Area wrestlers win section titles
Several area wrestlers captured section titles and advanced as top seeds to win WPIAL championships.
During the Section 2AAA championships held at Thomas Jefferson, brothers Luke and Mac Stout from Mt. Lebanon, as well as Peters Township teammates Bryce Wilkes and Donovan McMillon, won titles.
A two-time champion, Luke Stout dominated the 195-pound weight class. The Princeton recruit pinned Jake Fisher from Thomas Jefferson in 15 seconds in his semifinal bout and defeated Bethel Park’s Luke Montgomery 5-0 in the championship match.
Montgomery managed a fall in his quarterfinal match and a 21-4 tech fall in his semifinal win over West Mifflin’s Howie Congdon.
At 170, Mac Stout won a semifinal fall in 1:51 over Connellsville’s Dennis Nichelson and a 12-4 major decision over TJ’s Brian Finnerty in the finals.
Wilkes picked up his title at 126. The senior dropped Connellsville’s Hunter Claycomb in 1:45. He had recorded two other falls on the way to his championship.
McMillon won the 182-pound title. After two falls in the early rounds of action, McMillon escaped with a 1-0 win over Dakota Rodgers from Connellsville in the finals. Rodgers had beaten Jaden Keating of Upper St. Clair and Riley O’Mara from Bethel Park in his previous matches. O’Mara finished third overall and qualified for the district championships.
In addition to Montgomery, Jackson Gray from Mt. Lebanon, PT’s Jackson Spiteri and BP’s Bryson Bench finished as runners-up at 145, 113 and 120, respectively.
Other place winners for the Blue Devils were Luke Iovino, fourth at 152; Eli Crittenden, fourth at 132; Ben Streiff, fourth at 285; and Louie Pietragallo, fifth at 126.
The other place winners and district qualifier for the Black Hawks were Parker Loera, third at 138; and Tyler Thimons, fourth at 220.
PT’s Henry Meyers took third at 106 and gained a WPIAL berth.
Upper St. Clair’s Dan Kyle finished fourth at 145 and qualified for the WPIAL championships.
Canon-McMillan crowned three champions and added four second place finishers during the Section 3 championships held at Chartiers Valley.
The Big Macs’ Costa Moore won an 8-2 decision over Peter Chacon of Montour for the 120-pound title. Tanner Rohaley won at 152 with a 1-0 decision against Ambridge’s Daniel Yetsick. Geri Nijenhuis defeated Danell Johnson of Waynesburg in 1:53 for a championship at 182.
The Big Macs’ runners-up were Brandon Dami (113), Matthew Furman (170), Tyler Rohaley (195) and Evan Miller (220).
South Fayette crowned two champions in Eli Brinsky at 170 and Quentin Franklin at 285. While Brinsky scored a 7-0 decision against Furman, Franklin eked out a 1-0 win against Trinity’s Tyson Brophy for his title.
Chartiers Valley had two finalists.
While the Colts’ Christopher Beatty pinned Waynesburg’s Colton Stinking in 5:18 for the 145-pound title, Dylan Evans finished runner-up to Rocco Welsh. The freshman fell to the Red Raider, 9-1, in the 126-pound final.
Third-place winners for the Colts were: Donovan O’Malley, Joshua Sarasnick and Murat Zaynullaev. Cody Trout and Shabur Karimov both finished fourth.
The WPIAL championships will be held Feb. 27-29 at Canon-McMillan. The top four finishers in each weight class advanced to the PIAA tournament set for March 5-7 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
In the Southwest Regional Class AA tournament, Joey Fischer from South Park captured the 113-pound title. He edged Kai Burkett from Chestnut Ridge 1-0 in the championship match.