High school roundup for Feb. 1, 2023: Hempfield pulls pair of upsets in WPIAL team wrestling

By: Tribune-Review
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 | 11:42 PM

Hempfield busted the WPIAL Class 3A team wrestling tournament bracket Wednesday night, knocking off sixth-seeded Trinity and third-seeded Butler en route to a berth in Saturday’s semifinals.

The Spartans, who went 6-4 in dual meets in the regular season, will take on second-seeded Canon-McMillan at 10 a.m. Saturday at Peters Township in the semifinals. No. 1 Waynesburg will meet No. 4 Connellsville in the other semifinal.

In a 32-31 victory in the quarterfinals, Hempfield took the lead for good, 17-15, on a pin by Eli Carr (145). Charlie Mesich (152) followed that with a pin and Lucas Kapusta (160) beat Levi Donnel, 5-1, to open up a lead for the Spartans. Eli Binakonsky (215) sealed the win with a pin.

Ethan Lebin (133) had a tech fall and Ty King (114) and Owen Caracciolo (127) won by deicsion for Hempfield.

Kase Chopp (139) and Michael Kreinbucher (189) had pins for Butler (20-2). Santino Sloboda (107), Kelley Schaukowitsch (121) and Matthew Zinkhann (172) also won matches.

In the first round, Hempfield and Trinity tied 33-33 with the Spartans winning on Criteria D, most matches won, 7-6.

The Spartans won the first three bouts, getting a pin from Ethan Lebin (133) and decisions from Logan Williams (139) and Eli Carr (145), and never gave up the lead. Ty King (121) clinched the match with a 5-0 win over Behr Bruckner in the next-to-last bout.

Lucas Kapusta (160), Eli Binakonsky (215) and Nico Kapuista (107) provided first-period pins for Hempfield. Bodie Morgan (172) won by fall, Robert Allison (152) by tech fall and Cael Nicolella (189) major decision for Trinity (6-3).

Connellsville 36, West Allegheny 24 – Connellsville (14-4) strung together five straight wins, including decisions by Ethan Ansell (172), Hunter Petrovich (189), Christopher Cook (215) and Landon Lynn (107), to take the lead for good in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal victory.

West Allegheny closed to 27-24 on a pin by Caiden Harbert (114), but Jacob Layton (121) won a decision and Evan Petrovich (127) recorded a pin to put it away for Connellsville.

Gabriel Ruggieri (133) had an opening-match pin and Lonzy Vielma (139) won by decision in the second bout to stake Connellsville to an early lead. Then West Allegheny (11-1) got three straight pins from Nico Taddy (145), Ty Watters (152) and Shawn Taylor (160) to take a 18-9 advantage.

West Allegheny defeated Pine-Richland (5-2) in the first round, 41-19. Connellsville topped Franklin Regional (7-2), 46-18.

Connellsville advances to face three-time defending champion Waynesburg (12-2) in Saturday’s semifinals at 10 a.m. at Peters Township.

Waynesburg 48, Plum 14 – Mac Church (145), Nate Jones (152), Eli Makel (285), Joe Simon (133) and Daniel Huffman (139) had first-period pins for the three-time defending champion Raiders (12-2) in the quarterfinals. Brock Evans (160), Rocco Welsh (189) and Ky Szewczyk (114) also picked up wins.

Sam Snyder (121) and Carson Yocca (127) had major decisions and Owen Campbell (107) and Antonino Walker (172) won decisions for Plum (10-2).

The Mustangs topped North Allegheny, 32-22, and Waynesburg defeated Fox Chapel, 54-9, in the first round.

No. 1 Waynesburg will meet No. 4 Connellsville in the semifinals Saturday at Peters Township.

Burgettstown 42, Mt. Pleasant 25 – Top-seeded Burgettstown (9-0) advanced to the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals with a victory over Mt. Pleasant (7-6). The Vikings stopped Montour, 38-28, in the first round, while the Blue Devils defeated Southmoreland, 70-6. Burgettstown will meet Frazier in Saturday’s semifinals at Chartiers-Houston.

Quaker Valley 44, McGuffey 21 – Logan Richey picked up his 100th career win on a pin in the first round and his 101st on a tech fall in the quarterfinals, helping defending champion Quaker Valley to the Class 2A semifinals.

The Quakers beat McGuffey, 44-21, in the quarters. Brandon Krul (133) won by major decision and Michael Carmody (139) and Richey recorded tech falls in the first three bouts to give Quaker Valley the lead for good.

Ben Carlson (215), Bruce Anderchak (107), Isaac Maccaglia (114) and Wyatt Hamm (127) had pins for the Quakers.

In the first round, a pin by Jack Kazalas (121) in the final bout gave Quaker Valley a 42-36 win over Jefferson-Morgan. McGuffey got past Freedom, 35-34, in the first round.

Quaker Valley will meet Burrell in a rematch of last year’s WPIAL finals in Saturday’s semis.

Boys basketball

Aliquippa 49, Obama Academy 43 – Cameron Lindsey scored 19 and Quentin Goode added 12 for Aliquippa (13-5, 7-0) in a nonsection win. Torrien Perkins put up 14 and Xzavier Rodgers followed with 12 for Obama Academy (8-9, 6-3).

Aquinas Academy 64, Hillel Academy 34 – Fresh off breaking the WPIAL all-time scoring record Tuesday, Vinnie Cugini added to his total, scoring 37 points in a Section 3-A win for Aquinas Academy (15-3, 4-3). Yonah Iskowitz, Noam Azaguy and Yoni Kanal scored nine each for Hillel Academy (2-5, 0-5).

California 57, Carrick 47 – Aidan Lowden and Vinny Manzella had 13 points each and Jacob Ziolecki scored 12 for California (6-12) in a nonsection win. Kelenn Ward scored 21 for Carrick (5-16).

Kiski Area 66, Franklin Regional 49 – Noah Thomas scored 18 points on six 3-pointers and Isaiah Gonzalez finished with 16 to lead Kiski Area (10-9, 4-3) to a Section 3-5A win. Max Leven had 12 points and Fin Hutchison scored 11 points and sank three 3-pointers for Franklin Regional (9-9, 3-4).

Moniteau 61, Laurel 42 – Andrew Zepeda. Colton Thomas and Aydan Jackson all scored 12 points apiece for Moniteau in a nonsection win. Laban Barker led all scorers with 23 points for Laurel (5-13).

Riverview 73, Apollo-Ridge 51 – Ben Hower scored 18 points and Dan Roupas had 15 to pace Riverview (11-8) in a nonsection win. Jacob Mull had a game-high 28 for Apollo-Ridge (1-19).

West Greene 68, Waynesburg 37 – Lane Allison dropped 29 points and Parker Burns contributed 18 as West Greene (4-14, 1-5) defeated Waynesburg (3-16, 1-8) in nonsection play. Alex Vansickle had 16 points to lead the Raiders.

Girls basketball

Propel Montour 60, Nazareth Prep 26 – Janai Green scored 27 points and Kahrijah Washington added 15 to lead Propel Montour. Cashmere Ralph led Nazareth Prep with 15.

Kiski Area 44, Franklin Regional 40 – Abbie Johns scored 13 points as Kiski Area (7-11, 4-5) went on a 13-7 run in the third quarter to win a key Section 1-5A matchup. Rikiya Garcia-Broaden added 11 and Gianna Devito had 10 for the Cavaliers. Olivia Orndorff led Franklin Regional (6-12, 4-6) with 13 points. Sarah Penrod had 10.

River Valley 67, Aquinas Academy 40 – Ava Persichetti had 23 points to lead River Valley to a nonsection win. Isabella Hite scored 12 for Aquinas Academy (14-6).

St. Joseph 53, Northgate 17 – St. Joseph (15-3) shut out Northgate (2-15) 15-0 in the first quarter en route to a nonsection win. Gia Richter led the Spartans with 11 points and Anna Kreinbrook scored 10.

Uniontown 54, California 39 – Akira Dade dropped 24 points and Jersey Greer scored 14 to lead Uniontown (2-17) to a nonsection win over California (9-9). Rakiyah Porter led the Trojans with 13 points.