What you need to know about Sheetz Holiday Classic

Note: The original list that I received did not include Huntingdon, but I have been notified that the Bearcats were mistakenly left out and are in the tournament again. That (obviously) strengthens the field significantly.

The area's first big tournament will be held Friday and Saturday at Penn Cambria High School. Here's a quick glance at the 23-team tournament:

Familiar faces: Altoona, Berlin Brothersvalley, Cambria Heights, Canandaigua (N.Y.), Central Cambria, Conemaugh Township, Forest Hills, Hollidaysburg, Huntingdon, Ligonier Valley, Mercer, Mount Pleasant, Northern Cambria, Penn Cambria, Portage, Richland, St. Mary's, South Park, Tyrone and Williamsport.

Who's in: Colonial Forge (Va.), Hazelton Area and St. Joseph's Academy.

Who's out: Claysburg-Kimmel, Corry, Greater Johnstown and HOPE for Hyndman.

Returning champions: Berlin Brothervalley (team), Collin Glorioso, Huntingdon (106), Triston Law, Forest Hills (113), D.J. Hollingshead, Altoona (132), Mike Eckenrode, Penn Cambria (138) and Taylor Cahill, Berlin Brothersvalley (152). Click here to see last year's results.

Returning state placewinners (Pa. only)
Forest Hills – Triston Law (6th 106)
Huntingdon – Collin Glorioso (3rd 106)
South Park – Jake Wentzel (8th 132)

Returning regional placewinners (Pa. only, not listed above)
Altoona – D.J. Hollingshead (NW-3 132)
Berlin Brothersvalley – Braden Fochtman (SW-4 138), Taylor Cahill (SW-4 152) Bryce Fochtman (SW-4, 160)
Hazleton Area – Larry Romancik (NE-4 AAA 126)
Hollidaysburg – Damian Huff (NW-4 106)
Richland – Nick Naglic (SW-2 138)
South Park – Greg Bulsak (SW-1 126)

Name to know: Cole Manley, Altoona. The freshman likely will be the top seed at 106 pounds in what is shaping up to be a very tough bracket. He won the PJW title at 87 pounds last season and had a nice showing in Fargo this summer although he did not end up placing.

Weight to watch: 145. This could be a loaded weight class with last year's 138-pound champion (Penn Cambria's Mike Eckenrode), the runner-up (Mercer's Rodney Brant - although I haven't been able to find out what weight he's at this year), third place (Canandaigua's Vinny Romeo), fourth place (Berlin's Braden Fochtman), a AAA state qualifier in Hazleton's Larry Romancik and a AA one in Richland's Nick Naglic. That's not including Colonial Forge, which promises to have a solid wrestler at almost every weight or Huntingdon's Jacob Oliver, a freshman who might be the best young wrestler in District 6. Simply put, a very good wrestler or two might not make it to the quarterfinals here.

Tentative schedule

Friday, Dec. 13

4:30 p.m. Pigtails
5:30 p.m. Preliminaries/1st round consolations
8 p.m. Quarterfinals
Saturday, Dec. 14 
8:45 a.m. Second-round consolations
10 a.m.- Third round consolations
11:30 a.m. Semifinals/fourth-round consolations
2 p.m. Consolation semifinals
4 p.m. 3rd-, 5th- and 7th-place matches
6 p.m. Parade of champions
6:30 p.m. Finals