King of the Mountain Part 2

Got back from North Star a while ago. Chestnut Ridge opened the season with a 60-11 win over the Cougars. Highlight of the night was Dustin Bence's pin of Luke Lepley. Bence won 5 bouts last year while Lepley won 21 and almost got to regionals.

But I won't give everything away. Read my story about it in Friday's Bedford Gazette, and also stay near this blog as I will have a short feature on Ridge's Tyler Dibert as he nears 100 wins and looks forward to his senior season.

Now, for the King of the Mountain. The top seedings in each weight have been released. Wrestling kicks off at Central Mountain at 11 a.m. Friday. Yours truly is making the trip on Saturday for all the action from the second day.

106 pounds - General McLane's Joe Wheeling is the top seed here, with Bedford's Jon Gabriel at #2. The big news here is that Latrobe's Luke Pletcher, ranked nationally as high as second, is at 113 this weekend. Wheeling was 27-5 last season as a sophomore. He finished second in District 10-AAA.

Finals prediction - Gabriel vs. Bethlehem Catholic's Luke Karam, seeded fifth.

113 - This weight class seems to have all kinds of possibilities. Parkland's Ethan Lizak, a defending Class AAA state champion and finalist two years ago, is seeded first, with defending AA runner-up Korbin Myers of Boiling Springs seeded second. Pletcher, again rated so highly on a national scale, drew only the #4 seed. Redbank Valley's Willie Gruver, seeded fifth, is a proven commodity as is sixth seed Zach Fisher of Phillipsburg, NJ (my alma mater).  Another top freshman I have heard about is Mifflin County's Hunter Hidlay, seeded 10th.

Finals prediction - Pletcher vs. Myers.

120 - Cuyahoga Valley Christian's Nathan Tomasello, ranked first in the nation, is not listed and apparently not wrestling, though teammates of his are seeded. Still not a bad weight here, with Bethlehem Catholic's Darian Cruz at the top. Cruz is the defending AA state champ at 106 and ranked nationally in the top five by most services. Ryan Pomrinca of North Hunterdon drew the second seed, with Council Rock South's Dan Martoccio third. Martoccio beat Bedford's Ryan Easter in the KoM finals two years ago at 103. Erie McDowell's Paul Deitz and Fort LeBoeuf's Tyler Kuzma aren't bad, either.

Finals prediction - Cruz vs. Martoccio.

126 - The top seed here is Lansing, N.Y. product William Koll, the son of Cornell coach Rob Koll. Koll is a returning New York state champion. Drawing the second seed is Bedford's Easter. The intriguing part of this bracket, at least from my angle, is a potential semifinal between Easter and third seed Matt Williams of Pen Argyl. Easter beat Williams on an overtime takedown in the first round at states last March, while at the state duals a month earlier, Williams dearly cost the Green Knights a team point in their 30-29 quarterfinal loss to the Bisons by throwing his headgear, upset that he didn't get the chance to wrestle Easter or anybody else for that matter.

Finals prediction - Koll vs. Easter.

132 - Kittanning's Jason Nolf, last year's KoM Outstanding Wrestler and a 2011 PIAA Class AA champion is the favorite here. He is followed in the seedings by Cole Walter of Mifflinburg, Josh Decatur of Cuyahoga Valley Christian, and Nick Gibson of Erie McDowell. Bedford's Garrett Thomas is seeded ninth.

Finals prediction - Nolf vs. Walter.

138 - Lansing's Conner Lepresi is a defending New York placewinner and is tops here. Cumberland Valley's Patrick Duggan is the second seed and is very highly regarded. Juniata's Sean Heggs surprised some at states last season and is the third seed. Bedford's Toby Brett is eighth.

Finals prediction - Erie McDowell's Shawn Spearman, seeded fourth, vs. Duggan.

145 - Pen Argyl stud and two-time state champion Michael Racciato is seeded first. Despite winning those two state titles, Racciato hasn't won this tournament in three previous tries. That says something about the quality at the King of the Mountain, though in fairness, Racciato and his Pen Argyl football team have done well the past two years, leaving him a smaller window for wrestling practice. It could be an all District 11 final as Bethlehem Catholic's Ryan Todora is the second seed. Line Mountain's Seth Lansberry is a solid wrestler and is #3.

Finals prediction - Racciato vs. Todora.

152 - Reynolds ace Austin Matthews, who lost in the state finals last winter to Racciato, is the top seed at 152, with John Vaughn of Boiling Springs second and Jimmy Schuitema of Phillipsburg, NJ third. Bedford's Tanner Williams, who placed here last year, is seeded seventh.

Finals prediction - Matthews vs. Schuitema (hey, gotta give my school some love).

160 - Cumberland Valley's T.C. Warner and Latrobe's Zack Zavatsky, both nationally ranked and both returning state AAA placewinners, highlight this bracket as the top two seeds, respectively. Sleeper here could be Bethlehem Catholic's Connor Hedash, the #7 seed. Hedash transferred to Becahi from Northern Lehigh before last season, but was ruled ineligible.

Finals prediction - Warner vs. Zavatsky.

170 - I don't much about this group other than top seed Ty Walter of Mifflinburg, so it will be short.

Finals prediction - Walter vs. Penn Trafford's Will Palorino, seeded sixth.

182 - Bellefonte's Nick Shawley drew the top post here with the second spot occupied by New Jersey's Liam Korbul of North Hunterdon. Bethlehem Catholic's Jose Ortiz is third.

Finals prediction - Shawley vs. Ortiz.

195 - Council Rock South's P.J. Steinmetz drew the top seed and DuBois' Landon Hanna is #2. The host school, Central Mountain, appears to have its best shot at a high placer on paper here with third seed Blaze Buckwalter. Bedford's Michael Brett, who has made a lot of noise at this tournament before, has the eighth seed.

Finals prediction - Steinmetz vs. Buckwalter.

220 - Like 170, I don't know a lot about this bracket besides top seed Evan Daley of Fort LeBoeuf.

Finals prediction - Daley vs. Boyertown's Jordan Wood, the third seed.

285 - Could be a rematch of last year's final here, with top seed and defending AA state champion Nazar Mironenko of Mifflinburg, and second seed Garrett Poorman of Bellefonte. Mironenko won the KoM title a year ago but still seemed to go unnoticed into Hershey only to come out with the big prize.

Finals prediction - Mironenko vs. Poorman.