WPIAL wrestling notebook: Waynesburg stars win Ironman titles

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, December 13, 2022 | 6:10 PM

Waynesburg seniors Mac Church and Rocco Welsh captured titles at the Walsh Jesuit Ironman on Saturday.

Church won the 144-pound weight class by defeating Western Reserve Academy’s Sam Cartella, 2-1, in overtime. Church was 5-0.

Welsh posted a 13-4 decision in the 175-pound finals against St. Edward’s Jarrel Miller. He, too, went 5-0.

Frazier junior Rune Lawrence (6-2) placed third at 190 after reaching the semifinals. He dropped a 6-4 decision to Teays Valley’s Camden Daniels, 6-4, in the semifinals before defeating Sanford School’s Justin Griffith, 6-0. Lawrence pinned Stillwater’s A.J. Heeg in 32 seconds.

Trinity opens eyes

Trinity made a big jump in the TribHSSN Live wrestling rankings after going 3-0 and winning the Hiller Duals.

Trinity jumped from a team to watch to No. 4 after defeating No. 10 Penn-Trafford, 57-18, No. 7 North Allegheny, 48-18, and No. 2 Latrobe, 45-24.

The Wildcats were missing two-time PIAA champion Vinny Kilkeary and PIAA qualifier Nathan Roth, both nursing injuries.

“They’re pretty good,” Latrobe coach Mark Mears said. “They’ll be in the mix at the end of the season.”

The Wildcats were 2-1, defeating North Catholic, 72-0, and Wheeling Park (W.Va.), 30-28.

Trinity’s Ty Banco, Blake Reihner, Bodie Morgan, Thomas Allison and Robert Allison went 3-0.

Corey Boerio, Wyatt Schmucker, Luke Willochell and Leo Joseph were 3-0 for the Wildcats, and Dylan Barrett, Hayden Coy and Owen Ott were 4-0 for the Warriors.

Trinity also collected the program’s 800th win.

Franklin Regional wins CV

Franklin Regional posted wins against Yough, 66-6, Frazier, 48-24, and Chartiers Valley, 42-30, to grab the Chartiers Valley Duals.

Dom Colaizzi, Tyler Kapusta, Juliano Marion, Gavyn Beck and Nate Stone went 3-0 for the Panthers.

Highlands edged Frazier, 42-33, for third place. The Commodores were missing two-time PIAA Class 2A champion Rune Lawrence, who was competing at the Ironman Classic. Jackson Angelo, Tyler Clark and Lincoln Dye were 3-0 for the Commodores.

Tyler Bender, Jason Chambers, Noah Leslie and Aiden Burford were 3-0 for the Golden Rams.

West Allegheny grabs Moon title

The Indians went 5-0 by defeating Laurel, 48-18, Palmyra, 51-24, Beth-Center, 63-12, Mt. Lebanon, 54-15, and Quaker Valley, 51-18, to claim the Moon Duals.

Shawn Taylor, Ty Watters, Nico Taddy, Nick Jones and Cade Stern went 5-0.

Bethel Park and Quaker Valley went 4-1. The Quakers defeated the Black Hawks, 40-32.

Fort Cherry, Mt. Lebanon and Laurel each went 3-2.

Seneca Valley goes 4-0

Seneca Valley defeated Altoona, 57-18, Ligonier Valley, 66-12, Hampton, 57-16, and Plum, 36-25, at the Hampton Dawg Duals.

Malvern Prep went 3-0. Plum was 4-1 and Kiski Area 3-1.

Match of the Week

It’s a battle between No. 1 and No. 2 when Waynesburg visits Canon-McMillan on Wednesday. The nonsection match begins at 7 p.m. Another big match has Burrell at Kiski Area.

The big tournaments this weekend will be in District 6.

Burrell, Canon-McMillan, Chartiers Valley, Franklin Regional, Latrobe, Seneca Valley and Thomas Jefferson will be competing in the King of the Mountain tournament at Central Mountain High School near Lock Haven.

Armstrong, Indiana, Ligonier Valley, McGuffey, Mt. Pleasant and Trinity will compete at Panther Holiday Classic at Mount Aloysius in Cresson.

Connellsville, Southmoreland and Chartiers-Houston are at University High School in Morgantown, W.Va., competing in the NursePro Plus Tournament.

Norwin will be in Sharpsville competing in the David Walley Duals, South Fayette is at Erie Prep in the Rambler Duals and the Kiski Area Duals will feature Butler, Fort LeBoeuf, Hempfield, North Allegheny, Penn-Trafford, Peters Township, Quaker Valley, Waynesburg and Yough.

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.