Feb 1, 2023 3 min read

Trinity wasn’t outscored but the Hillers’ run in the WPIAL Class 3A Team Tournament ended in the first round Wednesday night at Butler High School.

Hempfield edged Trinity on criteria. The match ended in a 33-33 tie but Hempfield advanced based on the fourth criteria, which is most bouts won. The Spartans won seven of the eight classes compared to the Hillers’ six.

Hempfield started strong, forging a 12-0 lead after three bouts. Trinity rallied and three times closed to within three points, the first time after an 11-0 major decision win by Cael Nicolella (189) and the second on a forfeit to heavyweight Ty Banco, which made the score 24-21.

Hempfield picked up a fall at 107 by Nico Kapusta to push its lead to 30-21. A forfeit by the Spartans at 114 again trimmed Trinity’s deficit to three points at 30-27. Hempfield’s Ty King then won a 5-0 decision at 121 pounds for the Spartans’ seventh win of the match.

Trinity received a forfeit at 127, the final wright class, to tie the score.

In the other first-round match at Butler, the host school defeated Peters Township, 41-26.

Quaker Valley 42, Jefferson-Morgan 36: If you like pins in your wrestling, then Jefferson-Morgan’s match with host Quaker Valley in the first round of the Class 2A Team Tournament was for you.

Second-seeded and defending champion Quaker Valley used a pin in the match’s final bout, at 121 pounds, to hold off upset-minded Jefferson-Morgan 42-36.

The match included pins in 12 of the 13 weight classes. The only weight that did not end in a fall was at heavyweight, where J-M’s Landon Heath won by forfeit.

Ronin Kramer (114), Deakyn Dehoet (139), Chase Frameli (160), Brenton Barnhart (172) and Adam McAnany (189) all scored falls for the Rockets. Karmer’s pin tied the score at 36-36 with one bout remaining.

Burgettstown wins 2: Burgettstown, the top seed in Class 2A, disposed of Mt. Pleasant, 42-25, in the quarterfinals.

Parker Sentipal (114), Gavin Suica (133), Rudy Brown (172), Jake Noyes (189), Joe Baronick (Hvy) each had a pin.

Burgettstown crushed Southmoreland 70-6 in the opening round, wrestled on the Blue Devils’ mats, on its way to Saturday’s semifinals and a meeting with Frazier. That match will be held at Chartiers-Houston with a starting time of noon.

In other matches: Top-seeded Waynesburg, which is chasing it fourth consecutive WPIAL Class 3A team title, had no trouble in the first two rounds, routing Bethel Park (54-9) and Plum (48-14). The wins send the Raiders to the semifinals where they will face Connellsville. The match will begin at 10 a.m.

In Class 2A, McGuffey pulled out a thriller over Freedom, 35-34, in the opening round before falling to defending champion and second-seeded Quaker Valley, 44-21, in the quarterfinals.

No bout results were reported by press time.