Jan 24, 2023 3 min read

Four team points.

That can make the difference in high school wrestling.

Just ask Trinity. The Hillers went into last week’s dual meet needing a win to stay undefeated going into the match against Waynesburg tonight.

Instead, the Hillers were upended by West Allegheny, 35-31, sending Trinity into the match with Waynesburg (4-0) with a 3-1 record instead of 4-0.

What hurt even more was West Allegheny was giving Trinity 12 points, thanks to two forfeits.

“It would have been nice to go into (the Waynesburg match) with a win,” said Trinity head coach Ron Tarquinio. “We pushed them hard in practice this week and we actually did a little bit of running after Wednesday’s loss.”

The top three teams in each of Class 3A’s six sections make the postseason. Trinity can still finish in a tie for first place if the Hillers defeat Waynesburg.

West Allegheny, which came out of the Trinity match with a 3-1 record in the six-team section, can finish in a tie for first place with a win and a Trinity win over Waynesburg.

South Fayette, which sits at 2-2 in the section, must defeat West Allegheny tonight and hope Waynesburg wins to create a three-way tie for second place. The WPIAL would break the tie through a serious of criteria only Einstein could figure out.

“I think it was good for us,” Tarquinio said of the match against West Allegheny. “Obviously, we didn’t want to lose the match. It took a lot of pressure off the young guys. It’s the first time they’ve been in a situation where there was a lot of things riding on the match and they had to keep the team thing going. I think it will serve us well. I think we learned some lessons. We finished out the week pretty strong in practice.”

Waynesburg is a lot like West Allegheny, throwing the strongest wrestlers out from 145 pounds to heavyweight. The group includes two-time state champion Mac Church at 145 and returning PIAA champion Rocco Welsh, who has wrestled mainly at 172 but has shown the ability to reach 189 or 215 if needed.

“What do we have to do to beat Waynesburg? Well, pretty much what we didn’t do against West Allegheny,” Tarquinio said. “We’ve got to get bonus points where bonus points are available and fight like heck not to give up bonus points.”

In Section 6, Canon-McMillan can finish an undefeated section season with a win over Peters Township, which goes into the C-M match with a 4-0 record. PT and Canon-McMillan have locked up berths in the postseason. Bethel Park needs a win over Baldwin (1-3) to qualify.

In Class 2A, Section 1, Burgettstown can finish with a 7-0 record with a win over Bentworth. The Blue Devils have won their fifth consecutive section title. McGuffey (5-1) has wrapped up a postseason berth and the winner of the dual meet between Jefferson-Morgan (4-2) and Beth-Center (4-2) will be the third qualifier from the section. The loser is eliminated.