When you look at the teams in the field and the wrestlers heading to Canon Mac this weekend, I think it’s pretty fair to say this year’s Powerade will be the 2nd toughest tournament overall around the country.
While Ironman is in a class by itself atop that list, some years the battle for that 2nd spot is won by Beast, Doc B, and this year it’s here at Powerade.
Below, we have the top 8 seeds at each weight, where they’re ranked and then some thoughts about the top contenders.
The names I’m most excited to see against some elite competition are Killian Colluccio, Cooper Hornack, Alex Nini, Shawn Taylor and Vaughn Spencer.
I’m also anxious to see if Logan Fowler proves me right lol.
There’s a few things to watch at 107 this weekend. Deputy is a returning PA state finalist who actually owns the last domestic loss for Joe Bachmann. He’s definitely formidable, but we had him at the next weight up. Looks like he’s dropping down to 107 and we’ll see what that has in store for him.
Sontz and Regan are embroiled a nice back and forth. It’s crazy what some of these kids take on for a season schedule but you have Regan who has already wrestled the top kid in the country 3 times and now he should get to see Sontz for the 3rd time already. Unlike the 3 against Bachmann, he has a win over Sontz. Sontz just avenged that last week in Oklahoma. I think Regan gets him back but that is finals level quality right there.
Something I’m really curious to see is the two New Jersey kids in the middle of the top 8 seeds. I have them both right at that top 10 level and in the case of Mason, all alone on a ledge. I think that should be a great one that might be slipping a little under the radar outside the Garden State.
The way this seeding worked out, Deputy actually has about as tough a quarterfinals as any top seed. He could get upended there by Mazur who was hot for Ironman and might be riding high.
In the end, I think Regan comes away the champion but I got Colluccio as his {somewhat} surprising finals opponent.
Some unseeded kids to watch: #18 Tanner Tran and Chazz Robinson. They could each “upset” someone.
Quarterfinals:
Deputy vs Mazur
Colluccio vs Mason
Sontz v Baker
Regan vs Diaz
Semifinals:
Deputy vs Colluccio
Sontz vs Regan
Finals:
Colluccio vs Regan
Champion:
Shamus Regan (Wyoming Seminary)
I got some push back a couple weeks ago when I had Paul Kenny at #1 to start the season even though New Jersey starts later than most states and he hadn’t yet taken the mat at 113. I felt pretty good about that decision then and I feel just as good about it now. He’s seeded 3rd here, not quite sure why, but he’s the favorite no matter where he is.
The two seeded ahead of him, Motyka and Smith, are both seniors and I always point that out in these lower weights where physical maturity can override natural talent. If Smith gets past Kenny in the semis, that could set up a rematch with Motyka. As we sit right now, that is 1-0 for the Sem Blue Knight.
Timar has spent time in the top 25 and could very well be the semis opponent for Motyka. However, I think Sidun at the 5 seed should get the job done in that one.
Of the 6, 7, and 8, McGinty is a New Jersey state champion and might make that quarterfinal with Motyka interesting.
A name to watch outside of the ranked group is Nate Braun from Bergen Catholic. He had a great run in Atlantic City last season and could be a “surprise” quarterfinalist or more. Since he’s unseeded there’s no telling what his path looks like.
Quarterfinals:
Motyka vs McGinty
Timar vs Sidun
Smith vs Conroy
Kenny vs Davis
Semifinals:
Motyka vs Sidun
Smith vs Kenny
Finals:
Motyka vs Kenny
Champion:
Paul Kenny (Christian Brothers)
The biggest news, or story, here is Desmond committing to Penn State. I don’t know, I think I’ve heard of it. We can look ahead to some possible DeLuca Desmond matches in the Big 10. For now, I like to consider what sort of excitement or extra energy a kid might have coming off a huge decision like that. In the case of Desmond, he’s already the favorite to win this bracket. Now, it seems even less likely he slips up.
The battle for 2nd and 3rd should be great here. I mean who knows, maybe someone trips Desmond up too, these are all very good wrestlers coming in. But the most recent results do give a lot of support for Desmond’s place atop the bracket.
He just beat Jones who just beat Rivera. Brown beat Rivera at Ironman where Rivera beat Gill and Gill beat Brown. So coming in, we have Jones atop that carousel but any of the 4 could be the biggest threat.
Littleton Mascaro also deserves a mention as someone who could easily finish higher than his 6 seed. Though he comes in having lost to Gill and Rivera. But these are all close and could flip the other way.
I’ll be interested in that Littleton Mascaro vs Brown quarterfinals. I give LLM the slight edge but that’s razor thin.
Quarterfinals:
Desmond vs Smith
Rivera vs Gill
Jones vs Kapusta
Brown vs Mascaro
Semifinals:
Desmond vs Gill
Jones vs Mascaro
Finals:
Desmond vs Jones
Champion:
Nate Desmond (Wyoming Seminary)
Jax Forrest would have to be considered among the biggest favorites of any weight. With Wyoming Seminary at the tournament but no Lilledahl in the bracket, it leaves it wide open for Forrest to dominate.
The 3 through 6 seed here are all coin flips according to the best rankings to ever rank. Sement has a win over DeGennaro from Elite 8. Martin has a win over Binni. Martin also has a 1-1 split with Gage Walker which is the single best win of the bunch. DeGennaro also has wins over the Jakes, Hockaday and Crapps. Sement’s best win is over Isaiah Schaefer. The point being, your guess is as good as mine as to who makes it out of the fray.
Saldate is a kid who spends time in and out of the top 20-25. He certainly could beat any of the aforementioned kids as well.
Guys to watch at this weight from outside this group are Ryan DeGeorge of Delbarton and Brian Melamud from Bergen Catholic. Wins over anyone but Forrest are in the cards for them for sure.
Quarterfinals:
Forrest vs Saldate
Martin vs Binni
Marlow vs Vargo
Sement vs DeGennaro
Semifinals:
Forrest vs Martin
Vargo vs Sement
Finals:
Forrest vs Sement
Champion:
Jax Forrest (Bishop McCort)
This is one of the more intriguing brackets to me, looking at the 5 ranked in the top 8. That’s not even to say the others couldn’t or won’t factor in as well, but sticking with the ones I’m most familiar with, there’s some good recent history between a lot of them for us to turn to.
So when we turn to that history, we see that O’Neill has wins over both Botello and Gibson from Ironman. But we also see Paridon has a win over O’Neill from the same event. At the time that seemed like perhaps an outlier result, and O’Neill bounced back to take 3rd. But since then, Paridon has added a top 10 win over Gage Walker. He came onto our rankings radar after Ironman and is showing to be worthy of holding a spot there. He’ll get a 2nd shot at O’Neill in the semis if seeds hold.
Gibson has the pedigree of a top 3 kid nationally. But he’s been hurt and not as active until his return this season. He still placed at Ironman and at some point we expect to see him round into even better wrestling shape and move toward the top of the 25. This could be that weekend.
Gunner Andrick has been competitive everywhere. You look up and you see Point Pleasant and you say, welp there’s Andrick again. But he’s really holding onto this 25 spot by virtue of very competitive matches to guys in the top 10. We wonder when one of these results breaks through in his favor.
We have Bishop McDevitt’s Camden Baum ranked in the top 20 but he’s unseeded here. That could spell a quick trip to the consolations – like say he gets O’Neill in the Round of 32. But then it should be a long journey, think an Odyssey, toward 3rd.
Quarterfinals:
O’Neill vs Coleman
Paridon vs Butler
Botello vs Andrick
Gibson vs Hohman
Semifinals:
O’Neill vs Paridon
Botello vs Gibson
Finals:
O’Neill vs Botello
Champion:
Nik O’Neill (Malvern Prep)
138 is interesting to me in that it features perhaps the most dominant wrestler in the country against one of the better 2, 3, and 4 seed collectives. The question is how much separation is there between Bassett and even someone as good as Simcox or James or Shaw.
Maddox Shaw came out like gangbusters, that’s always been a favorite word of mine, gangbusters, at Super 32. Just racking up win after win over top 2, top 5, etc types. He was up at 144 for Beast but that didn’t go as well as you would think or he hoped I’m sure. If 139 is where he ends up for the rest of the PA season, this will be the best time to show he’s back to that Super 32 form.
Speaking of Shaw and Beast, that bracket had Nininger and that was one of the losses for Shaw. Being the 4 and 5, they’ll get after it again for the chance to knock off Bassett. Nininger himself has been ranked throughout his career and comes in right at 25 for us. Following up Beast with another strong performance here would be impressive.
I’m really intrigued by the potential Bassett James final. Of course the James Simcox semi is a finals worthy match up in itself, but we’re always looking for the match ups for someone like Bo – who seems untouchable – and who could withstand the onslaught he attacks with. And I think James presents that. The main reason being I think he can wrestle through some of the awkward positions Bo gets people in and not surrender points where it often leads to 2, or 4, or even 5.
Kade Brown is the bigger of the St Ed’s Browns but being unranked and unseeded is someone to watch out for a possible “upset”. All depends where he get slotted.
Quarterfinals:
Bassett vs Nogle
Shaw vs Nininger
Simcox vs Hornack
James vs Kernan
Semifinals:
Bassett vs Shaw
Simcox vs James
Finals:
Bassett vs James
Champion:
Bo Bassett (Bishop McCort)
Not many events give you a possible 1 vs 2 in the country, but that’s what we are in store for here at Canon-McMillan this weekend at 145. The most recent result between these top two was a comfortable 7-2 decision for Manville in the Ironman finals. Has enough time passed that Consiglio closed the gap? Possibly. Manville is just so tough to score on.
Bennett is someone who began the year in my and Flo’s top 5. And everyone’s top 15. And now he’s unranked but there’s certainly the talent there to get back into the mix among the country’s best. He’ll have a tough draw in the quarters against Alex Nini, but that’s the kind of win that would definitely point to a new direction for the season.
Speaking of Nini, he’s one of the kids I have in mind when I say that people shouldn’t look at rankings and just think “number 5 is better than number 13”. He’s 13 primarily because he just doesn’t have the body of work to move him much higher. But he has the actual wrestling ability to be in the top 5 in my opinion. A semis against Consiglio will be one to watch.
Sam Herring could be the best 8 seed of any weight. He just doesn’t have the resume at 144 to be higher but he’s picked up great wins at 138 and I wouldn’t be surprised if he finished within the top 15 this season.
The remaining 3 seeds, Moore, Heap, and Carr are all solid and could pose good challenges early.
Quarterfinals:
Manville vs Herring
Heap vs Carr
Consiglio vs Moore
Bennett vs Nini
Semifinals:
Manville vs Heap
Consiglio vs Nini
Finals:
Manville vs Nini
Champion:
Alex Nini (Christian Brothers)
Miller picked up impressive win after win at Super 32 en route to that belt. The season has gone much the same way for him but for the matches with Consiglio which give him his only losses, one in the preseason one at Ironman. That was all at 144 and now he’s up at 150 with Herring sliding into 144 in the McCort line up. I think this is the perfect time for him to pair up that Super 32 title with a Powerade one.
Bouzakis is always somewhere among the top 10, and now as high as 2. This seems to be the best weight for him and after the surprise upset loss to Will Denny at Super 32, he’s been on a roll. He comes in as the top seed and deservedly so. He has wins over Joy and Torres already.
Joy is someone I’ve been high on for awhile. I actually picked him to win Ironman. That didn’t happen but neither he nor I are deterred. He’s still a championship contender this weekend. Miller does have the h2h advantage should that be the semifinals here.
I had Henrich at the higher weight but the New Jersey state champion is the relative unknown among this group this season. Where Bouzakis generally imposes his will on folks, Henrich presents some challenges that could prove formidable. I have Henrich edging that one out but it should be great regardless.
LaPlante and Carlin being from NY are kind of off the radar but we do have LaPlante right at the tail end of the 25 and primarily due to a head to head over Carlin at Super 32. They’re both in that same grouping and could be trouble especially through a consolation run to 3rd.
We also have Zach Ballante ranked but he’s unseeded. He had a great Elite 8 in the Fall and could factor in here somewhere. Also want to mention Delbarton’s Gabe Logan as someone to keep an eye on.
Quarterfinals:
Bouzakis vs Weader
Torres vs Henrich
Miller vs LaPlante
Joy vs Carlin
Semifinals:
Bouzakis vs Henrich
Miller vs Joy
Finals:
Henrich vs Miller
Champion:
Melvin Miller (Bishop McCort)
This should be a great battle all weekend. Perentin didn’t have the Super 32 we were expecting but that doesn’t mean he’s not still among the very best in the country at this weight. To begin the journey back up into that top 5, he’ll have plenty of tests here.
In fact, the biggest test, and what I think is the best semis of the weekend, Logan Fowler from Tennessee. These Southeast kids sometimes get overlooked. Fowler is l-e-g-i-t. And my pick to win this bracket.
Asher Cunningham will continue to get love from me while continues to just obliterate whatever anyone thought his ceiling was this season. No one has crashed the national party as much. And this is just one more chance for him to keep doing it.
Catrabone is up a couple weights and we’ve seen elsewhere that that isn’t always the worst thing. But this field is a tough one to be making that jump so we’ll see how it goes. He’s an elite talent though and wouldn’t be shocked at all to see him as a finalist.
I think the other 4 are all very close to each other. To date, Ford and Magro have just had more national chances but Sipes and Rickards are very quality in that 5-8 seed range. Magro in particular has been knocking off a lot our top 20-30 type kids. Now he has the chance to crack into that next level.
Anthony Evanitsky is a PIAA state champ now at Sem who comes in top 20 and unseeded. He has semifinals potential too.
If you want someone WAY off the radar to keep an eye on, Ryan Celaschi of Frazier, PA.
Quarterfinals:
Perentin vs Ford
Fowler vs Sipes
Catrabone vs Rickards
Cunningham vs Magro
Semifinals:
Perentin vs Fowler
Catrabone vs Cunningham
Finals:
Fowler vs Cunningham
Champion:
Logan Fowler (Cleveland)
This might be the best bracket of all. Certainly the top 6 is on par with any top 6 of the other top tournaments. We just saw Burton and Wright get after it at Beast which gives us the 1 and 2 in the country. That came on the heels of a Wright Ironman title run.
Just a hair below them we have Federici and Cerchio. Cerchio being ranked as high as #1 by some outlets heading into the Hall of Fame duals lost a great overtime battle with Federici which is why they enter in that order.
Any of those 4 could win this title. Any of them could beat any of the others.
Then we have Shawn Taylor sandwiched between them. He’s up from last year’s 160 and this is his first crack at the national elite. What better time to announce his presence.
Vaughn Spencer is the name to keep an eye on. I said in the ranking video sometimes you like to be ahead of the curve on guys who are ready to climb. Spencer is the quintessential version of that. I think he was headed for a top 2 finish in PA last year before an injury default. He’s back, healthy, and even trimmed down. I think he could win this whole thing to be honest.
Ty Miller of St Ed’s is in our top 20 but unseeded. I think he finishes top 8.
Quarterfinals:
Burton vs Hohman
Federici vs Cerchio
Wright vs LaPlante
Taylor vs Spencer
Semifinals:
Burton vs Cerchio
Wright vs Taylor
Finals:
Cerchio vs Wright
Champion:
Gage Wright (Parkersburg South)
It’s been quite a season for Jake Dailey. I remember heading into it looking at the Sem line up, you go Evanitsky here, Bouzakis there, Sealey here, Crawford there, Federici here. Where is Dailey fitting in? Or where is someone else fitting in? And it turns out, Dailey at 190. What a revelation that has been. And he’s now settling into the national top 10 and could keep going up from there.
Jerrell Miller has been ranked as far back as I can remember. He’s annually up among the best at whatever weight he’s at. Now it’s 190. I expect that to be the finals, him and Dailey. Slight edge to Dailey but could go either way.
Kucharczk had a nice Ironman with wins over Jobber-Spence and Wehmeyer. He’s a solid 3rd in this bracket but a loss to Miller would need to be avenged in the semis to keep his title hopes alive.
There’s no one really off the radar here of note for me but that doesn’t mean someone can’t surprise us.
Quarterfinals:
Dailey vs Lewis
Jobber-Spence vs Daniels
Miller vs Szymbroski
Kucharczk vs Wehmeyer
Semifinals:
Dailey vs Jobber-Spence
Miller vs Kucharczk
Finals:
Dailey vs Miller
Champion:
Jake Dailey (Wyoming Seminary)
If and when I start including a pound for pound ranking, I think Correa right now would be near the top 5. And all he does is win. And win some more. And frankly, the only person in this bracket with a real shot of beating him is Rune Lawrence. I’ve had them in the top 3 since forever and they appeared on a collision course at Ironman. But that ultimately didn’t happen as Lawrence suffered what appeared to be a knee injury in the semifinals and had to default out of the finals. So Correa walked away the champion and we never got to see that one.
There is a history between them. Not a huge one but Correa beat him at Super 32 in October of 2022. But Lawrence has also come a long way since then. Not to say Correa himself hasn’t also improved but in that semifinals where he got hurt, Lawrence was on his way to to tech fall over a defending Ironman champion. What he was doing was quite impressive. He was lucky to get that win because what climbed to about a 12-2 lead quickly got cut in half aided by multiple stallings as he was just hanging on for dear life. Anyway, hopefully we get this here.
Austin Johnson is definitely solid. And could surprise me with a win in the semis over Lawrence. Either way, I don’t expect much this weekend to change his spot in the top 15.
Vinnie Lee is right on that outer edge of the top 25 so a solid showing here will definitely get him in the mix.
Schlett is in a similar boat as Lee. In fact, that quarterfinals would have a lot to say for NJ bragging rights but also who gets the nod in our next update.
Quarterfinals:
Correa vs Smith
Lee vs Schlett
Johnson vs Kline
Lawrence vs Bush
Semifinals:
Correa vs Lee
Johnson vs Lawrence
Finals:
Correa vs Lawrence
Champion:
Jude Correa (Wyoming Seminary)
I try not to be lightweight biased but this bracket is really all about the finals between Pavlechko and Dellagatta. Although we can never go without mentioning there are always opportunities for upsets, usually by fall, where a big body gets going in one direction and can’t correct and all of sudden we’re like what happened.
Maybe something like that happens here. Ben Shue is the unranked name here closest to the top 25 who could pull the win over Pavlechko and make his way up the ranks.
Quarterfinals:
Pavlechko vs Martin
Shue vs Reber
Steurenburg vs Gregory
Dellagatta vs Russell
Semifinals:
Pavlechko vs Shue
Gregory vs Dellagatta
Finals:
Pavlechko vs Dellagatta
Champion:
Nick Pavlechko (State College)
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