Mar 3, 2024 By Joe Tuscano 3 min read

CANONSBURG — For the Canon-McMillan boys wrestling team, good things come in small packages.

The small package the coaching staff at Canon-McMillan unleashed on the other teams in a jam packed C-M gym on Saturday afternoon took the form of Andrew Binni, a redheaded senior fireball who cut through the 127-pound weight class the way the Tasmanian Devil bore through a Bugs Bunny cartoon, to win the first WPIAL Class 3A title of his career.

Binni blew past Jake Braun of Latrobe in the finals 19-7 for a combined score of 70-27 in his four matches.

“I’m excited about states,” Binni said. “I went out there and just had fun. This will be the third time qualifying. I’ve been out there and I’m super excited. I’m going to put on a show and wrestle to the best of my ability.”

Binni, the top seed in the weight class, began the tournament with a pin in 2:30 of Paul Cerminaro of North Hills and a 28-11 technical fall over A.J. Snatchko of West Allegheny. That put him in the semifinals, where he pinned Owen Klodosky of Baldwin. Klodosky was celebrating his 100th career win Friday night. Binni built a 2-1 lead over Braun after one period and an 8-3 edge after two. Binni pushed ahead in the third period.

“I’m going out there and put on a show,” said Binni. “I’m going to prepare the way I prepared the whole time. I’m going to keep the pace up. I only know one speed and that’s go, go, go.”

Binni’s quickness was a big advantage in the tournament.

“I’ve never been the fastest in the gene pool,” said Binni. “Working in the room. Doing foot drills. It all came over in time.”

Binni developed a practice relationship with assistant coach Mark Powell. Binni likes the energy Powell brings to the corner of the mat.

The top four wrestlers in each weight class advanced to the state Class 3A tournament next weekend in Hershey.

“What can I say about Coach Powell,” Binni said. “He’s a ball of energy and we all feed off it.”

Local wrestlers joining Binni on the winners’ stand were Nicholas McGarrity of Peters Township, who won the 107-pound title with a 6-2 decision over Dylan Barrett of Penn Trafford and Jake Conroy, a 215-pounder from Ringgold who knocked off Aiden Buggey of North Allegheny, 5-1, in the finals.

“I was proud of keeping my composure, and coming back at the end,” said McGarrity. “At the beginning of the day, I was concentrating on winning the first match. It feels good to get a good seed. Originally, I was just thinking how to handle it one match at a time.”

Conroy became the first wrestler in Ringgold history to win a WPIAL title.

“It’s awesome,” said Conroy. “It wasn’t mentioned to me until I was closer to it. I might be the first but I won’t be the last.”

Canon-McMillan will send four wrestlers to states, Trinity will have four, Waynesburg three and Ringgold, Peters Township and South Fayette one apiece. Waynesburg’s Roan Tustin was the lone local silver medalist. Thirteen local wrestlers earned a trip to Hershey.

NOTES: C-M’s Geno Calgaro lost his first match of the season, 3-2 to Buggey, … Blake Reihner of Trinity finished third at 139 after getting pinned by Dom Ferraro of Pine-Richland in 5:05 of the semifinals. … Reihner’s teammates TJ and Robby Allison both advanced. …Connnellsville won the team total with 146.5, 41 more than Thomas Jefferson.