Wrestling notebook: 3 WPIAL junior high champions for Norwin

By: Paul Schofield
Wednesday, February 23, 2022 | 6:16 PM

Norwin crowned three champions at the WPIAL Junior High School Tournament on Saturday.

Connellsville won the team title 255 points. The Falcons had one champion, three wrestlers finish second, five finish third and one fifth.

Winning titles for the Knights were Landon Sidun (110 pounds), Jack White (117) and Gage Mamie (124). The Knights finished second with 181.5 points. Also for Norwin, Nick Puskar (157) finished third, Santino Brasco (150) was sixth, Rocco Zugai (82) was seventh and Larry Goughnour (252) placed eighth.

The Falcons champion was Chris Cook (192). Placing second were Julian Ruggieri (132), Kai Vielma (117) and Zach Franks (110). The third-place finishers were Cooper Lembo (147), Landon Lynn (103), Luke Lilley (96), Nolan Rice (89) and Tommy Gretz (82). Wyatt Hall (172) placed fifth.

Kiski Area placed third with 145 points, North Allegheny was fourth with 137 and McGuffey fifth with 126.5.

Butler and Frazier each had two champions. The Golden Tornado champs were Diamond Cantera (252) and Santino Sloboda (96). Winning titles for Frazier were Jonah Erdely (140) and Jackson Angelo (147).

The other champions were McGuffey’s Tucker Main (82), Penn-Trafford’s Luke DeSantis (103), Waynesburg’s Roan Tustin (172), Chartiers Valley’s Michael Lawrence (132), Mt. Pleasant Dylan Pitzer (212), Highlands’ Nezumiro Green (157) and Quaker Valley’s Bruce Anderchak (89).

Numerous 3A wrestlers out

The WPIAL wresting committee released the seeds for the section tournaments set for Saturday and some top wrestlers are not competing because of injuries.

Missing from Waynesburg are Ky Szewczyk (113), Joe Simon (120) and Kyle Homet (145). Homet was a PIAA runner-up in 2021. Simon reached the West Regional.

Latrobe is missing Nate Roth (138), Gage Golden (145), Wyatt Schmucker (160), Tyler Lynch (189) and Wyatt Held (285).

Butler’s Cooper Baxter (189) also was not entered.

This and that

— Belle Vernon senior Cole Weightman, a two-time WPIAL Class 3A 220-pound champion, is entered in the tournament after recovering from a leg injury. Weightman is 5-0 with four first-period pins.

— Frazier sophomore Rune Lawrence turned in quite a first night at the WPIAL Class 2A championships — how about three pins in a total of 25 seconds. He pinned Avonworth’s Jermaine Woods (:13), Elizabeth Forward’s Samuel McDonald (:05) and Beth-Center’s Jacob Layhue (:08). Lawrence has won 19 consecutive matches (10 first-period pins) since losing to Waynesburg’s Rocco Welsh on Jan. 8.

— A hand injury prevented Mt. Pleasant sophomore Joe Longhi from competing in the WPIAL Class 2A championship last weekend. Longhi was seeded No. 2 at 106 pounds behind WPIAL champion Parker Sentipal of Burgettstown. He injured his hand at club practice. Longhi finished his season with a 27-6 record.

— A weight mix-up at the PIAA Class 3A team championships cost Canon-McMillan senior Jacob Houpt from dropping to 113 pounds. The mix-up occurred on Day 2 of the tournament when Houpt weighed in. It forced Houpt to stay at 120 and teammate sophomore Andrew Binni to stay at 126.

— The WPIAL section tournament will be held Saturday starting at 9:30 a.m.: Section 1 at Kiski Area; Section 2 at Hempfield; Section 3 at North Allegheny and Section 4 at Peters Township.

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.