Late heroics lift Franklin Regional wrestling past Norwin for 2nd straight WPIAL 3A team title

Paul Schofield TribLive Sat, Jan 31, 2026 • 06:14 PM

Franklin Regional’s Sal Colangelo beats Norwin’s Luca Butera in the 107-pound bout in the last match of the night to clinch the title during the WPIAL Class 3A team wrestling championship Saturday at Peters Township High School. (Chaz Palla | TribLive)

Franklin Regional junior Sal Colangelo did not panic when he gave up an early takedown with a title on the line.

Colangelo used a second-period takedown and rallied to defeat Norwin sophomore Dom Butera, 5-3, at 107 pounds to clinch the Panthers’ second consecutive WPIAL Class 3A title, 31-27. It was the school’s fourth title overall.

“All I told Sal was to enjoy the moment,” Franklin Regional coach Matt Lebe said. “This team showed a lot of guts and grit.

“Norwin and Connellsville, two great programs with great coaches, got us ready for these moments.”

Norwin and Franklin Regional had a similar match in the section Jan. 21, with the Panthers winning 30-28.

In that match, Colangelo defeated Butera, 2-1, in the opening bout of the dual.

No. 1 Franklin Regional reached the finals by defeating No. 4 Connellsville, 29-25.

It did not look good early for the Panthers as the Knights raced out to 27-15 lead on pins by Landon Sidun (121) and Noah Curran (152) and a technical fall by Jack White (172).

“We finally won the toss and had the matchups we wanted,” Norwin coach Kyle Martin said. “Our kids did a great job. This was exhausting.”

It was Norwin’s first appearance in a team final, and Martin said he hopes this is an annual thing.

The Panthers’ Ethan Cartwright started the comeback with a win at 189.

Kaydon Ferrell followed with a major decision at 215, and John Montgomery got a pin at 285 to set up the final match.

“I am so proud of these guys,” Lebe said. “I was confident we could come back.”

Norwin won some big matches, but it also dropped three close ones that proved to be the difference.

Earlier in the day, the Knights won seven of 13 matches to defeat No. 3 Canon-McMillan, 32-31, by criteria (most wins).

Connellsville won the third-place match by defeating Canon-McMillan, 36-26, reversing a loss from Dec. 4.

The Falcons jumped on Canon-McMillan early and never let up.

Franklin Regional did the same against Connellsville.

The top three teams advance to the PIAA team tournament, which begins Tuesday.

The Panthers will face the either City League champion or the District 3 fourth-place team.

Norwin will head to either District 9 or 10 and face their champion, and Connellsville heads to District 3 to face the District 12 runner-up.