Around the region

While we head into the new year, I'll take a look here at the Southwest Region in Class AA.
I attended the Southmoreland Holiday Classic this past Saturday. It is a nice tournament in terms of getting an early gauge on the region, as most of the field is comprised of teams from Districts 5, 6, and 7. By weight class, here's the skinny.
106 - Southmoreland's own Austin Griffiths is ranked first in the region by PA Power Rankings and showed he belonged there by majoring second-ranked Austin McDermitt of Burgettstown, 11-2, for the Southmoreland title. Griffiths finished third in the state last year while McDermitt was seventh. Jefferson-Morgan's Brendan Howard, ranked third, finished third at Southmoreland. Bedford freshman Jonathan Gabriel and Huntingdon freshman Collin Glorioso are ranked fourth and fifth. Those two along with Howard would be expected to compete at the Thomas Tournament later this month, so we should find out more about this weight then.
113 - Derry freshman George Phillippi is ranked first, ahead of Forest Hills' Tristan Law and Mount Union's Sage Moist. Law finished runner-up at Southmoreland to Hollidaysburg's Damian Huff, a District 6-AAA regional placewinner last year. In the semifinals, Huff beat Bentworth's Jake Rothka, who is ranked fourth in the region in AA here. Locally, PA Power tabs Bedford's Jake Warren ninth and HOPE for Hyndman's Robby Snyder 11th in the region at the weight.
120 - The region's top ranked wrestler at 120, Ligonier Valley's Justin Patrick, dropped a 5-3 decision to South Side's Nathan Reckner in the finals at Southmoreland. Recker was ranked third at 126. South Fayette's Seth Carr is ranked second with Beth-Center's Zach Swarrow, a two-time state placewinner, rated third. Swarrow did not compete at Southmoreland. This is a pretty strong weight with Claysburg's Josh Brown ranked fourth and Jefferson-Morgan's John Demaske fifth. Demaske bowed out of Southmoreland early (I wasn't able to find out having not been there on Friday). Sixth-ranked Pat Dewitt of Valley wrestled at 126 over the weekend (see next weight below).
126 - Ligonier Valley's Josh Patrick and Bedford's Ryan Easter, both two-time state medalists, front this class. Patrick won the Southmoreland title but it wasn't easy, as he was tested bigtime by Dewitt in the semifinals. Twice in the bout's final 40 seconds, Dewitt was in deep on Patrick, forcing the Rutgers recruit to hold him off for the 3-2 win. As stated at 120, Reckner was ranked third here. Chartiers-Houston's Richie McGinnis is fourth, followed by Meyersdale's Collin Day, who finished fifth at Southmoreland.
132 - Interestingly here, Kittanning's Jason Nolf, 17-0 with 14 pins and championships at the King of the Mountain and Powerade tournaments, is not ranked first. Hmm?? That honor by PA Power goes to Keystone Oaks senior Nick Zanetta, last year's state runner-up at 126. No disrespect to Zanetta here, just can't figure that one out. South Side's Shane Gentry, the Southmoreland winner, is ranked third with Jefferson-Morgan's Jason Miller fourth. Miller competed in a good 138-pound bracket at Southmoreland. More on that below. Meyersdale's Tanner Hetrick, runner-up to Gentry on Saturday, is ranked fifth. Northern Bedford's Mason Replogle is eighth, Bedford's Garrett Thomas is ninth, and Chestnut Ridge's Trent Crouse is 12th.
138 - Top ranked here is Juniata's Sean Heggs, who was a state placewinner last year at East Juniata. Blairsville's Noah Tarr is second. He finished second at Southmoreland to Charleroi's Nick Gavazzi, who is rated second at 145. The two-pound allowance that was moved up from mid-January to Christmas this season had a lot to do with the shuffling around. Burrell's Steven Edwards and Southern Huntingdon's Brennan Shields are third and fourth, respectively, with Northern Bedford's Damian Corle ranked fifth in the region. Corle placed fourth at Southmoreland, losing to both Gavazzi and Miller. Bedford's Toby Brett is ranked sixth.
145 - Burrell's Phillip Marra is ranked first here with Gavazzi as stated second. Third is Southmoreland champion Drew Gartland of Northern Bedford, who blazed through the bracket at Southmoreland. His toughest bout there was a 4-2 win over West Greene's Matt Johnston, ranked seventh in the region. Ahead of Johnston are Conemaugh Township's Tanner Cahill, South Park's Taylor Wentzel, and Richland's Nick Naglic.
152 - Southmoreland champion Andrew Doak of Blairsville is ranked first at 152 and this is a pretty top-heavy weight. Doak decisioned Freedom's Boe Bonzo in Saturday's final. Bonzo is ranked third, just behind Chartiers-Houston's Tanner Sutton.
160 - Forest Hills' defending state runner-up and Penn State recruit Cody Law heads this weight. Law won the Southmoreland title and wasn't really tested. Ranked second in the region is South Fayette's Jared Walker with Marion Center's Phil Crook third.
170 - South Fayette's Mike Fetchet, fifth in the state last year, has the top regional spot here ahead of Number 2 Bradie Bollman of Chestnut Ridge. South Side's Connor Payne is ranked third, Forest Hills' Zack Pinkas is fifth, and Blairsville's Bobby Thompson is seventh. Those three finished fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively at Southmoreland. In the consolations, Payne beat Pinkas while Pinkas defeated Thompson. HOPE for Hyndman's Richard Moskey draws a regional ranking of sixth here.
182 - There are currently six former state qualifiers in this regional ranking at 182, headlined by three-time medalist Dakota DesLauriers of Burrell. Hershey placewinners Dustin Conti of Jefferson-Morgan and Scott Thompson of Blairsville are ranked second and third with Chestnut Ridge's Tyler Dibert, a two-time qualifier, fourth. In the finals at Southmoreland, Conti beat fifth-ranked Terrell Fields of Valley, while Thompson did not wrestle there.  Bedford's Michael Brett is ranked ninth in the region.
195 - Chartiers-Houston's Garrett Vulcano is the top ranked regional wrestler at 195, and Somerset's Jacob Nickelson is second, followed by Moshannon Valley's James Stodart and West Greene's Cody Jacobs. Jacobs finished fifth at Southmoreland, losing to Corry's Ryan Morris, who won the event, and Mount Pleasant's Eli Holt, who is ranked eighth.
220 - Avella's Jake Temple drew the top ranking with Chestnut Ridge's Dan Albright second. West Branch's Reynold Maines is third with Mo Valley's Jacob Ludwig fourth. HOPE for Hyndman's Jake Bennett is ranked sixth. Northern Bedford's Eric Grace, second at Southmoreland, is listed as Honorable Mention.
285 - The only Spring Into Sports local to be ranked first in the region is here with Chestnut Ridge's Austin Buttry, who is 11-0. United's Ben Mountain is ranked second. Another local, Tussey Mountain's Mitchell Hall, is rated third by PA Power. HOPE for Hyndman's Dylan Emerick is ranked ninth.

Upcoming this week
On Thursday night, two all-local dual meets take place with Northern Bedford at Claysburg and Everett at Tussey Mountain. Bedford is at Central Cambria while HOPE for Hyndman entertains North Star. HOPE for Hyndman has a busy weekend with that plus a trip to Cumberland for the Super Duals on Friday and Saturday.
Also on Saturday, the first-ever Laurel Highlands Tournament will be hosted by Bedford. Everett hosts its dual meet tournament with Tussey Mountain also there as well. More on these events will be on here later in the week.