Raiders’ Homet places 7th at PIAA Wrestling Championships
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Cole Homet has his hand raised after defeating West Chester Henderson鈥檚 Killian Delaney, 5-3, for seventh place in the 120-pound weight class on Saturday in the PIAA Class AAA Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. (Photo by Jonathan Guth)
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Cole Homet is about to cut for an escape against Liberty鈥檚 Matt Maloney during their match in the blood round at 120 pounds last Friday at the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. Homet won by decision, 9-6, to guarantee a spot on the podium. (Photo by Jonathan Guth)
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Cole Homet hangs on as West Chester Henderson鈥檚 Killian Delaney attempts to escape during their seventh-place bout in the 120-pound weight class on March 9 in the PIAA Clalss AAA Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. Homet, who rallied for a 5-3 decision, returns to a potent Raiders lineup for the 2019-20 season. (Photo by Jonathan Guth)
HERSHEY 鈥� Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Cole Homet didn鈥檛 walk away from the Giant Center as a state champion, but he didn鈥檛 leave Chocolate Town empty-handed in placing on Saturday in the PIAA Class AAA Championships.
Homet (45-9) capped of his freshman season in style by rallying for a 5-3 decision over West Chester Henderson鈥檚 Killian Delaney (40-8) to place seventh at 120.
Homet trailed Delaney, 3-0, and was on bottom in the third before scoring a reversal with 20 seconds left and gaining three near-fall points with nine seconds remaining. Delaney did his best to tie things up but Homet held on.
鈥淥ur coaches always talk about never giving up till the final whistle and continuing to wrestle no matter what the score is,鈥� Homet said. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 wrestling too well, but Coach said he鈥檚 a leg guy, and I love it when they throw legs in on me. I came up, got the reversal and put him on his back for the three count and the win. It was similar to the finish in my match in the blood round.鈥�
Homet plans to compete in freestyle and other tournaments in the offseason before his sophomore year.
鈥淎ll of the nerves as a freshman are out of the way,鈥� Homet said. 鈥淚 am really going to go for it next year because now I know I can do it. I plan on going to Fargo this year and freshmen nationals. I do all that stuff. I am just a wrestler. I don鈥檛 do anything else. You have to love the sport so much that you hate it.鈥�
Here鈥檚 a recap of the first two days of the tournament:
Thursday
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Luca Augustine (41-8) won by fall in his preliminary bout at 152, but suffered a 3-1 sudden-victory setback to Kiski Area鈥檚 Cam Connor (47-2) to fall into the consolations.
Homet (42-8) won by fall in his preliminary bout at 120, but dropped a 12-1 major decision to Nazareth鈥檚 Sean Pierson (37-3) in the round of 16.
Connellsville鈥檚 Colin Franks (9-4) lost in his preliminary bout but came back to edge the Raiders鈥� Trey Howard, 4-2, in the consolations at 145. Howard, a senior, was 35-8 in his final high school season.
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Colby Morris (40-7) dropped a 2-1 decision in the ultimate tiebreaker to Nazareth鈥檚 Connor Herceg (38-4) in the round of 16 at 160, but kept his season alive with a 3-1 decision over Mariana Bracetti鈥檚 Luis Morales in his first consolation bout.
Friday
Homet (44-8) survived kneeing himself in the face, a 4-0 deficit and several close calls to edge Liberty鈥檚 Matt Maloney, 9-6, in the blood round at 120 pounds.
Maloney (37-6) scored a takedown in the first and a reversal in the second before Homet had to take injury time after kneeing himself in the face.
Homet started his rally with an escape to trail, 4-1, heading into the third period. He scored another escape and tied the match before Maloney took the lead back with a reversal. Homet turned the tables with a reversal of his own with 15 seconds left and three backpoints as time expired to send the Raiders鈥� coaching staff into a frenzy.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what just happened,鈥� Homet said. 鈥淚 went from kneeing myself in the head and almost going home to guaranteeing a spot on the podium. I wasn鈥檛 going to let my season end after falling behind. I didn鈥檛 want to tear down all the hard work I鈥檝e put in.
鈥淢y coaching staff is great. They get so into the match and really push us. I love Joe (Throckmorton). We always wrestle a brutal schedule, and going against those top guys in the country really helps us when we get to states. We are used to these types of matches.鈥�
Homet won his preliminary bout, lost in the round of 16 and beat Hempfield鈥檚 Ethan Berginc (28-16) in sudden victory to set up the match with Maloney.
鈥淭here is no pressure now,鈥� Homet said. 鈥淚 am just going to let it fly. It feels great. I know a lot of people would like to be in my position so I鈥檓 not taking it for granted.鈥�
Augustine (42-9 at 152) and Morris (41-8 at 160) suffered setbacks in the blood round to finish out of medal contention. Morris ends his high school career as a one-time state qualifier, while Augustine returns next year as a junior.