CANON-MAC WINS STATE TITLE
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It was a long hard fought weekend for the Big Macs of Canon McMillan who had been waiting virtually a year to prove their worth. Last season Canon Mac was ousted by Central Dauphin in the semi-finals, then fell to eventual third place finisher Nazareth, to head home empty handed. Even before Cody Wiercioch showed up in Canonsburg and was cleared to wrestle by the PIAA the Big Macs had their sites set on a State Championship. The pre-season was filled with whisperings of being the favorite, which was enhanced by the arrival of Wiercioch, and cemented on Saturday. It was only the second time a WPIAL Team has won the State Championship with Connellsville bringing home the Title in 2005.
It was no cake walk for Chris Mary’s team having to face defending 4x State Champions Central Dauphin in the semi-finals and surprise finalist Erie McDowell in the Championship match. The Rams and Big Macs split 7 matches a piece but Canon McMillan won the bouns point race by picking up one fall and four majors compared to CD’s one fall and one major. At one point it looked like the Rams would steal a match and receive the boost they needed to overcome the challenge, however Nick Varndell fell short against Dario Dobbin at 145 LBS. Vardnell led until late in the match and then gave up a takedown in the final seconds to fall short of an upset. After a major by Garrett Peppelman, who tried relentlessly to pin his opponent Sammy Minor, and a regular decision by Colton Peppelman at 160 LBS it came down to the last match with Canon McMillan ahead by 6 points. The Ram’s Jamison Peake was unable to pick up the fall, which would have tied the match and gave CD the win on criteria #3 most falls, and Canon McMillan finished the thrilling battle with a (28-25) victory.
The defeat snapped Central Dauphin’s record setting streak at 95 straight dual meet wins, a record that may go unbroken for quite sometime. The victory sent Canon McMillan into the finals with momentum that could not be upended by a strong Erie McDowell team. I was asked countless times this weekend if I was surprised Erie McDowell had made the State Finals and my answer was always no. Even without returning State qualifier Shawn Spearman competing in the Tournament I knew the Trojans would be tough to beat with a line-up that included 9 State ranked wrestlers. Despite momentum of their own and coming out victorious in the battle of the State’s #1 and #2 ranked wrestlers at 138 LBS won by Steve Spearman over Solomon Chishko, the Trojans would fall short by a score of (35-20) to a team that is considered a Top 10 team in the Nation by various sources.[/Cent2Cent][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]