Tournament at Fox Chapel a ‘celebration’ of wrestling
The 14th annual Allegheny County Tournament will be Friday and Saturday at Fox Chapel High School with 38 teams participating. Central Catholic’s Vincenzo Joseph and North Hills’ Gage Curry are the top returnees, as each has won two previous county titles. Joseph won the 106-pound title in 2012, placed second at 120 in 2013, won again last year at 138 and is now competing at 152. Curry has moved to 120 after winning two titles at 106. Two-time defending team champion North Allegheny has two returning champs. Luke Landefeld won at 113 last year and is now competing at 126. Layne Skundrich returns to defend his title at 220. Mt. Lebanon also has two returning champs. Kellan Stout is the defending champ at 182, while Zeynul Zaynullayev is back at 285. “The Allegheny County Tournament is a celebration of scholastic wrestling,” said Fox Chapel coach Ron Frank, founder and director of the tournament. “The tournament features some of the best wrestlers in the WPIAL and the City League. Almost every high school in Allegheny County is participating.” The other four returning champions are: Shaler’s Mike Heinl (now at 126), South Fayette’s Mike Carr (now at 138), South Park’s Greg Bulsak (now at 170) and Penn Hills’ Te’Shan Campbell (now at 170). Teams must complete their section schedules this week, and three sections have two unbeaten teams facing off. plays host to Pine-Richland (4-0) Wednesday in Class AAA Section 3A. - els to West Allegheny (3-0) Wednesday in Class AAA Section 4B. to Beth-Center (3-0) Tuesday in Class AA Section 2A. The WPIAL will hold its section team tournaments Jan. 21. The top three teams in each sub-section qualify. The top five finishers in each section tournament qualify for the WPIAL team tournaments, which begin Jan. 26. Three-peat for Indians West Allegheny claimed its third consecutive team title at the Midwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, which concluded Saturday at Montour High School. The Indians had four individual champions, including three who were returning champions. Nathan Hall (160) claimed his third title, while Mason Schaefer (120) and Josh Bahr (182) won for the second time. Alex Pichi (138) won his first title for the Indians. Three others won a second MAC title: Freedom’s Kody Komara (132), Ambridge’s Kevin Holman (152) and Hopewell’s Stephon Peake (220). Save the dates Wrestling fans should Battle of unbeatens keep these dates on their calendar: The WPIAL individual section tournaments in Class AA will be Feb. 14. Ellwood City (Section 1), McGuffey (2) and Avonworth (3) will host the three qualifiers. The WPIAL individual section tournaments in Class AAA will be Feb. 21. The sites for the four tournaments are Kiski Area (Section 1), Ringgold (2), Fox Chapel (3) and Trinity (4). The top five finishers in each weight class from each section advance to the WPIAL championships. The WPIAL Class AA tournament will be Feb. 20-21 at South Fayette. The Class AAA WPIAL/Southwest Regional will be Feb. 26-28 at Penn Hills. The Class AA Southwest Region tournament will be Feb. 26-27 at IUP. The PIAA tournament, both Class AAA and AA, will be March 5-7 at Hershey’s Giant Center. The 41st annual Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic will be March 15 at Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House. The United States all-star team will face Pennsylvania’s all-star team at 6 p.m. in the feature match. A team of WPIAL allstars will face the Illinois all-stars at 4 p.m in the preliminary match. The Classic is produced and sponsored by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Dapper Dan Charities and local volunteers. Proceeds from the Classic support a youth wrestling program for inner-city children through the Dapper Dan Youth Sports Leagues at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania. The reserved seat ticket price is $15 and general admission is $10. Tickets can be purchased at Wright Automotive Group on Route 19, CanonMcMillan High School or by calling Dapper Dan Charities at 412-263-3850. For more information about the Classic or to order tickets, visit www.wrestlingclassic.com. Dapper Dan Classic