WPIAL wrestling notebook: Greensburg Salem heavyweight claims elusive county title

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, January 11, 2022 | 7:42 PM

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Greensburg Salem senior heavyweight Billy McChesney received a scare in the semifinals of the 69th annual Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association tournament.

He found himself trailing Penn-Trafford junior Joe Enick but rallied with a takedown to pull out a 7-5 victory.

McChesney then won his first county title by pinning Latrobe’s Wyatt Held.

“It was a good match,” McChesney said. “He caught me off guard. He’s a great athlete and great kid.

“It was great for me to go the entire six minutes against a kid who is tough like that. That was a great experience and that’s what I need.”

McChesney said being in the finals the previous three seasons was helpful because he was used to the Parade of Champions.

“I was really relaxed and I knew what I was doing,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. The goal is to be a state champion, and I believe working with my coaches and teammates I can achieve that.”

McChesney (15-0) is ranked No. 1 in the latest TribHSSN individual rankings in Class 3A.

Allegheny County tournament returns

The Allegheny County High School Wrestling Tournament returns after a one-year hiatus on Friday and Saturday.

Fox Chapel will again be the host of the event.

The tournament was canceled in 2021 because of the coronavirus.

Action is slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. Friday and resume at 11:30 a.m. Saturday with the semifinals. The consolation finals are slated for 4 p.m. and the Parade of Champions is 5:45 p.m.

Mt. Lebanon’s Mac Stout is the only wrestler looking to win his third title. He won at 160 in 2019 and 170 in 2020.

Other returning champions from 2020 are Pine-Richland’s Anthony Ferraro (106), Plum’s Vincent Citrano (113), Highlands’ Jrake Burford (132) and Thomas Jefferson’s Brendan Finnerty (160). Pine-Richland was the team champion.

Connellsville Duals

The Connellsville Duals on Saturday will feature four teams ranked in the Top 10 of the TribHSSN rankings and two teams from Virginia.

The WPIAL teams are No. 3 Connellsville, No. 5 Canon-McMillan, No. 6 Kiski Area and No. 9 Penn-Trafford. The Virginia teams are Brentsville and Mt. View.

Action will begin at 8 a.m. and each team will wrestle five times.

Here is the schedule (approximate starting times after Round 1:

Round 1 (8 a.m.): Canon-McMillan vs. Penn-Trafford; Connellsville vs. Brentsville; Kiski Area vs. Mt. View

Round 2 (9:30 a.m.): Canon-McMillan vs. Kiski Area; Connellsville vs. Penn-Trafford; Brentsville vs. Mt. View

Round 3 (11 a.m.): Kiski Area vs. Brentsville; Connellsville vs. Canon-McMillan; Mt. View vs. Penn-Trafford

Round 4 (12:30 p.m.): Brentsville vs. Penn-Trafford; Connellsville vs. Kiski Area; Mt. View vs. Canon-McMillan

Round 5 (2 p.m.): Brentsville vs. Canon-McMillan; Connellsville vs. Mt. View; Penn-Trafford vs. Kiski Area

On the road

A few WPIAL teams will be making road trips this weekend.

Latrobe is flying to Denver to compete in the Ron Granieri Memorial tournament.

Norwin and Frazier are headed east to compete in the Escape the Rock tournament at Council Rock South High School.

Waynesburg is headed to West Virginia to compete in the Winner’s Choice tournament at Fairmont.

Burrell will journey to Brookville to compete in the Ultimate Duals.

Butler is headed to Hampton, Va., to compete in the Virginia Duals.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.