Local wrestlers go winless at Char-Houston Tournament
By Joe Tuscano
Contributing writer
HOUSTON – It used to be that participating in the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament was a good way to get a nice looking trophy for the case at school.
Not anymore.
This tournament has grown in number of teams and strength of participation.
Just take a look at Saturday’s result to see how.
Six local wrestlers made it through the semifinals to land a spot in the finals. Each one took a beating. The closest anyone came to victory was five points.
Nicholas McGarrity of Peters Township was looking for his third straight title but was pinned in 1:50 by Preston Bubash of Elizabeth-Forward. McGarrity won at 114 last year and 107 the year before that.
“I think he’ll be fine, coming back from this,” said Peters Township head coach Derrick Evanovich. “He never has a problem coming back from bad losses. He keeps his head cool and keeps working.”
Jefferson-Morgan had a strong tournament sending two wrestlers to the finals: Brayden Hanning lost to Bryce Thomas of Moon by a 17-11 decision in the 107 finals and Geno Orlandi lost by technical fall, 18-2, to Jordan Thompson of Bradford at 160.
Santino Sloboda, a senior from Butler, became only the second wrestler in tournament history to win four titles with a 17-1 technical fall over Brady Rohaly of North Hills at 133 pounds. The first wrestler to win four titles was Makenzie McGuire of Upper St. Clair. He won titles from 2008 to 2011.
Angelo Mele, a sophomore 152-pounder, became the first wrestler from C-H to reach the finals since Josh Kuslock won at 138 pounds in 2016. Mele lost by 15-0 technical fall in the finals to Griffen Reed of North Allegheny.
“I was a little bit happy with the way I wrestled,” said Mele. “I had a good mentality. The crowd got me motivated too.”
Noah Layhue of Beth-Center was pinned in 3:11 in the 215 finals. And West Greene’s Colin Whyte, who placed fourth in the state tournament last season, dropped a 7-2 decision to Bra
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- Angelo Mele of Chartiers-Houston lands hard on the mat during 152-pound championship action against North Allegheny’s Griffen Reid. Mele lost by technical fall to Reid in the finals of the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament.
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- Brayden Hanning from Jefferson Morgan maintains control over Bryce Thomas from Moon during the 107-pound finals of the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament. Despite the brief advantage, Hanning dropped a 17-10 decision to Thomas.
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- Colin Whyte from West Greene battled North Allegheny’s Bradyn McConneha in the heavyweight championship match at the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament. He dropped a 7-2 decision in the finals.
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- Geno Orlandi from Jefferson-Morgan maintains control over Bradford’s Jordan Thompson during championship action in the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament. Orlandi lost by technical fall, 18-2, but went three periods against Thompson in the 152-pound bout.
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- Noah Layhue from Beth-Center finds himself in a tough spot after being taken down to the mat by Evan Gavin from St. Mary’s Ryken of Maryland during 215-pound championship action at the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament. Layhue eventually suffered a second period fall.
“It was a tough loss but he’ll rebound from it,” said West Greene head coach Gary Whyte. “We’re still working to get into shape from football season.”