High school wrestling notebook: Butler ends Waynesburg’s winning streak at 42

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, December 20, 2022 | 6:34 PM

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When Butler defeated Waynesburg, 40-32, in wrestling Saturday, it was the Raiders’ first loss to a WPIAL team in 42 matches.

The Golden Tornado have been on the brink of reaching the WPIAL elite in recent years, and winning the Kiski Area Duals launched them to a new level.

Trinity (3-0) jumped to the top spot in the Trib HSSN rankings in Class 3A and Butler (6-0) to No. 2.

Waynesburg (5-1) dropped to No. 3.

It was followed by No. 4 Connellsville (1-0), No. 5 Canon-McMillan (0-1), No. 6 Latrobe (3-1), No. 7 Franklin Regional (3-0) and No. 8 Hempfield (4-1).

King of the Mountain

Host Central Mountain captured the King of the Mountain tournament with 152 points, edging Canon-McMillan (142) and State College (138.5).

Latrobe (123) finished fifth, Burrell seventh (104.5), Franklin Regional eighth (93), Thomas Jefferson 22nd (67.5) and Seneca Valley 27th (52).

WPIAL wrestlers winning titles were Latrobe’s Luke Willochell (114 pounds) along with Canon-McMillan’s Andrew Binni (127) and Matt Furman (172).

Placing second were Seneca Valley’s Connor Smith, who lost to Willochell, 7-2, Franklin Regional’s Gavyn Beck (160) and Juliano Marion (189) and Latrobe’s Corey Boerio (215).

Canon-McMillan’s Tanner Mizenko (107) and Geno Calgaro (215), Franklin Regional’s Tyler Kapusta (114), Latrobe’s Leo Joseph (121) and Thomas Jefferson’s Maddox Shaw (139) finished third.

Placing fourth were Burrell’s Julian Bertucci (121), Seneca Valley’s Tyler Chappell (127) and Latrobe heavyweight Wyatt Held.

Burrell’s Cameron Baker (107) and Isaac Lacinski (172), Thomas Jefferson’s Bode Marlow (152) and Canon-McMillan’s Brandon Dami (121) were fifth. Franklin Regional’s Nate Stone (145) and Burrell’s Nico Zanella (160) were seventh.

Falcons finish second

Connellsville placed second in the NursePro Plus Tournament at University High School in Morgantown, W.Va.

University placed first with 299.5 points, and the Falcons followed with 260. Southmoreland was ninth with 91 points, and Chartiers-Houston was 10th with 54.

Winning titles for the Falcons were Evan Petrovich (126 pounds), Gabriel Ruggieri (132), Lonzy Vielma (144) and Chad Jesko (150).

Landon Lynn (106), Jacob Layton (120) and Julian Ruggieri (138) placed second, and Zach Franks (113) and Christopher Cook (215) were third. Heavyweight Tyler Gallis finished fourth.

Southmoreland’s Tristan Ice (165) and heavyweight Mason Neiderhiser placed second, and Landon Delara (144) was third.

Chartiers-Houston’s Jorden Williams (113) and Jesse Orbin (165) won titles, and Michael Mansfield (165) placed fourth.

Panther Holiday Classic

Trinity finished third in the Panther Holiday Classic at Mount Aloysius College behind Boiling Springs (179.5) and Huntingdon (157). The Hillers had 156.5.

Bentworth (114) finished seventh, Mount Pleasant (112.5) was eighth, McGuffey (77) was 18th, Armstrong (71.5) was 23rd, Indiana (52) 32nd, Beaver Falls (22) 41st and Ligonier Valley (15) 43rd.

Trinity’s Dominick Canali (121) and Bentworth’s Chris Vargo (127) won titles while Indiana’s Nico Fanella (114), Mt. Pleasant’s Joe Longhi (121), Trinity’s Thomas Allison (127), Bentworth’s Owen Ivcic (139), Mt. Pleasant’s Jamison Poklembo (145) and Armstrong’s Connor Jacobs (215) placed second.

Trinity heavyweight Ty Banco placed third while Mt. Pleasant’s Greg Shaulis (139) and Dylan Pitzer (215) and Beaver Fall’s Gabe Lilly (145), Trinity’s Bodie Morgan (172) and Bentworth’s Vitali Daniels (189) placed fourth.

Kiski Area Duals

Butler went 5-0 to capture the Kiski Duals. The Golden Tornado defeated Penn-Trafford (49-20), Peters Township (39-32), Hempfield (42-30), Kiski Area (39-32) and Waynesburg (40-32).

Waynesburg (4-1) was second, defeating Quaker Valley (45-24), Yough (57-3), Fort LeBoeuf (44-24) and North Allegheny (39-30). Hempfield (4-1) was third, defeating Fort LeBoeuf (43-29). The Spartans also defeated Penn-Trafford (43-39), Peters Township (40-28) and Kiski Area (47-24).

North Allegheny defeated Peters Township, 48-21, in the fifth-place match, Quaker Valley topped Kiski Area, 36-32, in the seventh-place match, and Penn-Trafford beat Yough, 63-6, in the ninth-place match.

Matches to watch

There are two interesting dual matches Thursday.

Connellsville visits Waynesburg, and Hempfield hosts Canon-McMillan.

Coming up

Holiday tournament action begins Dec. 27 with the Southmoreland Tournament. Butler is the defending champion.

There are 31 teams entered in the two-day event, including Mt. Pleasant, McGuffey and Plum.

The finals are slated for Dec. 28.

The Steve DeAugustino Holiday Classic is Dec. 28 at West Mifflin.

Highlands and Shaler are among the top teams in the tournament.

Remembering

The wrestling community was saddened by the passing of two men: former West Greene coach Buzz Walters and WPIAL historian Bruce Closson.

Both passed away over the weekend.

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.