Individual Rankings

CLASS AAA
106–1. Vincenzo Joseph (Pittsburgh CC) 30-4; 2. Ricky Cavallo (Hempfield) 26-2; 3. A.C. Headlee (Waynesburg) 36-1; 4. Austin Caldwell (Greensburg Salem) 28-10; 5. Brendon Price (Canon-McMillan) 27-6
113–1. Mike Kemerer (Franklin Regional) 22-0; 2. Dalton Macri (Canon-McMillan) 29-1; 3. Sam Krivus (Hempfield) 28-3; 4. Dom Forys (North Allegheny) 25-2; 5. Nathan Russo (Belle Vernon) 18-3
120–1. Connor Schram (Canon-McMillan) 7-0; 2. Tyler Smith (Franklin Regional) 21-1; 3. Willie Bohince (Penn Trafford) 21-6; 4. Tyler Walker (North Hills) 30-1; 5. Tyler Buckiso (Peters Township) 22-4
126–1. Josh Maruca (Franklin Regional) 19-4; 2. Colt Shorts (Canon-McMillan) 30-2; 3. Luke Palamides (Peters Township) 20-5; 4. Luke Etzel (Elizabeth Forward) 13-2; 5. Drew Walker (North Hills) 26-4.
132–1. Mackenzie McGuire (Upper St. Clair) 23-3; 2. Josh Shields (Franklin Regional) 21-3; 3. Ethan Kenny (Connellsville) 28-4; 4. Derrick Evanovich (Peters Township) 23-4; 5. Jesse Rodgers (North Allegheny) 28-4;
138–1. Cole Landowski (Kiski) 21-2; 2. Ethan Howard (Chartiers Valley) 11-2; 3. John Marotto (Plum) 16-2; 4. Zach Long (Indiana) 16-2; 5. Erik Rayman (Norwin) 15-4
145–1. Solomon Chishko (Canon-McMillan) 30-0; 2. Ty Lydic (Latrobe) 25-2; 3. Heath Coles (Norwin) 17-4; 4. Tanner Wiltrout (Connellsville) 25-5; 5. Alex Powell (Ringgold) 25-3
152–1. Tyler Manion (Pittsburgh CC) 32-6; 2. Dario Dobbin (Canon-McMillan) 26-7; 3. Zach Voytek (Greensburg Salem) 29-3; 4. John Kyriacopoulos (Upper St. Clair) 18-4; 5. Dakota Collins (Butler) 20-4;
160–1. Zack Zavatski (Latrobe) 25-2; 2. Marco Crivelli (Hopewell) 34-2; 3. Austin Wilding (Upper St. Clair) 24-4; 4. Jake Wisener (Ringgold) 23-2; 5. Zach Weight (Belle Vernon) 21-3
170–1. Cody Wiercioch (Canon-McMillan) 30-0; 2. Anthony Cable (Greensburg Salem) 23-5; 3. Alex DeCiantis (North Alleghney) 22-4; 4. Derrick Zavatsky (Latrobe) 19-6; 5. Zach Musco (Kiski) 27-5
182–1. Matt McCutcheon (Kiski) 28-1; 2. Jarred Lux (North Allegheny) 26-0; 3. Kyle Spangler (Hempfield) 25-4; 4. Anthony Brooks (Fox Chapel) 18-2; 5. Adam Nickelson (Belle Vernon) 19-3
195–1. Perry Hills (Pittsburgh CC) 24-0; 2. Jacob Hart (Hampton) 22-2; 3. Scott Mohring (Latrobe) 22-4; 4. Zach Smith (North Allegheny); 5. Ian Binotto (Canon-Mcmillan) 20-4
220–1. Alex Campbell (Canon-McMillan) 28-2; 2. Tanner Hahn (Greensburg Salem) 31-3; 3. Shane Kuhn (Kiski) 27-2; 4. Ben Balish (Pine-Richland) 20-2; 5. Nick Yaroszewski, (Hampton) 21-3
Hvy–1. Cody Klempay (Canon-McMillan) 27-1; 2. Luke Fleck (Franklin Regional) 22-5; 3. Dean Lusk (Ringgold) 16-2; 4. Noah Schulman (Hampton) 25-3; 5. Nate Spinetti (Uniontown) 17-4

CLASS AA
106–1. Austin Griffth (Southmoreland) 20-2; 2. Brendan Howard (Jefferson-Morgan) 24-3; 3. Austin McDermitt (Burgettstown) 20-4
113–1. John Demaske (Jefferson-Morgan) 20-0; 2. Zach Swarrow (Beth-Center) 17-4; 3. Seth Carr (South Fayette) 12-2
120–1. Jason Nolf (Kittanning) 27-0; 2. Nathan Reckner (SS Beaver) 27-4; 3. Jason Miller (Jefferson-Morgan) 22-4
126–1. Jimmy Gulibon (Derry) 12-1; 2. Aaron Toth (Charleroi) 20-0; 3. Vince Vahaly (Bentworth) 24-2
132–1. Josh Kwasny (Charleroi) 22-2; 2. Nick Zanetta (Keystone Oaks) 20-1; 3. Shane Gentry (SS Beaver) 28-5
138–1. Nick Gavazzi (Charleroi) 21-1; 2. Shane King (Laurel) 24-4; 3. George Rogers (Washington) 18-4
145–1. Boe Bonzo (Freedom) 22-1; 2. Tanner Sutton (Chartiers-Houston) 15-0; 3. Grant Fetchet (South Fayette) 15-7
152–1. Francis Mizia (Bentworth) 23-1; 2 Troy Braddock (Blackhawk) 22-2; 3. Conner Payne (SS Beaver) 19-8
160–1. Mike Fetchet (South Fayette) 17-4; 2. Brandon Lesko (Jefferson-Morgan) 20-10; 3. Wade Durbin (West Greene) 18-5
170–1. Dustin Conti (Jefferson-Morgan) 25-0; 2. Garrett Vulcano (Chartiers-Houston) 29-3; 3. Zeke Stroupe (Freedom) 21-2
182–1. Dakota DesLauriers (Burrell) 27-0; 2. Dakota Datz (Southmoreland) 15-5; 3. Joe Phillips (Jefferson-Morgan) 17-7
195-1. Jordan Kitta (Southmoreland) 19-1; 2. Jake Temple (Avella) 19-2; 3. Tanner Garry (Fort Cherry) 11-1
220–1. Greg Kumer (Fort Cherry) 18-1; 2. Kyle Gray (Mapletown) 15-3; 3. Jon Long (Mt. Pleasant) 20-4
Hvy–1. Corey Garry (Fort Cherry) 19-1; 2. Nate Grandelis (Chartiers-Houston)  23-7; 3. Brian Rush (Jefferson-Morgan) 20-10

WPIAL Team Tournament picks

In Class AAA, it isn’t hard to pick the Big Macs to win it all, so let’s make it a bit more difficult. The following are my predictions from the quarterfinals in.
Quarterfinals: Canon-McMillan over Hempfield, Greensburg Salem over Hampton, Connellsville over Butler and Kiski over North Allegheny.
Semifinals: Canon-McMillan over Greensburg Salem and Kiski over Connellsville.
Finals: Canon-McMillan over Kiski in a rematch from the finals of 2010.
In Class AA, Jefferson-Morgan has been the top-ranked team by the Observer-Reporter all season. No reason to change now.
Quarterfinals: Jefferson-Morgan over South Side Beaver, Bentworth over Yough, Burrell over Freedom, and Chartiers-Houston over South Fayette.
Semifinals: Jefferson-Morgan over Bentworth, and Chartiers-Houston over Burrell in a close match.
Finals: Jefferson-Morgan over Chartiers-Houston.

WPIAL Team Tournament Pairings

WPIAL Team Tournament
Class AAA
Preliminary Round
Monday, Jan. 30
at Chartiers Valley
Mars vs. West Mifflin, 6 p.m.; Hopewell vs. Waynesburg 6 p.m.; Elizabeth Forward vs. Peters Township 7:30 p.m.; Upper St. Clair vs. Ringgold, 7:30 p.m.

First-Round
Wednesday, Feb. 1
at Canon-McMillan
Mars-West Mifflin winner vs. Canon-McMillan, 6 p.m.; Hempfield vs. Latrobe, 6 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Mars-West Mifflin-Canon-McMillan winner vs.  Hempfield-Latrobe winner, 7:30 p.m.
at Hampton
Greensburg Salem vs. Chartiers Valley, 7:30 p.m.; Elizabeth Forward-Peters Township winner vs. Hampton, 6 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Greensburg Salem-Chartiers Valley winner vs. Elizabeth Forward-Peters Township- Hampton winner
at Connellsville
Connellsville vs. Hopewell-Waynesburg winner, 6 p.m.; Franklin Regional vs. Butler, 6 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Connellsville-Hopewell-Waynesburg winner vs. Franklin Regional-Butler winner
at Kiski
North Allegheny-Central Catholic winner vs. Upper St. Clair-Ringgold winner
Semifinals
Friday, Feb. 3
Site, teams times to be determined
Finals
Saturday, Feb. 4
at Chartiers Valley, 6:30 p.m.

Class AA
First-Round
Wednesday, Feb. 1
at Jefferson-Morgan
Jefferson-Morgan bye; SS Beaver vs. Keystone Oaks, 6 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Jefferson-Morgan vs. SS Beaver vs. Keystone Oaks winner, 7:30 p.m.
at Bentworth
Valley vs. Yough, 6 p.m.; Fort Cherry vs. Bentworth, 6 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Valley-Yough winner vs. Fort Cherry- Bentworth winner, 7:30 p.m.
at Burrell
Burrell vs. Derry, 6 p.m.; Kittanning vs. Freedom, 6 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Burrell-Derry winner vs. Kittanning-Freedom winner, 7:30 p.m.
at Chartiers-Houston
South Fayette vs. West Greene, 6 p.m.; South Allegheny vs. Chartiers-Houston, 6 p.m.
Quarterfinals
South Fayette-West Greene winner vs. South Allegheny-Chartiers-Houston winner, 7:30 p.m.
Semifinals
Friday, Feb. 3
Site, teams times to be determined
Finals
Saturday, Feb. 4
at Chartiers Valley, 4 p.m.

WPIAL Team Tournament seeds

Caon-McMillan is the No. 1 seed in Class AAA and Jefferson-Morgan is No. 1 in Class AA in the WPIAL Team Tournament pairings released today.

Kiski, Connellsville and Hampton are seeds 2-4 in Class AAA and Chartiers-Houston, Burrell and Bentworth are seeds 2-4 in Class AA.

Waynesburg, Peters Township and Ringgold wrestle in Monday's pigtail matches at Chartiers Valley.

Canon-McMillan hosts Latrobe, Hempfield and a pigtail winner in Wednesday's first round. Hampton, Connellsville and Kiski are the other host sites.

Jefferson-Morgan gets a first-round bye and hosts SS Beaver and Keystone Oaks for Wednesday's first round. Chartiers-Houston and Bentworth also has home sites for the first round.

Semifinals are Friday at a site not yet determined and finals are at Chartiers Valley Saturday, Class AA at 4 p.m. and Class AAA at 6:30.

Section Tournament thoughts

I am always amazed that people urge me to publish my pre-tournament selections when I stink at it. I only got two on the nose: Section 2 in Class AAA and Section 3 in Class AA. Greensburg Salem beating Central Catholic on criteria was a shocker but that team must be underrated to beat PCC. Hampton knocking off North Allegheny was unexpected and I took a shot with South Fayette and lost.

Canon-McMillan getting Connor Schram back in the lineup was key if the Big Macs want to sweep the team tournament titles this season. If the rankings hold, then Canon-McMillan and Central Dauphin will be the two best teams in the state team tournament that begins in a couple weeks. Of course, the PIAA in all its idiocy has the bracket set so the teams meet in the semifinals. Geniuses.

Despite having two dozen wrestlers on the sideline, Yough forfeited four bouts to Jefferson-Morgan in the first round of Section 2-AA. Not sure what Yough coach Jeremy Zufall was thinking - we'll save everyone for the third-place match? - but I can't imagine parents of those wrestlers who sat were pleased.

The strongest section in wrestling is 1-AAA, where Kiski, Latrobe, Greensburg Salem, Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Franklin Regional and Penn Trafford reside. Would have loved to see those matches Wednesday night.

Chartiers-Houston's 63-10 win over Freedom might have been a rouit but the 145-pound bout where Tanner Sutton decisioned Boe Bonzo, 5-3, would have been worth watching the other 13 to get to it.

WPIAL Team Tournament pairings will be released today.

Picking the winners

For those of you who have read this blog for a while, you know that we are heading into my two least favorite parts of the season. The first is the Section Team Tournament, which plays out Wednesday and the second is the PIAA Team Tournament, which begins a couple weeks from now.

The Section Team Tournament is nothing but a seeding process with only one of the six teams failing to advance. I would be willing to totally do without this event if it it did not allow for two very positive things in the sport.

First, it cuts the dual meet season down because there are fewer teams in the subsections. That allows teams to use more scheduling points to compete in more regular season duals and tournaments and I think that's a good thing. I don't want to go back to the 8-team sections because the competition level was awful for most of those matches.

Second, it does determine a section champion, and that is a good accomplishment.

That being said: Here are my picks:

Class AAA

Canon-McMillan, Peters Township, Waynesburg, Char Valley in Section 4
North Allegheny, Butler, Hampton, Hopewell in Section 3
Connellsville, Hempfield, Ringgold, Elizabeth Forward in Section 2
Kiski, Central Catholic, Greensburg Salem, Latrobe in Section 1

Class AA
Chartiers-Houston, South Fayette, Freedom, SS Beaver in Section 1
Jefferson-Morgan, Derry, Bentworth, Yough in Section 2
Burrell, Valley, Keystone Oaks, South Allegheny in Section 1

I'll even throw in the fifth-place teams:
Upper St. Clair, Pine-Richland, Belle Vernon, Franklin Regional in Class AAA
Fort Cherry, West Greene, Kittanning in Class AA

Team Rankings

Class AAA
1. Canon-McMillan 16-0
2. Kiski 17-0
3. North Allegheny 13-2
4. Pittsburgh CC 8-2
5. Connellsville 11-3
6. Peters Township 6-0
7. Franklin Regional 6-3
8. Greensburg Salem 8-2
9. Butler 12-2
10. Hampton 12-1

Class AA
1. Jefferson-Morgan  11-1
2. Chartiers-Houston 8-4
3. Bentworth 9-1
4. Derry 5-0
5. Burrell 8-8

Notes – This will be the final team rankings because the tournament is about to get under way. … Burrell might be the first team with eight losses to be ranked. … I think Freedom is 5-1 but I haven't found their results anywhere on line. So I'm not ranking them.

Burgettstown results

Team Scoring
1. Hopewell 172, 2. Seneca Valley 140.5, 3. Southmoreland 138, 4. Pine-Richland 125.5, 5. Youngsville 118, 6. Burgettstown 110.5, 7. Freedom 99, 8. Avella 88, 9. Beth-Center 79.5, 10. Charleroi 75, 11. Shaler 60.5, 12. Fort Cherry 54, 13. South Park 46.5, 14. Beaver 35, 15. Central Valley & Mapletown 34, 17. Blackhawk 33, 18. Uniontown 32, 19. Washington 31, 20. North Catholic 10.

Finals
106 - Austin Griffith, Southmoreland dec. Austin McDermitt, Burgettstown, 4-2 OT.
113 - Zach Swarrow, Beth-Center pinned Ted Mazer, Shaler, 4:57.
120 - Joey Beltz, Southmoreland major dec. Chet Ciukaj, Youngsville, 15-7.
126 - Aaron Toth, Charleroi dec. Filippo Crivelli, Hopewell, 3-0.
132 - Josh Kwasny, Charleroi dec. Austin Leon, Seneca Valley, 3-0.
138 - Nick Gavazzi, Charleroi pinned George Rogers, Washington, 3:38.
145 - Boe Bonzo, Freedom pinned Taylor Wentzel, South Park, 2:27.
152 - Matt Riggle, Beth-Center pinned Heath Nye, Freedom, 2:37.
160 - Marco Crivelli, Hopewell dec. Josh Lewis, Youngsville, 6-4.
170 - Damon Drositis, Hopewell pinned Zack Simonelli, Avella, 1:13.
182 - Zeke Stroupe, Freedom major dec. Dakota Datz, Southmoreland, 11-2.
195 - Jordan Kitta, Southmoreland dec. Jake Temple, Avella, 3-1 OT.
220 - Greg Kumer, Ft. Cherry pinned Ben Balish Pine-Richland, 3:22.
285 - Nathan Spinetti, Uniontown dec. DJ Sims Hopewell, 4-0.

A moving tribute

Todd Irwin of the Altoona Mirror wrote a good story about the Chestnut Ridge wrestling team honroing Brioan Corle, a teammate who was killed in a car crash in the fall. Here is the link:


http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/557259/All-in-for-Brian--Chestnut-Ridge-honors-memory-of-Corle.html?nav=755

Team Tournament Section Pairings

Team Tournament Section Pairings
Class AAA
Wednesday, Jan. 25
Section 1
at Greensburg Salem
Kiski vs. Latrobe, Central Catholic vs. Greensburg Salem, 6 p.m.
Second round at 7:30 p.m.
Fifth Place
Penn-Trafford vs. Franklin Regional 4:30 p.m.

Section 2
at Ringgold
Ringgold vs. Hempfield, Connellsville vs. Elizabeth Forward, 6 p.m.
Second round at 7:30 p.m.
Fifth place West Mifflin vs. Belle Vernon, 4:30 p.m.

Section 3
at North Allegheny
North Allegheny vs. Hampton, Butler vs. Hopewell, 6 p.m.
Second round at 7:30 p.m.
Fifth Place
Pine-Richland vs. Mars, 4:30 p.m.

Section 4
at Peters Township
Peters Township vs. Chartiers Valley, Canon-McMillan vs. Waynesburg, 6 p.m.
Second round at 7:30 p.m.
Fifth Place
Trinity vs. Upper St. Clair, 4:30 p.m.

Class AA
Section 1
at Freedom
Freedom vs. South Fayette, Chartiers-Houston vs. SS Beaver, 6 p.m.
Second round at 7:30 p.m.
Fifth Place
Laurel vs. Fort Cherry, 4:30 p.m.

Section 2
at Derry
Derry vs. Bentworth, Jefferson-Morgan vs. Yough, 6 p.m.
Second round at 7:30 p.m.
Fifth Place
Southmoreland vs. West Greene, 4:30 p.m.

Section 3
at Burrell
Burrell vs. South Allegheny, Keystone Oaks vs. Valley, 6 p.m.
Second round at 7:30 p.m.
Fifth Place
Kittanning vs. Riverview, 4:30 p.m.

Another great program

Maybe we can all take a break from the Canon-McMillan debates to recognize there are other great teams out there. This is from Rodfrisco.com:

Central Dauphin established a Pennsylvania record for consecutive wrestling dual meet victories with a 70-3 triumph over Central Bucks East in the opening round of the Central Dauphin Duals. With four more victories in the event, CD (9-0) will take an 82-match streak into Wednesday’s match with once-beaten Big Spring (10-1).

The opening-round victory was CD’s 78th straight and broke the previous mark of 77 set by Dallastown from the 1983-84 season through the 1988-89 season. The Dallastown streak was stopped by South Western, 31-15, on Jan. 11, 1989.
CD’s winning streak began on Jan. 12, 2008, following a 34-31 loss to Cumberland Valley in the third round of the five-round Cumberland Valley Winter Duals. The Rams defeated Council Rock South in the fourth round, 38-17, to start its current streak which has spanned four years and two days.
In the process, Central Dauphin became the first District 3 team to win four consecutive District 3-AAA team championships (Hanover has the District 3 record with seven straight titles, all in Class AA) and four straight PIAA Class AAA Team Championship titles.
The Rams defeated Mifflin County 53-10 for their 79th straight victory and Middletown 55-8 for their 80th straight victory. CD crushed Abington Heights 71-3 in the fourth round for its 81st straight victory and beat St. Anthony’s from Melville, NY (Long Island) 52-12 to close out the Duals at 82 straight.
Central Dauphin is ranked No. 26 nationally by Intermat.