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Sunday, February 22, 2015

Breaking down the Southwest Regional brackets

The brackets are now posted here. This is the first year that the tournament has expanded to 15 wrestlers at each weight, with District 7 getting 7, District 6 getting 5 (back up from the past few years) and District 5 getting 3.
A few Knotes:
  • Collin Glorioso of Huntingdon, who is No. 5 in the PA Power rankings, is the top seed at 120 pounds. His reward? A likely semifinal matchup with No. 4 Austin McDermitt of Burgettstown. Of course, the bottom half of the bracket is no picnic either, with No. 9 Brendan Howard of Jefferson-Morgan, who beat McDermitt in the District 7 finals, No. 12 Justin McCoy of Chestnut Ridge and No. 15 Carnell Andrews of Westmont Hilltop. McCoy and Andrews could meet in the quarters.
  • 126 has a pair of top-ranked wrestlers. PA Power has Bedford's Jon Gabriel, who is the top seed and draws the bye, at No. 1 while Off the Mat prefers Triston Law of Forest Hills, who is the second seed and has a first-round match. Law is third in the PA Power rankings while Gabriel is fourth according to OTM.
  • I know that no seeding formula is perfect, but you have to wonder about 145, where No. 3 seed Robby Patrick is ranked second in the state by PA Power. Patrick has beaten No. 1 seed Gio Vonne Sanders of Jeannette twice and owns a win over Travis Templeton of Forest Hills, who beat No. 2 seed Austin Hemminger of Somerset. Of course, the Ligonier Valley freshman could have helped himself if he didn't have earlier losses to Austin Mears of Mount Pleasant and Isaac Stewart of Marion Center, both of whom are in the weight. Still, with 13 consecutive wins, Patrick looks like the favorite to me.
  • 152 has Nos. 2, 3 and 4 in the PA Power rankings. South Park's Jake Wentzel is No. 2 and top-seeded and is followed by Huntingdon's Jacob Oliver and Chestnut Ridge's Trent Crouse in both the rankings and seeds.
  • 160 is loaded, with half of the state's top 10 wrestlers in the region, according to PA Power. The top half of the bracket has No. 1 Jared Walker of South Fayette, No. 5 Anthony Walters of Westmont Hilltop and No. 10 Jon Wagner of Huntingdon, who Walker could face after his first-round bye. The bottom half has No. 3 Drew Doak of Blairsville, No. 6 Bryce Fochtman of Berlin Brothersvalley and No. 9 Jason Stay of Beth-Center, who could meet Fochtman in the quarters.
  • 170 includes Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 8 according to PA Power with Levi Niebauer of Cambria Heights, Anthony Welsh of Beth-Center, Taylor Cahill of Berlin and Greg Bulsak of South Park. Personally, I'd list Bulsak as the favorite.
  • Seven of the top 13 220-pounders in the state are going to be in Canonsburg this weekend, according to PA Power, so someone pretty good will be sitting home. Buzzy Maines of West Branch is No. 1 while Jacob Robb of Kittanning, so the final could be a very good one, assuming they both get there. Robb could have to face No. 7 Tyler Oliver of United in the quarters and No. 6 Josiah Jones of Westmont Hilltop in the semis. Maines, meanwhile, could have No. 10 Tom Sever of Yough in the quarters and No. 11 Seth Hitchens of South Allegheny in the semis. Those scenarios don't even include No. 13 Mike Sinclair of Ellwood City - who Jones will face in the first round - or No. 20 Ty Smith of Meyersdale, who is the District 5 champ.
  • 285 has five of the top 12 ranked wrestlers according to PA Power ... and those are just the WPIAL guys. District 6 champ Andrew Deitman of United is the only other ranked wrestler, and he comes in at No. 25. Southern Huntingdon's Nick Winfield and Berlin Brothersvalley's Anthony Collins each had honorable mention status, but the rankings certainly make it look like District 7 could dominate here, especially at the top, with No. 1 Al Beattie of Burrell and No. 2 Jacob Beistel of Southmoreland.

4 comments:

  1. Can Ridge win the team scoring without any #1 seeds?

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  2. I think the brackets go by a matrix....... There are no seeds......

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    1. Nope, they're seeded. As per the release:
      Six brackets will be used for the tournament. The bracket for each weight will be determined by seeding the 3 district champions. The top two district champions will receive a first round bye. The district champions will be seeded on a point system based on last year’s placement in the state tournament, the regular season record, and competition points. Final decisions on seeding will be made by the tournament director in consultation with the district chairmen.

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  3. anybody live streaming?

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