Peters Township flips over win against WA
McMURRAY – Peters Township won the flip, then went out and won the dual meet Monday night.
The flip helped Peters Township overrun West Allegheny, 42-27, in the preliminary round of the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament.
The flip, which determines who has to send wrestlers on to the mat first in each weight class, allowed Peters Township to make some moves that head coach Jason Carpetta believed strengthened the Indians’ chances of winning.
“We needed to win the flip,” said Carpetta. “It’s really important and we won it again. We were able to get our 70 pounder up to 82. We made a couple bumps in the lineup. Our 82-pounder was banged up. It worked because we won all three of the matches.”
Jeff Markert jumped from 170 to 182 and won a 14-5 major decision over Spencer Mason, then Caleb Glenn went to 195, where he won by forfeit, and Alex Belack jumped to 220, where he won a 4-1 decision over Matt Holmes. Mike McAleavey capped the run when he pinned Erik Vadella in :25 at heavyweight.
“I don’t want to jinx us but we’ve been doing pretty good on the flips,” said Carpetta. “People don’t know how important that is.”
Peters Township, now 13-3, will enter the first round pod at Canon-McMillan Wednesday night, when the Indians take on the third-seeded Big Macs.
“We’re going to go there and wrestle. Canon-Mac is tough team,” Carpetta said. “We’ll have our hands full Wednesday night. This team has done exceptional right now. We’re 13-3 and have a nice blend of freshmen and nice blend of senior leadership.”
Peters Township took advantage of forfeits at 106, 120 and 195. Peters Township forfeited at 170, the starting weight class.
Dante Flatti (132), Mason Schaefer (138) and Alex Pichi (145) had pins for West Allegheny.