HERSHEY, Pa. -- The Canon-McMillan High School wrestling team returned from the PIAA Class AAA tournament with two medals.

Unfortunately, the Big Macs and coach Chris Mary were hoping for a lot more.

"The weekend certainly didn't go the way we had hoped," Mary said. "We had four kids entered and thought all four had a chance to come home with a medal."

Colin Johnston and Mike Hull did come home with a medal, but both had to settle for something less than they had hoped for.

Johnston, a four-time WPIAL champion and two-time PIAA finalist, finished third at 135 pounds after a 2-1 triple-overtime loss to Indian Valley's Adam Will in the semifinals.

"Colin put a lot of pressure on himself throughout the postseason tournaments and it finally caught up with him," Mary said.

"The fear of failure was just too much for him. He was so worried about pleasing his parents, his teammates, and the school community that it just drained him. He spent the entire weekend wrestling not to lose. And you just can't do that at this level."

Johnston finished his career with a record of 163-10, which shattered the school record for career victories. He won a PIAA title at 112 pounds as a sophomore, finished second at 125 last season, and now finishes third at 135.

"Colin is still a young kid who has a very promising college career at West Virginia University to look forward to," Mary said. "This weekend was a learning experience for him."

Hull advanced to the 215-pound semifinals as Mary had hoped, but sustained a severely sprained ankle during his match with the eventual champion, Manheim Central's Jordan Enck.

"Mike strained the ligaments in his ankle and had to default to sixth place," Mary said. "It's a shame, because he could have finished much higher."

Nick Catalano and Sam Brownlee also made the trip to Hershey for the Big Macs, but neither placed.

"Nick fell one win short of placing," Mary said. "He got rode out in the placing round."

Brownlee posted a triple-overtime victory in the opening round of the 285-pound weight class, but a case of bronchitis forced him to withdraw from the tournament after being pinned in the quarterfinals by eventual runner-up Evan Craig of Abington Heights.

"Sam was battling bronchitis for almost two weeks and just couldn't shake it," said Mary. "After losing in the semifinals, Sam told me he had nothing left in his tank."

Two medals for Belle Vernon

Belle Vernon also had four entries at Hershey and two came home with medals. Donnie Tasser finished fourth at 140 and Jacob Boyer finished eighth at 160.

"This is the first time Belle Vernon has had four wrestlers compete at Hershey and the first time the program has had two PIAA place-winners in the same season," Belle Vernon coach Mel Gray said. "We're very proud of that, but we were hoping for more."

Tasser advanced to the semifinals before a 9-1 loss to the eventual champion Marshall Peppelman of Central Dauphin. His other loss was a 7-5 decision to Central Mountain's Andrew Alton in the third-place consolation match.

"The 140-pound weight class had more talent than any weight class in either classification," Gray said. "Peppelman was just awesome. He deserved the [the Outstanding Wrestler Award] for winning such a strong weight class."

Boyer lost to the fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-place finishers in his first PIAA appearance.

"Jacob opened the tournament with a big upset of the Northeast champion from Northampton, then fell apart after that," Gray said. "I think he peaked too early."

BVA's P.J. Tasser and Jeremy Weslager also made the trip to Hershey, but both made quick exits after losing two straight.

"P.J. picked up valuable experience that will help him next year," Gray said. "Unfortuately, Jeremy doesn't have another year. But he did wrestle in the state tournament, and not many kids can say that."