This Week in the WPIAL (March 4-9)

Five things to watch for the week of March 4-9.

* The top wrestlers in the state will converge on Hershey for the PIAA championships, which will be held Thursday through Saturday at the Giant Center. Two WPIAL stars will try to defend their Class 3A titles: Seneca Valley’s Alejandro Herrera-Rondon and North Hills’ Sam Hillegas. Herrera-Rondon, who won the title in the 106-pound weight class last season, will compete at 113 this week. Hillegas is at 132 this year after winning the 126 title last year. Shaler’s Ryan Sullivan was hoping to defend his PIAA title, but a broken right hand will keep him from competing.

* Frazier’s Thayne Lawrence will try to win his second consecutive PIAA Class 2A wrestling title. Lawrence, a three-time WPIAL champion, was one of two WPIAL wrestlers who won PIAA titles in that class last year. The other was Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale, who was a senior. Lawrence won his title last season wrestling at 152 and will try to win his second while wrestling at 160. Among the title hopefuls to keep an eye on are South Park sophomore Joey Fischer and Mount Pleasant freshman Dayton Pitzer. Fischer wrestles at 106 and Pitzer at 182.

* How will the WPIAL’s top basketball teams fare against the best teams from around the state? We’ll begin to find out this weekend when the PIAA championships get underway. First-round games are Friday and Saturday. Thirty-two teams in each of the six classes will battle it out for titles with the championships taking place March 21-23 at the Giant Center in Hershey. Last year, just one WPIAL team won a title (Mars girls) and only three others advanced to the championship (Mars boys, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart boys, and Bishop Canevin girls).

* Entering the PIAA boys basketball tournament as WPIAL champions are Class 6A Mt. Lebanon, Class 5A Mars, Class 4A New Castle, Class 3A Lincoln Park, Class 2A Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Class 1A Nazareth Prep. It was New Castle’s third straight title and the second in a row for Mars and Lincoln Park. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Nazareth Prep both won their first title. Mt. Lebanon and the four other WPIAL teams in the Class 6A bracket will have to deal with District 10 power Kennedy Catholic and City League champion Allderdice.

* Class 6A Peters Township and Class 5A Chartiers Valley joined an exclusive club Saturday by winning WPIAL girls basketball titles with undefeated records. Can they make even more history by finishing the season as unbeaten state champions? Class 4A North Catholic, Class 3A Neshannock, Class 2A Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Class 1A Rochester also head into the PIAA playoffs as WPIAL champions. It was North Catholic’s third title in a row, while Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Rochester both claimed championships for the first time.