Error puts Laurel in tourney; FC to face Burrell
The WPIAL Class AA Team Tournament grew by one team Thursday afternoon when Laurel was added to the bracket. The Spartans were originally declared the losers in Wednesday night’s fifth-place match in Section 1 in McDonald.
The winner of the dual meet was Fort Cherry, thanks to Laurel having a team point deducted for a bench violation during the final bout of the match. The penalty point tied the bout, 36-36, and the Rangers won on the tiebreaker because of the penalty point.
However, Laurel head coach Kevin Carmichael informed the WPIAL officials at the dual meet he was protesting the call that led to the penalty point, which is his right as long as it occurs no more than 30 minutes following the dual meet.
On Thursday, the WPIAL upheld the protest.
“It was a misapplied rule,” said Frank Vulcano, head of the WPIAL steering committee. “After much debate, we decided to reverse the call.”
That meant the result of the dual meet was actually, 37-36, in favor of Laurel.
To solve the dilemma, the steering committee used a formula that was one part math and one part common sense.
There are normally 15 qualifying teams in a 16-man bracket for Class AA, allowing the top seed – in this case, Burrell – to have a first-round bye when Class AA begins Wednesday. Instead of informing Fort Cherry it was out of the tournament, the steering committee simply added Laurel to the tournament, making it an actual 16-team bracket.
Because Fort Cherry actually lost, the Rangers were put against top-seeded Burrell. Laurel will wrestle No. 4-seed McGuffey in the first round.
“We didn’t want to punish the Fort Cherry kids,” said Vulcano. “They left the gym (Wednesday night) thinking they had won the match. This has never happened before, where we overturned a referee’s call. We felt this was the right thing to do.”
Class AAA had no such turmoil. Preliminary-round bouts will be held Monday.
Second round and quarterfinals will take place Wednesday for both classifications at four different pods. Semifinals are noon and finals are at 2 p.m. for both classes. Triple-A will be held at Penn Hils and Double-A at Chartiers-Houston.
The top seeds in Class AAA are 1. Kiski, 2. Canon-McMillan, 3. North Allegheny and 4. Waynesburg. In Class AA, it’s 1. Burrell, 2. South Fayette, 3. Freedom and 4. McGuffey.