With their win on Thursday night the #3 Kiski Area Cavaliers proved they belong atop the WPIAL Team Rankings and should be considered a threat in the State. Coming in ranked #3 in the State the Cavaliers, led by head coach Chris Heater, played host to WPIAL and State power Canon-McMillan. These two are no strangers having faced-off three times last year including twice in the Team Post-Season. This time last year Kiski went into Canon-Mac and came away with a (35-20) victory but fell in the WPIAL Team Tournament to the Big Macs (27-25). A week later in Hershey, PA at the PIAA State Dual Meet Championships the Cavaliers bounced back and took down Canon-McMillan in the consolation bracket (32-22).

It appears 2016-2017 could be on pace for a similar ride for these two storied programs. The bout got underway with a bang at 138 lbs. where two State ranked wrestlers clashed in a heated exchange. Sophomore #17 Cam Connor of Kiski scored a late takedown in the third period to force overtime but junior #11 Tim Hritsko (Canon-Mac) secured the win scoring in sudden victory to put the Big Macs on the board first.

A pair of talented freshmen each grabbed wins for their teams with Nick Delp earning a decision at 152 lbs. and hammer Gerrit Nijenhuis bumped up to 160 lbs. and collected a fall. The most significant bout of the evening came at 195 lbs. in arguably a toss up match between two unranked opponents. In that match junior Danny Starr would earn a major bonus point victory over Nathaniel Taylor. Older brother Tommy Starr followed it up with a major decision at 220 lbs. and in the highly anticipated heavyweight match-up PIAA State Medalist#3  Isaac Reid (Kiski) came out on top over #4 Brendan Furman (Canon-McMillan) a Cornell recruit and 2016 Super 32 Champion. Reid scored the only takedown of the bout in a (3-2) victory.

The two teams exchanged victories in the next five bouts but the Kiski Cavaliers would come out on top (31-25) of an entertaining dual meet between two of Pennsylvania’s top programs. Both teams will be competing in the 2016 POWERade Tournament next week.

 

#3 Kiski Area over #6 Canon-McMillan (31-25)

 

138: #11 Tim Hritsko (CMH) over #17 Cam Connor (KAH) (SV-1 8-6)

145: #8 Joey Blumer (KAH) over Dimitri Pihiou (CMH) (MD 17-6)

152: #21 Nick Delp (KAH) over Stefen Richer (CMH) (Dec 9-4)

160: #3 Gerrit Nijenhuis (CMH) over Logan Pollick (KAH) (Fall 1:57)

170: #8 Blaze Kansco (CMH) over #24 Brad Nagy (KAH) (Dec 3-1)

182: #19 Vinny Romano (KAH) over Bryan Milligan (CMH) (Dec 4-1)

195: Danny Starr (KAH) over Nathaniel Taylor (CMH) (Fall 2:52)

220: #18 Tom Starr (KAH) over Zach Rohaley (CMH) (MD 13-2)

285: #3 Isaac Reid (KAH) over #4 Brendan Furman (CMH) (Dec 3-2)

106: Jacob Gardner (CMH) over Julian Jones (KAH) (TF 18-1 5:08)

113: #1 Darren Miller (KAH) over Ken Hayman (CMH) (Dec 3-2)

120: #8 Logan Macri (CMH) over Bobby Lawrence (KAH) (TF 19-4 3:30)

126: #3 Noah Levett (KAH) over Anthony Matrangelo (CMH) (TF 23-8 4:53)

132: #13 Matt Oblock (CMH) over Jack Blumer (KAH) (Dec 8-6)