WPIAL wrestling notebook: West Allegheny leads pack at Southmoreland

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, December 30, 2025 | 8:04 PM

West Allegheny crowned three champs and took the team title at the Southmoreland Holiday Classic on Tuesday.

Michael Johnson defeated Pine-Richland’s Bennett Ferraro, 4-3, at 114 pounds to get things started for West A. Thomas Bencho beat Marion Center’s Griffin Tinsman, 4-0, at 139, and heavyweight Cam Danna edged out Corry’s Owen Nickerson, 4-3.

Led by two-time WPIAL champ Santino Sloboda at 133, Butler won two titles and finished second in the team race. Sutton Stoner won at 160 for the Golden Tornado.

Beth-Center also won two golds — Malachi Peak at 189 and Noah Layhue at 215.

Frazier 152-pounder Jonah Erdely picked up his 100th career win in the semifinals and then defeated Plum’s Owen Campbell, 2-1, to take the 152-pound title.

Other WPIAL champs were Albert Gallatin’s Gavin Morris (107) and Freedom’s Kayden Braun (121).

Kapusta, Bell take gold

Hempfield senior Nico Kapusta and Belle Vernon senior Elijah Brown earned gold medals Sunday at the MyHouse Trojan Wars at Chambersburg.

Kapusta went 5-0 with three pins to claim the 121-pound title. He defeated The Hill School’s Kole Davidheiser, 9-5, in the finals.

He is 15-1 this season and 85-24 in his career.

Brown, a two-time WPIAL champion and returning PIAA Class 3A champion, pinned Evan Gavin of St. Mary’s Ryken (Md.) in 44 seconds. He outscored Owen J. Robert’s Decker Bechtold, 17-13, in the semifinals.

He went 5-0 with three pins. The Penn State commit is 11-1 this season and 138-20 in his career.

Belle Vernon placed sixth, Jefferson-Morgan was 16th and Hempfield 22nd.

The Leopards had two fourth-place finishers: Gracin Guglielmo (107) and Brayden Broadwater (114). and Colby Hibner (160) placed fifth.

Jefferson-Morgan’s Geno Orlandi (160) placed third. Caleb Dubney (114) took fourth and Brayden Henning (104) and Alex Palko (172) were fifth.

McConneha wins title

North Allegheny senior Bradyn McConneha won the heavyweight crown at the Bethlehem Holiday Classic on Sunday.

Placing second for the Tigers were Evan Schomburg (121) and Griffen Reid (152).

The Tigers had two seventh place finishers: Joseph Synan (107) and Gus Stedeford (133).

Milestone reached

Connellsville’s Kai Vielma joined Erdley in the 100-win club. Vielma hit the milestone it at the Powerade Tournament.

Coming up

There are three notable tournaments this weekend:

• The Tri-County Athletic Directors Association at West Greene involving teams from Fayette, Greene and Washington counties

• The Bo Wood Tournament at Indiana

• Ed Driscoll MAC tournament at Laurel

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: Belle Vernon, Hempfield