Trib HSSN Wrestling Team of the Week: Mt. Pleasant Vikings

By: Greg Macafee
Tuesday, February 9, 2021 | 9:00 AM

As the No. 3 team in the WPIAL Class AA rankings, Mt. Pleasant placed second at the Westmoreland County Wrestling Tournament with 163 points this past weekend, coming in behind the WPIAL Class AAA No. 4 Franklin Regional.

Junior Dayton Pitzer led the Vikings with a title at 215 pounds, earning a 6-4 decision over Belle Vernon’s Cole Weightman. Junior 172-pounder Noah Gnibus placed second, falling to Kiski Area’s Sammy Starr, who is No. 2 in the weight class in Class AAA. Gnibus is No. 3 in AA.

At 106, freshman Joesph Longhi earned a third-place finish behind Burrell’s Cooper Hornack and Franklin Regional’s Ty Kapusta. In the third-place match, Longhi pinned Kiski Area’s Jackson Sandor in 48 seconds.

Heavyweight Ian Fasano also picked up a third-place finish for the Vikings. After being pinned by eventual county champ Isaiah Vance from Hempfield, Fasano picked up a 6-2 decision over Belle Vernon’s Chad Metikosh.

Jackson Hutter took third place at 160 with a 9-0 major decision over Greensburg Salem’s Cooper Phillips.

Mt. Pleasant’s Conor Johnson took fourth after falling to Greensburg Salem’s Cody Kaufman in the third-place match at 145 pounds.

In addition, Brady Poole was fifth at 126 pounds, Jamison Poklembo was fifth at 132, Greg Shaulis was sixth at 120, and Sean Cain was sixth at 113.

Honorable mention

Franklin Regional: The WPIAL Class AAA No. 4 Panthers won the Westmoreland County Wrestling Tournament with four champions. Carter Dibert (126), Finn Solomon (138), Garrett Thompson (152), Mario Sarnic (145) brought home titles for the Panthers.

Butler: The Golden Tornado (12-2) haven’t lost since Jan. 20, when they dropped a contest to WPIAL Class AAA No. 2 Seneca Valley, 46-18. It came on the heels of their only other loss of the season, against Burrell on Jan. 16. Butler has won nine straight matches, and that continued this past week when it beat West Allegheny, 60-13. Butler recorded five pins in the match.

Freedom: The Bulldogs improved to 10-2 this past week when they went 6-1 over two nights. On Feb. 2, the Bulldogs took down Carlynton, Ambridge and New Castle. The next night, the Bulldogs went 3-1, with their lone loss coming to Fort Cherry, 34-21. They beat Ambridge, South Side and Beaver.

Burgettstown: The Blue Devils haven’t lost a dual meet all season, and that streak continued this week when they shut out Washington, 77-0, on Feb. 3. Anthony Lancos (145), Ryan Green (160), Shane Kemper (172), Turner Lehman (189) and Garret Suica (215) picked up pins in the match for the Blue Devils. Hunter Guiddy (138) earned a technical fall.

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Tags: Burgettstown, Butler, Franklin Regional, Freedom, Mt. Pleasant