Eisenhower's Gannon Jaquay (left) and Cael Black (right) with head coach Kris Black (center).

Eisenhower’s Jaquay, Black Punch Tickets to PIAA Wrestling Championships

March 6, 2022

SHARON, Pa. – It’s on to Hershey for Eisenhower’s Cael Black and Gannon Jaquay.

The Knight seniors and fellow 100-match winners took different paths to the podium during the Class 2A Northwest Regional, but both finished fourth to punch their ticket to Hershey.

“You get down to regionals and your goal is to get to the state tournament,” said Eisenhower coach Kris Black. “Obviously everybody wants to be in the region championship or in the finals, but the reality of it is, we want to get to Hershey, because how many guys finish third or fourth here and then completely change their positioning the next week. It happens all the time, but you have to get there to have that opportunity.”

Cael Black found himself in a familiar position going into Saturday, with a semifinal bout against Corry’s Hayden Linkerhoff, with who he has matched up many times in the past in postseason competition.

Linkerhof earned a major decision, sending Black to the blood round, where he earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over Port Allegany’s Miska Young.

As a precaution, he took an injury default in the third-fourth place match.

“Cael looked really good last night (Friday) and kind of got caught in a bad position in the semifinals and ended up in the consy semis,” coach Black said. “It wasn’t pretty, as far as how he got into that third-fourth match, but sometimes it’s not pretty. And sometimes you have to grind out those one-point matches to advance. To drop into that blood round, it’s a tough thing to do, to readjust your goals, get your mind reset, and get ready to go for that next match. It was a gritty match.”

Jaquay, meanwhile, found himself having to win three matches to get to Hershey after dropping a 7-4 decision to Grove City’s Hunter Hohman in the quarterfinals.

It was a much different match than they wrestled at districts a week ago, when Hohman tech falled Jaquay late in the third period.

Hohman went on to lose 6-4 in the finals to Reynolds’ Kane Kettering, his first loss of the season.

Jaquay, meanwhile, showed his grit, winning three-straight matches on Saturday to get into the third-place match.

He started by beating Greenville’s Luke Gentile for the second week in a row, 5-0, and followed that up with a 4-2 win over Cranberry’s Devyn Fleeger and finally a 3-2 decision over Curwensville’s Logan Augenbaugh.

He had another tight bout in the third-fourth place match, battling Fort LeBoeuf’s Connor McChesney into overtime before losing 3-1.

Nevertheless, it was a banner day for Jaquay.

“Gannon wrestled a great tournament,” coach Black said. “I can’t stress enough, for him to wrestle the way he did down here, he’s kind of peaking at the right time.

“He lost in the quarters to Hohman, and probably wrestled one of his best matches even though he lost. Gannon just wrestled outstandingly smart. To come in here on a Saturday against the best kids in the Northwest area and win three straight matches to put himself in a position to go, that’s a tough thing to do. He was in some gritty matches and he won every one of them. He’s just super gritty and I just like coaching him.”

The duo will now end their high school careers on the sports grandest stage in Hershey.

“It’s a huge testament to those two to have two kids in the same class with 100 wins,” coach Black said. “That’s never been done at Eisenhower before. Gannon getting his 100th down here was awesome and it was awesome that we had some of our alumni down here watching and rooting those guys on. These are great memories for these guys, and ultimately that’s what it’s about.”

         

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