Glenn Kaiser previews the state wrestling tournament and also makes his predictions for each weight class.
BREAKING DOWN THE BRACKETS IN HERSHEY
By Glenn Kaiser
Twenty-nine SOL wrestlers will head to the Giant Center in Chocolate Town, USA, this Thursday (AAA Wrestling starts at 4:00pm) in search of gold or at least a spot on the podium. Those wrestlers make up over 40 percent of all District One wrestlers heading to the PIAA Individual State Championships that run through Saturday. Additionally, one team from the SOL, Pennridge, will send six wrestlers to States with an opportunity for the Rams to capture a Team title. And Council Rock South will have five wrestlers on the mats as well to compete for team supremacy against the state’s best that includes Franklin Regional, Bethlehem Catholic, and Greater Latrobe.
Pennridge will have two legitimate individuals with paths to a title. Both ranked #1 in the state by PA Power Rankings, Matt Parker (106) and Kyle Gentile (170) will seek to lead the Rams to the Promise Land and a potential state championship. Matt Parker is the clear favorite at 106 pounds as he is positioned in the top half of the bracket and will face freshman Kolby Ho from Dubois in his first round match. A potential quarterfinal match-up with Nazareth’s Tyrone Klump will lead to a bout with either Job Chisko (Penn Trafford) or Chris Wright (Central Dauphin), both ninth graders in the semis. Parker will make it to the finals in this talented young weight class and face Altoona’s Cole Manley and win a state title for the Rams. The other two wrestlers from the SOL here, Aiden Burke (CR North) and Pennsbury’s Antonio Martoccio will be able to reach the podium as well. Burke will surely be in the hunt for a top spot, while Martoccio may have to take the long road coming from the pigtails.
Kyle Gentile, who has had an outstanding season in some of the top tournaments, will not disappoint here in Hershey. He is positioned atop the top half of the 170-pound bracket and should have a clear path to the semis, but will have to battle through a weight class full of accomplished wrestlers with solid records. Starting in the quarters with Manheim Central’s Jared Siegrist, who is 35-1, and a potential matchup in the semis with Penn Hills’ Teshaun Campbell who is undefeated at 32-0. If Gentile navigates his way to the finals, he’ll be tested by either Southern Lehigh’s Matt Mirth, who is also undefeated, or DJ Hollingshead (Altoona) or one of many others down below in the lower half of the bracket. Nonetheless, he will prevail. CR South’s Joe Doyle will have to come out of the preliminary round to place in this extremely loaded weight class.
Another SOL wrestler looking for gold will be CR South’s Zack Trampe at 126. Trampe will look to rebound from his loss in the SE Regional finals to claim gold at the Giant Center. His second place finish at Regionals may have been a blessing, as he could get to the finals if he can get past Ethan McCoy from Greater Latrobe in the semis. In the finals, he’ll have to deal with Luke Karam from Bethlehem Catholic, who moved up to AAA from AA a season ago as he reigned champ there. North Penn’s Sofia Bensmail, a fifth place finisher, will have a tough ride from the pigtails.
The 2015 PIAA (AAA) Individual Championships will feature 20-man brackets that include four preliminary bouts in each weight class. Thus, loading the brackets with talent and adding earlier marquee bouts in the first round typically seen in the quarterfinals. Three wrestlers from the SOL at 113 pounds will experience the new format out of the gate as Pennridge’s Kordell Rush, who was fourth a year ago, will look to repeat as a medalist, and he’ll be joined by CR South’s freshman Ben Radner and Quakertown’s Harrison Campbell. Campbell will be up against one of the best in Franklin Regional’s Devin Brown in his first round match. And Radner will come from the pigtails and have to battle the Valley’s number one in KJ Fenstermacher (Liberty) in a first round match if he wins his pigtail. Rush will do battle with Dan Moran from Northampton in his first round match, which is a contest of two returning place-winners, as Moran was a runner-up a year ago.
At 120, both Dylan Nuttall (Truman) and Micah Visuwan (Pennridge) must get out of the prelims to medal, and Visuwan, only a freshmen, will see undefeated and favorite to win it all Spencer Lee from Franklin Regional in the first round. Nuttall could make some noise as he is hungry after years of faltering at the next level. Look for him to battle for a spot on the podium in the most talented weight class this year.
Pennridge will send another freshman out at 132, Josh Stillings, who has is battle tough and ready to take on CB South transfer Chad Haegele (Archbishop Wood) in round one. This weight class could press 120 as the toughest from top to bottom, as Upper Dublin’s Colin Devlin will take note coming out of the pigtails against Victor Kenderdine (Manheim Twp). However, this weight class will feature a rematch of the Northwest’s best - AC Headlee (Waynesburg) and Greater Latrobe’s Luke Pletcher - in the finals.
Three more SOL warriors will take to the mats at the Giant Center at 145, and one of them remains unbeaten - that is CB West’s senior Riley Barth. Barth is a perfect 34-0 and should have a nice path to the semis to meet up with Cumberland Valley’s standout Pat Duggan. Barth has enough big moves to place high, but it will be tough to win it all with Franklin’s Michael Kemmerer up top if he gets by Duggan. Colin Shannon (North Penn) and Dustin Stone (Truman) must come from the pigtails to medal. They will both have to deal with bears in Easton’s James Saylor for Stone if his wins his first one, and for Shannon, Becca opponent Cole Karam initially and then Duggan if he gets in.
The 152 weight class is wide open. The favorite is Pitt Central Catholic’s Vincenzo Joseph up top, which may enable Dylan Schwartz (CR South) to go deep in the tournament and medal. Outside of undefeated Josh Shields (Frank Reg) at 160, the field is wide open as well with three SOL guys in the mix. Josh Shalinsky is up top as a one seed but will see Shields along with Dom DeLaurentis (Upper Moreland) in his path. Look for both DeLaurentis and Shalinsky to battle back for medals. Wissahickon’s Josh Trunk with limited action this season will be happy to be in Hershey. If he can win his first one, he will be up against a tough Cody Cordes (Wyoming Valley West) in the first round.
At 182, Phil Stolfi will look to match the success of his older brother Joe, who is having a record-breaking season at Bucknell. But it will be rough riding for the junior from Souderton as he needs to come out of the pigtails to medal. Evan Wilson (CB East) will climb the podium this year after qualifying a year ago and after capturing the Outstanding Wrestler Award at both the D1 East and SE Region tournaments this year. The 195 weight class will feature a pair of SOL wrestlers to make names for themselves, as Ben Kenis (CR South) and Gavin Caroff (Quakertown) are entered here. Kenis is battle tested with CR South’s ruthless schedule and should be able to win some matches.
220 will be a war with many stealth and big-bodied combatants. Both Ezra Outlaw (Pennridge) and Norristown’s Isaiah Samuel will have to put on their work boots and hard hats in this weight class. Not only is the #1 wrestler in the nation, Jordan Wood (Boyertown), at this weight, he is joined by Omar Haddad (Parkland) and several others that Samuel and Outlaw must deal with to medal.
The heavyweight class is allegedly led by Bo Spiller (Solanco), carrying on for four-timer Thomas Haines, but look for Bruce Graeber (Neshaminy) and Norristown’s big Shaheed Hill to work their way onto the podium. Hill is returning to Hershey with heavy medal on his mind.
Pennridge will need all the right things to happen to capture a title, win a couple of titles, place high with two or more wrestlers, and hope for the upsets, which will happen. It’s not impossible, and this is why when as little kids wrestling on the weekends, they dream of the magic in Hershey and work to achieve at the highest level in high school. This is truly the greatest place on Earth for one weekend at the toughest and finest high school wrestling tournament in the world at the PIAA Championships. All tournament information can be found on the PIAA.org website, including live updated brackets to follow the action.
Here are my predictions for each weight class:
106-Matt Parker (Pennridge) over Cole Manley (Altoona)
113-Devin Brown (Franklin Regional) over Gage Curry (North Hills)
120-Spencer Lee (Frank Reg) over Tyshawn White (Central Dauphin)
126-Luke Karam (Becca) over Zack Trampe (CRS)
132-Luke Pletcher (Greater Latrobe) over AC Headlee (Waynesburg)
138-Sam Kirvus (Hempfield Area) over Cam Coy (Penn Trafford)
145-Michael Kemmerer (Frank Reg) over Pat Duggan (Central Dauphin)
152-Vincenzo Joseph (Pitt Cent Cath) over Lucas Ortiz (Conestoga Valley)
160-Josh Shields (Frank Reg) over Cody Cordes (Wyomingy Valley West)
170-Kyle Gentile (Pennridge) over Matt Mirth (So Lehigh)
182-Kellan Stout (Mt Lebanon) over Casey Glunt (James Buchanan)
195-Jan Johnson (Gov Mifflin) over Drew Phipps (Norwin)
220-Jordan Wood (Boyertown) over Seth Janney (South Western)
285-Bo Spiller (Solanco) over Andrew Dunn (Becca)
- Log in to post comments
