Trib HSSN Wrestling Team of the Week for Feb. 23, 2021: Laurel Spartans

By: Greg Macafee
Tuesday, February 23, 2021 | 10:01 AM

Sophomore Grant Mackay and senior Mitch Miles carried the Spartans this past weekend as they both brought home individual WPIAL and section titles.

Along with Mackay (152) and Miles (285) winning section titles, Charles Krepp (138), Chase Tinstman (172) and Colin Bartley (113) all finished in second in their respective weight classes during their section tournaments.

At the WPIAL tournament, sophomore Mackay used two 9-2 decisions to earn the first WPIAL title of his high school career after going 39-12 last year at North Allegheny. He defeated Burrell’s Damian Barr in his first match with two takedowns, a reversal, and a third-period near fall. In his championship match, he scored all nine points in the first and second periods before cruising to a seven-point victory.

Miles earned his first victory of the WPIAL tournament by pinning Elizabeth Forward’s Nick Murphy in 39 seconds. Then, Miles took down Mt. Pleasant’s Ian Fasano in the heavyweight championship with a pin in 2:43.

Bartley defeated Burgettstown’s Dylan Slovick with a 6-1 decision in the pigtail rounds before suffering a loss to No. 1 seed Damon Michaels from Elizabeth Forward. In the consolation round, Bartley earned a 10-1 major decision over Yough’s Shane Momyer. The sophomore used a third-period escape in the third-place match to earn a 3-2 victory over Quaker Valley’s Logan Richey.

Honorable mention

• Burrell: The Bucs continued their hot postseason this past week as six wrestlers earned section titles and four more came home with WPIAL Class AA individual titles. Senior Ian Oswalt became the third Buc in program history to win four individual WPIAL titles when he earned a 10-5 decision over Ligonier Valley’s Ryan Harbert.

• Waynesburg: No team had a more successful individual section tournament than the Raiders’ Section 4-AAA performance. Waynesburg won section titles in 12 of the 13 weight classes. The only weight class they didn’t win was 215 pounds, which was the only weight class where they didn’t have a participant.

• Franklin Regional: The Panthers rolled at the WPIAL Class AAA Section 1 tournament. They brought home five section titles and four runners-up. Carter Dibert (126), Dalton O’Neil (132), Finn Solomon (138), Mario Sarnic (145), and Garrett Thompson (152) all won section titles.

•Mt. Pleasant: The Vikings came away from the WPIAL Class AA championship with two champions and a runner-up. Dayton Pitzer (215) won his second WPIAL title and freshman Jamison Poklembo avenged his section championship loss against Valley’s Dion Lyons with a 9-2 decision. Heavyweight Ian Fasano also placed second in his weight class.

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Tags: Burrell, Franklin Regional, Laurel, Mt. Pleasant, Waynesburg