Penn-Trafford sends record number of wrestlers to states

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, March 12, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Waynesburg assistant coach Scott Rhodes said he was surprised when he looked in the PIAA individual championship brackets and saw that Penn-Trafford qualified five wrestlers for the state tournament.

“I thought we had the most (five), but they had a heck of a tournament,” Rhodes said. “I was shocked that they had five too. Good for them.”

Penn-Trafford’s program set a record under the direction of first-year coach Travis McKillop by sending five to Hershey.

“We had a great WPIAL tournament,” McKillop said. “I’m really proud of the team. It’s a stepping stone for the program. Getting kids to Hershey for individuals is what it’s all about.”

Qualifying for the Warriors were senior heavyweight Joe Enick, who placed second, senior Owen Ott, third at 215, sophomore Tasso Whipple, fourth at 172, junior Hayden Coy, third at 127, and freshman Dylan Barrett, third at 107. Dominic Hartman placed eighth a 160.

Enick reached the WPIAL finals with a last-second win against Pine-Richland’s Joe Schneck. Enick got a reversal with less than four seconds left for a 2-1 victory.

Ott defeated Latrobe senior Corey Boerio for the second consecutive week to secure third place.

Whipple lost the third-place match against Kiski Area sophomore Mark Gray. Canon-McMillan senior Matt Furman beat him in the quarterfinals, forcing him to qualify from the consolation round.

Coy lost to Canon-McMillan junior Andrew Binni, 4-3, in the quarterfinals and then came back to pin Peters Township’s John Radnor, blank Trinity’s T.J. Allison, 4-0, edge Connellsville’s Evan Petrovich, 1-0, and defeat Seneca Valley’s Tyler Chappell, 6-5, for third place.

Barrett lost to WPIAL champion and Canon-McMillan junior Tanner Mizenko in the semifinals but bounced back to blank Plum’s Owen Campbell, 4-0, and edge Mt. Lebanon’s Ejiro Montoya, 8-5, for third.

“I don’t see why we can’t go up and have a good tournament,” McKillop said. “We just have to go up and let it fly. We had other wrestlers who didn’t qualify that performed well.”

McKillop said he’s excited about the future of the program as he expects some help coming from the middle school ranks.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford