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Welsh turns aggressiveness to gold

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Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter

Rocco Welsh of Waynesburg celebrates his victory in the 172-pound finals with assistant coach Scott Rhodes, left, and head coach Kyle Szewczyk at the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships Saturday night at the Giant Center in Hershey.

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Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter

Rocco Welsh, left, of Waynesburg is favored to win the 189-pound weight class at the upcoming Powerade Tournament.

HERSHEY – They are as different as night and day, salt and pepper, Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

What brings them together is wrestling.

And for one glorious evening, they were as one, each earning a state wrestling title. Mac Church and Rocco Welsh might be best friends but the two are completely different people.

Church won a 3-1 decision over Matt Repos in a tightly thought out and controlled match at 132 pounds at the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Welsh won a 24-8 technical fall against Dom D’Agostino of Interboro at 172 pounds that looked more like a rough-and-tumble segment of a combat movie.

Cole Weightman of Belle Vernon nearly made it a three gold-medal day but he gave up three points in the last 20 seconds to fall, 6-5, to Brian Finnerty of Thomas Jefferson in the 215-pound final. It was the first state champion for TJ. Belle Vernon is still without one.

Three other Waynesburg wrestlers won medals: Zander Phatorus, 6th at 126; Colten Stoneking, a fifth-place finisher at 138; and Noah Tustin, who was seventh at heavyweight.

Canon-McMillan had two medalist: Jacob Houpt, sixth at 120; and Matthew Furman, who was fourth at 172.

Defending champion Waynesburg finished third in the team standings behind Bethlehem Catholic and Nazareth.

A takedown 1:39 in gave Church, like Welsh a junior, all the points he needed. He added an escape to start the second and gave up a stalling point at the end. Church is now a two-time state champion after taking third place as a freshman.

“I get to relax a little bit,” said Church, who finished the season with a 38-2 record. “This means a lot to me. I’m going to take a break. I’ve been going hard for so long. I train hard and I’ll continue to work hard.”

Welsh exploded on the whistle and held a 6-2 lead over D’Agostino after one period. It was 17-6 after two periods as D’Agostino went up and came down more times than a busy elevator operator.

“It feels good to break through and get my first state title,” said Welsh, who placed second here the past two seasons. “It’s kind of the way I am. I’m naturally an aggressive person. I grew up with two brother so we were aggressive. If you want something, you have to be aggressive.”

Welsh moved his record to 48-1 with the wins and now he can take the sign down from his bedroom wall that said, “Second sucks.”

Welsh had three technical falls in the tournament, outscoring opponents 67-21, and a pin.

After struggling in the semifinals with knee problems, Weightman appeared in control in the final. He led Finnerty, 5-3, with 20 seconds to go. Weightman was called for a clasp at the same time hes was reversed for a 6-5 loss.

Canon-McMillan capped Brian Krenzelak’s first season as head coach with two medalists.

“I’d give us a B,” said Krenzelak. “I’m extremely happy with Houpt. He never made it to states before. I was happy to see him on the awards stand. It’s very important for Furman, too. He was fourth at the WPIAL last year. With the COVID, they didn’t take four.”

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