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WPIAL wrestling: Mars freshmen lead way; Seneca Valley’s Tommy Wuycheck punches regional ticket in dramatic fashion

CANONSBURG — Tommy Wuycheck clinched one of the most dramatic seventh-place medals possible, and in doing so he kept his senior season alive.

The Seneca Valley 285-pounder faced a must-win in the WPIAL Class 3A Boys Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday at Canon-McMillan High School, needing to beat Norwin’s Jonah Fierle in the medal round to clinch the final spot in his weight class in next week’s PIAA Class 3A West Regional.

Wuycheck stuck Fierle in a headlock in the first tiebreaker period after a 1-1 regulation draw. Knowing this was likely his last best chance, Wuycheck flipped Fierle hard onto the mat and pinned the exhausted Knight immediately.

Related Article: Butler’s Santino Sloboda joins WPIAL wrestling greats with third straight district championship

The roar Wuycheck let out after the ref’s whistle said it all.

“As soon as I got up (on my feet from the down position), I was like, ‘I gotta end it now,” he said, still catching his breath after more than six minutes of difficult wrestling.

“Great way to finish,” Raiders head coach Kevin Wildrick said. “We always tell him not to hit headlock, but when it presents itself there it was a, ‘No, no, yes, yes’ (moment).”

Wuycheck is one of three Raiders wrestlers heading to regionals, along with 145-pounder Zach Hill and 107-pounder Riley Smith. Wuycheck’s path was the hardest of the bunch.

Seneca Valley’s Thomas Wuycheck defeats Kiski Area’s Alex Akerley in a 283-pound bout in the WPIAL Class 3A Boys Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at Canon-McMillan High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

He lost his first match Friday by a 2-1 decision and had to crawl his way through wrestlebacks. He reached the consolation third round needing just a win to secure a regional berth, but Canon-McMillan’s Dakota Carmona dropped him in a 7-1 decision, setting up the eventual seventh-place heroics.

Wuycheck came in seeded eighth.

“This whole weekend he wrestled a great tournament,” Wildrick said. “He’s always been a kid on the edge who we knew had a chance every year, and he’s just had kinda tough postseason runs each year, so it’s nice to see him punch through this week.”

Smith, a junior, will head to his first regional tournament feeling good about his performance. Happier still he’s not going alone after Wuycheck and Hill dropped into the make-or-break seventh-place matches.

Related Article: Every Butler County high school wrestler with 100 career wins

Smith narrowly beat Franklin Regional’s Salvatore Colangelo for fifth.

“I’m happy with that. Top five is what I was shooting for,” Smith said.

Hill was visibly disappointed with his performance in the consolation third round. A loss dropped him to the seventh-place bout, forcing him into a win-or-go-home situation.

But the news of a forfeit by Bethel Park’s Ian Bucheli in the semifinals because he failed to make weight Saturday made life a lot easier for Hill. Both he and his medal-round opponent, Thomas Jefferson’s Cameron Timko, were guaranteed spots in regionals regardless of the outcome.

Hill pinned Timko in a minute just for good measure.

“Both had to go through adversity,” Wildrick said of Smith and Hill.

Mars’ future ‘bright’ with freshmen
Mars’ Parker Joseph defeats Kiski Area’s Gavin Murphy in a 133-pound seventh-place bout in the WPIAL Class 3A Boys Wrestling Individual Championships on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at Canon-McMillan High School. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Mars head coach Ben Rings was beaming as he waited to drape medals over his two remaining wrestlers.

Hard to blame him. A young team already, Mars is sending two of its youngest to regionals. Parker Joseph’s second-period pin in the 133-pound seventh-place bout and Olympic Serrao’s 11-4 decision victory in the 139-pound fifth-place bout capped a strong weekend by two freshmen.

“I think the performances were great,” Rings said.

“It feels great making it this far, and I feel like hopefully I can make it a bit farther next weekend,” Joseph said.

Related Article: Mars wrestler Olympic Serrao doesn’t look like a freshman on the mat and his goals are lofty

Serrao has looked like Butler County’s next up-and-coming wrestler all season. He said after his WPIAL sectional win last week his goal was to win districts. He made the quarterfinals before dropping into the blood rounds, but he was pleased with his weekend.

“I still feel I did good. I had two close matches that I lost,” Serrao said. “I didn’t wrestle bad at all.”

Joseph didn’t make it out of the Round of 16, taking the longer road through wrestlebacks to earn his way to regionals.

“Just grit, man,” Rings said when asked about the freshman’s performance with his back against the wall. “It’s all internal. That’s nothing that I can teach.”

The regional tournament is back at Canon-McMillan Friday and Saturday. The top five wrestlers advance to the PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships the following week in Hershey.

Results from WPIAL 2A championships

North Catholic produced one medalist at Saturday’s WPIAL Class 2A championships at Chartiers Valley High School.

Michael Pierro, after two wins to reach the quarterfinals but three straight losses after that, finished sixth at 121 pounds. He forfeited the medal round against Fort Cherry’s Cameron Eiler. It qualifies him for next week’s PIAA Class 2A Southwest Regional at Altoona High School.

North’s four other district qualifiers did not advance. All four of Knoch’s district qualifiers were eliminated in two rounds. The same happened to the pair from Summit Academy.

View and purchase Eagle photos at photos.butlereagle.com

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