Canon-McMillan advances to WPIAL Class AAA wrestling final

Canon-McMillan (19-2) earned its 13th trip to the WPIAL Class AAA Team Tournament title match with a convincing 46-20 win against Kiski Area (14-2) in the semifinals, held Friday, Jan. 4 at Chartiers Valley High School.

"I've been telling the kids all week that eventhough we are the defending champions we want to be the hunters, not the hunted," said Canon-McMillan coach Chris Mary, also referring to last year's win over Kiski Area in the title match. "Our kids have been here before and knew how to handle the pressure."

Canon-McMillan, the top seed, will face No. 3 seed Latrobe (16-2) in the championship match today [Feb. 5] at Chartiers Valley at 6:30 p.m. Latrobe earned its second berth and first since 1985 with a 50-16 win against Franklin Regional (24-5).

The semifinal match began at 160 pounds. Kiski Area jumped out to a 14-6 lead with wins in four of the first five bouts, but Canon-McMillan recorded eight consecutive wins, including four via pins and two technical falls, to easily claim the victory.

Colton Shorts (103), Connor Schram (119), Sammy Minor (125), and Nick Catalano (145) recorded pins for the Big Macs, while Dalton Macri (112) and Solomon Chishko (130) had technical falls. Kyle Skelly (152) and Bill Emerick (189) had pins for the Cavaliers.