close

Waynesburg sends five to finals, earns two gold medals

6 min read

For the third consecutive year, the Waynesburg High School wrestling team had the most finalists at the Class 3A WPIAL/Southwest Region Tournament.

In 2020, the Raiders had four entries earn a trip to the finals and three came home with a gold medal.

In 2021, five Raiders advanced to the finals and three won titles.

Over the weekend, Waynesburg made a return trip to Canon-McMillan High School for the 2022 tournament and five entries made an appearance in the finals, with two claiming a gold medal.

Mac Church and Rocco Welsh claimed titles for the Raiders, while Colton Stoneking, Brody Evans, and Noah Tustin came home with silver medals.

Church, the top seed at 132, made his third straight appearance in the finals and claimed his second gold medal with a 14-1 major decision win over Connellsville’s Chad Ozias, the No. 3 seed. Church won his first title as a 106-pound freshman, then placed second last year at 120.

“My cardio is the best it’s ever been,” Church said. “I’ve been running every day. I’m in the best condition I’ve ever been in.”

Welsh made his third consecutive appearance in the finals and claimed his first gold medal with a 19-7 win over Canon-McMillan junior Matthew Furman (31-8) in the 172-pound final. It was Welsh’s fourth win over Furman this season.

“It feels good to finally win after coming close my first two years,” Welsh said. “It shows you just how tough wrestling is in the WPIAL. We have some of the best wrestlers in the country in the WPIAL.”

Stoneking, the No. 3 seed, made his first appearance in the finals, but came up short in a 7-5 loss to PIAA champion Briar Priest of Hempfield in the 138-pound final. Stoneking placed third in the WPIAL and fifth in the PIAA last year.

Evans, also a No. 3 seed, had the unfortunate task of facing Mt. Lebanon’s Mac Stout in his title match debut at 189 pounds. The two met one week ago in the Section 4 final and Stout dominated again, this time 18-2. It was the second title in three years for Stout.

Tustin, the No. 2 seed at 285, gave Greensburg Salem’s Billy McChesney all he could handle, but fell short in a 3-2 decision. McChesney was making his third appearance in the finals and won for the first time, while Tustin was making his finals debut.

Six of Waynesburg’s 10 entries earned a berth in the PIAA Tournament, which begins Thursday at Giant Center in Hershey.

“We wrestled well, especially when you consider we had three kids out of the lineup with injuries” said Waynesburg coach Kyle Szewczyk, after accepting the team championship trophy, as the Raiders dominated the team standings with 172.5 points. “You can’t complain when you have six kids qualify for the state tournament.

“I thought we could get a couple more (qualifiers), but this region is so deep at every weight class that it’s hard to get any more. We wrestled hard and competed well, even in our losses.”

Waynesburg’s other qualifier is Zander Phaturos, who placed third at 126 pounds. Phaturos, the No. 5 seed, dropped a 3-2 decision to No. 2 seed and eventual runner-up Maddox Shaw of Thomas Jefferson in the semifinals. He rebounded with two wins in the consolation bracket, including a 5-2 win over Pine-Richland’s Anthony Ferraro in the third-place match.

Two Waynesburg wrestlers came up short in their bid to earn a PIAA berth. Eli Makel placed fifth in a very strong 215-pound weight class, while Raiders teammate Nate Jones finished sixth at 145.

Canon-McMillan had a very productive weekend, as five of its eight entries qualified for the PIAA tournament. Furman was the Big Macs only finalist.

Brandon Dami, Jacob Houpt, and Gabriel Stafford placed third for Canon-McMillan, while Tanner Mizenko finished fourth.

Dami, the No. 3 seed at 113, was pinned by Peters Township’s Darius McMillon in the semifinals, then won two bouts in the consolation bracket, including a 3-0 win over Brady Joling in the consolation final.

Houpt, the No. 3 seed at 120, dropped a 7-1 decision to Penn-Trafford’s Troy Hohman in the semifinals, then won two bouts in the consolation bracket, including a 2-0 win over Bethel Park’s Mason Kernan in the consolation final.

Stafford, the No. 7 seed at 189, lost 10-8 in the quarterfinals to Franklin Regional’s Juliano Marion. He rebounded with four consecutive wins in the consolation bracket, including a pin of Marion at 1:55 in the consolation for third place.

Mizenko, the No. 5 seed at 106, lost 12-2 in the semifinals to top seed and eventual champion Luke Willochell of Latrobe in the semifinals. He rebounded with a win in the consolation finals, but was pinned by Franklin Regional’s Tyler Kapusta in the consolation final.

The Big Macs Andrew Binni fell one win short of a PIAA berth. He placed fifth at 126 after posting a 7-5 win over North Allegheny’s Dylan Coy, a former WPIAL champion, in the consolation for fifth.

Belle Vernon had two if its five entries qualify for the state tournament. Cole Weightman made his third appearance in the finals, but fell short of a third WPIAL title after losing 1-0 to Thomas Jefferson’s

Brian Finnerty in the 215-pound final. Leopards teammate Logan Hoffman placed third at 172 pounds after recording a 6-4 win over Armstrong’s Connor Jacobs in the 172-pound consolation final.

The only other area wrestler who made an appearance in the finals was Peters Township freshman Darius McMillon, who lost 1-0 in the 113-pound title match to Seneca Valley’s Tyler Chappell, who won his second title. Chappell escaped in the second period, then rode out McMillon in the third period.

Trinity had a disappointing weekend as only one of its seven entries placed among the top four.

Blake Reihner was the Hillers only qualifier. Reihner, the No. 5 seed, lost 2-1 in Friday’s quarterfinals to No. 4 seed Khyvon Grace of Moon, then won four bouts in the consolation bracket to place third. In the consolation semifinals, he beat Plum’s Vincent Citrano, the No. 2 seed, 3-1. In the consolation for third place, he beat Hempfield’s Eli Carr, 6-4.

Three Hiller entries fell one win short of placing. Ty Banco placed fifth at 285 pounds, T.J. Allison finished sixth at 160, and Bodie Morgan placed sixth at 160.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today