2026 PIAA postseason

El_Jefe said:

AA 106:

Top half:
1 – Nathan Schuman, NE-1
4 – Arav Pandey, SE-1

Bottom half:
3 – Kooper Deputy, SW-1

Deputy has the easiest path. Schuman and Pandey are capable. This is a good 3-way battle.

1 – Deputy
2 – Schuman
3 – Pandey
4 – Branden Eisenhour, NE-2

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El_Jefe said:

AA 114:

The finals seem straight-forward: SC-1 Braiden Lotier and NW-1 Chase Karenbauer both placed high at 107 last year. Lotier won, Karenbauer was S3.

1 – Lotier
2 – Karenbauer
3 – Zander Wilson, NE-1

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El_Jefe said:

AA 121:

Top half:
1 – Sam Wolford, SE-1 (S2, Navy commit)
4 – Elijah Scriven, NW-1 (S4)
Max Dinges, SW-2 (S3)
Dakota Santamaria, SW-3 (S5, Kutztown)

Bottom half:
2 – Keegan Bassett, SW-1 (S4)
3 – Brock Rothermel, NE-1 (S5, Pitt)

Good weight. Wolford put a scare into Freddy Bachmann in last year’s final and regional finals. Rothermel beat Bassett 10-4 in January. Bassett majored Scriven at the same event.

1 – Wolford
2 – Rothermel
3 – Bassett
4 - Dinges
5 – Scriven
6 – Santamaria

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El_Jefe said:

AA 127:

Top half:
1 – Freddy Bachmann, SE-1 (returning S1, Iowa), #1 nationally
4 – Logan Stewart, NW-1 (S7)
Chase Wirnsberger, NE-2

Bottom half:
2 – Dom Deputy, SW-1 (returning 2x S1, NC State)
3 – CJ Caines, NE-1 (S6)
Carter Chunko, SE-2 (returning S2, Rutger)

Everybody’s looking for the champ-on-champ Bachmann vs Deputy final. But this weight has a lot of land mines, especially in the bottom half. Caines is undefeated, and Chunko lost to Bachmann 3-2 UTB in the regional final.

If this final happens, it might be the dullest final this year. Bachmann likes to drop to a knee, and Deputy is no stranger to low-scoring matches. This has OT rideouts written all over it.

1 – Deputy
2 – Bachmann
3 – Chunko
4 – Caines
5 – Stewart
6 – Wirnsberger

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El_Jefe said:

AA 133:

Top Half:
1 – Will Detar, SE-1 (S3-S2-S3, NW)
4 – Brady Slicker, NW-1 (S8)
Lucas Barr, SW-3 (W&J)

Bottom half:
2 – Bradley Wagner, NE-1 (S6, Bucknell)
3 – Tanner Guenot, SW-1 (S8, West Virginia)
Chase Homan, SE-2 (S6)
Liam Lawler, SE-3 (S7, Edinboro)

This should be a more entertaining final than the more-hyped 127. Detar’s only losses at states were to 2x champs Deputy and Ayden Smith.

1 – Detar
2 – Wagner
3 – Guenot
4 – Homan

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El_Jefe said:

AA 139:

Top half:
1 – Camden Baum, SE-1 (S2, Purdue)
4 – Chase Boozer, NE-1
Owen McMullen, SW-3 (VT)

Bottom half:
2 – Drake McClure, SW-1 (S8)
3 – Kamdyn Borrero, NW-1
Hayden Yacoviello-Andrus, SE-2 (S5, UPJ)
Ben Straub, NE-3 (S7)
Matthew Almedina, NE-2 (Mercyhurst)

With Sam Herring at NLWC, this is a wide-wide-wide open weight after Baum.

1 – Baum
2 – Yacovielo-Andrus
3 – McClure
4 – McMullen
5 – Boozer
6 – Borrero
7 - Almedina

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El_Jefe said:

AA 145:

Top half:
1 – Brandt Harer, NE-1 (2x S1, Rutger)
4 – Rudy Gentile, NW-1
Matthew Santoro, SE-2 (S8)
Josef Garshnick, SW-3 (S5 in 2024)
Caden Judice, SW-2 (S4, Lock Haven)
Colin Walther, SE-2 (S7)

Bottom half:
2 – Bo Bassett, SW-1 (2x S1, VT)
3 – Greyson Music, SE-1 (S2-S3, Stanford)
Greyson Meyer, NW-2

Garshnick and Judice actually cut from 152 for the postseason – what were they thinking?

This weight has a clear top 3, and then everybody else. And then tiers within the top 3.

Bassett and Harer faced once before, several years ago. It was a high-scoring match; Harer hung around for a while until Bassett pulled away for a MD win. Expect a very different strategy from Harer this time. Bassett is heavily favored, but a Harer win would not be a Lee-DeSanto level upset.

1 – Bassett
2 – Harer
3 – Music
4 – Judice
5 – Santoro

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El_Jefe said:

AA 160:

Top half:
1 – Melvin Miller, SW-1 (defending S1, VT) -- #2 nationally

Bottom half:
2 – Reagan Milheim, NE-1 (S2-S1-S2, American)
3 – Jordan Thompson, NW-1 (S5, Edinboro)
Shane Wagner, SE-3 (Little Rock)
Nicky Negron, SE-2 (S7

This should be a rematch of last year’s 160 final, which Miller won 11-2. Milheim vs Wagner will be an interesting semi.

1 – Miller
2 – Milheim
3 – Wagner
4 – Thompson
5 – Negron

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El_Jefe said:

AA 152:

Top half:
1 – Hudson Hohman, NW-1 (S2, Bucknell)
Jackson Butler, SW-3 (Maryland)
Lucas Boyer, SW-2 (S6)

Bottom half:
2 – Joe Bachmann, SE-1 (2x S1, Iowa)
3 – Jonah Erdely, SW-1 (Seton Hill)

This should be another 1 vs 2 match. Butler vs Hohman semi could be interesting; Butler is wildly inconsistent – he last year he beat Dalton Perry but couldn’t break the starting lineup; this year he beat Jack Campbell and Trey Wagner and lost 2-0 to Kai Vielma, but got blown out by Music and Harer.

1 – Bachmann
2 – Hohman
3 – Butler
4 – Erdely

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El_Jefe said:

AA 160:

Top half:
1 – Melvin Miller, SW-1 (defending S1, VT) -- #2 nationally

Bottom half:
2 – Reagan Milheim, NE-1 (S2-S1-S2, American)
3 – Jordan Thompson, NW-1 (S5, Edinboro)
Shane Wagner, SE-3 (Little Rock)
Nicky Negron, SE-2 (S7

This should be a rematch of last year’s 160 final, which Miller won 11-2. Milheim vs Wagner will be an interesting semi.

1 – Miller
2 – Milheim
3 – Wagner
4 – Thompson
5 – Negron

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El_Jefe said:

AA 172:

Top half:
1 – Gage Wentzel, NE-1 (S2, West Virginia)

Bottom half:
2 – Nick Singer, SE-1 (defending S1, Ohio State)
Max Wirnsberger, NE-2 (S5, Arizona State)
Mason Horwat, SW-2 (S4, Pitt)

Break out the antipasti for Round 1: Rocco Allegretto vs Vinnie Fugazzotto!

This year's final should be a rematch of last year’s, which Singer won 12-3.

Note, S4 Jayden O’Farrill would’ve been at this weight, except for a torn labrum at Super 32. A Singer-O’Farrill semi would’ve been worth the price of admission.

1 – Singer
2 – Wentzel
3 – Wirnsberger
4 – Horwat

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El_Jefe said:

AA 189:

Top half:
1 – Adam Waters, SE-1 (3x S1, Ohio State)
Brady Brown, SW-2 (S5, Purdue)

Bottom half:
2 – Kyle Scott, SW-1 (S4, Pitt)
3 – Hayden Harvey, NE-1
Luke Fugazzotto, SE-2 (S7, 2024-S2, George Mason)
CJ Pensiero, SW-4 (Penn)

Scott has a lot of his head coach Quentin Wright in him. But Waters teched him last year, and has won all 3 state finals by bonus.

1 – Waters
2 – Scott
3 – Brown
4 – Fugazzotto
5 – Pensiero
6 - Harvey

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El_Jefe said:

AA 215:

Top half:
1 – Aiden Bliss, NW-1 (S3)
4 – Cael Weidemoyer, SE-1 (2023-S3, 2024-S2, Lehigh)

Bottom half:
2 – Landon Erdman, SW-1
3 – Landon Tucker, NE-1

The real finals will be wrestled in the top semi. Weidemoyer was S3 and S2 his first 2 years, but got the 4 seed because he missed last year with a knee injury. Bliss got hosed by PIAA.

Bliss is somehow uncommitted and would be a nice pickup for somebody (though PSU probably has no room at the HWT inn).

In the other half, Tucker beat Erdman 2x this year.

1 – Weidemoyer
2 – Tucker
3 – Bliss
4 – Erdman

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mvattivo said:

1	Will Detar	Trinity
2	Bradley Wagner	Mifflinburg
3	Chase Homan	Hamburg
4	Tanner Guenot	Bald Eagle Area
5	Austin Carfley	Bishop McCourt
6	Lucas Barr	McGuffey
7	Erik Carlile	Penns Valley
8	Brady Slicker	Hickory

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El_Jefe said:

AA 285:

Top half:
1 – Mark Effendian, SE-1 (S2, Princeton)
Caleb Rodriguez, SW-2 (S3, Pitt)
Casey Wilson, SW-3 (S6, Edinboro)

Bottom half:
2 – Colin Whyte, SW-1 (S4, Kent State)

Effendian and Whyte have been the 2 best AA heavies this year. Effendian looks like a different guy this year, after losing last year's final to the undersized but more athletic Rowan Holmes. Whyte is capable of keeping this match interesting.

1 – Effendian
2 – Whyte
3 – Rodriguez
4 – Wilson

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El_Jefe said:

Top half:
1 – Jacob Carr, SE-1
4 – Luis Moya, NE-1

Bottom half:
2 – Sean Morley, SC-1
3 – Lee Dreshman, SW-1
Ryan Milheim, NE-3

Carr and Dreshman appear to be the best of their halves, and relatively evenly matched. But it’s 106, so really anybody’s guess.

1 – Carr
2 – Dreshman
3 – Morley
4 - Milheim
5 – Moya

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 114:

Top half:
1 – Brayden Wenrich, NE-1 (S2)
Lucas McFarland, SE-2

Bottom half:
2 – Thunder Beard, SC-1 (S4, Utah Valley)
3 – Dom Powell, SE-1 (S5, Virginia)
Andrew Alexander, W-2 (Bloomsburg)
Cael Muller, NE-3

Two likely finalists, then 2 more guys who seem likely for 3-4.

S3 Nicholas McGarrity (Stanford commit) injury defaulted out of sectionals and DNQ for West regionals.

Side note, McFarland wrestled for Malvern Prep last year. Not complaining, but shocked that PIAA is allowing him to compete in this postseason.

1 – Wenrich
2 – Beard
3 – McFarland
4 – Powell
5 - Muller

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 121:

Top half:
1 – Mateo Gallegos, W-1 (S2)

Bottom half:
2 – Dominick Morrison, SE-1 (S5, 2024-S1, Penn)
3 – Nico Emili, NE-1 (S7)
Landon Sidun, W-2 (2024-S1, Penn State) – #1 nationally
Nico Kapusta, W-3

Gallegos has one of the easiest draws at 2026 states. Sidun will get Emili in the quarters, then the Kapusta-Morrison winner in the semis.

1 – Sidun
2 – Gallegos
3 – Morrison
4 – Emili
5 – Kapusta

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 127:

Top half:
1 – Chase Williams, SE-1 (S1)
4 – Kavin Muyleart, SC-1 (S2)
Nicholas Salamone, NE-2 (S1, Virginia)
Dominick Canali, W-2 (S5)

Bottom half:
2 – Santino Sloboda, W-1 (S3, Pitt)
3 – Emilio Albanese, NE-1 (S3, Lehigh)
Max Tancini, SE-2 (S5, George Mason)
Frank Leanza, SC-2
Matthew Coffin, SE-3

Two monster matchups in the quarters: Williams vs Salamone and Tancini vs Albanese. This weight could go in a lot of different directions.

1 – Muyleart
2 – Albanese
3 – Williams
4 – Salamone
5 - Tancini
6 – Sloboda

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 133:

Top half:
1 – Keanu Dillard, NE-1 (3x S1, Lehigh)

Bottom half:
2 – Drew Scherer, SC-1 (S7)
3 – Brayden Sigle, SE-1
Willmont Kai, NE-2 (S1, Nebraska)
Braiden Weaver, W-2 (S3, Penn State)
Mason Whitney, NE-3 (S8)

Weaver opens with Whitney, then gets Scherer in the quarters and Kai in the semis.

Anything other than a Dillard-Kai rematch of the NE Regional finals would be a big upset.

1 – Dillard
2 – Kai
3 – Weaver

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 139:

Top half:
1 – Blake Boyer, SE-1 (S5, American)
4 – Dalton Wenner, W-1 (S7, Clarion)
Reef Dillard, NE-2 (Lehigh)

Bottom half:
2 – Aiden Herndon, SC-1 (S4, Army)
3 – Trey Wagner, NE-1 (S5, 2024-S1, Air Force)
Patrick Woloshyn, SE-2 (S4, Drexel)

Dillard is a huge wild card. He could go 1-2 or win the whole thing. He’s 23-13 but has taken his Jaggers postseason pills.

1 – Wagner
2 – Dillard
3 – Herndon
4 – Woloshyn
5 – Boyer
6 - Wenner

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 145:

Top half:
1 – Kai Vielma, W-1 (S3, Stanford)
4 – Daniel Dennis, SE-1 – no, not THAT Daniel Dennis

Bottom half:
2 – Myles Grossman, SC-1 (S6)
3 – Jack Campbell, NE-1 (S6)
Aiden Kunes, W-2 (Air Force)

Clear favorite on the top half, open bottom half.

1 – Vielma
2 – Campbell
3 – Kunes
4 – Grossman

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 152:

Top half:
1 – Luke Knox, SE-1 (S3, George Mason)
4 – Ian Longenberger, SC-1 (S8, Kutztown)
Cade Campbell, NE-2 (S5, Navy)

Bottom half:
2 – Gabriel Ballard, NE-1 (S2, Lehigh)
3 – James Whitbred, W-1 (S6, Penn State)
Luke Hitchcock, SC-2 (Kutztown)
Brody Musser, SC-3 (F&M)

Top 3 guys are separated from the field.

1 – Ballard
2 – Campbell
3 – Whitbred
4 – Knox
5 – Longenberger

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 160:

Top half:
1 – Jon Smith, SE-1 (S4, Navy)

Bottom half:
2 – Gavin Ciampoli, W-1 (S7)
3 – Nathaniel Replogle, SC-1

Somebody’s gotta win.

1 – Smith
2 - Ciampoli
3 – Replogle

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 172:

Top half:
1 – McKaden Speece, SC-1 (S4, Navy)
4 – Teag Sanderson, W-1

Bottom half:
2 – Chris Dennis, SE-1 (S4, Utah Valley)
3 – Brock Frable, NE-1
Christian Burd, SC-2
Zachary LaBryer, W-2
Chase Amspacher, SC-3

Speece vs Dennis is pretty close. That could be a very good final. Speece teched Teag at King of the Mountain.

1 – Speece
2 – Dennis
3 – Sanderson
4 – Frable
5 – Burd

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 189:

Top half:
1 – Mario Hutcherson, W-1 (S6)
Michael Spielman, SE-2 (S8, Hahvahd)
Terrell McFarland, NE-3
Brayden Zuercher, NE-2 (S4, Cornell)

Bottom half:
2 – Dom Sumpolec, NE-1 (S5, George Mason)
3 – Franco Latorre, SE-1
Hunter Snyder, W-2 (S3, Pitt)
Caden Scherer, SC-3

Solid weight. Hutcherson will get the Spielman-McFarland winner in the quarters, then Zuercher in the semis. Most likely the other semi will be Sumpolec vs Snyder.

1 – Hutcherson
2 – Sumpolec
3 – Zuercher
4 – Snyder
5 – Latorre
6 - Spielman

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 215:

Top half:
1 – Elijah Brown, W-1 (defending S1, Penn State)
4 – Cole Staker, SC-1
Decker Bechtold, SE-2 (S6)
Brody Spindler, NE-2 (Shippensburg football)

Bottom half:
2 – Paxton Hunt, SE-1 (F&M football)
3 – Connor Smalley, NE-1 (Clarion)
Kendahl Hoare, W-2 (S6)
Cooper Roscosky, W-3 (S2, Buffalo)

Brown will have a couple speed bumps in Spindler and then Bechtold. Bottom half will likely be a Hoare-Roscosky rematch.

1 – Brown
2 – Roscosky
3 – Hoare
4 – Bechtold
5 - Hunt

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El_Jefe said:

AAA 285:

Top half:
1 – Dean Bechtold, SE-1 (defending S1, Lehigh)
4 – Nolan Reinert, SC-1
Jack Peters, NE-3 (Davidson)
Daniel Schiffert, NE-2 (Liberty football)

Bottom half:
2 – Brody Rebuck, NE-1 (S8, Lock Haven)
3 – Braydn McConneha, W-1 (Appalachian State)
Kevin Oswalt, SC-2

Rebuck and Reinert are both undefeated. Rebuck majored Schiffert in the regional finals. Reinert wrestled 215 until the postseason.

And none of it matters. Bechtold is gonna pin/tech the field, like he did last year only probably faster. So far this year, nobody this year has survived the first period, and only 5 opponents have lasted 1 minute.

1 – Bechtold
2 – Rebuck
3 – Reinert
4 – McConneha
5 – Schiffert
6 - Peters

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mvattivo said:

1	Mac Speece	Wilson West Lawn
2	Chris Dennis	Central Bucks West
3	Brock Frable	Southern Lehigh
4	Blake Hostetter	Oxford
5	A.J. Corp	West Chester Rutsin
6	Christian Burd	Hershey
7	Teag Sanderson	State College
8	Zachary LaBryer	Thomas Jefferson

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psumac said:

teag sanderson is the only non-(senior or junior) in this bracket, as a freshman. seems like he's got a bright future.

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Efejle said:

Yeah it's actually incredibly rare. You almost never see a freshman up at any weight after 160, excluding heavy which of course is an anomaly for the sport all by itself. He has a shot at the championship too, and the only kid I can even think of is maybe Terry Williams of BEN or Nate Carr of Erie East. Both of those examples are over 45 years ago.

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Efejle said:

Yeah it's actually incredibly rare. You almost never see a freshman up at any weight after 160, excluding heavy which of course is an anomaly for the sport all by itself. He has a shot at the championship too, and the only kid I can even think of is maybe Terry Williams of BEN or Nate Carr of Erie East. Both of those examples are over 45 years ago.

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CTStall said:

3 Legends honored last week.
Jack will not be making 118

View attachment 1206312

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El_Jefe said:

Since this has been posted twice this week, let's put this narrative to bed before it grows legs.

17 FR placed at 170+ in the past 10 years:
- 2016: Kawaun Deboe
- 2017: Gaige Garcia
- 2018: Nate Schon, Kolby Franklin
- 2019: Dayton Pitzer
- 2020: (none)
- 2021: Sean Kinney, Rune Lawrence
- 2022: Caleb Close, Austin Johnson
- 2023: Dean Bechtold, Adam Waters, Jason Singer
- 2024: Hunter Snyder
- 2025: Mario Hutcherson, Kendahl Hoare, Decker Bechtold, Jayden O’Farrill

This is all in the PIAA brackets available at https://brackets.pa-wrestling.com

I’m too lazy to dig into brackets further back … but offhand, Gavin Hoffman placed at 170 in 2015. So that's at least 18 in the past 11 years, and it happening in 10 of the past 11 years.

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WV lion said:

This EL_Jefe went over this. Multiple freshmen in the past several years

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