GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 12) – When he was being recruited by Waynesburg head wrestling coach Ron Headlee as a senior at Carlisle High School, freshman 125-pounder Alex Crown was given a promise from his current coach.
“When coach Headlee was recruiting me, he said that if I came to Waynesburg, we would win a [Presidents’ Athletic Conference] title,” Crown said.
Headlee was true to his word this past Friday night as the Yellow Jackets ended Thiel’s 10-year run as conference champion in the Blue and Gold’s home gym, the Beeghly Gymnasia and earned the school’s first PAC title in any sport since the fall of 2004. Though Crown ended up winning the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Event, it was a grizzled veteran of the team that ended up being the biggest story for the Jackets.
With Waynesburg leading Thiel in the team points 101.5 to 101, senior heavyweight Melvin Warrick stepped on to the mat to face sophomore Tomcat big man Kraig Smith. After two hard-fought periods of action, Warrick found himself behind 1-0. Working from the down position in the third period, the Connellsville native picked up a reversal and went to work on top of Smith.
Leading 2-1 and working on top, Warrick battled hard to stay on top of Smith. However, the younger grappler put himself in a position to pop out from under Warrick and send the bout to overtime. Then, out of nowhere, Warrick caught Smith in a side headlock and stuck him to his back for three near-fall points. With the Jacket big man leading 5-1 and time slowly melting away, Warrick gave up a meaningless escape to win the bout by 6-2 final with a point for riding time and join his teammates in a raucous celebration.
The win at heavyweight gave the Jackets a total of 105.5 team points. Thiel followed with 101 and Washington & Jefferson placed third with 77 team points.
Crown’s run to the Most Outstanding Wrestler Award was an impressive one, as he dominated W&J’s standout sophomore Zach Cecchetti to the tune of a 9-2 decision win and wrapped up the 125-pound title by pinning Thiel’s Adam Householder in 1:10. It was the fastest fall of the night.
The Jackets added another individual title at 141 pounds where sophomore Jesse Byerly started his night by beating the Tomcats’ Jeff Marianetti 4-3. Byerly wrapped up the title with an impressive 19-3 technical fall win over W&J’s Brady Fyffe. The win was especially poignant for Byerly considering he left last year’s conference championships on a stretcher after suffering a severe concussion.
Waynesburg picked up their first title of the night courtesy of Corbin Semple. The Waynesburg native accomplished the feat in impressive fashion by beating the Presidents’ Stefen Firmstone with a 9-1 major decision and pinning Thiel’s Jeff Rockenstein in 4:22. It was the second-straight conference championship for Semple, who took the 197-pound crown in 2009.
The Jackets’ fourth title went to Warrick, thanks to tie-breaker points. Warrick, Smith and W&J’s Taylor Potts, last year’s champion, all went 1-1 on the night.
The Jackets also got second-place finishes from junior Nick Garber at 133, sophomore Garrett Johnston at 149, sophomore Alex Evanoff at 157, sophomore Jared Roberts at 165 and freshman Cody Catalina at 174.
After ending the school’s conference title drought, Headlee was named the PAC Coach of the Year, allowing the Jackets to sweep the major awards on the night. After suffering through a very disappointing performance at last year’s conference championships that was riddled with close losses, injuries and illness, Headlee was able to accomplish his biggest team goal and have a new banner hung in the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse at Waynesburg.
For a complete look at the PAC Championships, click here.
With the team portion of the season over, Headlee, assistant coach John Yates and the Jackets turn their attention to the Division III Midwest Regional Championships, which will be hosted by Delaware Valley College on Saturday, Feb. 20. Last year, Garber and Semple won individual titles at the regional tournament and punched their tickets to Iowa and the Division III National Championships.