High school roundup: Butler wrestling 2nd with Sloboda’s gold; Karns City girls win tourney
Butler boys wrestling came in second by a narrow margin to Bethel Park in Saturday’s Chartiers-Houston Invitational at Chartiers-Houston High School.
The Golden Tornado finished with 188.5 points, just 18 off the top spot. Mars came in 19th with 69 points, and North Catholic finished 27th with 38.5 points.
Santino Sloboda won the 127-pound title with a technical fall of Bethel Park’s Colton Fisher, 19-4 in 2:43. Kase Chopp (152) and Nicholas Savannah (114) each finished with fourth-place medals; Chopp fell 6-4 to BP’s Ethan Higgins, and Savannah lost by major decision 13-3 to Elizabeth Forward’s Preston Bubash. Ace McElravy (215) and Leo Iarrapino (145) grabbed fifth-place medals; Gavin Rush (160) and Troy Ritson (189) finished sixth.
On the podium for Mars were Samuel Passarelli (121) and Liam Hein (152) in fifth and Joseph Zottola (172) in sixth. Michael Pierro (107) was the lone medal winner for North Catholic, in sixth.
Knoch 13th at Hickory Invitational Tournament — The Knights scored 56.5 points Saturday in the first tournament of the season.
Owen Layhew medaled with a fourth-place finish at 145 pounds, losing by 5-3 decision to Greater Latrobe’s Dominic Angelicchio in the bronze medal match.
Jakob Butler finished seventh at 114 with a 14-12 decision over Johnsonburg’s Ian Ginther, and Jarrett Crowe finished eighth at 127 after a loss by fall to Penn Trafford’s Luke DeSantis.
Knoch’s Makayla Pethtel won the 155-pound championship in the Hickory Girls Invitational Tournament on Sunday with a pin in 1:27 of Sencea’s Katie Cesario.
Knoch finished fifth with 65 points; host Hickory won with 174.
The Knight’s Braylee Ireland finished second at 140, losing to Corry’s Lexi Louta by tech fall 17-0. Carma Forty also came in second at 1:36, losing by pin in 1:28 to Laurel’s Maggie Alfera.
Naomi Venesky was named Aquinas Academy Tip-Off Tournament MVP after a 19-point performance Saturday, leading Karns City girls basketball to a 51-39 win over the hosts.
Venesky scored 15 of those points in the first half.
Teammate Hannah Summerville drained three 3-pointers in the first half to finish with nine points and was named to the all-tournament team. Brooklyn Taylor scored eight points, six of them coming in the third quarter.
Union/A-C Valley 41, Youngsville 9; Union/A-C Valley 48, Forest 45 — The Falcon Knights won the Forest Tip-Off Tournament with two wins Saturday over Youngsville and Forest.
Maddy Dehart poured in 23 points and Kya Wetzel had eight in the first game; Dehart added 14 rebounds and four steals, and Wetzel 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals.
That duo led the way in the championship game, with Wetzel scoring 20 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, and Dehart chipping in 17. Wetzel’s midrange jumper with 25 seconds left gave UAC a 46-45 lead, and Dehart drained two free throws to seal it.
Zane Pacek recorded his first career triple-double with a 12-point, 13-rebound, 11-block performance in Erie McDowell’s Marsha Marsh Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday, leading Knoch to a 67-44 win over International Sports Academy.
Teegan Finucan tied Pacek with 12 points, and Jackson Bauman added 10.
Moniteau 44, Cambridge Springs 42 — Ian Ross drained a floater with four seconds left to give the Warriors a dramatic win to close out the Moniteau Tip-Off Tournament. Connor Ealy led the team with 14 points, 12 in the second half, and tied the game with a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left. Brandon Sankey added nine points and 15 rebounds.
General McLane 61, Slippery Rock 60 — Josh Book went off, scoring a game-high 35 points to lead the Rockets while grabbing eight rebounds, but it wasn’t enough. Isaac Ziety and Cohen Beachly countered with 25 and 20 points, respectively. SR got 15 points from Anderson Franco, as well. The Rockets led 33-27 at the half.
Sharon 81, Mars 55 — Austen Wroblewski paced the Planets with 18 points and Ben Detisch scored 13 in the Sharon Tip-Off Tournament championship game. Both players made the all-tournament team. Nick Santoro scored 11 points off the bench.
Cuyahoga Valley Christian (Ohio) 58, Seneca Valley 49 — Andrew Omasits scored a team-high 17 points in the Raiders’ loss in the North Catholic Tip-Off Tournament. Ryan Priester added 12.
Archbishop Spaulding (Md.) 79, North Catholic 58 — Jason Frederick scored a team-high 14 points in the Trojans’ loss to close out the tip-off tournament. Jude Rottmann and Owen Maddalon had 12 and 11 points, respectively, and Rottman and Fredericks each knocked down four 3-pointers.
Homer Center 68, Summit Academy 61 — Demetrius Crosby scored 26 points, with four 3s, and Robert Young chipped in 15 in the loss.
