Sentipal, Vargo have tough draws at Class 2A regional
Burgettstown’s Parker Sentipal and Bentworth’s Chris Vargo each were Class 2A Southwest Region Tournament champions last year, but neither is seeded among the top three in their weight class at this year’s tournament, which begins today at Altoona High School.
The Southwest Region in Class 2A includes the top wrestlers from the WPIAL and Districts 5 and 6.
Tournament officials seed the champion from each district, then use one of three predetermined brackets depending on which wrestler is seeded first.
The reason that Sentipal and Vargo are not seeded is that neither won a WPIAL title last weekend at Chartiers Valley High School.
Sentipal, a Southwest Region champ at 106 last year, placed third at 114 pounds at the WPIAL tournament after losing 1-0 in the semifinals to Indiana’s Nico Fanella, the eventual champion.
Sentipal is now in the same quarter of the bracket with top seed Landon Bainey of West Branch, which makes his road to another regional title much tougher.
Vargo, a two-time Southwest Region champion, placed second in the WPIAL after losing 5-1 to Burrell’s Cooper Hornack in the 127-pound title match.
Vargo is now in the same half of the bracket with Bald Eagle Area’s Coen Bainey. Vargo has wrestled Bainey six times in three years and beat him four times, including a win in the finals of the Ultimate Warrior Tournament at West Branch.
If Vargo can get past Bainey in the semifinals, he will most likely have a rematch with Hornack in the finals.
The other two returning regional champions from the WPIAL are Laurel’s Grant MacKay and Frazier’s Rune Lawrence. Both are two-time regional champs. Both have moved up one weight class to 160 and 189, respectively. Each is seeded No. 1. and e expected to win a third consecutive title.
Three area wrestlers are seeded among the top three in their weight class after winning a WPIAL title last week: Burgettstown’s Joey Sentipal, Beth-Center’s Tyler Debnar, and Fort Cherry’s Braedon Welsh.
Sentipal is the top seed at 139 pounds. He has finished sixth, fifth, and second in three previous appearances at the regional tournament.
“Anything besides a state championship this year in unacceptable,” Sentipal said. “Winning a regional title would be the next goal to reach on that journey.”
Debnar is seeded No. 3 at 145 pounds, behind two returning champions – Penn Cambria’s Trent Hoover and Chestnut Ridge’s Calan Bollman. Hoover won at 126 last year while Bollman won at 132. The two have met twice this year with Hoover winning both times.
“I don’t even care who is in my region,” Debnar said. “I just have to go out there and give it my all like I did at the WPIAL tournament.”
Welsh is seeded No. 2 behind Bald Eagle Area’s Caleb Close at 172 pounds. Close placed fourth at the same weight last year. Welsh placed sixth at 160 last year.
“It will be tough. I will be in the same weight class with Caleb Close,” Welsh said. “He’s ranked ahead of me. Hopefully, I can wrestle well enough to get a chance to face him in the finals.”
Washington and Greene counties will be well represented at the regional tournament. A total of 33 local wrestlers qualified by placing among the top eight at the WPIAL tournament.
Burgettstown will have the most entries with eight. Beth-Center and Bentworth each have five. The other local schools are McGuffey (4), Jefferson-Morgan (3), West Greene (3), Fort Cherry (2), Chartiers-Houston (2), and Belle Vernon (1).