Wrestling: 1st round sectional matchups

Here are the first round matchups for the Bears in Saturday's District 3, Section 2 Class AAA tournament. Special thanks to Tom Knorr for sharing these. You can view the full brackets at Knorr's Web site, www.tknorr.com.

103: Matt Hoover, E-town, freshman, 27-9 record, vs. Shawn Hall, CD East, freshman, 11-15.
Bracket top seed: Clayton Youtz, CD, senior, 37-5.

112: Calvin Anderton, E-town, sophomore, 30-8, vs. Tyrus Nickoli, CD East, junior, 21-8.
Bracket top seed: Somon Rice, CD, junior, 38-4.

119: Antonio Rodriguez, E-town, freshman, 11-21, vs. Andrew DiMatteo, Red Land, sophomore, 5-15.
NOTE: This is a preliminary round matchup. The winner will face Chris Kochinsky, Middletown, senior, 28-2, in the first round.
Bracket top seed: Kochinsky.

125: Kyle Morrow, E-town, sophomore, 7-26, vs. Mike Layton, Harrisburg, junior, 6-16.
NOTE: This is also a preliminary round matchup. The winner will face Tyler Buckman, CD, sophomore, 33-10, in the first round.
Bracket top seed: Buckman.

130: Justin Lewis, E-town, sophomore, 19-15, vs. Kalann Washington, Harrisburg, freshman, 3-8.
Bracket top seed: Nick Kristich, Lower Dauphin, senior, 26-1.

135: Oliver Thayer, E-town, senior, 28-8, vs. Robert Tupper, Susquehanna Twp., sophomore, 20-7.
Bracket top seed: Jay Haas, Red Land, senior, 22-4.

140: Blake Rosenberger, E-town, senior, 33-2, vs. Aaron Wolaver, Red Land, junior, 13-14.
Bracket top seed: Marshall Peppelman, CD, sophomore, 31-1. Rosenberger is the second seed. He should have a pretty clear path to the final, where Peppelman will be waiting in what should be a very good match.

145: Jared Danneker, E-town, sophomore, 10-12, vs. Grant Dickey, Cedar Cliff, freshman, 20-12.
Bracket top seed: Walter Peppelman, CD, senior, 38-2.

152: Zach Myers, E-town, sophomore, 4-8, vs. Jacob Loffreda, Hershey, junior, 19-12.
Bracket top seed: Tony Dallago, CD, junior, 36-5.

160: Adam Zellman, E-town, junior, 25-9, vs. Ryan Rexrode, CD East, senior, 11-15.
Bracket top seed: Justin Aube, CD, senior, 20-6. Zellman is the 2 seed in this bracket. He has an excellent shot at getting to the finals here.

171: Travis Leber, E-town, senior, 34-4, vs. Harry Arndt, Hershey, junior, 25-4.
Bracket top seed: Edward Ruth, Susquehanna Twp., junior, 17-0.

189: Shane Rosenberry, E-town, junior, 32-3, vs. Luke Drayer, Hershey, sophomore, 9-6.
Bracket top seed: Keith Dickey, Cedar Cliff, senior, 32-6. Rosenberry is the second seed. His main roadblock to the finals will likely be CD's Kyle Wolfe, who he could meet in the quarterfinals.

215: Sean McMullen, E-town, senior, 22-9, vs. Troy Shott, CD, senior, 4-11.
Bracket top seed: Jaime Reitzi, Middletown, junior, 26-5. McMullen is another second seed for the Bears. He'll likely run into Red Land's Dustin Hicks (22-5) in the quarterfinals.

285: Alex Kirchner, E-town, junior, 25-14, vs. Kevin Washington, Harrisburg, junior, 10-16.
Bracket top seed: Daniel Nickoli, CD East, senior, 28-0.

Some analysis: First a disclaimer, I admit that I don't know a whole lot about the majority of the wrestlers that E-town will be facing. Hey, they're all from the Mid Penn, and I really only cover E-town (who is in the L-L). So I'm really basing this mostly off of records and things I have heard about some of these wrestlers.

Looking at the brackets, I'd say E-town has a pretty good chance of sending more than a couple of wrestlers through to districts. In the 103, 140, 145, 152, 160, 171, 189, 215 and 285 brackets, E-town wrestlers won't have to worry about meeting up with the top seed until the finals, at which point they will have already clinched a district berth. That's a pretty refreshing thought for the Bears.

Going weight by weight, here's my take on each (for what it's worth). Remember that the top 4 wrestlers in each weight class will advance to districts from this section. And that's how it should be. The competition in this tournament is steep, so the top 4 deserve to move on.
103: I think Hoover has a decent shot at moving on. In his half of the bracket, he'll have to watch out for second seeded Zack Witman from Middletown. Most of the wrestlers only need 2 wins on Saturday to advance.
112: Tough draw for Calvin Anderton. Nickoli will give him fits in the first round, and the winner gets to take on top-seeded Rice in the quarters. The good news is that if Anderton loses his first match, he has a chance to get to the third place match in wrestle-backs.
119: If Rodriguez wins his prelim match, he gets Kochinsky, who is very good.
125: Same thing for Morrow, as he'll also get a top seed if he wins his prelim match. It'll be tough for either to get through this tournament. Not putting them down, just being honest.
130: Lewis should be able to win his first round match, but would then have to do battle with top-seeded Kristich, who I remember from the past couple of years. He is an excellent wrestler. There are three really good wrestlers in this class, counting Middletown's Kyler Killian and CD's Kenny Stank, so Lewis will have to be at the top of his game to get fourth.
135: Like Anderton, Thayer gets a tough draw here. His first round match is no cupcake, and if he gets through that he'll have to face Haas in the semis. Ouch. But Thayer is resilient, so even if he loses and is forced into the consolations, he'll wrestle with all he has to get into that third place match.
140: I really don't see anything preventing Rosenberger from advancing to face Peppelman in the finals. I'm not sure if he can beat Peppelman, but I'm not saying he can't beat him either. Either way, Blake should be wrestling in Hersheypark Arena next weekend.
145: Danneker has his hands full in the first round with Dickey, who I hear is an outstanding wrestler – especially for a freshman. Walt Peppelman will win this bracket, so the other six wrestlers are vying for the remaining three spots.
152: Myers had a pretty good showing at leagues, but he might be a little too inexperienced to get through this tournament. He's got two good wrestlers in his half of the bracket (Loffreda and LD's Chad Savage), so he'll have to wrestle at his absolute best.
160: Zellman got a very good draw, with a lot of good wrestlers in the other half of the bracket. I think he'll get to the finals and will likely qualify for districts.
171: It's doubtful anyone here can beat Ruth, but Leber hasn't won a team-high 34 matches by accident. He can hang with just about anyone. He's got a tough draw in the first round, though and another tough matchup waiting for him in the semis. He is in a loaded half of the bracket and will need to wrestle strong to get through. I think he's got a good shot, though.
189: Rosenberry should cruise to the finals, where he'll likely get top seeded Keith Dickey, of Cedar Cliff. Dickey will give Rosie all he can handle, but it is possible for him to win there. You'll see him in Hershey next weekend too.
215; It appears that a matchup between Red Land's Dan Hicks and McMullen will happen in the quarterfinals. Sean has a great shot to get through, but I don't think he will be able to overcome Reitzi and win the bracket.
285: Kirchner is giving up a ton of weight here, but he has all season and still found a way to win 25 times. If he wins his first round match, he'll likely have to get through consolations to make it to Hershey.

There's my take. Best of luck to all wrestlers tomorrow.