Jan 22, 2026 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

Canon-McMillan wrestling coach Jurdon Maier was hopeful that a section championship would get his team a top-four spot in the WPIAL Class 3A bracket.

They got their reward.

The Big Macs were seeded third by the WPIAL steering committee and will host matches Wednesday when the WPIAL team tournaments begin.

Meanwhile, in Class 2A, McGuffey was awarded the No. 3 seed after winning the Section 1 title and finishing with a 14-1 record in dual meets.

The Big Macs will face the winner of a preliminary match between Belle Vernon and Mars in the first round. North Allegheny and Latrobe are in the other first-round matchup.

“I think we earned a spot in the top four,” Maier said. “The committee does a great job. They do their homework.”

All matches are on Wednesday in both classifications.

Preliminary round matches are scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. with the first round to follow at 6 and the quarterfinals are slated to begin at 7:15.

The semifinals and championship matches are at Peters Township’s AHN Arena, Saturday Jan. 31.

Class 2A semifinals are at 10 a.m. with the championship and third-place consolation at 11:30 a.m. and Class 3A semifinals are at 1:30 p.m. with championship and consolation at 3 p.m.

Trinity is the seventh seed in Class 3A and takes on West Allegheny in the first round at Norwin. If the Hillers advance they’ll likely face the Knights in the quarterfinals.

They’ll look to rebound following their loss to Canon-McMillan on Wednesday.

“We let them dictate the pace of the match too much and didn’t wrestle with enough urgency,” Trinity coach Ron Tarquino said. “I know talent-wise we can wrestle with anybody, we were doing things that were uncharacteristic of us. We have some things that we can take with us and work on.”

Peters Township is matched up with Shaler in a preliminary match at Franklin Regional. The winner advances to meet the top-seeded Panthers in the first round.

Class 2A

McGuffey will go against the winner of a preliminary round match between

Bentworth and Keystone Oaks in the first round.

Burgettstown and Chartiers-Houston are the other teams in the McGuffey quadrant.

Four of the five teams are from Washington County.

“Getting to host is always great,” McGuffey coach Jared Roberts said. “It’s a good honor to be a top-four seed and that’s been our goal all year. I thought it was interesting that four of the five schools are from Washington County. That’s just how it worked out. It’s good for the local area for all the folks coming to not have to go too far.”

The Highlanders defeated Chartiers-Houston 59-18 Wednesday to clinch the section title. McGuffey made a run to the semifinals last year and ended up winning the consolation match to get into the PIAA tournament.

The hope is to make it two years in a row as a semifinalist and possibly win its first WPIAL team title since 1999 and fifth overall.

“We’re excited and the team is confident,” Roberts said. “We had a really good match (against Chartiers-Houston) and if that continues, I think we’ll do well.”

Jefferson-Morgan, the Section 3 champion, is seeded fifth and will meet Avella in the first round at Laurel, which is the fourth seed.

“I think the committee got it right,” Rockets coach Troy Barnhart said. “We’re not taking anyone lightly. We learned that lesson last year. We need to be prepared and ready to wrestle a solid Avella team.”

Beth-Center faces Quaker Valley at top-seeded Burrell The winner likely meets the host Bucs in the quarterfinals.