Monster Tournament this weekend.
Nationally Ranked Teams Attending
#1 Faith Christian Academy
#2 Lake highland Prep (FL)
#8 Malver Prep
#9 St. Joseph Regional (NJ)
#11 St. Edward (OH)
#24 Bethlehem Catholic
#28 St. Peter's Prep (NJ)
#32 Bishop McDevitt
#39 Ponganset (RI)
#40 Christian Brothers Academy (NJ)
#44 Staunton River (VA)
HM Southern Regional (NJ)
HM Notre Dame
HM Connellsville
HM Tampa Jesuit (FL)
HM Easton
State Ranked Teams Attending
3A: #1 Bethlehem Catholic; #2 Connellsville, #3 Notre Dame, #5 Easton, #11 Council Rock North; #13 Council Rock South: 2A: #1 Faith Christian Academy; #3 Bishop McDevitt
Some preliminary thoughts
106
Nationally ranked wrestlers: #13 (at 114)Killian Coluccio (Lacey Township; uncommitted), #3 Justin Farnsworth (Malvern Prep), #13 Nico Emili (Bethlehem Catholic), #8 Sean Kenney (CBA), #16 JoJo Burke (St. Joseph Regional).
#2 in the state Tommy Gretz (Connellsville) is the 12 seed in the tournament. Loaded weight class, it'll be interesting to see how Coluccio does down at 107 (109 with the allowance). Emili and Gretz are possible state finalists here in PA and this is their first direct head-to-head comparison.
114
Nationally ranked wrestlers: #1 Freddy Bachman (Faith Chrstian Academy; uncommitted)
Wide open after Bachman. Field also includes Kole Davidheiser (11 seed) who was a state medalist at Faith Christian who got recruited over and transferred to The Hill School. Max Tancini (Perk Valley) can make a statement, he's a possible PA finalist in 3A and the second seed here.
121
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: #16 (at 127) Gauge Botero (Faith Christian Academy; Michigan), #7 Paul Kenney (CBA), #8 Ethan Timar (St. Edward; Virginia), #9 Luke Littleton (Malvern Prep; North Carolina), #17 John McGinty (St. Joseph Regiona; Oklahoma)
Monster weight class here. Very possible the OW comes out of this group. Behind Botero, Reef Dillard and Nick Salamone are the PA highlights, both are possible 3A finalists, and Salamone owns a win over McGinty at Beast of the East. Dillard throttled Salamone in their dual last week.
127
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: #6 Keanu Dillard (Bethlehem Catholic; Lehigh), #2 (at 121) Joey Bachmann (Faith Cristian Academy), #13 Karson Brown (St. Edward; Pittsburgh), #14 Matty O'Neill (Malvern Prep; uncommitted)
Bachmann going up to challenge Dillard (who has an OT win over Botero at Ironman) is one of the highlights of the tournament. Both are Cadet World medalists this past summer, with Bachmann taking gold and Dillard taking bronze.
133
Nationally Ranked Wrestlers: #9 Tyler DeKraker (Chantilly VA; Ohio State), #17 Anthony Mutarelli (Council Rock South; Oregon State), #24 Bobby Duffy (CBA; uncommitted)
Mutarelli's first competition down at 133 this year and he looks like he's on a collison course with Ohio State commit Tyler DeKraker (formerly of Blair, formerly of Faith Christian, now back at his hometown school in Virginia).
139
#4 Caeden Ricciardi (St. Peters Prep; Navy), #5 Jayce Paridon (Lake Highland Prep; Virginia)
Huge national match as the probable final with your top two seeds. A chance for Caden Baum and Kai Vielma, two very good PA kids, to make a statement against some national kids. Chris Kelly from my alma mater a fun 10 seed.
145
#7 Eren Sement (Council Rock North; Michigan), #15 Joey Joyce (Pongansett; Brown), #19 Tyler Traves (Mountain View VA; Cornell), #24 Charlie DeSenna (Lake Highland Prep; uncommitted)
Sement is the top seed and can put together some nice national wins in his run, with Joyce as teh 5 seed and a semifinal opponent and DeSena or Traves in the finals. Mason Wagner (CBA) and Pat Kelly (CB West) are solid PA kids who will be tough outs.
152
#6 (at 157) Chase Van Hoven (Brooke Pointe VA; Lehigh) #7 Zeno Moore (Lake Highland Prep; uncommitted), #14 Max Stein (Faith Christian; Penn), #15 Evan Petrovich (Connellsville; Pittsburgh), #21 Ryan Lawler (Bishop McDevitt; Bucknell)
Another loaded weight, PEtrovich is a kid I've always liked who has a chance to climb, though Van Hoven and Moore is a heavily favored final.
160
#3 Collin Gaj (Quakertown; Virginia Tech), #10 Lucas Boe (Lake Highland Prep; uncommitted), #9 Ben Weader (Chantilly VA; Virginia Tech), #16 Chase Hontz (Faith Christian; Hofstra), #17 Charlie Scanlan (Bethlehem Catholic; Columbia)
Just rolling off deep weight classes. Gaj is going to win, because he's a mosnter, but he'll bolster his resume doing so. Gaj and Scanlan could be a state final. Chris Dennis (CB West) and Lonzy Vielma (Connellsville) are also really solid PA kids who can raise their stock.
172
#3 Ryan Burton (St. Joseph Regional; Virginia Tech), #5 Asher Cunningham (State College; Penn State), #20 Nick Singer (Faith Christian; uncommitted)
Burton and Cunningham is as high level a match up as you get. Virginia Tech vs. Penn State, NJ state champ vs. PA State champ, both really athletic, fun wrestlers. Singer and Ohio state champ Ty Miller (St. Edward) is the next tier who would be finalist in pretty much every other tourney in the country. Dom Sumpolec (Notre Dame), Shane McFillin (Bethlehem Catholic), and Gavin Cole (Council Rock South) is a nice preview of who could be opposite Cunningham in the 3A state finals.
189
#2 Adam Waters (Faith Christian; uncommitted), #6 JR Miller (St. Edward; Iowa), #7 Robet Kucharczk (Lake Highland Prep; Haravrd), #8 Vincenzo Lavelle (Hanover Park; Princeton), #21 Alex Reyes (Holmdel; uncommitted), #25 Kaleb Jackson (St. Joseph Regional; uncommitted)
Incredible weight class. Waters is a clear favorite, but could be any number of kids he's meeting in finals, though Miller is probably the most talented kid. There will be huge names who may not end up on the medal stand.
215
#19 Lucas Lawlar (Bishop McDevitt; Bucknell), #20 Landon Jobber-Spence (Staunton River; Arkansas-Little Rock), #21 Dylan Greenstein (Northfield Mount Hermon MA; Harvard), #25 Jason Singer (Faith Christian; Lehigh)
Guys are "only" ranked in the 20s here, so a relative breather. But a good test for Singer and Stosh Zalota (Malvern Prep) who are two breakout upper weights on their national schedules.
285
#7 Jacob Levy (Lake Highland Prep; North Carolina), #8 Mark Effendian (Faith Christian; Princeton), #14 Christian Alvarez (St. Joseph Regional; uncommitted), #15 James Bechter (Northfield Mount Herman; Stanford), #19 Luke Zalota (Malvern Prep; uncommitted)
Levy and Effendian is the expected feature bout, but again, a good set of big guys to close the tournament.
