It was a Big Macs six-pack Saturday at the Section 5-AAA tournament at Mt. Lebanon High School.

Canon-McMillan had seven wrestlers advance to the finals and six came home with gold medals. The Big Macs were the only team in the WPIAL that had six champs. Connellsville was second with five.

"Winning a section title is so important," Canon-McMillan coach Chris Mary said. "Section champions are always among the top seeds [at the WPIAL championships], which means you get an easier opponent in the first round."

Three of Canon-McMillan's title winners were returning champions. Ron Schram and Sam Brownlee captured their third consecutive titles, while Nick Catalano won his second.

Schram wrestled in his fourth title match and won his third title with a convincing 12-2 win against Moon Area's Anthony Napoleone in the 119-pound final. Brownlee won his third heavyweight title in four years with a 9-1 win against Hopewell's Brandon Fedorka. Catalano claimed the 130-pound crown by pinning Hopewell's Cody Mutkus.

"Schram is having a great year, but he's in the same weight class with a returning state champion," said Mary, referring to Penn-Trafford's Shane Young. "Nick has a three-time WPIAL runner-up [North Allegheny's Joe Waltko] in his weight class.

"Sam is the favorite at heavyweight after finishing second in the WPIAL last season. He has good momentum going into the tournament. He just has to stay focussed."

Canon-McMillan's other champions were: Dario Dobbin (103), Sam Lombardo (140), and Cody Klempay (215). Josh Totterdale (160) was a runner-up for the Big Macs.

A dozen for Lebo

The Class AAA WPIAL/Southwest Regional will take place this weekend at Canon-McMillan High School, beginning tonight. Mt. Lebanon will be the most represented teams.

The Blue Devils had 12 individuals qualify at the Section 5 tournament, while Bethel Park had 11 advance from the Section 4 tournament.

"I'm very pleased with our performance," Mt. Lebanon coach Bill Lewis said. "It's been at least 25 years since we've had this many kids qualify for the WPIAL tournament.

"It's especially rewarding when you consider all the injuries we've had this year. This is the first time all year we've had everybody healthy and it really showed."

Mt. Lebanon had three wrestlers advance to the finals, but all three had to settle for silver medals. Two Blue Devils placed third, while seven others were fourth-place finishers. Runners-up for Mt. Lebanon were Mike Costas (112), Jack Hnath (145) and Austin VanHorn (152).

Lewis realizes that most of his wrestlers will be fighting heavy odds at the WPIAL tournament, considering they placed third and fourth in the section.

"We will have a bunch of kids wrestling pigtail matches in the preliminary round," Lewis said. "I like that because those matches are winnable, and most of our qualifiers are underclassmen. The experience they pick up this year will definitely help next year."

11 qualify for Bethel

Bethel Park had 11 wrestlers finish among the top four in their weight classes at the Section 4 tournament, including a WPIAL high of nine finalists. The finals, however, were unkind to the Black Hawks, as seven of the nine were defeated.

"It was a little disappointing to have so many lose in the finals, but no other team in the WPIAL had nine kids make it to the section finals," Bethel Park coach Bob Stewart said. "That's something to be proud of.

"We knew it would be tough in every one of our title matches. Our kids gave it their all in every match, but faced a very stiff opponent in the title matches we lost."

Bethel Park's two champions were Mike Ganley and Adam Lazenga. Ganley made his third appearance in the section finals and claimed his first title with a 4-2 win against Central Catholic's Ken Downing in the 145-pound final. Lazenga claimed his second consecutive 215-pound title with a 23-second pin of Ringgold's Neal Rands.

West Mifflin had a pair of champions in Section 4-AAA, Sam Sherlock and James Fleming. Sherlock advanced to the finals for the third year in a row and won his second title with a 5-0 win against Bethel Park's Anthony Bonaccorsi at 125. Fleming won his fourth consecutive section title with an 18-2 dismantling of Bethel Park's Nick Bonaccorsi in the 160-pound final.

"We could have two WPIAL champions facing each other in the WPIAL finals," said West Mifflin coach Tony Salopek, referring to the fact that WPIAL and PIAA defending champion Jake Kemerer is also entered at 160.

"It would certainly be worth the price of admission."

Other area wrestlers who won Section 4-AAA titles were Upper St. Clair's Mackenzie McGuire and South Allegheny representative Buddy Blotzer, who is actually a Serra Catholic student who wrestlers for the Gladiators through a co-op program.

McGuire won the 103-pound title with a 6-4 win against McGuffey's Alex Dunaway. Blotzer claimed the 140-pound title with an 11-1 win against Bethel Park's Jordan Bonham.

Elizabeth Foward had two champions at the Section 2-AAA tournament, which took place at Hempfield Area High School.

Damon Thaxton won the 189-pound title with a 7-1 win against Hempfield's Dave Johnston.

Ben Hoover won the heavyweight crown with a 5-3 overtime victory against Connellsville's Travis Miller.