where Anthony Patterson scored a 9-5 decision victory over Waynesburg’s fiery Ryan Keys. Talented J-M heavyweight Ian Wolfe tied the match at 12-12 when he received a forfeit.
As the contest turned over to the lightweights, Jefferson’s superstar freshman Gavin Teasdale, who is ranked second in the nation at 106 pounds according to Intermatwrestle.com, put the Rockets up 18-12 with a fall in 2:22 against Cade Rush. WCHS countered with its own standout freshman lightweight at 113 pounds, where Caleb Morris stuck Zach Tedrow in 1:07 to tie the score at 18-18.
The home team took its final lead of the night at 120 pounds, where senior Clarion commit Brendan Howard put together a 13-5 major decision triumph against Cole Rush. After picking up its final four team points of the match courtesy of Howard, the Rockets were swept in the final four weight classes.
Logan Henderson started the run with a pin in 3:05 over Austin Goldsberry at 126 that moved the Red and Black back ahead 24-22. Raider superstar A.C. Headlee, who is ranked No. 1 in the nation at 132 pounds and is bound for the University of North Carolina next year, picked up the only technical fall of the match, when he defeated Aaron Mylan, 20-5, at the 2:37 mark of their showdown.
The team victory was clinched at 138 pounds, where Shawn Wilson notched his team’s fourth pin in 2:22 against Andrew Eaton. Kyle Homet put the finishing touches on the Raider win by defeating Trevor Jamison 38-22.
“One thing that’s great for these younger kids is they get to see the intensity of the AAA level,” Lesko said.”They get to see great wrestling and maybe they can get a little out of that when it comes to getting better.”
The Raiders will try to continue their hot start to the year on Wednesday, Dec. 17, when they host Moon.