Pre-seeds for Sheetz Holiday Classic

Just got the top 8 pre-seeds for each weight class for Friday's Sheetz Holiday Classic. Keep in mind, these are not final and there could be some changes.

106
1. Levi Englman- CF
2. Corey Lemons- JW
3. Steven Roop- River
4. Hunter Campbell- CH
5. Owen Samsell- WA
6. Gage McCall- FH
7. Logan Pirl- LV
8. Doug Bittner- MP

113
1. Aaron Black- JW
2. Max Murin- CC
3. William Girard-WV
4. C.J. Manley- Alt
5. Liam Mairena- CF
6. Ryan Kube- RBV
7. Braden Bower-WA
8. Bryce Campbell- CH

120
1. Marc Garafola- CF
2. Nolan Link- PC
3. Matt Artrup- JW
4. Luke Wright-RIVER
5. Austin Milhalchick- MP
6. Ray Dent-SM
7. Tanner McCall- FH
8. Hunter Hileman-Alt

126
1. Josh Nail-CF
2. Jimmy Hoffman- HAZ
3. Roshaun Cooley- WA
4. Tanner Albotelli-RBV
5. Dallas Bulsak- SP
6. Ian Ostrowski- CC
7. Preston Hoover- MER
8. Stephen Rouser- RICH

132
1. Joey Swank- BBV
2. Triston Law- FH
3. Adam George- RICH
4. Clay Smith- CF
5. Matt Papastavrou-JW
6. Dalton Long- HOL
7. Tanner Clites- HYN
8. Ben Shaffer-MER

138
1. Jeff Stone- CF
2. Tommy Opdenhoff- CC
3. Kobe Laxa- KEMP
4. Dalton Clark- LV
5. Mike Novak- MP
6. Zachary Stevens- PC
7. Luke Gallo- RBV
8. Richie Lowrie- WA

145
1.Mike Eckenrode- PC
2. Kane McKenzie- BBV
3. Josh Wilson- BA
4. Mike Farris- JW
5. Cooper Wagner- MIF
6. Jared Laugh- CF
7. Robbie Patrick- LV
8. Ty Snyder- TYR

152
1. Jake Wentzel- SP
2. Braden Fochtman- BBV
3. Jimmy Woznak- JW
4. Kyle Pecht- SM
5. Xzavier Darensbourg- RIVER
6. Austin Mears- MP
7. Travis Templeton- FH
8. Mason Woodall- CF

160
1. Cole Walter- MIF
2. D.J. Hollinshead- ALT
3. Bryce Fochtman- BBV
4. Ethan Charlesworth- MP
5. Josh Garza-CF
6. Keshon Truitt- RBV
7. Christian Steffan- SM
8. Kyle Smalls- JW

170
1. Levi Niebauer- CH
2. Anthony Carter- CF
3. Taylor Cahill- BBV
4. Alex Miller- RIVER
5. Ryan Funkhouser- JW
6. Nathan Trottier- LV
7. Austin Farabaugh- PC
8. Carson Kinney- HAZ

182
1. Robert Winters- CF
2. Derek Spachman- HAZ
3. Jeremy Wilson- BA
4. Jake Driskel- PC
5. Dennis Link- CH
6. Uriah Watkins- RIVER
7. Storm McDonald- BBV
8. Braden Currie- HOL

195
1. Cameron Houston- CF
2. Hunter Goulart- KEMP
3. Toby Cahill- BBV
4. Steve Longazel- HAZ
5. D.J. Christian- JW
6. Zach Charlesworth- MP
7. Anthony Mezzello- CH
8. Mike Wolfel-SM

220
1. Patrick Grayson- CF
2. Shimels Shone- KEMP
3. Cal Haines- RBV
4. Adam Vadell- JW
5. Shane Pepper- BBV
6. James Cox- WV
7. Colin Gunsser- HAZ
8. Jared Finn- RIVER

285
1. Josh Lind- MP
2. Anthony Collins- BBV
3. Ian Minnich- WV
4. BryLee Shumaker- RBV
5. Hunter Gill- HOL
6. Rob Wolak- SP
7. Brodie Jones- CF
8. Matt Popish- JW

Things to know for this weekend's Sheetz Holiday Classic

The Sheetz Holiday Classic is the first big tournament in the area, and it's getting bigger. The field has been expanded from 23 to a whopping 29 teams. It will be held Friday and Saturday at Penn Cambria High School in Cresson. Here's a look what you need to know for the tournament:


Familiar faces: Altoona, Berlin Brothersvalley, Cambria Heights, Central Cambria, Colonial Forge (Va.), Conemaugh Township, Forest Hills, Hazleton Area, Hollidaysburg, Ligonier Valley, Mercer, Mount Pleasant, Penn Cambria, Portage, Richland, St. Joseph's Academy, St. Marys, South Park, Tyrone, Williamsport.


Who's in: Bellwood-Antis, Chartiers Valley, HOPE for Hyndman, James Wood (Va.), Kempsville (Va.), Mifflinburg, Redbank Valley, Riverbend (Va.), Williams Valley.


Who's out: Canandaigua (N.Y.) Academy, Huntingdon, Northern Cambria,


Returning champions: Max Murin, Central Cambria (106), Jimmy Hoffman, Hazleton Area (120), Adam George, Richland (126), Tommy Opdenhoff, Central Cambria (132), Jake Wentzel, South Park (138), D.J. Hollingshead, Altoona (152), Patrick Grayson, Colonial Forge (220). Click here to see last year's results.
2012 champs Triston Law, Forest Hills (113), D.J. Hollingshead, Altoona (132), Mike Eckenrode, Penn Cambria (138) and Taylor Cahill, Berlin Brothersvalley (152) also return. Click here to see 2012 results.


Returning Pa. state placewinners:
Altoona – D.J. Hollingshead (4^th at 152 AAA)
Cambria Heights – Levi Niebauer (6^th at 160)
Central Cambria – Max Murin (5^th at 106)
Forest Hills – Triston Law (5^th at 120; 6^th at 106 in 2013)
South Park – Jake Wentzel (3^rd at 138; 8^th at 132 in 2013)
Mifflinburg – Cole Walter (3^rd at 152; 7^th at 132 in 2013)

Returning Pa. regional placewinners (not listed above)
Altoona – Cole Manley (NW-3 106)
Berlin Brothersvalley – Joe Swank (SW-5 120), Taylor Cahill (SW-4 152) Bryce Fochtman (SW-4 160)
Central Cambria – Tommy Opdnhoff (SW-3 126)
Hazleton Area – Jimmy Hoffman (NE-3 AAA 120)
Hollidaysburg – Dalton Long (NW-4 132)
Penn Cambria – Nolan Link (SW-2 106)
Redbank Valley – Tanner Altobelli (NW-3 126)
Richland – Adam George (SW-6 126)
St. Marys – Derek Taylor (NW-4 182)
South Park – Dallas Bulsak (SW-3 106)
Williams Valley – William Girard (SE-4 106)
Williamsport – Roshaun Cooley (NW-2 AAA 120)

Returning Va. state placewinners
Kempsville –Shimels Stone (4th 220)
James Wood –Aaron Black (1st 113)
Colonial Forge –Marc Garofalo (3rd 120), Josh Nail (1st 126), Clay Smith (5th 132), Jeff Stone (2nd 138), Anthony Carter (5th 170), Robert Winters (5th 182), Cameron Houston (8th 195), Patrick Grayson (1st 220).

Name to know: Jared Lough, Colonial Forge (145). He might only be a freshman, but the Virginia wrestler has already experienced success in our area, as he won a 135-pound FloNationals Middle School title at the Kovalchick Center in Indiana in April. He also captured a NHSCA national title. I'll be interested to see how he fares against some of the more experienced wrestlers in Cressson this weekend.


Weight to watch: 126 – There should be plenty of depth here. Hazelton's Jimmy Hoffman is here after capturing the 120-pound Sheetz title last year, as is Colonial Forge's Josh Nail, who he beat in the finals last year. Roshaun Cooley of Williamsport was a AAA state qualifier last year while Redbank Valley's Tanner Altobelli and South Park's Dallas Bulsak each went to Hershey in Class AA. That should make for some interesting quarterfinals, to say nothing of the semifinals and championship.


Tentative schedule – The schedule is a bit different this year, as the quarterfinals have moved from Friday night to Saturday morning. Also, all four mats (the fourth is in the wrestling room upstairs) will be used up to the placement round, which is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Friday, Dec. 12
4:45 p.m. Pigtails
5:45 p.m. Preliminaries/1st round consolations
8:30 p.m. Second-round consolations
10 p.m. Expected finish
Saturday, Dec. 13
8:30 a.m. Quarterfinals/Third-round consolations
10:45 a.m. Fourth-round consolations
12:15 p.m. Semifinals/Fifth-round consolations
2:15 p.m. Consolation semifinals
5:30 p.m. 3rd-, 5th- and 7th-place matches
6:45 p.m. Parade of champions
7 p.m. Finals

Seating – I know many have questioned how 29 teams and their fans will fit in Penn Cambria's gymnasium. I discussed this with Penn Cambria coach Todd Niebauer and address that in The Tribune-Democrat preview, which I'll post online shortly. He did say that there will be a live feed of the bout board in the cafeteria, so that wrestlers and/or fans can be there and still know when a match is on deck

The Semifinal 12-16-2012

The first full week of the regular season included some great wrestling as well as some surprises. For those of you new to the blog, the semifinal is my weekly recap/lookahead to wrestling in the Cambria/Somerset/Bedford area. Its name comes from the fact that many wrestling insiders will tell you that the semifinal round often features the best wrestling because too many guys tighten up in the finals. So, here’s the best of what I saw (or read about) from the past week.

First Period

Stars and studs: Greg Lazor’s Chestnut Ridge team earns a spot here thanks to a dual-meet demolition of North Star as well the Lions’ weekend performance, which resulted in the Mount Carmel tournament title. Six Lions – Aaron Burkett (106), Derrick Claar (126), Trent Crouse (132), Tyler Dibert (182), Dan Albright (220) and Austin Buttry (285) – captured individual championships. … Like Chestnut Ridge, Berlin Brothersvalley picked up an impressive dual-meet victory as well as the tournament title at the Sheetz Holiday Classic. The Mountaineers didn’t have any individual champs, but had 10 of their 13 wrestlers (an injury forced them to wrestle without a heavyweight) placed in the top seven in the 21-team tournament. … Ligonier Valley’s Josh Patrick, who recently committed to wrestle for Rutgers, rolled through the Sheetz tournament, including a dominating, 10-0 victory over Cambria Heights’ Brad Thomas in the 126-pound finals. … Bedford didn’t bring home a tournament title – team or individual – but the second-place performances by freshman Jonathan Gabriel and junior Ryan Easter are impressive, considering the caliber of the competition at the King of the Mountain tournament. Gabriel didn’t disappoint in his varsity debut, as he went 4-1, with his lone loss coming to Joe Wheeling of General McLane in the 106-pound finals. Easter also went 4-0 in the tournament before falling to Will Koll – son of Cornell coach Rob Koll – in the 126-pound championship.

Upset-minded: Penn Cambria’s Mike Eckenrode was unseeded but went on to win the 138-pound title at the Sheetz Holiday Classic. Eckenrode had three falls – including one over top-seeded Vinny Romeo of Canandagiua Academy – and knocked off second-seeded Rodney Brant of Mercer in the finals. … Conemaugh Township’s Taylor Cahill won the Sheetz tournament title at 152 pounds from the third seed. The sophomore took advantage of upsets by Cambria Heights’ Levi Niebauer – who beat top-seeded Mitch Fisher of Canandagiua Academy – and Portage’s Caleb Kephart – who knocked off second-seeded Ethan Charlesworth of Mount Pleasant.

Second Period

On deck: Despite a few days without any matches on our schedule, there are some intriguing matches on top. The biggest is on Tuesday night, when Chestnut Ridge travels to Bedford. This one is always a big one, but it takes on added importance this year, as the Lions look to knock off their nemesis. Also on Tuesday, Westmont Hilltop visits Cambria Heights, which could test my statement in an earlier blog that the Highlanders might be the best team in Cambria County.

Friday brings the second edition of the WestPAC tournament, which will be held at North Star.

Monday

None

Tuesday

Chestnut Ridge at Bedford, 7 p.m.

Westmont Hilltop at Cambria Heights, 7 p.m.

Richland at Forest Hills, 7 p.m.

Penn Cambria at Greater Johnstown, 7 p.m.

North Star at Ligonier Valley, 7 p.m.

Marion Center at Portage, 7 p.m.

Berlin Brothersvalley at Somerset, 7 p.m.

Blairsville at United, 7 p.m.

Conemaugh Township at Shade, 7:15 p.m.

Wednesday

None

Thursday

Portage at North Star, 6 p.m. 

United at Central Cambria, 7 p.m.

Shade at HOPE for Hyndman, 7 p.m. 

Forest Hills at Penn Cambria, 7 p.m. 

Cambria Heights at Somerset, 7 p.m. 

Friday

WestPAC Tournament at North Star

United at Ligonier Valley, 6 p.m. 

Central Cambria at Richland, 7 p.m. 

Bedford at Westmont Hilltop, 7 p.m. 

Saturday

Claysburg-Kimmel at Chestnut Ridge, 5:30 p.m.

Third Period

While there is plenty of action that I’d like to see this week, I’m not sure how much of it I’ll be able to make it to in person. It looks like I’ll miss Tuesday night’s action altogether. I’ll have to check on the start time for the WestPAC Tournament on Friday, but I’m afraid it’s early in the day, which could limit my chances of attending it as well.

I’ll be depending on readers and other media outlets to keep up-to-date on what’s happening.