WPIAL wrestling notebook: Dual meet season heating up

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, January 2, 2024 | 10:48 PM

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Now that we’ve begun a new year, wrestling’s dual meet season will heat up over the next four weeks.

There are some key matchups to begin the year Wednesday.

In Class 3A, Ringgold (14-1) will visit unbeaten No. 4 Franklin Regional (11-0) in the Section 3 opener. Penn-Trafford grad and Thomas Jefferson coach Michael Ladick brings his Jaguars (3-3) to Penn-Trafford (2-8). Section 4 will see Hempfield (2-4) visiting No. 9 Latrobe (3-2).

A key battle in Section 1 has No. 7 Plum (5-2) meeting Fox Chapel (7-1).

In Class 2A, No. 2 Burrell (3-0) will play host to No. 8 Derry (7-2) in a Section 6 first-place showdown.

In Section 2, No. 6 Mt. Pleasant (6-2) visits No. 4 Frazier (6-2) in a first-place clash with the biggest question surrounding the availability of Frazier’s Rune Lawrence and Jonah Erdely. Lawrence has a lower body injury he sustained at the Ironman tournament, and Erdely was injured at the Powerade tournament.

More tournaments

The annual Tri-County Athletic Directors Tournament will be held Friday and Saturday at Canon-McMillan. Action begins 4 p.m. Friday.

The teams entered include Canon-McMillan, Peters Township, Ringgold, South Fayette, Trinity, Waynesburg, Albert Gallatin, Bentworth, Beth-Center, Brownsville, Burgettstown, Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry, Jefferson-Morgan, McGuffey, Washington and West Greene.

The Midwestern Athletic Conference tournament will begin 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Freedom.

The teams entered are Ambridge, Beaver, Blackhawk, Carlynton, Central Valley, Ellwood City, Freedom, Hopewell, Laurel, Mars, Montour, Moon, New Castle, Quaker Valley, South Side and West Allegheny.

The Bo Wood Tournament at Indiana will feature Baldwin, Gateway, Highlands, Indiana and Penn Hills from the WPIAL.

CC wins at West Mifflin

Central Catholic had five individual champions and claimed the team title at the Steve DeAugustino Holiday Classic at West Mifflin.

The Vikings had 236.5 points to top Hampton, which had 195 points.

Winning titles were Charlie Colantonio (121), Brooks Blasko (127), Andrew Price (133), Nezumiiro Green (189) and Roman Thompson (215). Heavyweight Ray King finished second.

Dustin Kerr (139) and Alan Danner (160) won titles for Hampton.

Bruce Anderchak (107) and Jack Kazalas (133) won individual titles to help Quaker Valley win the Governor Mifflin Holiday Tournament.

Quaker Valley finished with 170 points while Upper Perkiomen was second with 163.5.

Belle Vernon, Burgettstown and Jefferson-Morgan competed in Chambersburg at the MyHouse Trojan Wars. The Blue Devils finished ninth, the Leopards 30th and the Rockets 39th.

Only Belle Vernon’s Elijah Brown (172) reached the finals.

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.