Dec 28, 2022 2 min read

The seeds for the Powerade Wrestling Tournament have been released and Waynesburg leads the local teams with five wrestlers drawing one of the eight seeds in each weight class.

Action gets underway today (8 a.m.) at Canon-McMillan High School with the finals set for 4 p.m. Friday.

Two of the Raiders – Mac Church at 145 pounds and Rocco Welsh at 172 – go into the tournament as No. 1 seeds.

Church has been out of the lineup recently and it cost the Raiders at least one victory against Butler in the finals of the Kiski Duals.

Church is a two-time state champion and will look to become a three-time champion in Class 3A in Hershey in March. He finished as a Powerade runner-up last season.

Vince Bouzakis of Notre Dame Green Pond is second seed followed by Cameron Catrabone of Williamsville North in New York; Ethan Mojena of Lake Highland Prep in Florida; and fifth seed Yannis Charles of St. Joseph Regional in New Jersey. Nico Taddy of West Allegheny, Bradley Eaton of St. Edward in Ohio, and Lucas Kapusta of Hempfield round out the seeded field.

Welsh, who many felt was dominant enough to win the Outstanding Wrestler last March in Hershey, finished third at 172 in last year’s Powerade tournament.

Louis Cerchio of Delbarton in New Jersey is the second seed, followed by Holden Garcia of Notre Dame Green Pond; Gage Wright of Parkersburg South in West Virginia; and Dom Federici of Wyoming Seminary. Matthew Furman of Canon-McMillan is sixth seed; Conner McChesney of Fort LeBoeuf is No. 7 and Ian Scammell of Grundy in Virginia is eighth.

The remaining seeds for Waynesburg are Joe Simon, who is sixth seed at 133 pounds; Brody Evans, who is seventh at 189; and Eli Makel, who is eighth at heavyweight.

Canon-McMillan has two seeded wrestlers: Tanner Mizenko, who is sixth at 107; and Furman.

Trinity also has two seeded wrestlers: Blake Reihner, who is seventh at 139 pounds; and Ty Banco, who is third at heavyweight.