Greg Macafee stories, Page 33

Thomas Jefferson won the Burgettstown tournament during the weekend with three first-place finishers, a runner-up, three third-place finishers and a fifth-place. Kale Buckiso, who wrestles at 138 pounds, defeated Pottsville’s Bryce Gonzalez by a 7-6 decision in the championship of his weight class. Brendan Finnerty defeated Daiveon Slay of Grove...

Successful high school teams often rely on older players, normally seniors or juniors, to lead, play primary roles and help the group reach its maximum potential. That’s normally the case. But sometimes teams come along that rely on a young player or even a young core to carry them. This...

Fox Chapel is one of only two teams remaining in the WPIAL that has an undefeated record and they’ve been doing it in all the right ways. They’ve been putting up the numbers offensively, averaging 57.6 points per game, while only allowing 43.9 points per game. From their four seniors...

Heading into the season, the Knoch boys basketball team had high hopes. While it still is early, the Knights are living up to expectations. Earlier this week, the Knights (8-1, 3-0) knocked off Trib HSSN WPIAL Class 4A No. 1 Highlands, 74-69, as they limited a team that has averaged...

Tuesday night’s meeting between WPIAL Class 4A No. 1 Highlands and No. 4 Knoch was one of the most anticipated matchups of the season, and it didn’t disappoint. The teams went back and forth like two heavyweight contenders battling for a championship belt. One would throw a punch and the...

Kiski Area’s Sammy Starr came away from the 67th annual Westmoreland County Coaches Association tournament with an individual title in hand. With the type of talent that filled out the 152-pound bracket this weekend at Kiski Area, some may have been surprised by how Starr worked his way through the...

Two of the top wrestling teams in the WPIAL will converge on Thursday at Kiski Area as the three-time defending WPIAL Class AAA champion Cavaliers will host the 13-time defending WPIAL Class AA champions, Burrell. The teams, which are among the top in their classification, get together each year for...

Kiski Area’s Sammy Starr entered the Westmoreland County Coaches Association tournament this past weekend in his home gym and came away with a first-place finish. Starr (16-3) was the No. 4 seed at 152 pounds and earned a 1 minute, 40-second pin over Belle Vernon’s Jerome Gilliam in his first-round...

For the fifth straight year, Kiski Area captured the Westmoreland County Coaches Association tournament title, and this time the Cavaliers did it in front of a hometown crowd. With 263 team points, the Cavaliers defeated Hempfield (224.5), Norwin (179.5) and Latrobe (179) for the top spot in the tournament. Four...

Heading into Monday night’s Section 3A-AA wrestling match between Burrell and Highlands, both teams were undefeated in their section. Burrell was looking to protect its legacy. Highlands was out to prove that it belonged. On a night where the Bucs were celebrating their seniors and the Golden Rams were down...

Before Friday night’s game against Freeport, Highlands coach Tyler Stoczynski and senior guard Luke Cochran had a conversation about the section matchup. Cochran needed 21 points to become the 10th player in program history to score 1,000 points in his career. Cochran was averaging 18.9 points, so the mark was...

When Highlands takes the court, most eyes in the gym usually drift straight toward the play of forward Johnny Crise and point guard Luke Cochran. Over the past few years, the pair of childhood best friends have helped Highlands (8-1, 1-0) jump into the upper echelon of WPIAL boys basketball....

Basketball fans looking for a big game to check out Tuesday will be in luck as a few of the Alle-Kiski Valley’s top teams face off against some of their toughest opponents yet. Trib HSSN Class 6A No. 1 Fox Chapel (9-0, 1-0) plays Norwin (8-1, 0-1) in a Section...

Just last year, Apollo-Ridge and Armstrong worked out a co-op agreement that allowed then-Apollo-Ridge sophomore Logan Harmon to wrestle for the River Hawks and compete in orange and blue during the winter months. During his first season, Harmon excelled. He went 22-6 with 12 pins wrestling at 182 and 195...

The Raiders finished in third place at the 53rd annual Powerade Tournament hosted by Canon-McMillan. They had one champion, Mac Church (106), and also had wrestlers finish third, fourth, fifth and sixth. Church dominated his weight class, earning four major decisions, along with a 3-1 decision over Erie Prep’s Jacob...

No one had a better Powerade tournament than Latrobe’s Gabe Willochell and he was awarded for it by earning Outstanding Wrestler honors. He also won his weight class at 132 pounds with five pins and an ultimate tiebreaker decision. As the No. 6 seed, Willochell earned two pins in his...

After an exciting Friday of wrestling, the field for the semifinals at the 2019 Powerade wrestling tournament is set. Four teams from the WPIAL find themselves in the top 10 teams and each team has at least two wrestlers remaining in the championship round. In total, 23 WPIAL wrestlers made...

Heading into the quarterfinals of the 2019 Powerade wrestling tournament at Canon-McMillan on Friday, just two WPIAL teams found themselves within the top five teams of one of the toughest competitions in the country. The hosts found themselves just outside of the top five looking in. Both Seneca Valley and...

Balanced attacks can lead to high-scoring offenses, and this season, that formula is working for several area boys basketball teams. Knoch (4-1, 1-0) has had at least three players score in double-digits in all five of its games, and in two of those games, four or more players have recorded...

Heading into this season, it might have been easy to overlook the Springdale boys basketball team. The Dynamos were coming off a 12-9 season, having lost to Jeannette in the first-round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs. On top of that, they also lost four seniors, including 6-foot-4 standout Mike...

Wrestling teams from all around will travel to Canon-McMillan on Friday and Saturday to compete in the 2019 Powerade wrestling tournament, which is considered one of the best in Western Pennsylvania as well as the country. Five wrestlers from the A-K Valley find themselves among the top eight seeds. Kiski...

The Beast of the East Tournament in New Jersey had close to 130 teams this past weekend and Waynesburg’s Wyatt Henson found a way to earn a third-place finish in the 138-pound bracket. The Iowa commit went 6-1 against wrestlers from Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida and Delaware. All six...

Seneca Valley went into the Kiski Area Quad Meet last Friday looking to prove it was one of the top teams in WPIAL Class AAA, and that’s exactly what they did. Along with Canon-McMillan, Seneca Valley left with a pair of victories as it handed Kiski Area a 35-29 loss...