Wrestling notebook: Penn-Trafford’s Barrett, Coy win titles at Hickory tournament

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 | 4:37 PM

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Penn-Trafford sophomore Dylan Barrett (114) and senior Hayden Coy (145) captured titles at the Hickory Invitational on Dec. 2.

Barrett (5-0) record four first-period pins and then defeated Northwestern’s Micah Rodriguez by technical fall, 18-3 (5 minutes, 27 seconds), in the finals.

Coy (5-0) rolled to easy wins in his five matches, including 11-2 over Fort LeBoeuf’s Jackson Bowers in the final.

Junior Tasso Whipple (4-1) also reached the finals before falling to Fort LeBoeuf’s Connor McChesney, 6-5, in the 189-pound final. He had four pins.

Logan Matrisch placed fifth at 160 pounds. Penn-Trafford finished fifth with 133 points. Fort LeBoeuf was first with 253 points, followed by Corry (230), Port Allegany (181) and St. Mary’s (158.5).

Top Hat

Connellsville placed fourth at the Top Hart tournament in Williamsport.

The Falcons finished behind Central Mountain (213), Saucon Valley (177) and Easton (176). Connellsville finished with 175, and Northampton was fifth with 163. Hempfield finished 21st.

Connellsville had three wrestlers finish runner-up: Zachary Frank (121), Evan Petrovich (145) and Lonzy Vielma (160).

The other placewinners were: Kai Vielma (133, third), Nolan Rice (107, fourth), Julian Ruggieri (139, fourth), Chris Cook (215, fourth), Tyler Gallis (285, fourth), Nicholas Rohal (172, seventh) and Wyatt Hall (189, eighth).

Hempfield’s only placewinner was Nico Kapusta (107, fifth). Senior Eli Carr did not compete in the tournament.

Bearcats have 3 champions at Chartiers-Houston

Bentworth had three wrestlers earn titles at the annual Chartiers-Houston Invitational on Dec. 2.

Winning titles were Drake McClure (121 pounds), Chris Vargo (133) and Vitali Daniels (189). Three other wrestlers placed third and helped the Bearcats to a third-place finish behind Burgettstown (192.5 points) and Plum (173). Bentworth finished with 165 points. Pine-Richland, which had two champions, was fourth with 149.5, and Butler was fifth with 148.5.

The other winners were: Peter Township’s Nicholas McGarrity (107), Butler’s Santino Sloboda (114), South Fayette’s Jonathan Baiano (127), Pine-Richland’s Dom Ferraro (139), Freedom’s Ryan Kredel (145), Bradford’s Jordan Thompson (152), Plum’s Antonio Walker (160), Pine-Richland’s Vaughn Spencer (172), Central Valley’s Brenan Morgan (215) and Burgettstown’s Joey Baronick (286).

Highlands shines

Highlands won the Southwest Kickoff Classic at Valley.

The Rams had four champions: Javeon Chambers (114), Bryce Black (127), Aiden Burford (135) and Angelo Markey (215). The team finished with 187 points. Gateway was second with 169 points.

The other champions were Penn Hills’ Daemon Phipps (121), Gateway’s Braden Washington (133), Valley’s Josue Martinez (139), West Mifflin’s Cooper Dietz (152), West Mifflin’s Caden Wills, Valley’s Charles Perkins (172), Kiski School’s Zach Silnutzer (215) and Lincoln Park’s Don Brooks (285).

Dueling it out

No. 8 Norwin had a good weekend at the Ephrata Duals. The Knights defeated Conrad Weiser (51-24), Ephrata (54-12), Biglerville (43-22) and Malvern Prep “B” team. They lost to Malvern Prep “A” team.

Early-season section battles

The first week of the Class 2A team season offers a couple of key battles Wednesday.

In Section 1, Jefferson-Morgan is at Bentworth, and Beth-Center tangles with No. 5 McGuffey. In Section 2, No. 7 Mt. Pleasant travels to Albert Gallatin, and Belle Vernon hosts Southmoreland.

A big Class 3A nonsection battle has No. 7 North Allegheny at No. 1 Canon-McMillan.

Weekend battles

Canon-McMillan and Frazier will be competing in the prestigious Ironman Tournament at Walsh Jesuit (Ohio) on Friday and Saturday. Burrell is headed to Tennessee for the McCallie Invitational, and Belle Vernon, Baldwin and Ringgold will be in Ohio for the North Coast Classic.

There are seven duals tournaments Saturday. No. 2 Trinity will host Central Valley, Erie Prep, No. 9 Latrobe, North Allegheny and Penn-Trafford.

The Hampton Duals has Altoona, Fox Chapel, No. 5 Franklin Regional, No. 10 Kiski Area, Ligonier Valley, Mars, Mt. Pleasant, No. 8 Norwin, Plum, Seneca Valley and Thomas Jefferson.

The other dual tournaments are: Babbit Duals at River Valley (Blairsville), Dry Tech (Greenville), Greg’s Markets Invitational at John Marshall, W.Va., Moon and North Hills.

Girl power

The North Allegheny and Canon-McMillan girls will square off 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Canon-McMillan, and Southmoreland will visit Connellsville at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Butler will host a girls tournament Saturday. Teams entered are Beaver, Burgettstown, Connellsville, Fox Chapel, Mount Lebanon, Pine-Richland, Plum, Saegertown and Trinity.

Butler and Canon-McMillan will have girls in The Women of Ironman tournament.

Norwin will have girls competing at the Boiling Springs Duals.

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.