Mt. Lebanon’s Mac Stout captures 3rd Allegheny County wrestling crown
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Saturday, January 15, 2022 | 9:39 PM
Mt. Lebanon’s Mac Stout wrestles Quaker Valley’s Patrick Cutchember in the 189-pound final during the 2022 Allegheny County Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022 at Fox Chapel Area High School.
Mt. Lebanon’s Mac Stout wrestles Quaker Valley’s Patrick Cutchember in the 189-pound final during the 2022 Allegheny County Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022 at Fox Chapel Area High School.
Pine-Richland’s Dominic Ferraro wrestles Bethel Park’s Mason Kernan in the 120-pound final during the 2022 Allegheny County Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022 at Fox Chapel Area High School.
Quaker Valley’s Jack Kazalas wrestles atop Bethel Park’s Aiden Bench in the 113-pound final during the 2022 Allegheny County Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022 at Fox Chapel Area High School.
North Allegheny’s Casey Walker wrestles atop Plum’s Rylen Campbell in the 106-pound final during the 2022 Allegheny County Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022 at Fox Chapel Area High School.
Thomas Jefferson’s Brian Finnerty wrestles Aidan Buggey of North Allegheny in the 215-pound final during the 2022 Allegheny County Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022 at Fox Chapel Area High School.
Pine-Richland’s Joey Schneck celebrates winning the 285-pound final against opponent Christian Flaherty of Keystone Oaks during the 2022 Allegheny County Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022 at Fox Chapel Area High School.
North Allegheny’s Casey Walker takes down Plum’s Rylen Campbell in the 106-pound final during the 2022 Allegheny County Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022 at Fox Chapel Area High School.
It’s too bad the coronavirus canceled the 2021 Allegheny County Wrestling Championship.
If it hadn’t, there was a good chance Mt. Lebanon senior Mac Stout would have become a four-time champion.
Instead, the Pitt signee had to settle for being a three-time winner after his impressive 11-3 victory over Quaker Valley senior Patrick Cutchember in the 189-pound final Saturday at Fox Chapel.
Cutchember ended up being a three-time runner-up.
Stout (22-0) finished with three pins and a major decision. He received the Most Outstanding Wrestler award for his dominating effort. His brother Luke was a three-time county champion and brother Kellan won it once.
“This is another stepping stone for me,” Stout said. “”I’m happy with it, but there are bigger goals. I want to win it all.
“It’s a good feeling being a three-time champion. I’m having fun with it.”
Going back down
Thomas Jefferson senior Brian Finnerty has wrestled at 189 pounds this season.
But the Kent State signee decided to bump up a weight and compete for the 215-pound weight class at the 20th annual Allegheny County Wrestling Championship.
The move helped him capture his first county title after a fourth-place finish in 2020.
He also avoided another battle with Mt. Lebanon senior Mac Stout, the No. 1 wrestler in the TribHSSN Class 3A rankings.
Finnerty (27-1) is ranked second, only losing to Stout, 8-5, at the Powerade tournament last month.
“I’ll be back at 189 next week,” Finnerty said. “The coaches and I figured to try something different. We’re probably going to face Mac a few more times this season.
“The only thing I worried about wrestling the bigger guys was staying healthy. I knew I was strong enough to compete there.”
Tigers roar
North Allegheny won the team title for the eighth time in the 20-year history of the tournament with 222.5 points.
Winning titles for the Tigers were Casey Walker (106) and Dylan Coy (126). They also had three second-place winners — Aidan Buggey (215), Travis Stipetich (145) and A.J. Rohan (160). They also had four other placewinners.
Quakers making noise
The Quaker Valley wrestling team sent out a message to the rest of the teams in Class 2A: Don’t forget about us.
The Quakers finished second with 209 points. They had two champions — Jack Kazalas (113) and Mason Diemert (172). Cutchember (189) placed second, and they had three other placewinners.
Winning titles
The other wrestlers to win county titles were Bethel Park’s Mason Kernan (120), Plum’s Vincent Citrano (132), Thomas Jefferson’s Bode Marlow (138), Highlands’ Jake Burford (145), Pine-Richland’s Kelin Laffey (152), Chartiers Valley’s Christopher Beatty (160) and Pine-Richland heavyweight Joey Schneck.
City League
There were two wrestlers from the Pittsburgh City League to earn medals — Carrick heavyweight Rene Velasques, who finished sixth, and Brashear’s Shawn Solomon, who placed sixth at 189.
Perry, Obama and Allderdice came up empty, while Westinghouse pulled out before the tournament began.
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.
