Bethel Park's Adam Lazenga experienced a first in Saturday's WPIAL Class AAA 285-pound title match against Connellsville's Travis Miller.

"That was my first overtime match of the season," said Lazenga, who posted a 2-1 victory after escaping in the tiebreaker period. "I haven't had many matches go the distance, but I knew my conditioning would be the difference."

Lazenga (40-1), a senior who has been a mainstay in Bethel Park's lineup since his freshman year, was making his second appearance in the WPIAL finals. He lost in last year's 215-pound final to Connellsville's Nate Gaffney.

"At 230 pounds, Adam is a small heavyweight, but he's much quicker than any of his opponents," Bethel Park coach Bob Stewart said. "Miller was close to the [285-pound] limit, but surprisingly quick."

Lazenga didn't spend much time on the mat in his first three matches. He recorded back-to-back pins in 0:31 and 0:59, then registered a 15-0 technical fall in the semifinals.

"Adam has 40 wins, 29 by pins," Stewart said. "He only had six matches that went the distance during the regular season."

Lazenga will make his second appearance in the PIAA Class AAA tournament today. He finished seventh at 215 last year.

"My goal is to improve on last year's finish," Lazenga said. "My ultimate goal is to win the title."

But winning the title will not be easy. Lazenga is in the same quarter of the bracket as defending champion Evan Craig of Abington Heights, a solid favorite to repeat.

"All three of our qualifiers have a legitimate shot to win a medal, but all three face a tough road," said Stewart, also referring to Nick Bonaccorsi and Dylan Mogan.

Bonaccorsi (36-6) advanced to the 160-pound final at the WPIAL tournament, which took place last weekend at Canon-McMillan High School. He fell short of joining Lazenga atop the winners platform after a 5-2 loss to West Allegheny's Troy Reaghard, who claimed his third WPIAL title.

"Nick wrestled well, but faced a very good wrestler in the finals," Stewart said. "Losing to a three-time WPIAL champion is nothing to hang your head about."

Mogan (23-1), the top seed at 125, had to settle for a bronze medal after losing, 3-2, to Hempfield's Garrett Swarm in the quarterfinals. Mogan won four matches in the consolation bracket, including a surprisingly easy 11-1 victory against Swarm to finish third.

"I'm not sure what happened to Dylan in the quarterfinals," Stewart said. "The first takedown was the key in both matches. Swarm scored first in the quarterfinals, and Dylan scored first in the consolation final."

Chartiers Valley's Tyler Wilps was named Outstanding Wrestler of the WPIAL Class AAA tournament after posting a victory in the most anticipated match of the finals, the 171-pound weight class.

It was the feature match of the evening because Wilps and Butler's Cole Baxter were both 36-0. Baxter was the 145-pound WPIAL champion last year, and Wilps was a runner-up at 171.

"It's a great feeling to finally win a WPIAL title," Wilps said.

Wilps broke a 1-1 tie with a takedown 19 seconds into the third period.

"I knew I was pushing the pace and I saw he was getting tired," Wilps said. "When I let him up early in the third period, I immediately caught him in a front head trap, then switched off to a double-leg takedown. It worked out perfectly."

Canon-McMillan had three wrestlers advance to the WPIAL finals, Connor Schram, Nick Catalano and Sam Lombardo, but they had to settle for silver medals.

Schram (38-4) gave up a takedown with 21 seconds left in the 103-pound final and lost, 3-2, to Connellsville's Ethan Kenney. Catalano (29-3) dropped a 3-0 decision to Derry Area's Travis Shaffer in the 135-pound final. Lombardo lost, 12-4, to Central Catholic's Lorenzo Thomas at 140.

Trinity's Kyle McWreath and Ringgold's Neal Rands were also silver medalists. McWreath (30-5) lost, 4-3, in the 189-pound final to Latrobe's Eric Shaffer. Rands (31-4) was pinned in the 215-pound final by Connellsville's Nate Gaffney.

Charleroi had four wrestlers qualify for PIAA Class AA tournament at the Southwest Regional, which took place at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown.

Cody Wiercioch (34-1) claimed the 152-pound title and avenged his only loss with a 2-0 victory against Burrell's Travis McKillop.

Wiercioch will be joined at Hershey by three Cougars teammates, Ray Campbell, Aaron Toth and Jake Linn. Campbell placed third at 215. Toth and Linn placed fifth at 112 and 285.

Also qualifying for the Class AA tournament were Chartiers-Houston's Michael Innes, South Fayette's Nick Carr and Keystone Oaks' Michael Kazalas. Innes was a runner-up at 140. Carr placed second at 145. Kazalas was fifth at 171.

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