Williamsburg student McMonagle captures PIAA title for Bearcats
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HERSHEY -- Andrew McMonagle is still probably going through the texts and voicemails on his cell phone two days after capturing the 189-pound title at the PIAA Class 2A Championships at Hershey's Giant Center.
"Oh, my phone's blowing up right now," McMonagle said after winning the title. "Everyone I know is texting me and calling me."
"Mine too," Huntingdon coach Jon Mykut said nearby in a tunnel for the Giant Center.
McMonagle, a senior who wrestled for Huntingdon the past two seasons, became the first Williamsburg student to win a state title when he survived a wild and thrilling come-from-behind 8-7 victory over Southern Columbia's Garrett Garcia in the championship finals.
"It was a fun match," McMonagle said. "It's always fun to compete and wrestle good kids like that. All props to him. It was a great match. He's a great competitor, but it was just so fun."
McMonagle finished his season with a 47-3 record. It was the first loss for Garcia, a senior who placed fifth as a sophomore but didn't wrestle last season, in 34 bouts.
The first period set the tone for the bout as McMonagle and Garcia let it fly. McMonagle got a quick takedown and released Garcia, but Garcia took him down to take the lead. McMonagle escaped and defended a Garcia shot, sending the bout into the second tied, 3-3.
Garcia escaped in the second, and then the wrestlers got into a scramble situation that Garcia eventually finished with a takedown and a 6-3 lead with a minute left in the period. From there, McMonagle fought off a Garcia bar-arm attempt and went to the third trailing, 6-3.
Coming into the third period McMonagle wanted to keep working.
"Just keep going and don't stop," McMonagle said. "Coach is always telling me to keep pushing the pace and don't stop moving your feet. I think it worked out perfectly."
McMonagle started his comeback with an escape 10 seconds into the third. He then took Garcia down with 1:37 remaining to tie the score, 6-6.
About 10 seconds later, McMonagle released Garcia, which turned out to be a good strategy. He took Garcia down with a standing cradle with 1:18 left in the bout to go ahead, 8-7.
Another scramble ensued that resulted that was close to a reversal, but the referee stopped it and called potentially dangerous with 27 seconds left.
They scrambled again and wound up in funk position with McMonagle holding on to Garcia's leg. As the clock wound down with 5 seconds left, Garcia realized he wasn't going to get the takedown and waited for time to expire.
"It was a little nerve-racking, but I was holding on to that leg for dear life," McMonagle said. "I wasn't letting go until that buzzer ran out."
"It was a great match," Mykut said. "They were two great competitors just scrapping out there. Honestly, it could have gone either way, but Andrew had enough grit at the end to stay in that funk position and hold on to the ankle until time clicked off the clock.
"It was very nerve-racking, but he's a very good scrambler. That's one of his strengths. When he started rolling around out there, we knew that was advantage him."
McMonagle earned Huntingdon's fifth state title and the first since Jacob Oliver won his second in 2017.
When time did expire, he raised his hands and flexed toward the crowd. After his hand was raised and shook the hands of the Southern Columbia coaches, McMonagle ran to his corner and slapped Mykut's hand and hugged his head coach and assistant coach Bobby Mort.
"It was awesome," McMonagle said. "It's still setting in, but it feels great. I'm just soaking it all in right now."
"It's nerve-racking. I probably got two hours of sleep last night. It's all you can think about the whole time. You dream of it and you can't stop thinking about that moment."
McMonagle went 4-0 in the tournament with two pins and two decisions. It was expected he'd wrestle Bald Eagle Area's Caleb Close in the finals after Close beat McMonagle in the District 6 and Southwest Regional finals, but Garcia knocked off Close in overtime, 5-3, in the semifinals. Close went on to finish third.
"I didn't care who it was," McMonagle said of his finals opponent. "I had my mind set on one match at a time, and it worked out perfect."
McMonagle's jubilation was a far cry from the bitter disappointment and pain he was feeling in last year's tournament.
In his first bout against Faith Christian Academy's Luke Sugalski, he injured his right knee, tearing his MCL, PCL and meniscus, and forfeited out of the tournament. The year before, he missed the entire season with a shoulder injury.
"It's just so much better after what happened last year," McMonagle said. "I got back to work and this is what I worked so hard to get to. This is what I thought about every single day. This is what drove me."
"This is extremely special just knowing what last year held when we came down here," Mykut said. "He set his mind to doing this with positive thoughts all year-long. It's honestly surreal right now."
Wearing the gold medal around his neck, McMonagle was asked when he was going to take it off.
"It's not coming off for awhile, that's for sure," he said with a laugh. "It's a complete success. This is what I was dreaming of for a year. All the hard work paid off and it feels great."
With his high school career done, McMonagle, who had a career record of 93-17 at Central and Huntingdon, will begin preparing to continue his wrestling at North Dakota State.
"I'm just going to get back in the room and keep working," McMonagle said. "I'm going to college next year, so I have new goals. I love all the coaches there. The atmosphere is awesome, and I can't wait to get out there and compete."