Frankin Regional senior earns fourth WCCA crown

Camacho is 13th wrestler to win four titles in 66 years of tournament

The No. 13 was lucky for Colton Camacho at the Westmoreland County Coaches Association tournament, which concluded Saturday at Norwin High School.

Camacho, a Franklin Regional senior, became the 13th wrestler in the 66-year history of the tournament to win four titles with a 13-3 win over Derry’s Tyler Cymmerman in the 126pound final.

“It’s pretty awesome to join such an elite group of wrestlers,” Camacho said. “It’s pretty hard to do it in this county. It’s one of the strongest counties in the country for wrestling. It’s great to be a four-time champ.”

The others four-time county champs are Greensburg Salem’s Vertus Jones (1992-95), Vince Pellis (199295), Greg Jones (1997-2000) and Donnie Jones (2002-05); Franklin Regional’s Nico Megaludis (2008-11), Josh Maruca (2012-15) and Josh Shields (2012-15); Latrobe’s Tom Bell (1961-64); Mount Pleasant’s Bill Domasky (1983-86); Hempfield’s Jim Brasco (1988-91); Derry’s Travis Shaffer (2008-11); Kiski Area’s Matt McCutcheon (2010-13).

Kiski Area’s Darren Miller claimed his third title with a 7-2 win over Latrobe’s Gabe Willochell in the 132-pound final. Miller’s other two titles came at 106 and 120 and he beat Willochell in all three matches.

“It’s been tough facing Gabe every year,” said Miller, who became the 54th wrestler to win three or more county titles. “We’ve wrestled so many times that I know what he does, and he knows what I do. You just have to find a way to win.”

Hempfield’s Kyle Burkholder, Belle Vernon’s Scott Joll and Derry’s Dominic DeLuca won a second county title.

Burkholder recorded a 31 overtime victory over Franklin Regional’s Finn Solomon in the 113-pound final. Burkholder scored the deciding takedown with 11 seconds left in the sudden victory period.

Joll recorded four pins to claim the 182-pound final, including a fall at 2:58 of Mount Pleasant’s Dayton Pitzer in the title match.

DeLuca defended his title at 220 by pinning Norwin’s Ryan Weinzen at 2:14 in the title match. It was DeLuca’s third pin.

Norwin’s Kurtis Phipps and Valley’s Dave Schuffert also were returning champs, but both were upset in the finals.

Phipps dropped a 2-1 decision to Burrell’s Ian Oswalt in the 120-pound final. Hempfield’s Isaiah Vance upset Schuffert, 3-2, in the 285-pound final.

Kiski Area claimed its fourth consecutive team title and 12th overall.

Tri-County tournament

McGuffey’s Christian Clutter and Canon-McMillan’s Gerrit Nijenhuis hit the trifecta at the TriCounty tournament at Trinity as both won a third consecutive title.

Clutter posted a 4-2 win over Peters Township’s Jeff Markert in the 170-pound final. Nijenhuis followed with a 13-3 win over Peters Township’s Brandon Matthews at 182 pounds.

Canon-McMillan won team title.