2023 PA Super 32 Preview

Of course we had to preview the best state in the country. That’s it. That’s the intro.

What if I told you Joe Bachmann was one of the best incoming freshmen in the country. And I told you that he wins a lot. And then I told you that the last time he wrestled Deputy, he lost.

So, I definitely agree with the seed here, as I have Bachmann #1 in the country. But if you’re sleeping on Deputy, the sheriff might have to wake you up. And then arrest you. 

Bachmann just beat Tancini at PA Power’s Surge Main Event. 

It should be noted this is one of the tougher weights this weekend. It’s like all the ranked kids said they’re going and they’re in the mix.

For Bachmann, he’s expected to get the 16, 8, 4, and 2 from the round of 16 to the finals. That’s Ayden Dodd, Ezekiel Witt, Shamus Regan, and Grey Burnett. He’ll be challenged in a way that he maybe hasn’t been yet, but in the end he’s the favorite for a reason. 

Deputy is an interesting one. The 6 seed goes 11, 3, 2, 1. The 11 is Rylan Seacrist and I’d give Deputy a solid advantage there but if he’s not careful, could get tripped up. The 3 seed is a world team medalist from Colorado, Ignacio Villasenor. I’ll be watching this one. Then the 2 seed is Grey Burnett. Again, one to watch. 

Could we get a Bachmann Deputy finals? Yes. It’s not even a long shot.

There’s a lot to like about this PA field. State champions (Seidel and Smith). Freshman star in the making (Sidun). Prep school studs (Motyka and O’Neill). 

Looking at the seeds, Seidel gets placed on the top half all by himself. The other 4 all drop to the bottom half where Sidun and O’Neill get after it in the round of 16. The winner of that gets Smith. O’Neill is following in older brother Nik’s footsteps, holding things down for Malvern Prep. Still only in JHS, he’s a threat here for sure, but we’ll how the physical nature of it all plays out for him.

Meanwhile, Motyka has a potential match up with world champ Paul Kenny in the quarters. 

Don’t let the lack of PA competition in Seidel’s way fool you. He gets the JoJo Uhorchuk JJ Peace winner and they’re both some top quality wrestlers from SEC country. Then it’s a former world champ in Dom Munaretto. And ultimately, the showdown with Kenny.

I think we kinda all want the Seidel Kenny finals. I think every other kid here wants otherwise. Kenny’s got the advantage in the most recent freestyle matches between them. We’ll see what that means here.

I’m not breaking any news here when I say the two at the top of this list were once teammates. In fact, they went back to back state champs for BECA last season. With Desmond at Sem now, both moving up some weights, we’ll keep an eye on this bracket and if they run into each other. They’re on opposite sides so it would have to be the finals or somewhere in the consolations. 

The crazy thing is that neither is favored to win this thing. But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t make it interesting. The top 2 in this weight are as good as it gets at this level. Knox from NJ. Castillo from AZ. 

Louie Gill’s seed and ranking are wild to me. But it is what it is. He should make it to Desmond in the round 16 at the very least. And that one should be close. Desmond won a head to head at Ironman a year ago, slight favor to him again. I think whoever wins that gets past Ethan Rivera in the quarters. Then it’s Anthony Knox. And that’s probably the end of the road for the state of PA.

While it’s difficult to envision a world where any of the PA kids win the whole thing, it’s easy for me to see all 3 somewhere in the top 8.

Fanella and Pisarchick are the sort of low seeds who can trip someone up.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A PA kid is at the top of the bracket. We’re 4 weights in, already got 2 top seeds. This time it’s Jax Forrest. Now, a year ago there was a kid from Kentucky of all places, a Raney. Touch as nails, loves the cradle. Trailing big to Jax it looked like it would be business as usual for Mr. Forrest. Until Raney got the cradle locked up and set the bracket on fire. 

Well, a year later and I’m sure Forrest has been thinking of that for awhile. Well, the belt is there for him this year and I can’t really see him getting tripped up again.

Setting him aside, the state is sending some heavy hitters throughout this weight and for those from elsewhere, you might want to look away should 5 out of 8 on the podium be from the state.

There’s a clear pecking order, though you can never know for sure how they show up to compete. Being the 4 seed, we’re looking at a Nik O’Neill v Jax semi. This will be like the longest or tallest pair of 126s you’ll ever see.

This weight is fairly similar to 126. First, it’s a McCort kid. Second, it’s one of the two who make up the best duo in the country. The difference is that Bo comes in as the 3 seed. No matter for him. He was the 2 seed last year when he won this event. This season he’s got an Illinois stud in Ben Davino leading the way and kid from out in Arizona, Kyler Larkin, who is elite in his own right.

I’m not sure what happens between Davino and Bassett but this would be my main event in the finals.

Parkins has been a solid wrestler for awhile now. And he looks to be making a few steps up. Harer has basically been doing the same only I think his trajectory is even a little higher.

Bassett is only a contender for the title, I think he gets it done.

I also think Harer places and I’m more confident in that than Parkins, who I do think does as well.

The 6 and 7 seeds are last year’s AAA finalists at 133. That was a 1-0 finish in favor of Simcox. Doesn’t get any closer than that. And we get to see them get after it again. But being on opposite sides, it won’t happen for awhile. 

Looking at the next two, Perry and Herring will meet in the round of 16. Perry finished 3rd in the state at 139 in a bracket that had Manville and Rath. Herring, as part of Bishop McCort, didn’t get to wrestle in the postseason but would have been a likely medalist in his own right. 

The other interesting thing for folks outside the state, Simcox and Perry are teammates at Central Mountain. Talk about familiarity. But will have to be in the consolations, maybe for 3rd or 5th.

The top of this weight is a pair from Minnesota. While Landon Robideau has earned his ranking and the 1 seed, I think the four in the top 10 from PA can challenge him. Looks like that will be the Perry Herring winner first. Shaw and Perry conversely will have to contend with Alex Braun and Paul Kelly respectively. Braun is tough as nails, an immovable object of sorts at a weight where that’s rare. Kelly is a technician. These would make for some great quarterfinals.

Ultimately, I see Robideau over Simcox in the finals. Toscano (CA) over Perry for 3rd. Kelly, Shaw, Herring, Ayoub (OH), and Hilton (TN) fight it out for 5th through 8th.

Heading into this event, as long as Rath was moving up, I thought the biggest challenge for Manville would be Jax Joy. They met at Elite 8 and it was a great battle to start day 2 action. The kind of battle that could go the other way as that was won by Pierson. As we know, Manville is no stranger to multiple matches against one opponent and having different results.

Evanitsky is coming off a state title and he’s been competing as high as 157 through the off-season, if this is where he settles in, I think it’s where he’s most dangerous. 

Miller is one of those talented freshmen who could make all of our brackets look dumb as he runs through the field.

The Milheims, yes I’m counting them as a unit here, are collectively among the best chances for kids seeded outside the top 8 finishing that high. I’m high on… life… contrary to popular belief that’s it. I’m also high on Reagan and Cam. Reagan here gets Dorian Olivarez in the round of 32. That’s actually quite interesting. I have more on Olivarez in a whole different article.

Ultimately, Manville has to be considered one of the bigger favorites here. Joy is likely the only one to push him. As for the rest, I think we could see at least one medalist between them. Evanitsky is seeded to be the one to do it, but none of them would surprise me.

These weights in PA are just bananas. Gwen Stefani is out there somewhere, maybe she’ll read this.

Is Bouzakis the best wrestler in the state? He could be. But there’s so many under consideration for that, and one of them is here with him. Whether Rath is at 144 or 150 the expectation is he’s headed for the finals against a PA rival. Though his series with Manville has been nearing historic levels, one with Bouzakis could be just as stellar.

Before we even get to that one, The Blue Knight Bazooka will have to get through new VT commit Gaj. Gaj surprised some folks – not me – with a state title last season. I don’t know if he’s competed since the PA Power Surge event but he got surprisingly handled by Conner Harer. That was at a bigger weight. I don’t see anyone here able to do that again. In fact, I think Gaj Bouzakis is a toss up. We shall see.

Hontz is one of those Faith Christian kids tearing up the state and setting team AA records and such. He finished 3rd in the state behind Evanitsky and Milheim, but now he’s up a couple weight classes and might get the first crack at Vince in the round of 16. No better time for the test against the best.

Stein is Hontz teammate. And you might think as the 19 seed has almost no chance. But he could easily beat the 14, Jamar Dixon, and be in the round of 16 against Rath. The thing with Stein is that he’s come up short against the very best he’s faced. But they’ve all been really close. Like a 3-2 defeat to Vince. If something just clicks here, who knows.

Harer is one, maybe across all the weights, that we’re going to get to see just how much he’s grown. And I get it, a two-time state champion in PA, how much higher is there to go. Apparently, a lot because he looked damn near invincible a few weeks ago against Gaj.

So here’s the thing, nationally, people were anticipating a Joe Sealey vs LaDarion Lockett finals here. That’s two world champions, etc. Well, Sealey isn’t here. So it’s a prime opportunity for Harer to snatch some national spotlight for himself. It seems the Rutgers commit has been as under the national radar as a top 5 kid could be.

Dailey is on the same side as Harer but he’ll have his hands full with Barbosa (CA), and Cory Thomas (MI) to get there.

Manville’s teammate, Cunningham, finished 4th in the state last year and sits on the top half where he’d get Lockett early.

Milheim I expect to beat the 14 seed (Enright, IL) and then the aforementioned Thomas (MI). This means, it could be a Cunningham MIlheim quarterfinal. 

Sipes and Wentzel are both state medalists. I believe each getting as high as 5th at some point. Another pair of kids whose chances are a lot better on the mat than they appear on paper. Or on the screen here.

I don’t see a reason to suggest Harer won’t make the finals. I also don’t see a reason why he couldn’t win it. I don’t believe anyone else here finishes in the top 8.

Is there a state bringing anywhere near the number of kids that PA is? No. That’s the answer. And you can see in all these seeds through all these weights.

It’s weird to think a top 5 kid from PA can be underrated but there are a handful of them. Kunstek is one. Maybe the most. There’s very little chance I see that will keep him from the semifinals and there might be one of the most intriguing battles of the whole tournament, Alessio Parentin. A contrast in styles, it could go either way to me.

Shawn Taylor is a state runner up. We may recall he lost on probably the most controversial call of the state finals. So, you could consider him state champ worthy. His run will go through top seed Ethan Birden (OH). At his absolute best, Birden should win this tournament. He does, however, tend to have some lapses and not quite close these things out. Taylor could be the one to upend him.

Garvick is rapidly climbing up the rankings through the Summer. He was also a state runner up year, to Taylor’s former teammate, Ty Watters. Could Garvick get Birden out of the way before Taylor? Yes. I don’t think he does, but it’s on the table. Then it’s Central Dauphin vs West Allegheny all over again.

The rest of this list are just so solid, representative of the sheer depth of quality in the state. Would be a pretty big surprise if they placed, but there’s a lot of higher ranked guys who would rather see someone else I’m sure.

In the end, I see Kunstek finishing as high as 1st and no lower than 3rd. Taylor finishing as high as 2nd and no lower than 6th. And Garvick anywhere from 3rd to the bloodround. Yeah that’s a big range, but once a tournament this size kicks off, you just don’t know sometimes.

So, have we finally reached a weight where it would be a surprise to see a PA finalist, let alone a champion? No. Even if Federici isn’t seeded to be a finalist, this weight is the most up for grabs in North Carolina this weekend. He could very well do it. Now, he competes for Wyoming Seminary and I hear all the time how folks around the state view the prep schools. I wonder if they’re rooting for him here. Either way, he absolutely has a chance to win this.

Being that it is a weight set up for chaos, the remaining 3 sitting there in the 20’s could make deeper runs than you think.

I’m saying Dom finishes 4th. 

The top four of this weight is deadly. If any of the four win, I wouldn’t be surprised. I think of the group, Hogan is the most underrated nationally, but when you rank something, someone has to be 4th. 

Unfortunately for Tucker, or fortunately assuming he’s the kind to want a challenge, he’s seeded with the top kid in the country, Aeoden Sinclair. Whereas Rune is seeded with Harvey Ludington. If there’s a gap even between this group, it’s probably between Sinclair and the rest. 

The semis between these 4 are must-see TV, or must-see Flo Stream. It rolls off the tongue.

Ultimately, I do think Sinclair is too much and wins this. I like Rune to be the finalist and Tucker to win a tight one against Harvey for 3rd.

As good as Bechtold is, and has looked recently, I think this is a battle for 3rd for him. And he could definitely get it. The 1 seed is Jude Correa. I have him as the biggest favorite in the field. And that’s not to say the kids behind him aren’t quality, it’s just that other than Cody Merrill, he’s separated himself from the rest of the country IMO.

For Bechtold to get that 3rd place finish, he’ll likely see Rylan Kuhn, Anthony Harris, and the Mike Mocco Dreshaun Ross loser. The Harris match in the round of 16 is sneaky tough.

Heavyweight might be the most PA dominant weight in the country this season. The best from the state isn’t even here. And yet, I doubt you’ll find anyone predicting a championship this weekend. 

One thing that seems to be as constant as time, there will be upsets at heavyweight. Maybe one of these 4 will be involved. They could just as easily be on the receiving end.

When it’s all said and done, PA will once again run away with the “team” points side of things. There isn’t single weight where you would be absolutely stunned if the PA wrestler won. Yeah, may not be the favorite or what have you, but the quality is just undeniable like 4-5 wrestlers deep in pretty much every weight. It’s crazy.

The biggest favorite of the bunch is Pierson Manville at 144. The most likely to join him are Jax Forrest, someone at 113, someone at 150, and Joe Bachmann at 106.

People around the country often get tired of hearing how great PA is. Well, this is their chance to show us something else. But from the looks of it, it’s just going to be another one of those days. That PA dominates.