Wrestlers ready for action in Chartiers-Houston Tournament
South Fayette, Upper St. Clair and Peters Township will be among the 26 teams competing in the Chartiers-Houston Invitational, kicking off the 2017-18 scholastic wrestling season.
Action begins at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 8. Consolation rounds commence at 10 a.m. Dec. 9. The semifinals are scheduled for 11:30 a.m., while consolation finals begin at 1:30 p.m. and the championship matches start at 4.
South Fayette enters the tournament ranked second in Class AA of the WPIAL, behind Burrell, which has captured 11 consecutive district team titles. The Lions have been WPIAL semifinalists for the past five years. They return 13 starters from last year’s 18-4 squad.
Jake Walker, who compiled a 27-8 record at 220 last winter, was a bronze medalist in the district. He is one of the seniors to watch in the Char-Houston tournament along with Colin Dunn, who was 30-13 at 113 in 2017, and Mike Cusick, who was 36-11 at 145.
The Lions hope to battle North Hills and Freedom for the team title in the event. Those squads are the top two returning teams from last year’s tournament. Freedom finished runner-up to Burrell in the finals of the past two WPIAL team tournaments.
Jake Slinger and Luke Mary are additional wrestlers to watch. Each is a returning champion. Slinger competes for USC and Mary wrestles for Peters. Both played football this fall.
Six additional champions return to defend their titles, including ZJ Ward. The Freedom junior is a two-time WPIAL finalist. He posted a 39-8 record last year at 113.
Among the other returning champions are: Sam Hillegas and Nathan Mankey from North Hills; Matt Inman from Annville-Cleona; Tim Wallace from Albert Gallatin and Dominic Fundy from Beth-Center.
NH’s Jeremy MacPherson, Butler’s Isaiah Christy, Fort Cherry’s Nick Candelore, Laurel Highlands’ Ian Edenfield and South Side Beaver’s Bishop McCoy look to move into the winners’ circle after finishing as runners-up last year.
In addition to the host Buccaneers, Chartiers Valley, South Park, Avella, Bentworth, Burgettstown, Mapletown and West Greene are among the other area teams competing. Armstrong, Beaver, Central Valley, Conneaut Area, Elizabeth-Forward, Frazier and Pine-Richland will also participate.