A-K Valley wrestling notebook: Three Kiski Area wrestlers nab No. 2 seeds for WPIALs

By: Greg Macafee
Wednesday, February 24, 2021 | 6:44 PM

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No wrestler from the Alle-Kiski Valley will enter the WPIAL Class AAA tournament as the No. 1 seed, but three Kiski Area Cavaliers will have the next-best thing at Canon-McMillan on Saturday.

Enzo Morlacci (160), Sammy Starr (172) and Brayden Roscosky (189) earned No. 2 seeds. Both Starr and Morlacci won section titles this past weekend.

Roscosky fell to Hampton’s Justin Hart by a 4-2 decision in the section championship, and they are the top two seeds in the WPIAL tournament. Roscosky pinned Hart in 4 minutes, 10 seconds earlier in the season. If Kiski Area’s 189-pounder wants a chance at a rematch, he’ll have to go through the bottom part of his bracket, which includes Butler’s Cooper Baxter as the No. 3 seed.

Starr could have a tough semifinal matchup as well. He’s on the same side of the bracket as No. 3 seed Brian Finnerty from Thomas Jefferson. Finnerty owns a record of 26-3 this season, but Starr handed him a 9-1 major decision loss during the Powerade tournament.

The 160-pound Powerade champion Morlacci could see a rematch with Norwin’s Chase Kranitz in the semifinals. Pine Richland’s Cole Spencer earned the No. 1 seed in the weight class.

Kiski Area’s Stone Joseph will look to play spoiler this weekend in the heavyweight division. Due to an injury he suffered at the beginning of the season, he’s only wrestled in seven matches. His first match of the season was on Feb. 8.

Although he’s only wrestled in seven matches, he’s recorded six pins, which all came in last than a minute. He earned the No. 8 seed in the bracket and will take on No. 1 seed Billy McChesney from Greensburg Salem. 

Sophomore Ryan Klingensmith will wrestle in the 120-pound division and will take on North Allegheny’s Dylan Coy in the first round.

Young Mustangs ready to run

Plum freshman Antonino Walker is young, but he’s ready to prove that he belongs this year. Walker has pinned his way through the postseason so far and captured the first section title of his career by finishing Franklin Regional’s Tyler Kaputsa in 1:48.

He earned the No. 2 seed in the 106-pound division and will take on Latrobe’s Jacob Braun in the first round. Walker’s only loss this season came against Seneca Valley’s Tyler Chappell, who earned the No. 1 seed.

Plum junior Vince Citrano will face off with Hempfield’s Ethan Berginc in the first round of the 126-pound weight class.

A possible state final rematch

Around this stage of the season last year, Glendale’s Brock McMillen took down Burrell’s Ian Oswalt twice, once in the PIAA Southwest Regional final and then again in the PIAA championship.

The two wrestlers could be on a crash course for another rematch. Oswalt was given the No. 2 seed in the 138-pound weight class for this weekend’s regional tournament at IUP. McMillen was given the top seed.

Oswalt’s teammate AJ Corrado was given the top seed in the 160-pound weight class.

Burrell’s other two WPIAL champions, freshman Cooper Hornack (106) and sophomore Niko Ferra (120), are also No. 2 seeds.

Looking for more

Knoch senior Eli Reese has only wrestled eight matches this season. He won four times via forfeit, and he only suffered two losses. Both of those came this past weekend against Mt. Pleasant’s Dayton Pitzer in the sectional final and then the WPIAL final.

Reese earned the No. 6 seed at this weekend’s regional tournament, and he’ll take on Briar Deline from Huntingdon Area.

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

Tags: Burrell, Kiski Area, Knoch, Plum