WPIAL wrestling notebook: Canon-McMillan faces early tests

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 | 9:37 PM

High school wrestling season kicked off this week, and it won’t take long for Canon-McMillan to show what kind of team it has.

The Big Macs, ranked No. 4 in the Trib HSSN Class 3A preseason poll, hosted No. 3 Norwin on Tuesday and travels to No. 2 Connellsville on Thursday.

The Knights took the first showdown with the Big Macs, 31-24, winning seven of the 13 bouts.

Penn State recruit Landon Sidun (121) and sophomore Dom Butera (138) recorded pins for Norwin. Freshman Noah Curren (152) won by tech fall, and seniors Jack White (160) and Luca Butera (107) earned major decisions.

The win gave Norwin a split of a boys-girls doubleheader. Canon-McMillan won the girls match, 58-18, getting pins from Malia Ramos (112), Yunuen Ayala (124), Amillyonne Williams (136), Alaya Henderson (148) and Audrey Calgaro (190) and tech falls from Gianna Cafeo (118) and Marlee Solomon (130). Josephine Dollman (142) had a pin for Norwin.

Norwin’s boys defeated the Big Macs twice during the 2024-25 season: 39-20 during a regular-season match Dec. 4 and 41-23 on Jan. 29 in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

Other returning starters for the Knights include Nathan Gulibon, Nathan Klingensmith and Coleton Klipa.

Back for Canon-McMillan are Collier Hartman, Mason Calfaro, Brayden Collins, Bryce Collins, Giono Gardner, Matt Rothka and Andrew Soule.

The top Connellsville wrestlers back are PIAA place-winners Tommy Gretz, Nolan Rice and Kai Vielma along with PIAA qualifier Zach Franks. Also back are Jake and Luke Lilley, Cooper Lembo and Landon Lynn.

No. 1 Franklin Regional is off until Saturday at the Trinity Duals when it competes against Belle Vernon, DuBois, Erie Cathedral Prep, Thomas Jefferson, Trinity and West Allegheny.

Other key duals Wednesday include Belle Vernon at Bethel Park, Waynesburg at Jefferson Morgan, Bentworth at Mt. Pleasant, Chartiers Valley at North Allegheny, West Allegheny at Seneca Valley and Peters Township at Fox Chapel.

Weekend tournaments

The 30th Chartiers-Houston Invitational begins Friday with a field of 31 teams, 28 from the WPIAL. It concludes Saturday.

Some of the top teams include Bentworth, Bethel Park, Burgettstown, Butler, Jefferson-Morgan, North Allegheny, Peters Township and Ringgold.

Another big tournament has Connellsville, Derry and Hempfield competing in the Tom Best Memorial Top Hat tournament in Williamsport.

The other two-day tournament with multiple WPIAL schools in the field is the Hickory Invitational at Hermitage. The teams competing are Latrobe, Knoch, Penn-Trafford and Plum.

Avella, Indiana and Waynesburg are competing in the one-day Union Local Rick Link Invitational on Saturday in Ohio.

The are five other dual tournaments Saturday.

Along with the strong field at Trinity, there are duals at River Valley (Blairsville), Carrick, John Marshall (W.Va.), Greenville and Springfield Township in Delaware County.

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: Canon-McMillan, Connellsville, Norwin