Jan 26, 2015 2 min read

Sal Merante’s 1-0 win at 160 pounds assured a Peters Township victory as the Indians defeated host Hopewell, 33-29, Monday night in the preliminary round of the WPIAL Class AAA team wrestling playoffs.

Peters Township advances to Wednesday’s first-round matches at North Allegheny, where the Tigers will face the Indians. Canon-McMillan will wrestle Hempfield in the other matchup at North Allegheny, with the winners facing each other in the quarterfinals that night. The first-round matches begin at 6 p.m.

With the Indians clinging to a 30-23 advantage following a 2-1 overtime win by Derek Drositis over Garrett Miller at 152, the Indians needed a victory to advance.

After a scoreless first period, Merante rode Steve Flannery for the entire second period to send the bout into the third period scoreless. Merante quickly escaped to open the third period, then fought off several takedown attempts to seal the victory for the Indians.

Alex Belack (195) and Dan Florentino (113) added pins as the Indians built a 24-9 lead. Heavyweight Stephon Peake had a pin for Hopewell.

Trinity postponed: Trinity’s preliminry round match at Butler in Class AAA was postponed because of poor weather conditions.

The match will be held at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Butler. The winner advances to face second-seeded Franklin Regional in a first-round match Wednesday.