Edenfield, Korber in title showdown
Albert Gallatin's Tim Wallace (right) works to control Canon-McMillan's Blaze Kansco the 170 pound weight class during the WPIAL AAA Semifinals held at Canon-McMillan on Saturday. Wallace, the top seed, went on to defeat Kansco by fall at 1:26.
Belle Vernon's Zach Hartman (top) works to control Butler's Caleb Baxter during the 160 pound match of the WPIAL AAA semifinals held at Canon-McMillan on Saturday. Hartman went on to defeat Baxter by major decision 11-0.
Waynesburg's Kyle Homet (top) works to control Greensburg Salem's Alec Shaw in the 170 pound weight class during the WPIAL AAA Semi Final Championships held at Canon-McMillan High School on Saturday, March 4, 2017. Homet went on to defeat Shaw by fall at 5:51.
Belle Vernon's Brock Godzin works to free himself from the grasp of Canon-McMillan's Gerrit Nijenhuis during the 152 pound match of the WPIAL AAA Semi Final Championships held at Canon-McMillan High School on Saturday, March 4, 2017. Dunlop was defeated by Nijenhuis in a 5-1 decision.
Belle Vernon's Jacob Dunlop (left) locks up with Seneca Valley's Louis Newell during the 113 pound match of the WPIAL AAA Semi Final Championships held at Canon-McMillan High School on Saturday, March 4, 2017. Dunlop was defeated by Newell in a 5-3 decision.
Waynesburg's Caleb Morris (left) defeats North Allegheny's Luke Landefeld in the 132 pound weight class during the WPIAL AAA Semi Final Championships held at Canon-McMillan High School on Saturday, March 4, 2017. Morris defeated Landefeld by a 4-3 decision.
Evan Sanders
Laurel Highlands’ Ian Edenfield (right) works to control Chartiers Valley’s Shamil Zaynullaev (left) during the 220-pound match of the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals at Canon-McMillan on Saturday. Edenfield went on to defeat Zaynullaev by a 3-1 decision.
CANONSBURG — There’s no ‘I’ in team, it is said.
For Laurel Highlands’ Ian Edenfield, there’s no team.
But the man with no team found himself in the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championship finals Saturday, trying to become the first WPIAL champion from the school since 1980 when Greg Hensh won the 185-pound weight class.
The junior 220-pounder put himself there by knocking off junior Shamil Zaynullaev of Chartiers Valley, 3-1, in sudden victory, in the semifinals Saturday afternoon, setting up a third meeting of the year with Belle Vernon’s Billy Korber (33-4).
Korber, fourth-seeded, upset the No. 1 seed at 220 pounds, Ron D’Amico of Shaler, 4-2, in the semifinals.
“Yeah, I beat him (Korber) twice this year, so I have to do it again,” Edenfield (28-4) said. “It’s been my goal from the start to win the WPIAL title this year. I knew if I got into shape and wrestled my best, I could do it.”
Edenfield was joined by five other area wrestlers in Saturday night’s finals.
Waynesburg’s Caleb Morris (132) and Kyle Homet (170), Belle Vernon’s Zach Hartman (160) and Korber (220) and Albert Gallatin’s Tim Wallace (170) all will be hunting titles.
The 170-pound final will be one of interest to area fans. Top-seeded Tim Wallace (34-2) of Albert Gallatin will go up against third-seed Kyle Homet (34-5) from Waynesburg with a WPIAL title on the line. Wallace will be going for back-to-back titles, having defeated Mitch Hartman of Belle Vernon, 2-1, in two overtimes.
Seven others made it through the consolation grind and competed in the third and fourth place bout. Those include: Jacob Dunlop (113), Brock Godzin (152), Zach Hartman (160) and Tyler Seliga (145) all from Belle Vernon; Colin McCracken (195) from Waynesburg; Mason Franks (120) and Nate Ansell (195) from Connellsville.
All 12 wrestlers qualified for next weekend’s PIAA Tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Belle Vernon, North Allegheny, Penn-Trafford and Waynesburg all advanced two wrestlers into the finals. Belle Vernon is in fourth place with 98 points, Waynesburg is seventh with 79. Kiski Area leads with 142.5.