Freshmen stood tall during Franklin Regional’s run to PIAA wrestling tournament

By: Paul Schofield
Saturday, February 17, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Franklin Regional wrestling ended the team portion of the season Feb. 10 on the mats at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Thanks to a unique balance of seniors and some talented freshmen, the Panthers (22-3) made it to Day 3 of the PIAA Class 3A team tournament.

While the Panthers saw their season end with a 29-26 loss to Central Dauphin, they had their chances of reaching the top six. They settled with a top-eight finish. They entered the tournament ranked 13^th by Pa. Power Wrestling.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more from them,” Franklin Regional coach Matt Lebe said. “The seniors provided the leadership, and the freshmen were talented and hard workers. All they know is hard work; they’re winners.”

The leadership came from Tyler Kapusta, Troy McClelland and Juliano Marion. Kapusta and Marion are two-time PIAA qualifiers.

Kapusta (37-4, 112-30) is a two-time PIAA place winner who finished fourth in 2022 and seventh in 2023. He placed second in the WPIAL in 2023.

Marion (36-5, 125-31) is a two-time PIAA qualifier who placed sixth in 2022.

The freshmen were a big reason for the team’s success. All six contributed in a big way and all had key victories during the season and playoffs.

It’s the best group since 2012-14 era when Josh Shields, Josh Maruca, Spencer Lee, Michael Kemerer, Gus Solomon and Devon Brown dominated the mats.

Titus Colangelo (27-10) at 107 pounds and Mike Ruane (28-9) at 114 gave the Panthers a solid one-two punch in the lightest weights.

While Sal Nassif (12-17) didn’t have a winning record, he did compete well at 121.

Kapusta, however, is supposed to drop to 121 pounds which will force Nassif to likely bump to 127.

Cohen Buccicone (16-15) competed between 139 and 152 pounds and Ethan Cartwright (21-10) competed between 145 and 160 pounds.

Chase Smith (16-7) will be either at 127 or 133 pounds. Most of his matches were at 127.

Junior Luke Ankney (20-11) bounced around 145 and 152.

“The freshmen all did well,” Lebe said. “The future looks bright. They learned a lot from the seniors, and it will be their jobs to be leaders to the next group of new faces.”

Now the focus for Lebe and his Panthers moves to the individual part of the season. Lebe is eager to see how the team does the next few weeks.

The individual tournaments begin Feb. 24. Franklin Regional will be competing at Norwin. The WPIAL Class 3A/PIAA Southwest Regional is March 1 and 2 at Canon-McMillan, and the PIAA tournament will be back in Hershey on March 7, 8 and 9.

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: Franklin Regional