Dec 22, 2015 By Mike Dudurich for The 3 min read

Tradition is a big part of the wrestling culture at Waynesburg High School.

That’s not exactly shocking news since the Raiders are third in PIAA history in all-time victories with 878, trailing only Canon-McMillan and Easton in that category, coming into this season.

There have also been 31 PIAA champions from Waynesburg, the third-most in the history of the tournament behind Clearfield (40) and Easton (35).

The 31st of those came last year when A.C. Headlee defeated two-time PIAA champion Luke Pletcher, of Greater Latrobe, 7-2, in an ultimate tiebreaker in the 132-pound finals.

That was the first state title for Waynesburg since Corbin Semple won the 171-pound PIAA crown in 2005.

“That was a big deal for the program and a big deal for the young guys we have on the team,” said Waynesburg coach Joe Throckmorton. “They saw what it took for A.C. to with that title, how much work he put in. The bar has been set pretty high.”

And, Throckmorton is coming into this season with a solid group of returnees from a year ago, seven wrestlers who form the basis what may turn out to be another very good team.

Sophomore Caleb Morris, 35-10 a year ago at 106, will compete at 120. Senior Cole Rush was 29-12 at 120 and will be at 126. Senior Logan Henderson, the Red Raiders’ 126-pounder last year, had a 20-15 record at will be at 132, while fellow senior Shaun Wilson will once again be at 138 after posting a 36-5 record there last year. Sophomore Kyle Homet was 26-14 at 145 a year ago and will wrestle at 160. Terry Victor had a 32-9 record at 160 last year and is penciled in at 152 as a senior. Colin McCracken was 35-8 as a sophomore at 182 last year and will be there as a junior.

“Caleb Morris was a WPIAL champion last year and was outstanding, but had a bad tournament at states. That happens, but we expect much more of him this year. Wilson and McCracken were third-place finishers at Powerade. The middle of our lineup is very good,” Throckmorton said. “But, we’re pretty young at other places and we’ll need to get those youngsters up to speed as quickly as possible.”

Four freshmen will be in the lineup for the Raiders. Jesse Johnson, a first-year wrestler will be at 106. Colby Mains (113), Trey Howard (145), and Spencer Lewenski (195) are the other freshmen. Howard was a state place-winner in junior high last year.

For the most part, Waynesburg will do its point-scoring through the middleweights. Inexperience is a key factor with upperweights where Lewenski, junior Jacob Staggers (220), and senior Austin Riggelman (285) face a big learning curve.

And, while getting as many individuals to states and being a contender in the team tournaments are constant goals for a team with the rich tradition of Waynesburg, there is another goal that’s been gnawing at Throckmorton for quite a while now.

“Yeah, we’re still looking to get that section title back from Canon-McMillan,” he said. “It seems it’s been 10 or 15 years since they won it and we haven’t been able to win it back. Absolutely, that’s a goal.”