High school wrestling notebook: Burrell has 3 champions, finishes 2nd in Tennessee

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, December 12, 2023 | 5:56 PM

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Burrell completed in the McCallie (Chattanooga, Tenn.) Invitational and returned home with three champions and a second-place team finish.

Winning titles for the Bucs were Cam Baler (113 pounds), Cooper Hornack (144) and Issac Lacinski (175).

Baker defeated Axel Ritchie of McCallie, 5-2, in the finals. Baker had a pin and two wins by technical fall.

Hornack, the returning PIAA Class 2A champion, defeated Arash Yazdani, 11-6, in the finals. Hornack also recorded two first-period pins and a won by major decision. He went 5-0.

Also posting a 5-0 mark was Lacinski. He defeated Signal Mountain’s Jackson Davis, 14-6, in the finals. Lacinski had two first-period wins and two major decisions.

Also reaching the final was Calio Zanella, who lost the 138-pound title to Cartersville’s Talan Nix.

The Bucs also had two other placewinners. Julian Bertucci placed fourth at 132 and Carter Thomas sixth at 120.

Burrell had 12 wrestlers compete in the tournament, and all earned at least two victories.

McCallie won the team title with 230 points. Burrell finished with 219.5 followed by Brentwood with 215.5.

Malovich wins Ironman

Butler’s Ana Malovich pinned Raegan Briggs of Harrison, Ohio, to capture the 115-pound title at Walsh Women’s Ironman. Malovich won four bouts, including three by fall.

She did not compete in the Butler Invitational, which was won by North Allegheny with 126 points. Hickory was second with 113 followed by Connellsville with 91, Trinity 72 and Laurel 70.

Winning titles were: Sara Breeger of Seneca Valley (100), Haley Hoffman of Hickory (106), Laney Kilgore of Sharpsville (112), Paige Jox of Mt. Lebanon (118), Trinity Moore of Connellsville (124), Asia Fowler of Woodland Hills (130), Ava Golding of Kiski Area (136), Audrey Morrison of North Allegheny (142), Grace O’Korn of Peters Township (148), Avry Ryhal of Hickory (155), Jael Miller of Punxsutawney (170), Liliana Giulianelli of Peters Township (190) and Kaylee Dean of North Allegheny (235).

Canon-McMillan also competed at Ironman and had five placewinners. Natalie Rush was the Big Macs’ highest finisher (third at 190).

Good start for Panthers

Franklin Regional, ranked fifth in Class 3A by TribLive, won all five matches to capture first place at the Hampton Duals.

The Panthers defeated No. 6 Plum (37-30), No. 8 Norwin (34-29), Seneca Valley (40-27), Fox Chapel (39-36) and 2A-No. 7 Mt. Pleasant (38-28).

Franklin Regional coach Matt Lebe said it was an impressive tournament despite missing four starters for various reasons.

“It was good to get some of the other wrestlers action,” Lebe said. “I felt the team performed well.”

Plum, Norwin and Seneca Valley finished 3-2. Fox Chapel, which lost to Franklin Regional in pool play, finished 4-1.

Connellsville’s first

When the Connellsville girls wrestling team defeated Southmoreland, 48-18, on Dec. 8, it marked the first dual meet in the WPIAL this season.

The Falcons got pins from Trinity Moore (124 pounds) and Imani Cameron-Botti (155) and a victory by injury default by Macey Zinsky (106). The Falcons also received five forfeit wins.

Southmoreland got a pin from Taylor Chambers (112).

On tap

There are four big tournaments this weekend.

Beginning Friday is the King of the Mountain tournament at Central Mountain (Lock Haven), the Panther Holiday Classic (Mount Aloysius, Cresson) and the NursePro Plus tournament (University High, Morgantown, W.Va.). They will conclude Saturday.

WPIAL teams in the King of the Mountain are Bethel Park, Canon-McMillan, Latrobe, Shaler and West Allegheny. Teams at the Panther Holiday Classic are Armstrong, Connellsville, Indiana, McGuffey, Mt. Pleasant, Quaker Valley, Seneca Valley and Trinity. Chartiers-Houston and Southmoreland are in Morgantown.

On Saturday, Beaver County Christian, Norwin and Thomas Jefferson will be in Wilmington, Del., for the Beast of the East tournament.

Kiski Area will host a duals tournament Saturday. Teams entered are Butler, Fort LeBoeuf, Hempfield, North Allegheny, Penn-Trafford, Pennridge, Peters Township, Waynesburg and Yough.

Franklin Regional will be in Point Pleasant, W.Va., for the Jason Eades Memorial Duals, and South Fayette is in the Rambler Duals in Erie. Other dual tournaments are at Ringgold, Sharpsville and Upper St. Clair.

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.