North Allegheny Earns State Tournament Berth with Win over Canon-McMillan

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North Allegheny freshman Luke Landefeld earned an impressive victory over Brendan Price at 113 lbs.

The North Alleghney Tiger’s clawed to a 29-28 victory over 2x PIAA State Team Champions Canon-McMillan in the third place WPIAL match. North Allegheny advances to the PIAA State Tournament while Canon-McMillan’s dual season comes to an end.

At 113 lbs. North Allegheny freshman Luke Landefeld got the Tiger’s off to a tremendous start when he upset senior and returning PIAA State Qualifier Brendon Price (1-0) in a tightly contested bout. Fellow freshman Matt O’Block (Canon-McMillan) countered with a regular decision over senior Scott Stossel (North Allegheny) at 120 lbs. With the bout tied at 3-3 the most exciting match of the dual meet took place at 126 lbs. when #1 State Ranked Dalton Macri (Canon-McMillan) took on #2 State Ranked Dom Forys (Norh Allegheny). Despite earning the match’s first takedown, Forys was unable to score the upset victory, falling to Macri (4-3). The Big Mac senior looked to be in trouble as Forys was in on his legs multiple times, however, a series of funks and Macri escaped with the 1-point victory.

At 132 lbs. North Allegheny freshman Jake Hinkson racked up bonus points with a tech-fall over sophomore Isaac Miles (Canon-McMillan) to bring North Allegheny ahead 8-6. Yet another North Allegheny freshman took the mat at 138 lbs. as A.J. Boeh faced off against Canon-McMillan’s senior Alex Hutchin. Boeh used an escape and takedown in the second period to hold on for a (3-2) victory over Hutchin. The Big Mac’s got back on the board when PIAA State Champion Solomon Chishko (Canon-McMillan) earned a technical-fall over senior Drew Landefeld at 145 lbs. to tie the match at 11-11. The win, which followed up with a (3-0) regular decision by Malachi Krenzelak over Blynn Shideler at 152 lbs., brought Canon-McMillan ahead for the first time of the dual meet (14-11).

North Alleghney freshman Jake Woodley earned a hard fought (4-3) win over Canon-McMillan’s Micah Kusturiss at 160 lbs. Canon-McMillan once again returned a blow to the Tigers when sophomore Nick Konyck earned a tech-fall over David Tallman at 170 lbs. to bring the Big Mac’s lead to (19-14). In the next two bouts Byerly brothers Colton and Clay earned 9 points for the Tiger’s with a regular decision and pin.

Tiger star Alex Smith bumped up to 220 lbs. where he earned a fall that sent the North Allegheny fans out of their seats. With North Allegheny pulling ahead (29-19) Big Mac freshman Brandan Furman earned a match-saving pin to bring the dual meet to a (29-25) score with one bout remaining. In a battle of two WPIAL freshman and a PIAA State Tournament spot on the line, North Allegheny tiger Zach Stedford held on to only give up a regular decision to Camden Fontenot and clinching the match for dual win (29-28).

North Alleghney advances to the preliminary road to face District 8 Champion Taylor Allderdice on Monday.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]