Team Tournament at Fox Chapel

The WPIAL Team Tournament has been schedule for 3 p.m. Tuesday at Fox Chapel High School. Canon-McMillan will wrestle Kiski in the Class AAA finals and Burrell takes on Shady Side Academy in the Class AA finals.

Team Tournament postponed again

The WPIAL Team Tournament has been postponed Monday because of inclement weather. The WPIAL has not determiend a makeup date or time yet.

Team Tournament moved to NA, Mt. Pleasant

The WPIAL Team Tournament championships have been postponed until Monday. Canon-McMillan wrestles Kiski at 8 p.m. at North Allegheny High School. Burrell takes on Shady Side Academy in the 6 p.m. opener. Connellsville wrestles Penn Trafford at 7 p.m. at Mt. Pleasant High School.

C-M finds a hero

There are so few moments like these in scholastic wrestling that they just need to be remembered for a long time. Canon-McMillan needed a hero Thursday night in its semifinal match against Penn Trafford in the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament and Zach Thomas stepped up.

The sophomore with a 4-10 record registered one of the most important pins in C-M wrestling history when he locked a cross-face cradle and turned PT's Matt Lago on his back in 2:21. The pin was captured by Eleanor Bailey of The Almanac for your enjoyment here.

The Big Mac coaches were just hoping Thomas wouldn't get pinned and he gave them the win that turned the dual meet into a 28-27 victory. That sent C-M into the WPIAL team finals and qualified them for the PIAA Team Tournament for the first time since 2006.

The match drew a big crowd to Charleroi, which also will be the site of the CM-Kiski finals, and brought back memories of some of the big dual meets held there when Washington and Greene counties were the powers of the WPIAL. \

In an era where forfeits and avoiding matchups are the norm for most dual meets, Thomas' win was refreshing and showed wrestling fans how unpredictable the sport can be.

Tournament notes

This is the type of recognition Jefferson-Morgan High School's wrestling team did not want. Nine wrestlers were suspended from last night's WPIAL Class AA Team Tournament dual meet against Burgettstown for disciplinary reasons. That left head coach Scott Rhodes with only five wrestlers to compete against the Blue Devils. The incident occurred this week and there was discussion about suspending the wrestlers for the remainder of the season. A one-match suspension was finally agreed to and the wrestlers will be permitted to compete in the individual postseason. But this was an embarrassment to the school and the program.

Filling a full lineup is tantamount in winning a team tournament title. Chartiers-Houston could not do that against Burrell and that's one reason why they were defeated 41-31 in the semifinals. C-H heavyweight Nate Grandelis has a bad thumb and 103-pounder Jerry Yarkosky weighs only 90 pounds after a big meal. A team might be able to get away with one forfeit but two are devastating at this level of the team tournament. But C-H should field a strong team for the coming seasons and that might attract more athletes to participate. This is a team on the rise.

There might not be a more frustrating site to hold the Class AA Team Tournament than Burrell High School. It has nothing to do with the people - the administration is very friendly and organized. The food at the concession stand is always good and the janitors keep the place clean. The problem is the gymnasium is not set up for wrestling. The sound system is bad, score for one match has to be kept on two scoreboards - one for the bout score and the other for the team score - and the portable scoreboard used for the second match had such a low-sounding buzzer that a runner had to go on the mat and tell the referee when the period was ending. Improvements are needed.

Let's give Burgettstown a big well-done for a season that could have been difficult and fractious. They handled Terry Havelka's coaching situation in a thoughtful and intelligent manner. Havelka wanted time to watch his son Jeff wrestle this year so the board decided on co-coaches, naming AD Jon Vallina, as one of the co-coaches. While it was a rare situation, it has been done before. Burgettstown had a strong season, driving to the semifinals of the Class AA Team Tournament and should have state qualifiers from this group of wrestlers. Other schools might have not been so receptive to the co-coaching idea but Burgettstown was smart enough to embrace it.

Postseason Schedule

Section Tournaments
Class AAA
Saturday, Feb. 27
Matches begin at 10:30 a.m., finals at 6 p.m.
Section 1 at Indiana
Section 2 at Hempfield
Section 3 at Fox Chapel
Section 4 at Waynesburg
Section 5 at Mt. Lebanon

WPIAL Class AAA Championships
(Southwest Region)
At Canon-McMillan High School
Thursday, March 4
Matches begin at 5:30 p.m.
Friday, March 5
Matches begin at 5 p.m.
Saturday, March 6
Matches begin at 9:30 a.m.
Finals at 7 p.m.

Class AA
Section Tournaments
Saturday, Feb. 20
Matches begin at 10:30 a.m., finals at 6 p.m.
Section 1 at SS Beaver
Section 2 at Charleroi
Section 3 at SS Academy

WPIAL Class AA Championships
At Chartiers Valley High School
Friday, Feb. 26
Matches begin at 5 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 27
Matches begin at 10 a.m.
Finals begin at 7 p.m.

Southwest Class AA Regional
At War Memorial, Johnstown
Friday, March 5
Matches begin 1 p.m., quarterfinals begin at 4 p.m.
Saturday, March 6
Semifinals begin at 11 a.m., finals begin at 6:30 p.m.


PIAA Championships
At Giant Center, Hershey
Thursday, March 11
Class AA first round - 9 a.m.
Class AAA first round - 4 p.m.
Friday, March 12
Class AA quarterfinals - 8 a.m.
Class AA semifinals - 1 p.m.
Class AAA quarterfinals - 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 13
Class AAA semifinals - 8 a.m.
Class AA consolation finals - 12:30 p.m.
Class AA finals - 2:30 p.m.
Class AAA consolation finals - 6 p.m.
Class AAA finals - 8 p.m.

To make a point, again

I get criticism for my criticsm of the WPIAL Team Tournament and the amount of teams they include and time it takes to hold. Here is an example of what drives me crazy. In our local Class AA matches, 18 of the 56 scheduled bouts were forfeits. For those of you who struggle with math, that's 32 percent of the bouts.

The team tournament is supposed to showcase your best talent. Is this the best Class AA has to offer? Why were these teams in the tournament in the first place? The coaches and wrestlers know that by forfeiting so many weight classes, they have little or no chance of winning.

If you want to hold the tournament, fine. Run the subsection tournaments on a Tuesday and begin the WPIAL Team Tournament on a Thurday and run it through the weekend. Cut the number of teams down to section champions or subsection champions and get on with it.

By the way, the crowd at South Side Beaver Monday was small. SSB had a good following but I counted eight fans sitting on the Keystone Oaks side of the gym.

Individual Rankings

CLASS AAA

103–1. Connor Schram, Canon-McMillan, 25-3; 2. Ethan Kinney, Connellsville, 26-6; 3. Tyler Reinhart, Greensburg Salem, 18-2
112–1. Jim Gulibon, Derry, 20-1; 2.. Mackenzie McGuire, Upper St. Clair, 18-0; 3. Ryan Bohince, Penn Trafford, 20-6
119–1. Nico Megaludis, Franklin Regional, 23-0; 2. Dylan Mogan, Bethel Park, 14-0, 3. Alex Dunaway, McGuffey, 18-6
125–1. John Pezzi, Norwin, 15-1; 2. Dante DeCario, Derry, 11-3; 3. Zach McGinnis, Waynesburg, 24-5
130–1. Tyler Zymroz, Central Catholic, 25-3; 2. Ty Lydic, Latrobe, 23-4; 3. Mike Ardeno, Trinity, 21-5
135–1. Travis Shaffer, Derry, 17-3; 2. Nick Catalano, Canon-McMillan, 16-2; 3. Ben Johnson, Franklin Regional, 22-3
140–1. Lorenzo Thomas, Central Catholic, 28-3; 2. Ryan Walters, Latrobe, 23-5; 3. Jess Swink, Connellsville, 24-4
145–1. Nate Cully, Seneca Valley, 22-2; 2. Andy Candiello, North Allegheny, 22-6; 3. Patrick Palmer, Albert Gallatin 14-3
152–1. Aaron McKinney, West Allegheny, 23-4; 2. Zack Shannon, Kiski, 23-1; 3. Cameron Fine, Elizabeth Forward, 15-2
160–1. Troy Reaghard, West Allegheny, 23-2; 2. Matt Hundenski, Hopewell, 23-2; 3. Ethan Saylor, Connellsville, 27-5
171–1. Tyler Wilps, Chartiers Valley, 17-0; 2. Cole Baxter, Butler, 21-0; 3. Perry Hills, Central Catholic, 23-5
189–1. Eric Shaffer, Latrobe, 24-1; 2. Fred Garcia, Ringgold, 23-0 ; 3. Nick Garofola, Hempfield, 17-3
215–1. Nate Gaffney, Connellsville, 25-1; 2. Michael Hull, Canon-McMillan, 7-0; 3. Neal Rands, Ringgold, 20-2
Hvy–1. Adam Lazenga, Bethel Park, 31-1; 2. Jamal Conroy, Shaler, 14-2; 3. Travis Miller, Connellsville, 26-5

CLASS AA
103–1. Nate Reckner, SS Beaver, 27-3; 2. Zach Swarrow, Beth-Center, 24-2; 3. Nate Robb Kittanning, 22-2
112–1. Aaron Toth, Charleroi, 20-2; 2. Philip Elias SS Academy, 17-5; 3. Tyler Rommes,. Burgettstown, 20-3
119–1. Goeff Alexander, SS Academy. 18-3; 2. Vic LiPari, Chartiers-Houston, 24-3; 3. Josh Kwasny, Charleroi, 18-4
125–1. Dave Makara, Burrell, 26-5; 2. Anthony Elias, SS Academy, 23-5; 3. Tanner Sutton, Chartiers-Houston, 23-4
130–1. Frank Martellotti, SS Academy, 33-1; 2. Michael DePalma, Jeannette, 23-2; 3. Francis Mizia, Bentworth, 21-3
135–1. Colton Blumer, West Greene, 21-2; 2. Matt Tadich, SS Academy, 25-2; 3. Mike Fleming, Burgettstown, 17-6
140–1. Michael Innes, Chartiers-Houston, 16-1; 2. Colin Checkan, SS Beaver, 23-6; 3. Dylan Fleming, Burgettstown 19-6
145–1. Nick Carr, South Fayette, 20-1; 2. Dave Demor, SS Beaver, 20-3; 3. Ken McGinnis, Valley, 18-6
152–1. Cody Wiercioch, Charleroi, 24-0; 2. Travis McKillop, Burrell, 27-4; 3. Gus Mizia, Bentworth, 21-3
160–1. Sam Guidi, Fort Cherry, 15-1; 2. Dylan Demain, Bentworth, 21-3; 3. Quincy Hathaway, Jefferson-Morgan, 18-7
171–1. Matthew Cunningham, SS Academy, 31-4; 2. Mike Kazalas, Keystone Oaks, 14-2; 3. Kyle Colborn, Beth-Center, 22-4
189–1. Gary Kiefer, Fort Cherry, 15-0; 2. Kyle Dudley, Valley, 16-1; 3. Nate Carl, Avella, 12-1
215–1. Brian Beattie, Burrell, 28-4; 2. Ray Campbell, Charleroi, 18-6; 3. Anthony Deni, Jeannette, 15-6
Hvy–1. Jeff Tarley, Beth-Center, 23-0; 2. Zac Doman, Jefferson-Morgan, 19-4; 3. Jake Linn, Charleroi, 21-5