Waynesburg, Burgettstown awarded top seeds for WPIAL wrestling tournament

By: Paul Schofield
Thursday, January 26, 2023 | 2:17 PM

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WPIAL wrestling committee members faced quite a challenge seeding the Class 3A tournament bracket Thursday morning.

The top seed went to Waynesburg (10-2), which has won the past three Class 3A titles but suffered losses to No. 3 Butler (19-1) and fourth-seeded Connellsville (12-4) during the regular season. Section 2 champion Canon-McMillan (10-2) earned the No. 2 seed.

Waynesburg will face the winner of Fox Chapel (6-6) and Bethel Park (7-3), who meet Monday at Kiski Area. The preliminary matches will take place Monday, and the first round and quarterfinals are Wednesday.

The Class 3A semifinals and finals are Feb. 4 at Peters Township.

“It was probably one of the hardest ones we’ve done in the last few years,” WPIAL wrestling chairman Frank Vulcano Jr. said of the seedings. “We did reward Butler because it’s having a good year. They did beat Waynesburg despite the lineup.

“They’re all going to be good battles. You have to beat good teams to get to where you want to be. Hopefully, everyone is healthy.”

Butler, which lost its first match of the season Saturday at Clearfield, will face Peters Township (6-5), and if it wins will get the winner of Hempfield (6-4) vs. Trinity (6-2) in the quarterfinals.

It’s the highest seeding the Golden Tornado has received.

They did defeat Waynesburg earlier in the season when the Raiders were missing three starters.

Trinity, which was ranked No. 1 in the Trib HSSN rankings during the season, has lost consecutive matches to Waynesburg and West Allegheny.

Latrobe, which lost to Trinity early in the season without three key starters, fell to a seventh seed. The Wildcats got Nate Roth back in the lineup Wednesday.

An interesting potential match Wednesday could pit No. 4 Connellsville against fifth-seeded West Allegheny (10-1). The Falcons face Franklin Regional (7-1), and the Tigers battle Pine-Richland (5-2) in the first round.

Connellsville, a finalist in 2022, also defeated Waynesburg during the season. Both teams were missing starters in that match. The Falcons lost to Canon-McMillan, a team Waynesburg defeated.

In Class 2A, Burgettstown (7-0) earned the No. 1 seed, followed by defending champion Quaker Valley (12-4). Burrell (8-3), which had won 15 consecutive Class 2A titles before falling to Quaker Valley last year in the finals, is seeded third.

Highlands (8-1) was seeded fourth, Frazier (9-6) fifth, Laurel (13-4) sixth, McGuffey (10-2) seventh and Mt. Pleasant (6-5) eighth.

“After determining the top three in Class 2A, the bracket fell together,” Vulcano said. “We had a pretty good discussion on where to put teams. It’s kind of nice to see new faces in the playoffs.”

Frazier made the team tournament for the first time in school history and won its first section title.

The Class 2A semifinals and finals are Feb. 4 at Chartiers-Houston.

WPIAL team wrestling tournament

Class 3A

Preliminary round

Monday at Kiski Area

Bethel Park (7-3) vs. Fox Chapel (6-6), 6 p.m.; Penn-Trafford (6-8) vs. Kiski Area (8-8), 6 p.m.

First round and quarterfinals

Wednesday, 6 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.

At Waynesburg: Bethel Park/Fox Chapel winner vs. Waynesburg (10-2); North Allegheny (9-4) vs. Plum (9-1)

At Connellsville: West Allegheny (10-1) vs. Pine-Richland (5-2); Franklin Regional (7-1) vs. Connellsville (12-4)

At Butler: Butler (19-1) vs. Peters Township (6-5); Hempfield (6-4) vs. Trinity (6-2)

At Canon-McMillan: Norwin (14-2) vs. Latrobe (6-2); Penn-Trafford/Kiski Area winner vs. Canon-McMillan (10-2)

Semifinals and finals

Feb. 4 at Peters Township, 10 a.m.

Class 2A

Preliminary round at Carlynton

Jefferson-Morgan (7-2) vs. Valley (11-5), 6 p.m.; Southmoreland (7-4) vs. Carlynton (7-2), 7:15 p.m.

First round and quarterfinals

Wednesday, 6 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.

At Burgettstown: Carlynton/Southmoreland winner vs. Burgettstown (7-0); Mt. Pleasant (6-5) vs. Montour (5-2)

At Highlands: Frazier (9-6) vs. Hopewell (5-1); Highlands (8-1) vs. Indiana (7-7)

At Burrell: Burrell (8-3) vs. Knoch (8-5); Central Valley (6-1) vs. Laurel (13-4)

At Quaker Valley: McGuffey (10-2) vs. Freedom (5-8); Jefferson-Morgan/Valley winner vs. Quaker Valley (12-4)

Semifinals and finals

Feb. 4 at Chartiers-Houston, noon

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.