Jan 13, 2015 3 min read

The PIAA is moving its Class AA Regional Wrestling Tournament … again.

The event, which has been held in Johnstown since districts 5, 6 and 7 were combined, was to be held at Indiana University’s Kovalchick Complex Feb. 27-28.

However, a scheduling conflict with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tournament could not be worked out, so the PIAA has moved the site to Canon-McMillan High School.

The move is for one year only.

“They called Friday to see if we were interested,” said Frank Vulcano, Canon-McMillan’s athletic director and now the tournament director. “It’s a one-year deal up to this point. It’s up to the PIAA (if it’s extended).”

Vulcano said there will be no problem getting workers on the same weekend the WPIAL Class AAA championships are being held at Penn Hills High School.

“There are a lot of wrestling people willing to work,” he said. “It’s not going to be an issue.”

The PIAA wanted to move the tournament to Indiana because the Cambria County War Memorial was unavailable for those dates. Indiana was selected because of its new convocational center. But Indiana was only willing to hold the tournament on Thursday and Friday of that week, which some schools balked at because of students missing a day of classes.

“The PIAA is very appreciative of Canon-McMillan High School and athletic director Frank Vulcano Jr., to be able to host this year’s regional,” Dr. Robert Lombardi, executive director of the PIAA said in a release.

“We all believe it is important to host this regional on dates and times that wrestlers’ families and their school communities can attend without disrupting the teams, the school day or personal work schedules.”

The first round of the tournament will be held 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27 and quarterfinals will follow at 7:30 p.m. Semifinals are 11:30 a.m. Saturday and finals are at 5 p.m.

Because of the room to use an extra mat, the tournament will need only three sessions instead of the four required at the War Memorial.

“I believe it will be a smooth transition from Johnstown,” said Vulcano. “Having confidence in me as the tournament director is very gratifying.

“At Powerade, we had 48 teams and a 40-man bracket. This will be a 15-man bracket. We’ll be fine.”

The WPIAL section tournaments will be held Wednesday, Jan. 21 at the site of the first-place teams on the A side of the section alignments. The WPIAL Team Tournament will run the week of Jan. 26 with the finals set for Saturday, Jan. 31. The PIAA Team Tournament is Feb. 5-7 at the Giant Center in Hershey.

The WPIAL will hold its section tournaments Feb. 14 at Ellwood City (Section 1), McGuffey (Section 2), and Avonworth (Section 3). Class AAA section tournaments will be held Feb. 21 at Kiski (Section 1), Ringgold (Section 2), Fox Chapel (Section 3) and Trinity (Section 4).

The WPIAL Class AA championships will be held Feb. 20-21 at South Fayette.

The PIAA Championships will be March 5-7 at the Giant Center in Hershey.