Southwest Regional Class AA Preview and Predictions

I wasn't able to do as comprehensive of a preview for the Southwest Regional as I was for the district tournaments. And, due to the hectic week, I also couldn't continue my tradition of publishing the my picks as well as those of Off the Mat Rankings' Mark Dugan in The Tribune-Democrat.

Instead, I'll post them here, with a brief synopsis of the weight, as I see it.

You can see the full brackets here.

Please excuse any mistakes you may find. As a professional, I try to eliminate them as much as possible, but I'm at the end of a 19 1/2-hour work day and don't have the energy to go back and read everything again. I also don't have the luxury of a proof reader at this point. If you want to drop me an email at eknopsnyder@tribdem.com, I can correct the mistakes later. (I'll also blame any poor picks on a lack of sleep).

Enjoy:

106

The best match could come in the semifinals, as Ligonier Valley's Justin Patrick faces Southmoreland's Austin Griffiths for the third time this season. I don't know much about Valley's Pat Dewitt, who is the WPIAL champ, so maybe I'm underestimating him, but Dugan and I both have a D6 rematch in the finals.

Knopsnyder: 1)Patrick 2)Brown 3)Griffiths 4)Howard 5)Dewitt
Dugan: 1)Patrick 2)Brown 3)Dewitt 4)Moist 5)Griffiths

113

No surprise here, as we both picked Kittanning's Jason Nolf, who won the 103-pound PIAA title as a freshman last year, beat two-time state champ Nick Roberts this season and is a combined 80-0 for his career. This is a very tough weight class, but it's still hard to see anyone beating Nolf here. I'm surprised that Ligonier Valley's Josh Patrick is only eighth in the Pennsylvania Wrestling Rankings - a spot below Bedford's Ryan Easter. Guess his elbow injury took a toll in more ways than one.

Knopsnyder: 1)Nolf 2)Patrick 3)Crouse 4) Easter 5)Dupas

Dugan: 1)Nolf 2)Patrick 3)Easter 4)Dupas 5)Crouse

120

I might be going out on a bit of a limb here, with Bedford's Garrett Thomas to beat District 6 champ Jared Woomer and District 7 winner Nate Reckner of South Side Beaver, but I can't take him over North Star's Nick Roberts, who has a pair of PIAA titles to his name.

Knopsnyder: 1)Roberts 2)Thomas 3)Reckner 4)Woomer 5)Davis

Dugan: 1)Roberts 2)Reckner 3)Woomer 4)Davis 5)Thomas

126

Gee, what a surprise, we both took the defending state champion for the third consecutive weight class. This is really a battle for second place, as the semifinal between between Keystone Oaks' Nick Zanetta and Central Cambria's Ben Rager should be a good one. Dugan has Rager ranked third and PWR has him ranked second, but Gulibon, who is just seven wins away from a fourth PIAA title is on a different level. This is the first weight where we agree on all of the picks.

Knopsnyder: 1)Gulibon 2)Rager 3)Zanetta 4)Toth 5)Vahaly

Dugan: 1)Guilbon 2)Rager 3)Zanetta 4)Toth 5)Vahaly

132

We end up with the same qualifiers here, but in a different order. Dugan has Claysburg-Kimmel's James Dodson ranked fifth with Charleroi's Josh Kwasny ninth while PWR has Kwasny seventh, a spot ahead of Dodson. I picked the WPIAL wrestler to hand Dodson his first loss of the season.

Knopsnyder: 1)Kwasny, 2)Dodson 3)Gentry 4)Edwards 5)Shields

Dugan: 1)Dodson 2)Kwasney 3)Shields 4)Edwards 5)Gentry

138

This weight looks to be all about District 6. Both sets of rankings have all four D6 placewinners -- Penn Cambria's Nick Szala, Bellwood-Antis' Trevor Helsley, Blairsville's Noah Tarr and Claysburg-Kimmel's Ty Dively -- ranked in the top 10. I wasn't quite as brave as Dugan, sneaking one D7 wrestler -- Charleroi's Nick Gavazzi -- into the top top four instead of going all D6 at the top. Interestingly enough, we both must believe that Dively simply had a bad day in placing fourth at the D6 tournament.

Knopsnyder: 1)Dively 2)Tarr 3)Szala 4)Gavazzi 5)Helsley

Dugan: 1)Dively 2)Helsley 3)Szala 4)Tarr 5)Gavazzi

145

Surprise, surprise, we each take the top-ranked wrestler in the state to win the weight. Brydon isn't far behind -- fifth in OTM and third in PWR -- but it's hard to see him beating Beitz. I originally had Bonzo placing fourth and Cahill finishing fifth, but it seems to be a rule that Sutton and Cahill have to wrestle every year at regionals, so I had to change it.

Knopsnyder: 1)Beitz 2)Brydon 3)Sutton 4)Cahill 5)Bonzo

Dugan: 1)Beitz 2) Brydon 3)Sutton 4)Bonzo 5)Cahill

152

Not much love for District 7 here. We each have WPIAL champion Jared Walker of South Fayette as the only D7 wrestler advancing. Dugan's love was geared toward District 6 while I leaned toward District 5. I have all three D5 qualifiers advancing, while the WPIAL champ and runner-up meet in the second round of consolations. Interestingly, Conemaugh Township's Cory Berchick, who didn't get much love from PWR early in the season is now up to fifth in those rankings and both Dugan and I picked him to carry this weight.

Knopsnyder: 1)Berchick 2)Doak 3)Walker 4)Darr 5)Otten

Dugan: 1)Berchick 2)Doak 3)Walker 4)Bafia 5)Wunder

160

I know that both rankings services have Central Cambira's Tony Risaliti No. 1 here and Forest Hills' Cody Law No. 2, but I'm bucking the trend a bit and picking Bentworth's Francis Mizia to beat both of them. I don't think there's an Outstanding Wrestler award given here, but if there was and Mizia did win this weight, he should get it.

Knopsnyder: 1)Mizia 2)Risaliti 3)Law 4)Sutton 5)Fetchet

Dugan: 1)Risaliti 2)Law 3)Mizia 4)Fetchet 5)Martin

170

Dugn has Jefferson-Morgan's Dustin Conti ranked second and PWR has him at No. 4, so it's no surprise that we both picked him to win. I have Chestnut Ridge's Tyler Dibert beating WPIAL runner-up Garrett Vulcano of Chartiers-Houston to get to the finals, while Dugan has it going the other way. 

Knopsnyder: 1)Conti 2)Dibert 3)Vulcano 4)Blankenship 5)Inzana

Dugan: 1)Conti 2)Vulcano 3)Blankenship 4)Dibert 5)Inzana

182

We see this weight class very differently, although we each have Burrell's Dakota DesLauriers winning it. I have it being dominated by D7, with the top four all coming from the west and District 6 champion Scott Thompson being the only non-WPIAL wrestler to advance. Dugan sees it as much more balance with places going 7-6-5-6-7. I should have learned my lesson last week, betting on an injury to slow a Brett from Bedford but ...

Knopsnyder: 1)DesLauriers 2)Stroupe 3)Datz 4)Fields 5)Thompson

Dugan: 1)Deslauriers 2)Thompson 3)Brett 4)Ludwig 5)Stroupe

195

I think that District 7 has a big advantage at this weight as well. We both picked Southmoreland's Jordan Kitta to win it, but for the second straight weight, I have the WPIAL with all four semifinalists, and four of the qualifiers. Maybe I'm underestimating Moshannon Valley's James Stodart, who is undefeated, because he hasn't seen much quality competition this season. OTM has Stodart ranked 10th while PWR has him 11th. The difference is that PWR has Mapletown's Kyle Gray sixth and Avella's Jake Temple eighth.

Knopsnyder: 1)Kitta 2)Temple 3)Gray 4)Stodart 5)Cratsenberg

Dugan: 1)Kitta 2)Stoudart 3)Gray 4)Temple 5)Beach

220

It certainly doesn't seem difficult to choose a winner here. John Rizzo has already won a pair of state titles at heavyweight and is on a mission to pick up one at 220 now. But he'd like to collect his first Southwest Regional title first. 

Knopsnyder: 1)Rizzo 2)Craig 3)Kumer 4)Ludwig 5)Long

Dugan: 1)Rizzo 2)Craig 3)Krupa 4)Kumer 5)Ludwig

285

Both OTM and PWR have the top two heavyweights in the state coming out of this region; they just have their positions reversed. Not surprisingly, Dugan has Fort Cherry's Corey Garry ranked first and picked him to win. PWR has Northern Bedford's Quinton Hixson first and I went with him, although almost any heavyweight match can come down to a coin toss. What I don't understand about PWR's rankings is why Somerset's Jake Hayman - who gave Hixson his only loss - is only ranked 20th. I have more faith in the small heavyweight, as does Dugan. No matter what happens, there should be some good battles at this weight.

Knopsnyder: 1)Hixson 2)Garry 3)Hayman 4) Grandelis 5) Strickland

Dugan: 1)Garry 2)Hixon 3)Grandelis 4)Hayman 5)Buttry