Butler’s Sloboda wins gold, Knoch girls wrestling gets 1st medal, North Catholic boys beat Devon Prep: Roundup
Santino Sloboda’s quest for Butler wrestling’s career wins record is off to a fast start.
The senior went 4-0 this weekend to win the 133-pound title at the Chartiers-Houston Invitational, bringing his overall record this season to 5-0. He now has 133 wins, 27 off Cole Baxter’s program mark set in 2011.
Sloboda won by pin in his first match of the tournament Friday, then had three straight tech falls, including a 17-1 victory over North Hills’ Brady Rohaly for gold Saturday.
Teammate Nick Savannah made the 127-pound final before losing by tech to QUaker Valley’s Bruce Anderchak 18-3. Butler finished fifth overall with 122 points. Ace McElravy finished sixth at 285.
Mars came in seventh with 120.5 points, led by Olympic Serrao’s runner-up finish at 139. He lost 11-4 to Moon’s Cael Yanek. Benjamin Goehring took fifth at 127 with a pin of Bradford’s Cooper McGee, and Samuel Passarelli (145) finished sixth.
Hickory Invitational — Owen Layhew beat Girard’s Sebastian Buchanan 5-4 to take home third at 145 pounds, leading Knoch to a 16th-place finish at the season-opening tournament.
Brayden McGowan (152) finished sixth after a 5-0 loss in the medal rounds, and Keegan Orris came in seventh after an 8-3 win.
Knoch won its first regular-season tournament medal in its history, finishing second in the Broadman Lady Spartan Wrestling Invitational in Ohio on Sunday.
Carma Forty (140) won her weight class, and defending PIAA medalist Braylee Ireland finished second at 124 pounds. Makayla Pethel also took silver at 155, as did Leila Crowe at 130. Eight Knights finished in the top eight.
Behind Jason Frederick’s 24 points and Jude Rottman’s 20, North Catholic beat defending PIAA Class 4A champion Devon Prep in Sunday’s Trojan Tip-Off Tournament.
Rottman knocked down four 3-pointers as the Trojans raced out to a 30-17 lead after a quarter and largely kept control after that. Jake Olkowski added 14 points on four treys and Brandon Picket scored 12 points.
Freeport 56, West Mifflin 50 — Gavin Tola had 18 points to lead the Yellowjackets (1-2) to their first win of the season in the finale of their tip-off tournament Saturday.
Greenville 50, Slippery Rock 43 — Fred Campagna and Luke Caldwell led the Rockets (1-1) with 15 and 14 points, respectively, Saturday. Caldwell’s total came off four 3-pointers.
Greenville’s Keith Covert led with 24 points.
Maggie Conger scored 15 points to lead Freeport to a 35-30 win Saturday over Fox Chapel to conclude the Freeport Tip-Off Tournament.
Sidney Reiser added eight for the Yellowjackets (2-1).
Elizabeth Forward 62, Mars 59 — Cecilia Christy (24) and Alexis Cashdollar (22) combined for 46 of the Planets’ points in a road loss, dropping them to 1-2.
Union/A-C Valley 63, Tidioute Charter 17 — The Falcon Knights (1-1) won their Forest Tip-Off Tournament consolation game thanks to Raelynn Fletcher’s career-high 26 points.
Maddy Dehart had a dominant double-double, finishing with 23 points, 19 rebounds and six steals. Fletcher, a sophomore, added eight boards and five swipes. Emma Kifer had four points, 10 rebounds and four steals.
