District 11 wrestling starts tonight at Liberty, one of the highlight events of the year. Bethlehem Catholic is the team favorite, coming off of a dominant State Duals title and they are the top seed in four weight classes. Nazareth, coming off of the Duals runner-up finish, is poised to have a very good individual tournament season with likely state champ Tahir Parkins, Brayzen Zuercher, and the Campbell twins all in the elite range and any combination of them could sneak their way into state finals. Northampton is a way better tournament team than dual team, and the combination of Brayden Wenrich, Gabe Ballard, Trey Wagner, and Gavin Grell are going to make a lot of noise over the next few weeks. Notre Dame similarly can show off some of their high end talent in the upper weights with Keegan Ramsay, Dom Sumpolec, and Connor Smalley, and gets added to the 3A mix for the first time. Easton is Northampton’s opposite, a better dual team that tournament team the last few years, but so much of their schedule has been built to give them tournament experience so that their States performance is better than what we saw a year ago, it’ll be high on my watchlist to see how the Rovers wrestle over the nxt three weeks (also the last three where Jody Karam will be manning the corner). Wrestling starts tonight and runs through quarterfinals, with semis and finals tomorrow. Top five advance to the Northeast Regional tournament, where D11 will be joined by District 2, District 4, and District 12.
107 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#1 Brayden Wenrich, Northampton (Fr.)
#3 Nico Emili, Bethlehem Catholic (Fr.)
#18 Cael Mueller, Notre Dame (Fr.)
#25 Jackson Max, Emmaus (So.)
There is something magical about the postseason three-match series. I think it is highly likely we get Brayden Wenrich and Nico Emili for three straight weeks in the D11, Northeast Regional, and State Final. They’re both excellent, national caliber freshmen who have performed throughout their 9th grade year. They did not wrestle in the dual, as Wenrich was up at 114 for a lot of the season after Ironman. But they’re both going to be here for the state series. The last few three weekend series have had a clear favorite beating up a clear challenger – I think you have to go back to Kenny Hermann (Becahi)-Patrick Noonan (Stroudsburg) to get a really good back-and-forth. I think this could be one. Emili is relentless, super physical, and can really grind you down in a match. Wenrich is more slick, makes for a better highlight package, and that clash of styles is always fun, particularly as they get familiar with each other. Outside of the top two, Mueller is probably a little better than his ranking would indicate, but he’s a clear #3 here and probably is an outside shot to medal at states.
114 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#4 Emilio Albanese, Emmaus (So.)
#5 Wilmont Kai, Whitehall (Jr.)
#20 Ryan Marano, Northampton (Sr.)
#24 Jasiah Pagan, Liberty (Sr.)
Another really good rivalry here – Albanese and Kai went to overtime last year in the D11 semifinals, with Albanese coming out on top, then Kai turned the tables at regionals. Albanese ended up making a run to state semis and finishing fourth in Hershey, while Kai was seventh. Albanese has been ranked as high as #1 in the state at 114 this year, and he’s one of the more slept on, immensely talented wrestlers both in D11 and in Pennsylvania. Kai is huge, only in his third year wrestling, but has made tremendous gains to put himself right in the mix with the best in Pennsylvania. It’s a slick vs. power match up, with both guys good enough to be state finalists in March. Again, not a tremendous amount of depth behind them, but the feature bout of the weight class is a great one.
121 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#2 Nick Salamone, Easton (Jr.)
#3 Reef Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic (So.)
#11 Remy Trach, Nazareth (Jr.)
#12 Kade Pascoe, Whitehall (Jr.)
#14 Matt Velez, Parkland (So)
#15 Teagan Caciolo, Emmaus (So.)
#21 Colin Marano, Northampton (Sr.)
This weight class has blown up state-wide, with returning state champ and national #1 Landon Sidun (Norwin) breaking his hand at team districts, and fellow top contender Santino Sloboda (Butler) not able to hold the weight and going up to 127 pounds for the postseason. That leaves Salamone and Dillard as two of the top contenders in a group statewide without a clear favorite. Dillard hammered Salamone in the dual, winning two big scrambles for a combined 10 points and beating Salamone 12-2. Salamone returned the favor at Escape the Rock, with a last second takedown to beat Dillard 5-2. Dillard took the series 2-1 last year, before Salamone dropped to 107 pounds for the postseason. Salamone has probably had a little more complete of a year – he finds himself in the back of the national rankings after beating a pair of (at the time) national top 10 foes in John McGinty (St. Joseph Regional NJ) and Ethan Timar (St. Edward OH) plus state champs from Delaware and Virginia. This is another rivalry that should go back and forth over the course of the next three weeks, and hopefully that third match is a state final rather than a consolation match. Behind those two, this weight class is nuts, with five state ranked wrestlers competing for three spots to move onto regionals. Trach was a state qualifier last year and seems to be the most consistent. I’m the highest on Caciolo, who is an immensely talented sophomore, who wrestles Salamone very tough, but has dropped matches to the other guys in his tier. Velez was a match away from states as a freshman and is the best wrestler at Parkland in years.
127 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#1 Keanu Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic (Jr.): S1, S1
#2 Gabe Ballard, Northampton (So.): S3
#10 Noah Fenner, Easton (So.)
#17 Zach Berwick, Stroudsburg (Sr.)
#18 Cooper Wenrich, Nazareth (So.)
#20 Cooper Feltman, Notre Dame (Sr.)
#24 Griffin King, Southern Lehigh (Jr.)
Another three match series that I feel pretty confident in, though the first installment made it pretty clear that Keanu Dillard is the man to beat. He handled Gabe Ballard 7-0 during their regular season meeting, never really in danger. Still, these are two national caliber kids and as talented as Sloboda is, I think Dillard-Ballard is the main event here. Dillard is on his way to four state titles, a feat only accomplished in D11 by Matt Gearhard (Catasauqua) in the early ‘80s. It's been the third one that has eluded those on pace – Ryan Crookham sustained a significant head injury and missed his junior year, Juliah Chlebove missed his junior season for disciplinary reasons, Nate Desmond transferred out before his junior year – and Dillard needs to avoid the upset to make history. Ballard is wide open – he likes to scramble, his style is highly entertaining but can sometimes get him in trouble, and that makes him a dangerous match up for Dillard, but one that Dillard can handle if he stays clean in finishes and rides as well as he is able to. But I think this is your district, regional, and state final, with good money on Dillard taking all three. Behind them, Fenner is one of the more underrated wrestlers in the state – a nightmare match up as a scrambler and a kid that can score in bunches from top. He’s not clean enough on offense to win the whole thing, but it’s not out of his reach over the next two years. I’d feel pretty good about the top three here ending up on the state podium. Wenrich has the emphatic pin of Ballard back in December, he’s a home run hitter who has had a nice little sophomore year for the Blue Eagles. Feltman is a district champ in 2A, but is in a fight for the fifth spot at regionals here, and with Mason Whitney (Abington Heights) coming down from District 2, he’ll need to be on his best to get back to states.
133 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#2 Trey Wagner, Northampton (Jr.): S1
#5 Jack Campbell, Nazareth (Jr.): S5
#8 Tanner Berkenstock, Notre Dame (Sr.)
#18 Ethan Krazer, Easton (So.)
#25 Carter Smith, Bangor (Jr.)
A deep weight class with a clear top two after Campbell made the descent from 139. Wagner is the returning state champ, one of the best top wrestlers in Pennsylvania, and he has a pair of wins over Campbell so far this year, albeit in one-takedown matches. They easily could find themselves in state semis and while Anthony Mutarelli is the favorite in this weight class, I wouldn’t be surprised if either or both of Wagner and Campbell was in a state final. Berkenstock is probably that next tier down. – he’s a podium threat who has really improved over his career at Notre Dame. Krazer might be the most improved wrestler in D11 since last season, he owns a win over Ryder Campbell (a state qualifier last year, who bumped to 139) and should be a good bet to move on to next weekend. Smith is a dangerous kid coming from the Colonial League who can upset one of the EPC guys. Good weight class.
139 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#1 Tahir Parkins, Nazareth (Sr.; Rutgers): S4, S1
#11 Gavyn Kelton, Notre Dame (Jr.)
#12 Chris Kelly, Easton (Sr.)
#14 Ryder Campbell, Bethlehem Catholic (Sr.)
#16 Trokon Kai, Whitehall (Sr.)
#25 Leo Kern, Parkland (Sr.)
Parkins is one of the best kids in the country and will roll here, and probably roll through the next three weekends. Kelly has the dubious distinction of only having three losses in the D11 tournament – finals as a freshman and junior, semis as a sophomore – all to the eventual state champion (Nate Desmond twice and Trey Wagner last year). Should he make finals and lose to Parkins, that very likely would make him 4-for-4. But a three-time D11 finalist is not a career to sneeze at, though the health of his knee, where he sustained a pretty significant injury at Escape the Rock, will be the ultimate determining factor. He’s a medal threat fully healthy, but he is far from fully healthy. Kelton is another of the Notre Dame district champs who will see how they measure up moving up in class. He and Kelly makes for a nice semifinal. The addition of Campbell, up from 133, puts another former state qualifier in the mix. Campbell beat Kelly in Regional semis last year after losing to him in the same round at districts. He’s had some up and down results as a senior, but wrestled really well in District and State Duals and can pick off Kelton or Kelly. Kai is 0-fer against the top three here.
145 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#6 Marco Frinzi, Bethlehem Catholic (Sr.; Columbia)
#23 Jared Gonzalez, Notre Dame (Jr.)
Frinzi moving down gives this weight class a solid favorite. He’s a state medalist from 2024 and is very much a semifinalist type of wrestler. Probably the thinnest weight-class in D11.
152 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#5 Cade Campbell, Nazareth (Jr.)
#14 Brock Frable, Southern Lehigh (So.)
#18 Chase Grabfelder, Northampton (Jr.)
#20 Owen Woll, Blue Mountain (Jr.)
Frinzi dropping changes this weight, but three defectors from what was a loaded 160 give us some contenders here. Campbell hasn’t medaled yet, but is that caliber of a wrestler who will find himself in the hunt throughout the state series. Frable is a really exciting sophomore who has put together some good wins in limited options on Southern Lehigh’s schedule. That is a program that is really trying to build at the youth level (with former state medalists Bryan Rizzo (Easton) and Bryan Reiss (Emmaus) putting a lot of work in to build it) and a good performance from Frable would really show proof of concept in those efforts. Grabfelder comes up after spending some of state duals at 145, he’s never quite taken the next level jump, but he’s a solid wrestler. Woll, like the ND guys, has been a high finisher in 2A districts and gets a chance to show his stuff moving up.
160 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#3 Charlie Scanlan, Bethlehem Catholic (Sr.; Columbia)
#4 Keegan Ramsay, Notre Dame (Sr.)
#15 Jesse Scott, Emmaus (Sr.)
#16 Jorge Moya, Parkland (Jr.)
#17 Quentin Hammerstone, Easton (Sr.)
This is the premier weight-class top to bottom in D11 this year. Scanlan and Ramsay wrestled a banger in the Becahi-Notre Dame dual back in January and I’d expect more of the same over the next three weeks (though Scanlan to 152 is a possibility I’ll be watching for). Scanlan is the best wrestler in pennsylvania who doesn’t have a medal yet, which I think will change and could change emphatically this March. Ramsay was seconds from a state final last year, and will be sufficiently motivated to make a run. These two could go back-and-forth over the three weeks. Behind them, Scott, Moya, and Hammerstone are all state caliber wrestlers who have wrestled tons of close matches with each other . How they shake out behind the top two will be a lot of fun and a good show of D11’s depth this season.
172 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#4 Shane McFillin, Bethlehem Catholic (Sr.; Bucknell)
#17 Elijah Simak, Nazareth (Jr.)
#19 Xayden Sallit, Emmaus (Jr.)
#20 Justin Cosover, Easton (So.)
McFillin is a state finalist caliber wrestler, who benefits from Dom Sumpolec moving up and being the big favorite locally this weekend. I thought McFillin could have been a state finalist as a freshman at 106, but was sitting behind teammate Nate Desmond, who won the state title that year. He was a whisker away in semifinals last year at 145, and maybe this season is the one where he breaks through and gets to Saturday night. This is the best weight class in D2/D4, with #3 Brian Heard (Abington Heights) and #8 Connor Wetzel (Shikellamy) coming down for regionals, so getting to Hershey is going to be a blood-bath here. All three could be in state semis Friday night. Simak/Sallit/Cosover have all traded bouts this year. Cosover was a state qualifier last year and came into the season as one of my picks to really jump levels. That hasn’t happened, and he’ll need to fight to get to the second weekend of the postseason, as he dropped one takedown bouts to both Sallit and Simak at D11 duals. Simak has really come on throughout the year and is an excellent athlete and scrambler.
189 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#4 Dom Sumpolec, Notre Dame (Jr.; George Mason)
#7 Brayden Zuercher, Nazareth (Jr.)
#13 James DeLuise, Bethlehem Catholic (Sr.; Bloomsburg)
#17 Shae Linegar, Easton (Sr.; Pace – lacrosse)
#18 Terrell McFarland, Pottsville (Jr.)
#19 Noah McIlroy, Freedom (Sr.)
#24 Bradley Renninger, Blue Mountain (Sr.)
Good upper weights, huh? Zuercher is my sneaky pick to make state finals, he’s been fantastic this year and really has jumped levels to be Nazareth’s best non-Parkins wrestler in my mind. He’s powerful, athletic, and has developed such a feel, particularly as a mat wrestler, than I think he’s exceptionally dangerous this postseason. I thought he was a solid favorite until Sumpolec moved up from 172 for the postseason, a bold decision made by a very talented wrestler. He’s a Beast and medalist and is juuust on the cusp of being a national level kid. He’s giving up weight moving up (there were thoughts he’d be at 160 at the beginning of the year) but is as skilled as anybody in Pennsylvania here. DeLuise has been hurt all year but is one of the most talented guy in the mix if he’s healthy. Linegar went to states as a junior, but has to battle an injury that forced him to default out of D11 Duals. Having the three weeks to get healthy will be huge for him. McFarland was one of the most decorated middle school wrestlers we’ve had in the upper weights, but he’s not had the high school results expected so far. He’s an elite Greco guy, so upper body is dangerous against him. McIlroy and Renninger are capable of upsetting everybody but Zuercher and Sumpolec here in my eyes.
215 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#5 Connor Smalley, Notre Dame (Jr.)
#6 Kurtis Crossman, Easton (Jr.)
#20 Aidan Sterling, Jim Thorpe (Sr.)
#22 Josiah Rodriguez, East Stroudsburg South (So.)
The Notre Dame bump makes this weight class significantly more interesting, with Smalley coming up to challenge Crossman as a pair of potential state medalists. Smalley is explosive and a pinner who has really blossomed as a junior, and despite being slightly undersized here, has the athleticism to hang with most of the 215s in the state. Crossman has really jumped levels, he was a state qualifier as a sophomore, but coming out of a weak field. He’s been a hammer for Easton this year, including wins over a Virginia state champ and blood round appearances at Beast and ETR. Both are solidly in the mix to make a state semi in a wide-open weight class across Pennsylvania. They should stand way above the field here, then it gets interesting next weekend when #9 Brody Rebuck (Shikellamy), #11 Brody Spindler (Pittston), #13 Lincoln Bibla (Crestwood), #14 John Boggs (St. Joseph’s Prep), and #18 Slate Sechrist (Jersey Shore) all join the mix for a suddenly very deep Northeast Regional.
285 Pounds – Ranked Wrestlers
#7 Gavin Grell, Northampton (Sr.)
#14 Dante Morrison, Liberty (Sr.)
#15 Dan Schiffert, Freedom (Jr.)
This weight got really fun throughout the year. Grell spent some time ranked #1 in the state while Dean Bechtold (Owen J Roberts) was injured, and I think is a trendy pick to make state finals before getting upset by Noah Knorp (Notre Dame) at D11 Duals. He was a state qualifier last year. Morrison moved up from 215 after an excellent football season and is probably the toughest match up here. He’s not that big (230ish) but moves exceptionally well and really forces pace on bigger guys. Shiffert is the opposite, he’s coming down from 300 to make 285, and at 6’5 is one of the biggest guys in the gym. He’s an FBS recruit as an offensive lineman and wrestling has really helped him develop there. I also have my eye on Alonzo Parker, Easton’s 200 pound heavyweight who has been a lynchpin in the lineup despite giving up tons of weight in virtually every match. He’s excellent on top and a three sport athlete who is probably going to be a D11 contender at 189 next year, but he could make a run to next weekend at heavyweight as well.
