At the WPIAL AA Finals. Burrell's Zach Pisano in white & blue.

They've had a good season, are ranked, and will be a strong challenge for titles throughout the playoffs. (You can see them in action anytime on Comcast On Demand, courtesy of Alle-Kiski Today) Keep these schools and wrestlers on your watchlist as the playoff action continues through March:

Burrell in white has a hold on this Mt. Pleasant wrestler. Mt. Pleasant won the championship in the last two matches.

- Burrell: The AA Bucs (11-1) are ranked number two in the WPIAL behind Mt. Pleasant, their constant nemesis and last year's state champ. At the Trinity Elite Duals in head to head competition against Kiski Area, they fell 28-25, then Kiski—the number one ranked WPIAL AAA team—beat them by a hair again at Kiski in late January. But at the Westmoreland County Coaches tournament a week earlier, Burrell wrestlers individually won enough matches for the Bucs to finish in second (behind Mt. Pleasant) and five points ahead of Kiski Area. They faced Mt. Pleasant in the WPIAL Finals [see the story about the Finals at http://www.allekiskitoday.com/news/2620 ]. Coach Chris Como's Bucs have what it takes: Translation: look for the underrated Bucs—who finished third last year—to go to the states again. On the Watchlist: Josh Shields – broke 100 wins this year, ranked 1st in WPIAL, 3rd in the state; Dylan Corey – ranked 5th in WPIAL; Jordan Shields – ranked 2nd in WPIAL; Zack Pisano – ranked 5th in WPIAL; Shane Welsh – ranked 1st in WPIAL; Bobby Speers – ranked 5th in WPIAL; Devon Maloney – ranked 1st in WPIAL; Damian Majocha – ranked 1st in WPIAL.

Kiski Area's Tony Clark with a Latrobe wrestler in a headlock during the WPIAL playoffs

- Kiski Area: The Cavs (20-2) were ranked number one in the WPIAL for a good part of the season, ahead of reigning state champ Connellsville. They have won two tight matches against backyard toughguy Burrell by a whisker. Their only regular-season loss came at the hands of AA champ Mt. Pleasant (who is ranked number one in WPIAL AA, and second in the state). Three of their guys took home titles at the Westmoreland County Coaches tourney. They have several wrestlers at the 30-win mark already; they may break 40 by the time the season is over. Coach Chuck Tursky's crew has been disciplined and well-prepared. But the Cavs fell one victory short of going to states when they fell in the semi-finals to Canon-MacMillan in the last match. On the Watchlist: Tyler Oravec – ranked 1st in WPIAL, 4th in the state, over 130 career wins, broke Mike Corcetti's school record, won THIRD Westmoreland County Coaches Tournament title; Zach McKendree – ranked 1st in WPIAL, 3rd in the state, broke 100-career win mark in November, recently beat Mt. Pleasant's number-two in the state wrestler, Donnie Ament; Scott Joseph – ranked 2nd in WPIAL, 6th in the state, over 100 wins; Matt Riddle – ranked 5th in WPIAL; Tony Clark – ranked 9th in WPIAL; - Zach Cecchetti, Mike Spisak, Jon Moore, Jeff Krajci.

Highland's Nate Tomporoski reaches 100 career-win mark; (Coach Jeff Pollick to his right, Highlands A.D. Bill Heasley on his left)

- Plum: The Mustangs wrestling team wrapped up their section matches and headed for for the WPIAL team competition playoffs before falling to Shaler. They finished 5-2 in the section behind Kiski and Gateway. 11-7 overall at this point, the Plum wrestling program continues to grow in strength. It's a pretty good record considering the youth of the squad and that the two section teams finishing ahead of them are 19-1 and 11-4, respectively. The Mustangs have seven wrestlers who are doing well this season and will be back next year. Three of them have won more than 20 matches with a few more weeks of playoff matches to go. Many from the team should advance in Individuals and expect some of those to make it to state. On the Watchlist: Zach Zummo - ranked 2nd in the WPIAL, 4th in the state, 24-1, won Allegheny County Championship and Eastern Area titles; Jake Quinten - 21-7; Cory Bonura - 22-7 record; Alex Brown - 17-9 record; Ryan Soncini - 15-10 record; Gerald Tyler - 15-10 record; Richie Shook - 13-12 record.

Highland's Ed Petrosky (on top, in brown with gold trim)

- Highlands: The Rams have come on strong in January and proven they are a force to be reckoned with. At 18-4, they are ranked number four in the WPIAL. Highlands made it to the quarterfinals of the Team WPIALs before falling. Coach Jeff Pollick has some horses who will go far in Individuals and perhaps on into the states. On the Watchlist: Ed Petrosky – ranked 2nd in WPIAL; Nathan Tomporoski – ranked 3rd in WPIAL, 3rd in state; Aaron Boyko – ranked 3rd in WPIAL.

Fox Chapel's Brett Skonieczny in the Allegheny County Championships

- Fox Chapel: Three of Coach Ron Frank's wrestlers (two of them won ACC titles recently) have a strong chance of qualifying for states, if they first get past the grueling WPIALs. On the Watchlist: Brian Letters – ranked 1st in WPIAL, 2nd in the state, captured the Allegheny County Championship title with an amazing win in double overtime; Brett Skonieczny – ranked 3rd in WPIAL, hammered his opponent in the Allegheny Counties to win the title; Paul DeLuca – ranked 6th in WPIAL, came in second at the Allegheny Counties; *Justin Mahon.

Kiski Area's Scott Joseph (in blue) putting a hold on a Latrobe wrestler

- Valley: Coach Steve Ansani's squad had a difficult season when its ranks were sorely depleted due to chicken pox and other various reasons. Still you may see some Vikings wrestlers emerge from the sectionals into WPIALs. On the Watchlist: Chris Alexander, Pat Perriello.