Southwest Regional Bracket Analysis

   It's back to wrestling this week as the Class AA Southwest Regional hits the mats at Canon-McMillan this weekend. Action begins with the opening round at 3 p.m. on Friday, followed by quarterfinals and the first round of consolations. The top six placewinners in each weight class advance to the state tournament next week in Hershey.
   I have provided a link to the brackets below as well as my analysis of each weight. My picks for the state qualifiers will appear in Friday's edition of the Bedford Gazette.

2016 SW Regional Brackets - http://live.pa-wrestling.com/2015-2016/region-south-west-aa/

Analysis
   106 Pounds - Chestnut Ridge senior Aaron Burkett is a strong favorite to capture his first regional championship, as he has been ranked #1 in the state all season by both Off the Mat and PA Power Rankings. The Lehigh recruit has a bye in the first round and will meet the winner between Chartiers-Houston's Ty Mazutis and Westmont's Derrick Christie. The other district champions here are Mount Union's Josh Boozel and Freedom's Zach Ward. Burkett pinned Boozel in a first round bout last year. Those two could meet in the finals.

   113 - Certainly a big edge here goes to Jefferson-Morgan sophomore Gavin Teasdale, who is still unbeaten in his high school career and is ranked #1 in the nation by several outlets. Last year's 106-pound state champion looks primed to get title number two next weekend. Chestnut Ridge district champion Dylan Williams is in the bottom half of the draw along with Penns Valley's Darren Yearick, the D6 champion. Williams was within 15-20 seconds of a spot at states last year here before losing that quarterfinal in overtime, then another one in the consolation bouts.

   120 - The bottom half of this bracket is pretty tough to call. Northern Bedford's Zach Clark owns a pair of District 5 titles now and will look to get to the state tournament for the first time. Also on the bottom is West Branch's Joey Couteret, the District 6 champ. Also on the bottom is an interesting first round rematch from last year between Huntingdon's Izac Benson and McGuffey's Gage Nicolella. Benson pinned Nicolella in what was one of the surprises of last year's first day. Everett's Liam Flaherty is in the top of the bracket, along with Southmoreland's Tyler Griffiths, who won D7 and gets the bye at this weight.

   126 - This is probably the most talked about weight in Class AA as we get set for regionals. How often do you get two returning state champions in one bracket at a regional tournament? But that's what we do have here with Bedford's Jonathan Gabriel and Central Cambria's Max Murin, who happen to be good friends as well. Murin, the 113-pound PIAA champ a year ago, got the bye here. Gabriel, who won it all at this same class in 2015, is in the bottom of the draw. It would be a shocker to not see this as a final. One first round bout of interest should be Portage freshman Cole Sossong against Ellwood City's Tyler Alberts. I haven't seen much of Sossong in person, but he's been highly talked about among freshmen, while Alberts was a state qualifier last season.

   132 - Huntingdon senior Collin Glorioso, a two-time state placewinner, is in the top of the bracket with the bye at this weight. Nursing a broken nose in which he is wearing a protective mask, Glorioso won the D6 title that included a narrow 1-0 semifinal win over Central Cambria's Ian Ostrowski. Those two could meet in the regional semifinals as well. Down below, I'm looking forward to seeing Chestnut Ridge freshman Jared McGill without his mask, which was the result of a broken nose as well during the middle of January. McGill has been wrestling with it since but is now cleared to go without it. His high junior wrestling credentials coupled with a 10-8 win over Bedford's Gabriel in December made him the talk of the area for awhile. He'll probably see Mount Union's Jake Boozel in Friday's quarterfinals, in what could be a barnburner. McGill is ranked fifth in the state by Off the Mat and sixth by PA Power, while Boozel is eighth and 10th, respectively.

   138 - The top half of this bracket appears stronger on paper, though it is easily led by Derry senior George Phillippi, who is a two-time state champion. He has the bye. Others on top who should make noise include Westmont's Carnell Andrews, Penns Valley's Curtis Decker, and Berlin's Joey Swank. Swank drew South Fayette's Shane Ging in an opening round bout and that will be a rematch of a bout last year where Swank was called for a slam and disqualified, while Ging came back from the injury and advanced to the state tournament. Down below, Chestnut Ridge sophomore Justin McCoy has been wrestling as well as anybody locally for a while in my mind. That said, Huntingdon's Tyler Scott and Ligonier Valley's Dalton Clark could provide threats to McCoy's shot at the finals. Scott has wrestled well of late, including an impressive performance in the D6 tourney a week after beating Reynolds' Seth Hogue in the state duals. Clark was a state qualifier last year.

   145 - South Fayette's Mike Carr continues his quest for a second state championship and has the bye here. The likeliest biggest opposition in the top of the draw would be Central Cambria's Tommy Opdenhoff, though Carr has had Opdenhoff's number in several recent meetings. Down below, Somerset's Austin Hemminger, Huntingdon's Seth Baney, Freedom's Kody Komara, and Bentworth's Hunter Neely look like probable quarterfinalists. Hemminger won a D5 title last year and then went out rather quietly at Canon-Mac. We'll see what happens the second time around for the Somerset junior.

   152 - A really good weight here. Ligonier Valley's Robby Patrick has the bye. The sophomore made it all the way to the state finals last season. Others to watch in the top would include Jeannette's GioVonne Sanders, South Fayette's Ben Previte, and North Star's Gus Strasiser. The bottom half of the draw is tough, with Chestnut Ridge's Morgan Deremer, Huntingdon's Jon Wagner, and Burrell's Damon Greenwald. Deremer and Wagner in a quarterfinal should be a good one. Deremer and Greenwald, should they meet in the semifinals, have split two bouts this season.

   160 - South Park's Jake Wentzel, the state champion at 152 last year, is the favorite here though there are some names to know. They include Moshannon Valley's Larry Brown and Berlin's Braden Fochtman, the D6 and D5 champions, respectively. Others are Penn Cambria's Austin Farabaugh, South Allegheny's Cody Jenkins, Cambria Heights' Austin Gill, and Bellwood's Nate Claar.

   170 - There's quite a bit of top quality in this weight. It includes the top three in the state by both ranking services, in Westmont's Anthony Walters, Huntingdon's Jacob Oliver, and Beth-Center's Anthony Welsh. Walters beat Oliver in the District 6 finals, while Welsh is unbeaten and has the bye as the D7 champion. Oliver is in the top bracket with him. Berlin's Storm McDonald, the D5 champ who is ranked sixth by Off the Mat and eighth by PA Power, is in the bottom half along with Walters. Northern Bedford's Lucas Kolinchak and Burrell's Anthony Marra also have state rankings tied to their names.

   182 - Another defending state champion here with South Park's Greg Bulsak, who won it at 170 a year ago. He has the bye. The other district champions are Everett's Wes Graham (D5) and Penn Cambria's Jacob Driskel (D6). In my opinion, Graham along with Everett teammates Garret Cornell (106) and Liam Flaherty (120) received favorable draws for a potential state berth.

   195 - Chestnut Ridge senior Conner Buttry is on a roll, having pinned 18 consecutive opponents. That streak could be put to the test this weekend at regionals, but the D5 champion and West Virginia bound Buttry will surely be satisfied with a title at Canon-Mac no matter how it's done. It's possible he'll see Burrell's Robert Scherer in the semifinals. Buttry has owned Scherer over the past couple of years, including wins over him in the regional and state tournaments last season and a pin for the Thomas Tournament title last month. In the bottom half are Jefferson-Morgan's Bill Bowlen and West Branch's Clayton Green of note. Bowlen interestingly moved up to 195 for the postseason, and that looked good for him last week in his decision over Scherer for the D7 crown.

   220 - Two straight District 5 champs with the bye as it goes to Berlin's Toby Cahill at the 220-pound slot. Westmont's Josiah Jones is in the bottom half along with Burrell's Alex Moses. Jones won D6 and Moses took the D7 title. Others to watch could include South Fayette's Rasaun Culberson, West Branch's Vince McDowell, and Mount Union's D.J. Bookwalter.

   285 - Southmoreland's Jake Beistel has his sights set on a state championship now that previous nemesis Allan Beattie has graduated. Beistel, ranked #1 in the state and a defending PIAA runner-up, has the bye and is the prohibitive favorite in a bracket that includes Mount Pleasant's Josh Lind, Berlin's Anthony Collins, and Southern Huntingdon's Nick Winfield. Lind, Collins, and Winfield, who are the next three highest ranked 285-pounders in the field, are all in the bottom half of the draw.