Mar 6, 2017 By Eleanor Bailey 4 min read

Nino Bonaccorsi made history when he defeated Matt McGillick, 10-3, in the 182-pound final during the WPIAL Class AAA and Southwestern Regional wrestling championships held March 3-4 at Canon-McMillan High School. With his second straight championship, he became the first wrestler from Bethel Park to achieve that milestone.

“When you realize that it’s the first time in school history that somebody has won two straight, it feels really good,” said the son of Melody and Mark Bonaccorsi. “It’s pretty cool.”

Cool is Bonaccorsi’s approach to wrestling. Though seeded first in the tournament, the senior went about his task methodically, not fretting about being a defending champion. He pinned his first opponent, Keegan Ryan of Indiana, in 2:10, scored a technical fall against Kiski’s Brad Nagy, 25-9, in the quarterfinals then posted a major decision against Teegan Hahn from Greensburg Salem, 16-5, to reach the championship bout against McGillick.

“I really don’t feel pressure because I try not to get too nervous and I don’t pay attention to seeds and rankings,” Bonaccorsi said. “I just take it one match at a time.”

Bonaccorsi’s match against McGillick was a familiar one as he has beaten the Penn-Trafford senior in the past.

“Though I’ve won against him before, every time it has been competitive,” said Bonaccorsi. “He’s a tough opponent.”

Tougher opponents lie ahead for Bonaccorsi as he embarks on his quest for the PIAA title. The top four finishers in each weight classification at the regional tournament advanced to the PIAA championships set for March 9-11 at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Bonaccorsi, who was a PIAA runner-up last year, is one of the top five seeds coming out of the regional tournaments held last weekend in the state. He is undefeated at 36-0 and will face the winner between Hahn (31-6) and Coatesville’s Sean McBride (26-13) in his opening match.

“I feel that I’m prepared and ready to go out and wrestle but you can’t look ahead in the brackets because they are unpredictable. You realize everybody is good at this point and anyone can be the best on any given day.”

Bonaccorsi has been one of the best for four years because the grappler, who has won more than 100 career matches, has adopted an aggressive approach on the mats.

“I try to go out and score as many points as I can,” he said “You constantly want to be on the offensive and looking for the next points to score. You want to start off offensively and go for the win.”

At Canon-McMillan, Brendan Furman went for the win and got the victory in the heavyweight category to become a district and regional champion. A three-time section winner, the senior defeated Isaac Reid from Kiski in the 285-pound finals.

“I’ve choked the last three years,” Furman said. “It just took me that long to realize I love the sport. The last three years, I was worried about winning and I wasn’t worried about wrestling my match.”

With his win, Furman punched his ticket to Hershey. He will be joined by three other teammates as Logan Macri (120) and Gerritt Nijenhuis (152) finished as runners-up in the regional and Matt Oblock (126) placed third.

Four other local grapplers earned berths in the PIAA tournament.

Eli Grape finished as the 195-pound runner-up. The Upper St. Clair senior lost his bid for a WPIAL and regional title when he fell to Jake Woodley of North Allegheny. Jake Slinger joins Grape on the trip to Hershey. He finished fourth at 220.

Mt. Lebanon freshman Luke Stout (152) and Bethel Park’s Jason Montgomery (160) were also fourth-place finishers, securing the final berths for states.