Hurricane Classic - CRS Invades D11

[RoverNation05]

Relayer and anybody else interested. Today starts the Bethlehem Hurricane Classic, one of the best in-season tournaments in the state. Council Rock South is coming up to join Lehigh Valley powers Easton, Nazareth, Northampton, and Saucon Valley, plus Phillipsburg, NJ, North Allegheny, Greater Latrobe, Hempfield, Wilson West Lawn, Faquier, VA, Northern Lebanon, and a host of teams with solid individuals. Should be a fun tourney.

I am on alert for Council Rock South and my Red Rovers being a potential state dual final, and am interested in what head-to-heads we get this weekend. Lenahan-Salamone, Mutatelli-Chris Kelly, and Gavin Cole-Geiger being the big three. Also how Easton’s big guys contribute, as they are short on experience but have real talent 172-215.

Other fun stuff will be another round robin if the three great D11 freshmen at 107, five of the top ten kids in the state at 133, three of the top five at 139, the Collin Gaj show at 152, and a possible PA vs NJ state champ showdown at heavyweight with Sean Kinney and John Wargo.

 

[RoverNation05]

Through round 1:
Council Rock South: 9-4, 6 pins
Easton: 9-1 (3 byes), 8 pins
Nazareth: 9-3 (1 bye), 7 pins
North Allegheny: 8-1 (1 bye), 6 pins

 

[RoverNation05]

First big result -
Easton freshman Noah Fenner takes out top seed Wilmont Kai of Whitehall 6-0. Freshman are randomly drawn in without seeding points, Fenner-Kai is a semifinal level match. Kai was 3rd in D11 and 5th at regionals (one spot from states) last year and is a huge 107.

I’m on record picking Fenner and Emmaus’s Emilio Albanese as an all D11 freshman state final. Albanese is 2-0 against Fenner this year with an 11-9 win in the Top Hat final and an 8-6 overtime win in their dual. If Fenner beats Carter Chunko (Saucon Valley freshman and like 2A state finalist) then Albanese-Fenner III will happen tomorrow.

 

[RoverNation05]

Through the second championship round:
1. Easton 66.5
2. Council Rock South 57.5
3. Phillipsburg (NJ) 56.5
4. North Allegheny 56
5. Wilson West Lawn 55
6. Saucon Valley 54
7. Nazareth 53.5

Easton has eight quarterfinalists - Noah Fenner 107, Nick Salamone 114, Chris Kelly 133, Ben Fanelli 139, Quentin Hammerstone 152, James Geiger 160, Shae Linegar 189, Kurtis Crossman. 215.

CRS has six in quarters - Connor Lenehan 114, Luke Reitter 121, Pat Woloshyn 127, Anthony Mutarelli 133, Gavin Cole 160, Behkruz Sadriddinov 172

 

[RoverNation05]

Best quarterfinals - looks like CRS has a monster round in front of them with a lot of tossups. Could make or break the tourney. Quarters are where team standing solidify because winners get guaranteed placement points (can finish no worse than sixth), so it’s the big round for points.

114: Gabe Ballard, Northampton vs Conor Lenehan, CRS
-Lenehan is the two seed, but Ballard is nationally ranked after taking third at Beast of the East. He’s a future state champ freshman versus the savvy veteran in Lenehan.

121: Blake Dergham, Parkland vs Luke Reitter, CRS
Both guys are ranked in the state (17 vs 8) and while Reitter is a favorite, Dergham is one of the most improved kids up here.

127: Pat Woloshyn, CRS vs Aidan Grogg, Saucon Valley
Woloshyn ranked 9th in 3A while Grogg is 5th in 2A. Big team score impact here.


133: Anthony Mutarelli, CRS vs Gavin Sheridan, Boyertown
The highest level quarter - Mutarelli is #1 in the state, Sheridan is #5. Probably a District 1 finals preview.

133: Gavin Geleta, Phillipsburg vs Jamie Garcia, Wilson West Lawn
Geleta has improved wildly for Phillipsburg and is resembling the leap his older brother took as a 10th grader. His first huge test is the state medalist from Wilson West Lawn, ranked 4th in Pennsylvania.

152: Cole Hubert, Saucon Valley vs Quentin Hammerstone, Easton
Hubert is a two time fourth place finisher in 2A and is the favorite on paper. But Hammerstone stunned him in the Top Hat quarterfinals, erasing a 5-2 third period deficit and winning 7-5 in OT. We’ll see how solid that result was.

160: Jonathan Roth, Phillipsburg vs Gavin Cole, CRS
New Jersey state qualifier and Pennsylvania state qualifier as sophomores, both in the realm of making the leap to the podium. And huge team score implications here between top two teams.

172: Behkruz Sadriddinov, CRS vs Brayden Zuercher, Nazareth
Sadriddinov is a definite favorite and in the mix to win a state championship (he’s #4 in a 5 man weight class). But it’s a good measuring stick for Zuercher, who was a state qualifier as a freshman and is one of the future upper weight stars in PA.

189: JJ Plaza, Hempfield vs Shae Linegar, Easton
Linegar is the 12th seed and has already knocked off one higher ranked out of area foe. He’s Easton’s most improved kid - he was sub .500 as a freshman then wrestled JV as a sophomore, but is now 14-3 and looking like a possible state qualifier. A measuring stick match against a good District 3 opponent.

189: James Hopkins, Whitehall vs Jared Rohn, Saucon Valley
One thing I’ve noticed is looking around the gym at how many good underclassmen are at non-power schools, and think that Bethlehem Catholic and Notre. dame’s grip on the Valley is loosening. They don’t have the same feeder structures, a coaching change at Becahi, and kids like Hopkins, a good sophomore at 189, are at Whitehall instead of Becahi, who had a real need in the upper weights and has raided Whitehall for years (Teagan Caciolo at Emmaus, Brock Frable and Sean Steckert at Southern Lehigh, Justin Hackett at Whitehall, and Nick Lyden at Freedom are others who I can’t believe aren’t in Catholic school). Hopkins gets a good test with the next Rohn, who is Uber talented but has had an injury plagued career.

 

[Relayer]

Rover, I appreciate all the updates.

 

[RoverNation05]

Happy to! It’s a great little tournament. Honestly, it’s nice having Easton back in the mix again, so it’s fun to drum up conversation. Great weekend in PA with Hurricane on the eastern side and PowerAde out west, which starts tomorrow. That probably has higher end guys (particularly with Wyoming Seminary, Wadsworth, OH, St, Ed’s, Delbarton, and Malvern Prep all there) but Hurricane is probably giving the best measure of how the top 3A teams in PA stack up against each other.

 

[RoverNation05]

 

[RoverNation05]

Easton off to a good start - a Noah Fenner pin and a Nick Salamone tech fall in their first two matches.

107 semis
#7 Noah Fenner vs #4 (2A) Carter Chunko, Saucon Valley
#6 Emilio Albanese, Emmaus vs Bryce Boyer, Kennett

 

[RoverNation05]

Gabe Ballard last second score to beat Conor Lenehan 5-3. Ballard escaped in the second, got reversed in the third to go down 2-1, reverses back to go up 3-2, gives up a late escape to tie the match 3-3, then a takedown in the final seconds to win.

114 semis
#7 Nick Salamone vs #10 Leo Joseph, Greater Latrobe
#6 Gabe Ballard, Northampton vs Julian Zaragoza, Northern Lebanon

 

[RoverNation05]

Luke Reitter beat up Blake Dergham pretty good. 8-2 final

121 semis
#1 Aaron Seidel, Northern Lebanon vs #8 Luke Reitter
Brody Coleman, Boyertown vs #3 Luke Willochell, Greater Latrobe

 

[RoverNation05]

Pat Woloshyn puts in on Aidan Grogg, huge win for CRS in the team race.

127 semis
#2 (at 121) Mason Ziegler, Quakertown vs Zack Jaffe, Kennett
#3 McKaden Speece, Wilson West Lawn cs #9 Pat Woloshyn

 

[RoverNation05]

Easton was 17 seconds from going 8-0 in quarters. At 152, Quentin Hammerstone was trying to ride out a 4-3 of Cole Hubert, got a turn to stretch his lead to 6-3, but was reversed to his back and pinned with 16 seconds left. At 215, Kurtis Crossman held an 8-7 lead for most of the third period, but got taken down with a second on the clock to lose 9-8. Easton settles for six in semis.

Council Rock South went 5-1, with just the Lenehan loss. Cole, Mutarelli, and Sadriddinov all won by tech fall in a pretty big muscle flex from their studs.

Blood round matches are still going on, but right now Easton out in front with 109.5, CRS in third with 94. Phillipsburg in second with 103.5.

 

[RoverNation05]

So headed into this mornings semifinals (10 AM) Easton holds a one point lead over Phillipsburg. Team standings:
1. Easton 113.5
2. Phillipsburg 112.5
3. Council Rock South 104.5
4. Northampton 100.5
5.N Nazareth 99.5
6. Wilson West Lawn 96
7. Saucon Valley 82
8. Quakertown 76.5
9. North Allegheny 75
10. Greater Latrobe 73

Easton has six in semis with two other medalists. Phillipsburg has four and four, CRS has five and two.

Best semifinals of the morning:
107: Noah Fenner, Easton vs Carter Chunko, Saucon Valley
A great cross-classification match up of two fabulous freshmen. Fenner is a monster on top, Chunko is super physical in the Rohn mold of his lineage.

114: Nick Salamone, Easton vs Leo Joseph, Greater Latrobe
An east versus west top ten match up in the state. Salamone is another Easton wrestler who is a hammer on top. Joseph will need to score from neutral.

127: McKaden Speece, Wilson West Lawn vs Pat Woloshyn, CRS
Council Rock South probably needs this one to have a shot in the team race. Top ten match up in the state, Speece is one of the more unheralded top four wrestlers in the state.

133: Anthony Mutarelli, CRS vs Chris Kelly, Easton
This whole semi could be a state semifinal too. Mutarelli looked fantastic teching Gavin Sheridan (Boyertown) yesterday in quarters. Kelly seemingly can go with all the top guys, but doesn’t have a signature win yet.

133: Trey Wagner, Northampton vs Jamie Garcia, Wilson West Lawn
Again, very likely could be a state semi. Wagner has jumped levels from good freshman to state title contender - I think my finals pick in March is Wagner-Mutarelli. Garcia is a state medalist and super tough, will be a battle on their feet.

139: Seamus Mack, Hempfield vs Ben Fanelli, Easton
A pair of returning state medalists on the bottom half of this bracket. Mack, a Lehigh commit, is a real pinner and fun to watch. Fanelli is the opposite, controlled, stays in great position, workmanlike from his feet. Another one that could be a state semi too.

152: Gavin Hawk, Phillipsburg vs Cole Hubert, Saucon Valley
Hawk is explosive from his feet and ranked 3rd in New Jersey at his weight. Hubert is a two-time 4th place finisher in 2A, but has grown from 114 to 152 this year. A really good test of how much he’s grown into the weight.

160: James Geiger, Easton vs Gavin Cole, Council Rock South
A top ten in the state match up with huge team score implications. This could be the biggest match ups of the two teams dual in the postseason. Winner is a big favorite to win the tournament here.

172: Liam Packer, Phillipsburg vs Luke Fugazzotto, Northwestern Lehigh
Fugazzotto was a junior high state champ and despite rampant transfer speculation, stayed at NWL to be the cornerstone of Joey Killar’s (former 2x All American) rebuilding project. He was a state qualifier as a freshman and now is a top contender in 2A as he drops from 189 to 172. Packer is ranked #5 in New Jersey and is another rock solid P’Burg kid who they expect huge things from
in the postseason.

189: Jared Rohn, Saucon Valley vs Jared Karabinus, Freedom
Rohn has had an injury plagued career, but is super talented. Karabinus is a Division I lacrosse recruit who is ranked #3 in 3A at 189 and is a really fun athlete to watch. Look for Rohn to go big move (the cement series stuff is practically genetic) and see how Karabinus counters.

189: Mason Richards, Spring-Ford vs Shar Linegar, Easton
Massive one in the team race as Easton needs to find an extra potential finalist to maximize their team score. Linegar has turned into a really solid part of their lineup, a win over a top 15 foe would be huge in the team race.

285: Sean Kinney, Nazareth vs Calvin Lachman, Quakertown
A possible state final at heavyweight. Lachman held Kinney to a 5-2 win at Beast of the East, one of two decisions in the last two years he’s had against a PA wrestler. This is also a Lafayette-Lehigh battle as Kinney will play football for the Leopards and Lachman will wrestle for the Mountain Hawks.

 

[RoverNation05]

Fenner was leading 4-2 when Chunko had to injury default. Fenner-Albanese III in finals this afternoon.

Salamone controlled a 5-3 win over Joseph. He’ll get a rematch of the Top Hat finals with Gabe Ballard.

Woloshyn upset Speece at 127, huge team race implications. He’ll have state finalist Mason Ziegler of Quakertown in finals.

Mutarelli teched Chris Kelly. Not close.

Trey Wagner came back in the final 30 seconds then pinned Jamie Garcia in overtime. He and Mutarelli is a possible state finals preview.

Mack rode out Fanelli in the second period, then countered a takedown in the third to win 3-0. He’ll get top seed Tahir Parkins of Nazareth in the finals, Parkins is ranked 2nd in the state, another state semifinal level match up.

 

[RoverNation05]

Gavin Hawk pins Cole Hubert to vault P’Burg into a tie with Easton for the team lead.

 

[RoverNation05]

Cole beat up Geiger 8-2

Council Rock South shoots into first, 143.5 to 140.5 for Easton and Pburg

 

[RoverNation05]

Fugozzatto sticks Packer in the first period. He’s really good.

 

[RoverNation05]

Finals so Far
#9 Noah Fenner, Easton vs #7 Emilio Albanese, Emmaus
#7 Nick Salamone, Easton vs #6 Gabe Ballard, Northampton
#1 (2A) Aaron Seidel, Northern Lebanon vs #3 Gabe Willochell, Greater Latrobe
#2 (@121) Mason Ziegler, Quakertown vs #9 Pat WoloshYN, CRS
#2 Trey Wagner, Northampton vs #1 Anthony Mutarelli, CRS
#3 Tahir Parkins, Nazareth vs #6 Seamus Mack, Hempfiled
#2 (NJ) Luke Gelata, Phillipsburg vs #4 Michael Turi, West Scranton
#2 Collin Gaj, Quakertown vs #3 (NJ) Gavin Hawk, Phillipsburg
#9 Gavin Cole, CRS vs Sayyidakba Akbarov, Blue Mountain
#9 (2A @ 189) Luke Fugazzatto, Northwestern Lehigh vs #4 Behkruz Sadriddimov, CRS
#3 Jared Karabinus, Freedom vs #10 Mason Richards, Spring-Ford
#6 Ryan McMillan, Wilson West Lawn vs Noah Schloefer, Northwestern Lehigh
#1 Sean Kinney, Nazareth vs #5 John Pardo, Kennett

 

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Jared Karabinus controls a 3-1 win over Jared Rohn

 

[RoverNation05]

Didn’t have this one picked - John Pardo of Kennett majors John Wargo of Phillipsburg. Wargo is ranked #3 in New Jersey and a legit title contender over there. Pardo will have Sean Kinney, a 5-2 winner over Calvin Lachman, in finals.

 

[RoverNation05]

Monster semifinal round for CRS puts them in control of the team race. Standings after cosi-semis

1. Council Rock South 168.5
2. Easton 155
3. Nazareth 149.5
4. Phillipsburg 145.5
5. Northampton 136.5

 

[RoverNation05]

 

[Relayer]

A great two days for the guys from District 1. South was also the highest ranked public school at the Beast. Next up, Escape the Rock in a few weeks.

 

[RoverNation05]

Stellar tournament from Council Rock South, who had the studs to pull away in the late rounds with three champs - Anthony Mutarelli (who also won OW after teching or pinning three of the top nine guys in the state, including a fall over #2 in finals), Behkzod Sadriddinov, and Gavin Cole. They also had two runner-ups and a pair of thirds. Seven guys in the top three wins a lot of tournaments.

Also an incredible finish from Nazareth, who went 7-0 in medal matches, with pins from Elijah Simak (third) and Sean Kinney in the last match of the tourney to vault from sixth to second. Nazareth has serious top end firepower with Kinney and Tahir Parkins, who both bonuses their way to titles. Easton beat Nazareth by 20 points in a dual, but top end talent is what wins you big tournaments.

For the Red Rovers, a disappointing finish after having the lead yesterday. They are deeper than they are elite, and that showed in a 2-4 semifinal round. Easton had the most medalists, with 8, but just one champ (one runner up, two thirds, a forth, a fifth, sixth, an eighth). Not going to beat seven top threes. But I’ll also take a look at how Easton and CRS stack up 107 through 285.

But a nice win for CRS. I am NOT a Bethlehem Catholic believer this year in a dual format, so I think CRS is the slight favorite at duals this year and probably has the depth in March to win the individual format. I can break that down too after my rundown of finals.

 

[RoverNation05]

Finals Thoughts -

107: Noah Fenner could not have been more impressive. He’s lost two tight matches to Emilio Albanese, but took round three decisively, hammering the talented fellow freshman 9-2. He was way more effective from his feet, and suffocated Albanese with a leg ride and was able to blow the match open with backpoints.

114: Gabe Ballard is so damn good. He cement mixed Nick Salamone to his back for five in the first period, then cruised to an 8-2 win. That stretches the margin from their 8-6 match in the Top Hat finals. Look for them to meet at least three more times this year, but he may continue to stretch the margin.

121: Aaron Seidel is a top three wrestler in the country. Gabe Willochell is a state title threat and j think a safe bet to be a finalist, and Seidel kind of manhandled him in an 8-4 win.

127: Mason Ziegler looked great up at 127 and has to be the favorite in the state at that weight. He’s a point shy of a major over Woloshyn.

133: Lordy Lordy Anthony Mutarelli. Beat Trey Wagner like he stole something in what could have been a state finals preview. If Mutarelli wrestles like he did this weekend, nobody is going to touch him in Hershey.

139: Tahir Parkins mauled Seamus Mack, showing how much separation there is from Parkins (and Maddox Shaw and Luke Simcox) from the rest of the field.

 

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145: Michael Turi raced out to a big lead and survived a charge from Fargo All American and possible Jersey state champ Luke Geleta. Great win for the District 2 stud.

152: Collin Gaj is amazing. Also crazy that he’s a returning state champ, top four in the country, and not a favorite to win a state title because he shares the weight with Kollin Rath. But Gaj was mighty impressive in handling potential NJ finalist Gavin Hawk in a comfortable 5-1 win.

160: Gavin Cole with a quick first period fall over one of the two finalists who were unranked in their state.

 

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172: Sadriddinov is just too good. Fugazzotto is going to be really, really good. Sadriddinov is already at that level and it showed here.

189: Jared Karabinus got a third period takedown, then fended off a last second takedown for a 4-3 win. He’s really good, but not separated into the top tier of 189s in the state.

215: Ryan McMillan took care of business against an unranked foe with a pin.

285: John Pardo thought he got a nice leg attack in. Sean Kinney sprawls and flattens him out, spins behind, sinks an arm bar, first period pin. Like clockwork. Now 101-5 in his incredibly storied career.

 

[RoverNation05]

Council Rock South vs Easton Hypothetical Dual Match Ups (favorite in bold)
107: Eddie Alvarez (8th) vs Noah Fenner (1st)
114: Conor Lenehan (3rd) vs Nick Salamone (2nd)
121: Luke Reitter (3rd) vs Ethan Krazer (1-2)
127: Pat Woloshyn (2nd) vs Brendan Bowman (Inj)
133: Anthony Mutarelli (1st) TF Chris Kelly (4th)
139: Ajay Bhatt (2-2) vs Ben Fanelli (3rd)
145: Caleb Christian (0-2) vs Jaron Trimmer (2-2)
152: Max Nepochatov (1-2) vs Quentin Hammerstone (5th)
160: Gavin Cole (1st) dec James Geiger (6th)
172: Behkruz Sadriddinov (1st) tech Justin Cosover (2-2)
189: Aidan Murray (3-2) vs Shae Linegar (3rd)
215: Aryn Valeriano (0-2) vs Kurtis Crossman (8th)
285: Jeffrey Gessner (0-2) vs LD Conyers (2-2)

I’ve got it 7-5 Easton in terms of bouts, with one major toss up (Lenehan-Salamone was an OT match at the blood round at states last year with Salamone winning). Geiger at 160 had minor knee surgery three weeks ago, it looked like he hit an absolute wall on Friday, maybe he shows better in a month and a half, but Cole looked like a favorite.

CRS looks like bonus points at 121, 127 maybe, 133, and 172. Easton can get bonus at 107, 139, 152, 189, and 215. Giving CRS 114, I think Easton can win the dual 27-23. I also think Easton could bump Kelly and Fanelli up to try and get two pins to offset Mutarelli, who is going to get bonus against Kelly or a JV kid.