Waynesburg, Burgettstown earn high seeds after winning section titles
The pandemonium of thrilling matches that produced section titles for the Waynesburg and Burgettstown high school wresting teams Wednesday night caught the attention of the WPIAL.
The two programs were rewarded when the district released brackets for the WPIAL team wrestling championships, which begin Monday for Class AAA and Wednesday for Class AA.
Waynesburg earned the top seed in Class AAA and will be a host site for the opening rounds. The Raiders ended Canon-McMillan’s streak of winning 18 consecutive section team tournaments with a 31-30 victory by the 10th criteria, nearfall points, in Section 4.
Waynesburg will host the preliminary-round winner between Peters Township and Pine-Richland next Wednesday. If the Raiders win, they will wrestle the subsequent quarterfinal match that same night against either eighth-seeded Latrobe or ninth-seeded Connellsville.
In each of the past two seasons, Waynesburg has reached the semifinals but lost in the third-place match both years.
Despite the loss, Canon-McMillan was seeded over Section 4 champion Hempfield and runner-up Kiski, which has won the past three Class AAA titles. The Big Macs defeated both in a quad meet Dec. 20. Seneca Valley is the No. 2 seed.
South Fayette will wrestle Kiski Wednesday at Hempfield (6 p.m.).
Two local teams will wrestle in the preliminary round scheduled for Monday. Peters Township takes on Pine-Richland at 6 p.m. Trinity tangles with Franklin Regional at 7:15 p.m. Both matches are at Canon-McMillan.
In Class AA, Burgettstown also will stay home after earning the No. 2 seed. The Blue Devils will host Mt. Pleasant Wednesday at 6 p.m.
A stalling disqualification with 17 seconds left in the final bout against McGuffey allowed Burgettstown to clinch back-to-back Section 1 titles, 41-34.
The top seed in Class AA is 13-time defending WPIAL champion Burrell. The Highlanders are the No. 3 seed and will host Ellwood City in the first round. Fourth-seeded Quaker Valley will wrestle Fort Cherry, which defeated West Greene in a fifth-place match Wednesday night to earn a spot into postseason.
Beth-Center is the ninth seed and will wrestle Southmoreland. With a win, the Bulldogs would wrestle Burrell, which knocked them out in the semifinals last season.
Semifinals and championships are scheduled for Feb. 1 in both classifications. Norwin will host the Class AAA championship. Chartiers-Houston is the site for the Class AA title.