Franklin Regional faces big challenge from rival Norwin as PIAA wrestling tournament opens
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Monday, February 3, 2025 | 5:53 PM
It is a quick turnaround for the seven WPIAL wrestling teams looking to advance to Altoona for the PIAA team championships this weekend.
The PIAA tournament begins Tuesday and every team — Franklin Regional (17-0), Connellsville (11-2) and Norwin (15-2) in Class 3A and Burrell, Derry Area, McGuffey and Quaker Valley in Class 2A — will be in action.
WPIAL Class 3A champion Franklin Regional, fresh off big wins against Thomas Jefferson and Connellsville on Saturday, will be hosting either City League champion Obama Academy (9-4) or WPIAL third-place finisher and Section 9 rival Norwin. More than, likely the Panthers will face Norwin. Teams from the City League have never won a PIAA match.
Norwin and Obama square off at 6 p.m. The second match is slated for 7.
Franklin Regional coach Matt Lebe said he is excited about the possible rematch against Norwin, a team the Panthers defeated 28-19 on Jan. 22 for the section title.
“It is going to be an exciting match,” Lebe said. “We celebrated the WPIAL title Saturday and then got back to work. Norwin is going to be a tough challenge, but we tend to like difficult paths.”
Franklin Regional has a well-balanced team, and the wrestlers have been taught what’s needed to be successful as a team.
“During the individual season your job is to win,” Lebe said. “During the team portion of the season, wrestlers are taught to earn points and prevent them.”
That is what Franklin Regional did in its wins Saturday.
Norwin was not at full strength when the teams met two weeks ago. Brooks Blasko missed the match but returned Saturday. The Panthers also pulled out three toss-up matches.
Connellsville, which was the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL, looks to rebound at Districts 9-10 champion DuBois (13-3). The starts at 7.
WPIAL Class 2A champion Burrell will face the winner of the Quaker Valley (12-6)/Penns Valley (13-3) match at 6:30 p.m. Quaker Valley finished fourth in the WPIAL, and Penns Valley is the District 6 runners-up. That match begins at 5 p.m.
WPIAL runner-up Derry Area (15-3) travels to Fishertown in Bedford County to face District 5 champion Chestnut Ridge (12-2) at 7.
McGuffey (13-5), which finished third in the WPIAL, will battle District 10 runner-up Corry (18-2) at Johnstown’s Bishop McCort. The winner faces McCort (15-0) at 7.
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.
Tags: Burrell, Connellsville, Derry Area, Franklin Regional, McGuffey, Norwin, Quaker Valley
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