Mike Vukovcan Last season, the Hopewell High School wrestling program made headlines as Isaiah Pisano won the WPIAL Title at 160 pounds in WPIAL 2A.
On Saturday, Hopewell High School wrestling coach Brett Smith and his wrestlers traveled to Burgettstown for the 2025 Southern Section AA Wrestling Tournament.
Depending on your placement in this tournament, you can earn a spot in next weekend’s WPIAL Tournament, which takes place at Chartiers Valley High School.
Some exciting news took place yesterday as five Hopewell wrestlers punched their ticket to compete for a WPIAL Championship next weekend.
Congratulations to Viking wrestlers: Jacob Medich, Evan Tirado, Jusin Obeldobel, Austin Gouza and Hank Berner.
Berner and Obeldobel finished 4th in their weight classification, Gouza and Tirado finished 5th, while Medich came in 6th.
This is special for all five of these wrestlers but in particular for Berner and Gouza, who are seniors and is their last opportunity to compete in the spotlight of the WPIAL Championships.
A couple of weeks ago on Senior Night, Coach Smith shared with us some quick thoughts on these two seniors:
HANK BERNER:
“Hank is such a great kid,” said Smith. “He has been such a great upperclassman to have on the team and build around. I named Hank a captain this year and he has more than exceeded my expectations for him. I’m going to miss having Hank’s personality around the team that always is able to get the coaches to laugh.”
AUSTIN GOUZA:
“I named Austin a captain this year alongside Hank. Austin exemplifies what a captain should be. He leads by example and is one of the hardest workers in the room. I had the pleasure of coaching both Austin and Hank in youth and the strides they have made is what you hope for with any kids you coach. I believe Austin is going to wrestle in college and any collegiate coach would be lucky to have him. I’ll miss having him around.”
