Chestnut Ridge at Berlin preview

Tuesday night is the match that most of District 5 (and even wrestling fans outside of the district) have been waiting for, as Chestnut Ridge travels to Berlin.
I wrote a preview of it for The Tribune-Democrat. You get a limited number of free views each month, so even if you don't have a subscription (and why don't you?), please check it out. We track pageviews and the more hits wrestling stories get, the more ammunition I have in pushing for more coverage of the sport.
As for predictions on the dual, that's not my thing at all, but I have tried to take a look at it. I've gone back and forth on it - not the outcome, as I still see Chestnut Ridge as the favorite, but it might be closer than I expected.
I spoke with Chestnut Ridge coach Greg Lazor, who told me that his lineup will look similar to what it did at POWERade, and to Berlin coach Jason Cornell, who told me ... well, not much. Not that I blame him. The mystery surrounding Braden Fochtman and the "will he or won't he" wrestle gives the match intrigue more fitting for "WWE Monday Night Raw" than Tuesday night in Berlin. More importantly, it gives his team a little bit of an edge in determining matchups, which the Mountaineers will need if they hope to win.
I don't have any inside information on whether or not Fochtman will wrestle. My gut feeling is that he won't, or if he does, it will be much heavier than when we last saw him. The best Berlin could hope for would be to have him at 170, Taylor Cahill at 160 and Bryce Fochtman at 152, but I don't know if that's even possible. I believe that Cahill is certified at 160, but he told me earlier this season that he feels good at 170 and doesn't plan to drop. As for Bryce Fochtman, I'm not sure that he's even certified for 152.
But if all those things were to happen, it would be a huge boost for Berlin, although I'm not sure that Braden Fochtman would be in wrestling shape anyway, as I don't think he's practiced more than a handful of times this season.
Berlin hasn't wrestled since the WestPAC tournament more than two weeks ago, so the Mountaineers could have juggled their weights in a number of different ways.
Here's a look at how the teams match up if they were to wrestle each other straight up, with no shifting and the lineups the way that have recently been.
The table includes state rankings via PA Power Wrestling, records for this season and career records. I also included my predicted results at right.

		No. 3 Chestnut Ridge							No. 6 Berlin Brothersvalley						CR	BB
106	Aaron Burkett	No. 2	13	2	83	19		Andrew Hoover		2	1	2	1		6
113	Dylan Williams		9	2	9	2		Kyle Boyce		1	0				9
120	Luke Hobson		4	8	13	13		Bryce Belcher		3	0				12
126	Justin McCoy	No. 19	8	3	8	3		Austin Lee		6	2	6	2		16
132	Morgan Deremer		9	4	27	17		Joe Swank	No. 8	9	1	55	15			3
138	Derrick Claar	No. 15	7	3	105	32		Ryan Tressler		3	4	3	4		22
145	Levi Hobson		5	5	5	5		Kane McKenzie		7	5	32	23			6
152	Josh McGill		0	2	2	6		Nick Brown		1	5	1	5		28
160	Trent Crouse	No. 4	11	2	101	31		Bryce Fochtman	No. 9	9	1	109	32			9
170	Colby Hillegass	HM	9	3	69	56		Taylor Cahill	No. 6	10	0	112	29			13
182	Brandyn Beaver		5	3	11	12		Storm McDonald		7	2	27	21			16
195	Conner Buttry	No. 4	12	3	65	29		Toby Cahill	No. 14	11	0	40	11		31
220	Jon Heming		4	5	13	22		Shane Pepper		6	3	45	34			19
285	Shane Davis		3	4	16	13		Anthony Collins	No. 19	8	2	49	21			25

If the matchups went this way, I have Chestnut Ridge winning 31-25. That's a pretty low-scoring match, as I wasn't too adventurous on bonus points. One thing I learned last year is that Chestnut Ridge was much better at getting (and saving) bonus points. With that being said, I'd think that the Lions should probably be favored by 8 to 10 points as opposed to 6.
But, again, the lineups won't turn out exactly like this.
No matter how they look, it should be fun.
If you're planning to go, get there early. I'd expect a packed house, although Jan. 6 might be the busiest date on the wrestling calendar this season, so the number of out-of-towners in Berlin might be limited.
If you can't make it, I plan to provide live updates on a blog post beginning around 6 p.m. (or whenever I can get weigh-in sheets).