Feb 3, 2016 4 min read

After capturing its 15th straight section banner, Canon-McMillan embarks on its quest for a team championship when the WPIAL wrestling tournament commences. The Big Macs will host Peters Township at 6 p.m. in the first round of the Class AAA tournament. The winner advances to the quarterfinals to face the winner of the North Hills vs. Latrobe match at 7:30 p.m.

Should the Big Macs prevail, they likely would battle No. 2 Kiski or No. 5 Shaler in the semifinals set for 2 p.m. Feb. 6 at Penn Hills. The finals follow at 4 p.m. Belle Vernon is seeded No. 1 and the Leopards appeared tough to beat in winning the Section 2 tournament, manhandling Upper St. Clair, 69-6, and Connellsville, 57-12.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Big Macs head coach Jason Cardillo of the team tournament. “(Belle Vernon) has a nice lineup. They’ll be tough to beat.

“Can we beat them?” he asked. “We’re sure going to try. If everything goes into place, we could definitely do it. We just need guys where they need to be.”

In the Section 4-AAA tournament, the Big Macs certainly were where they needed to be. They opened with a decisive win against Montour, 60-12, then slipped past Waynesburg, 39-27.

After Micah Kusturiss started the match with a 2-0 decision at 152, Tommy James, Colin McCracken, Nick Konyk, Brendan Furman, Michael Binni and Logan Macri posted pins in six of the next eight bouts. The Big Macs picked up six pins against the Spartans, also.

Though Belle Vernon won the Section 2-AAA title, the Panthers and Peters Township did well enough to qualify for the preliminary round of the team tournament. Each needed to win Feb. 1 to advance to the opening round of action.

After falling to Connellsville, 36-34, the Indians defeated USC, 47-29, in the battle for third and fourth place in the section. Colton Jezioro, A.J. Buckiso, Luke Mary, Jeff Markert and Nick Belack scored falls for Peters Township against the Panthers, who wrestled without Eli Grape. In the loss to the Falcons, Dan Florentino, Buckiso and Mike McAleavey had pins.

“We came to wrestle,” said PT head coach Jason Carpetta. “We scrapped.” Carpetta was pleased with how the Indians rebounded after the narrow loss to Connellsville. “We came back and wrestled well,” he said. “It’s tough, but the guys responded.”

The Indians (13-3) also responded in their play-in match. They defeated West Allegheny, 42-27, to clinch a berth in the WPIAL team tournament. They face Canon-McMillan in their opening match. Peters received clutch wins from Markert, Caleb Glenn and Belack as well as a critical pin from McAleavey to seal the deal against West-A. The Indians also took advantages of forfeit wins at 106, 120 and 195.

“We’re going to go there and wrestle,” Carpetta said. “Canon-Mac is a tough team. We’ll have our hands full. But, this team has done exceptionally well right now.”

USC (8-5) did well in the beginning, mounting a 10-point lead but fell to Trinity, 43-25, in its play-in match. Jake Slinger and Eli Grape registered falls for the Panthers.

In Class AA, South Fayette looks to respond after surrendering its section title to Freedom, 34-30. The Lions had won three straight Section 1 titles before being toppled. While the Lions had beaten Burgettstown, 54-21, in the opener, Freedom dispatched Chartiers-Houston, 40-30. The Bucs, however, recovered to beat the Blue Devils, 46-27, to place third.

South Fayette battles Mapletown 6 p.m. Feb. 3 at McGuffey in the AA team playoffs while Char-Houston travels to Derry for its first-round match at 6 p.m. All quarterfinals matches will follow at the same sites at 7:30 p.m. The Class AA semifinals and finals will be held at noon and 2 p.m. respectively Feb. 6 at Chartiers-Houston.

The top three teams in both classifications advance to the PIAA team tournament. The first round of action in the state event will take place Feb. 8 at sites and times to be determined. The tournament shifts to the Giant Center in Hershey Feb. 11-13 through the championships.