POWERade preview

If you haven't been to the POWERade tournament before, you owe yourself a trip to Canonsburg to check it out. Simply put, it's the best tournament you'll see within a few hours' drive of Johnstown. It's ranked as the best tournament in Pennsylvania and the third-best in the nation, and this year's field doesn't disappoint.
There's an extremely informative website at poweradewrestling.com.
There are 48 teams, including Altoona, Chestnut Ridge, Mifflin County and Westmont Hilltop from districts 5 and 6. There also are teams from California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia. Three of Intermat's top 10 Fab 50 teams - No. 6 Archer (Ga.), No. 8 Franklin Regional and No. 10 Buchanan (Calif.) - are in it. So are No. 33 Belle Vernon and No. 36 Greater Latrobe.
The POWERade tournament has so many interesting facts and tournaments that I can't possibly get into all of them, so check out the website.
For now, here's what you need to know:

Where: Canon-McMillan High School, Canonsburg. It's a little more than an hour and half from Johnstown, according to Google.

Competing teams (48): Altoona, Archer (Ga.), Arlington Martin (Texas), Belle Vernon, Benton, Bethel Park, Bishop McDevitt, Blue Mountain, Brookville, Burrell, Buchanan (Calif.), Canon-McMillan, Cedar Cliff, Central Catholic, Chestnut Ridge, Connellsville, Delbarton (N.J.), Derry, Erie McDowell, Father Ryan (Tenn.), Fort LeBoeuf, Franklin Regional, Good Counsel (Md.), Hempfield, Huntington (W.Va.), Jefferson-Morgan, Kittanning, Latrobe, Mifflin County, Mifflinburg, Moeller (Ohio), Mount Lebanon, Norwin, Parkersburg (W.Va.), Parkland, Penn Trafford, Peters Township, Saegertown, St. Pauls (Md.), Walsh Jesuit (Ohio), Waynesburg, Westmont Hiltop.

Schedule:

• Monday: Pigtails starting at 8:30 a.m., followed by round of 32, round of 16, pigtail consolations and first-round consolations. The second round of constellations are set for 6 p.m. with the quarterfinals and third-round consis at 7:30 p.m.
• Tuesday: The fourth round of consolations begin at 10 a.m. with the semifinals and the fifth-round consolations at 11:30 a.m. Sixth-round consolations begin are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Consolation finals begin at 5 p.m. with the finals set for 7:30 p.m.

Seeded wrestlers from area: 

• Chestnut Ridge: Aaron Burket, second at 106.
• Mifflin County: Hayden Hidlay, fourth at 145; Noah Stewart, seventh at 160; Trey Hartsock, fifth at 195.

Defending champions: Devon Brown, Franklin Regional (106); Spencer Lee, Franklin Regional (113); Luke Pletcher, Greater Latrobe (120); Michael Kemerer, Franklin Regional (138), Josh Shields, Franklin Regional (152); Omar Haddad, Parkland (220); team champion, Franklin Regional.

Weight(s) to watch: The easy answer is all of them. With so many great wrestlers in this tournament, each weight delivers unbelievable action, but there are two that really stand out this season.
The 120-pound weight class has five returning state champions in it. The fact that one of them is named Spencer Lee makes it a pretty daunting task for the rest, even if the No. 2 seed, Ty Agaisse of Delbarton (N.J.) was 44-0 last season and ranked No. 14 by Intermat.
But, my real pick is 132. I haven't seen the bracket yet, but the talent in it is ridiculous. How about this? Five defending state champions (Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia) plus Derry Area's George "Mickey" Phillippi, who won a PIAA title in 2013; Georgia runner-up Chris Diaz and, oh yeah, A.C. Headlee of Waynesburg, who just happens to be ranked No. 1 in the country by Intermat. All told, the No. 1, No. 2 (Greater Latrobe's Luke Pletcher), No. 6 (Phillippi) from Intermat are entered.

I hope to be