Jan 20, 2015 4 min read

Bolstered by a strong first-place showing in its own tournament over the weekend, Burgettstown High School’s wrestling team is preparing for another difficult task: the WPIAL Section Team Tournament.

Head coach Terry Havelka is optimistic because the Blue Devils are healthy and appear to be competing at their highest level of the season.

“I expected good things from them,” said Havelka. “We have a lot of kids on the team and that’s good for our depth. We have eight seniors and they are good leaders.”

The Blue Devils are one of 11 area teams competing in the event, four in Class AAA and seven in Class AA.

Action gets under way tonight with first-round matches at 6 p.m. in seven four-team pods. The winners of the first round meet for the section title at 7:30 p.m.

Burgettstown (6-0) will wrestle Chartiers-Houston (4-1) in the first round and will take on the winner of the dual meet between the host team South Fayette (14-1) and Freedom (7-4) for the Section 1 title.

In Section 2, host McGuffey (16-2) will meet Southmoreland (7-1), and Mt. Pleasant (8-4) battles Jefferson-Morgan (7-4) in the first round. McGuffey is looking for their first section title in Class AA since the 1980s. The Highlanders dropped from Class AAA this season.

In Class AAA, Canon-McMillan (8-3) will begin its drive for a 15th consecutive and 36th overall section title when it hosts the Section 4 pod. If the Big Macs beat Hopewell (5-8) in Round 1, they meet either West Allegheny (9-0) or Waynesburg (9-1) for the title.

In Section 2, Peters Township (5-2) takes on Connellsville (14-6) in the first round. Belle Vernon (15-0) and Mt. Lebanon (9-8) are in the other bracket.

Three area teams – Trinity in Class AAA, and Fort Cherry and Beth-Center in Class AA – will host dual meets that determine the fifth-place teams in the section. Trinity (2-3) wrestles Montour (5-7), Fort Cherry (3-7) takes on South Side Beaver (7-3) and Beth-Center (3-3) has Derry (11-11), all 7 p.m. starts. The losers of fifth-place matches are the only teams eliminated from the team tournament. The outcome of the pods will determine seeding for the WPIAL Team Tournament, which runs next week.

Burgettstown got a good look at Chartiers-Houston at its tournament over the weekend. The Bucs, coached by Garrett Johnston, finished sixth in the 19-team tournament.

“Chartiers-Houston has real capable kids,” said Havelka. “It’s a good matchup for us. We kept an eye on their kids, and I’m sure Garrett kept on eye on ours.”

Havelka is looking for bonus points in the first three weight classes, where freshman P.J. Smith and seniors Jared Vraninin and Austin McDermitt sit. And he expects a strong finish in the upperweights from junior Tyler Nicholson (160), senior Jake McKee (172), senior Tristan Nicholson (182), junior Brad Hucic (195) and senior heavyweights Zach Richards and James Reedy.

“We expect McDermitt and McKee to be our leaders,” said Havelka. “Hucic has been improving all year and we have had a total group effort so far.”

Peters Township will send a young but talented team against Connellsville in the first round and head coach Jason Carpetta also is optimistic.

“The one thing about this team is that they will do anything to help us win,” he said. “Our kids will wrestle up a weight if they have to, and they’ve done that.”

The Indians have only three senior starters: Phil Mary (132), Sal Merante (160) and Mitch Fitzgerald (182). Junior Mike McAleavey has been versatile, competing at 182 or 195 to make the team stronger. And Luke Mary, Phil’s brother, has emerged as one of the freshman starters at 138.

“They are nothing alike,” said Carpetta. “They are both talented but have different styles.”

Carpetta said it will be a difficult test wrestling Connellsville, but the experience is invaluable.

“We’re so young,” he said. “We can have four or five freshmen in the starting lineup.”

Canon-McMillan could get a rematch with Waynesburg if the two teams win their first-round bouts. In the regular season, the Big Macs rallied for a 29-24 victory, overcoming a four-point deficit in the final two bouts. The Big Macs have not lost a section dual meet since 2001.