KarlHungus

106 - I have it on good authority that Indiana Mudflap is a fan of the lil’ guys on the mats. He says he will be eating some hot wings before invading Banker’s Life but I can guarantee he will be there for the fireworks on display as four, count ‘em, four ranked wrestlers will tangling in the first two matches. Returning state runner up Ty Mills of Brownsburg is the top ranked kid in the bracket and he should get by 16th ranked Gavin Rose of Greenfield Central. Mills will then rest up for Saturday morning where he face off against the winner of one of the premier Friday night tilts. Northwood’s Tanner DeMien is ranked fifth and is a returning 7th place finisher from last year. He will square off with Crown Point’s super frosh Jacob Moran. Moran does a nice impression of Jared Brooks with his athleticism and leg attacks and I feel he will be too much for the Panther. In the second quarter bracket, Warren Central’s powerful Keyuan Murphy is a strong favorite after his championship run at New Castle. He should get by Castle’s Devon Casebolt on Friday night. The other match features Wheeler’s Jose Diaz and Jimtown’s Hunter Watts. Diaz has impressed region rats with his goer mentality and he has become his school’s first state qualifier. Jimtown’s mighty mite Watts frankly did not look like a state qualifier earlier in the season. A great day at team state has seemed to jump start his season and he has been on a nice run. Another great match up. In the third quarter bracket there are another four ranked wrestlers and two legitimate threats to win a state championship. Fourth ranked Kory Cavanaugh of Penn has state experience and has been rock solid all season. He will likely see nemesis Sam Fair of Perry Meridian. Fair has two razor thin wins over Cavanaugh. This will be a great Saturday morning tussle. Set your alarms and don’t miss this one. The final quarter bracket is completely wide open in my mind. Cathedral’s Lukasz Walendzak has wins over some of the best 106ers in the state. Walendzak will face Avon’s ace, Asa Garcia. Garcia is the author of one of the bigger upsets of the semi state weekend when he dashed the dreams of top ranked Cayden Rooks in Evansville. The other tilt features Yorktown’s #7 ranked Brayton Curtis, who won the Ft. Wayne semi state, and Trey McCartney who was impressive at East Chicago. 113 – This class is probably not as wide open as the 106ers because of the dominance shown by Lowell Red Devil Colton Cummings. Cummings has shredded everyone put in his path this season with a lethal combination of leg attacks and pinning power. A potential #1 versus #2 is possible in this class as New Palestine’s overshadowed Alec White is poised on the other side of the bracket. White is a three time qualifier and former medalist. White must first survive a brutal quarter bracket that also features seniors 14th ranked Geoffrey Davis of Ft. Wayne Wayne HS, #7 Austin Slates of Penn and frosh #10 Alex Mosconi of Indian Creek. The bottom quarter bracket features super hot grapplers, Colin Poynter of Portage and Nick Weaver of Brownsburg. Poynter vs. Weaver should be outstanding if they meet on Saturday morning. In that top half, Colton Cummings looms large but he will still need to survive a Saturday morning clash with #3 Skylour Turner of Warren Central and a semi final match with a largely unknown group of wrestlers. 120 - All the top contenders are in the bracket and most of the top names are split in the opposite sides of the bracket. Fifteen of the sixteen state street spots are taken by ranked wrestlers. An impressive display by IndianaMat’s rankit ngs guy. At the top of the bracket, we have one of the most unheralded semi state champs in Brownsburg’s Blake Mulkey. The Bulldog sophomore has an unblemished record but is only ranked 7th. I look for him to win Friday night over Bellmont’s Mason Mendez and then advancing past Beech Grove’s Ethan Smiley on Saturday morning. The battle to meet Mulkey in the semi’s will be fought by some studs who have a ton of state experience. Columbia City’s fourth ranked Hunter Langeloh, Lebanon’s tenth ranked Caleb Bocock and Griffith’s second ranked Jeremiah Reitz all have multiple years of experience on the floor at Banker’s Life. The projected matchup between Langeloh and Reitz is state final quality wrestling on Saturday morning. Indiana wrestling fans are the winners here. Top ranked Drew Hildebrandt tops the next quarter bracket but the Kingsman will have no easy road as the winner of the Friday night match up between fifth ranked Blake Glogouski of Fairfield and sixth ranked Kyle Luigs of Mater Dei awaits last year’s state runner up. The final set of four contains New Castle champ Dylan Culp of Warren Central and third ranked Graham Rooks of Columbus East. The depth of quality wrestling at 120 is quite impressive and this is a weight class that will provide great matches from the beginning. 126 - Danville’s Brock Hudkins will look to defend his state title this year and comes into the tournament with an unblemished 43-0 record. The Northern Illinois bound senior will have to top fifth ranked Joel McGhee of Warren Central on Saturday morning and fourth ranked IU bound Austin Holmes of Hamilton Southeastern in the afternoon to make a return to the match under the lights. I like Hudkins chances to do just that. The other side of the bracket has both the second and third ranked wrestlers and if they hold chalk, Portage’s Gaige Torres and Cathedral’s Breyden Bailey should battle for the right to wrestle Hudkins. Torres versus Bailey should be one of the better semi final matches as they wrestle almost opposite styles. It will be the funky always exciting style of Bailey matched up with the classic in your face toughness of Torres. The top four kids in the state with one in each quarter bracket, what more could wrestling fans ask for. 132 - Ali versus Frazier, Red Sox versus Yankees, Michigan versus Ohio State, Chad Red versus Nick Lee. It has been the most talked about match up in the state over the past two years and it appears that we are all going to see the greatest match up ever in the state finals this year at 132. In one corner you have a returning champ in Mater Dei’s Nick Lee. Lee has shown he is afraid of no one as he squared off against Steven Micic in his freshman year. Lee won a title last year and then followed it up with an impressive spring and summer. He ended up his summer with a scholarship offer to Penn State and top ten national ranking. In the other corner you have New Palestine’s incredible Chad Red. All he has done is beat everyone put in front of him over the past three years, not only in the state of Indiana but also in the entire country. A fourth state title and an unblemished high school record are what Red puts on the line. The Nebraska recruit is so fun to watch and I, like many, have been dreaming about the potential scrambles these two studs will get into on Saturday night. 138 - It has been 150 plus years since those in the north have had to worry about an invasion by Lee but now Indianapolis will have two worry about three Lee’s all coming for Evansville semi state. Nick was the first Lee at 132 and at 138, we see top ranked Brayton Lee of Brownsburg. Brayton is another Bulldog with an perfect record who will be the odds on favorite to win Brownsburg a state title. Lee has exorcised the ghosts of last year’s shocking defeat in the ticket round with a dominating performance last week. The talented sophomore will likely see Westfield’s Evan Eldred in the semi’s. The Shamrock senior’s only loss on the season is a narrow 5-3 loss to…..Brownsburg’s Brayton Lee. On the other side of the bracket, all eyes will be on the quarter final match up between second ranked Sage Coy of Delta and fourth ranked Matt McKinney of Warren Central. The winner of this match up will likely be under the lights. 145 – The third Lee is sophomore Joe Lee of Mater Dei. The younger brother of Nick wrestled under the lights last year and seemed poised to join his brother on top of the podium until Tommy Cash struck with an excellent counter to secure the win. This season looked to be all about Joe until suffering a pair of defeats to New Palestine’s Jared Timberman and Mount Vernon’s Austin Bethel. So what we have is a weight class that is wide open with four or five wrestlers that can make a legitimate run for the crown. The top half of the bracket looks like an absolute meat grinder. Top ranked Brad Laughlin of Yorktown has one blemish on his record and that was at 160 pounds. He must overcome 2nd ranked Timberman, or 3rd ranked Lee, or 6th ranked Triston Rodriguez of Culver to wrestle Saturday night. No easy task. On the other side of the bracket we have returning state runner up Jordan Vaughn of Franklin Central and Kasper McIntosh of Portage who come in as semi state champs. But for these two to reach the semis, they must beat Jimtown’s Kenny Kernn and Leo’s Isaac Eicher respectively. Eicher has a state medal on his resume and Kernn has been nothing short of dominant since midseason. I predict a lot of maroon and gold under the lights. 152 – No one named Lee is contending at 152 but a similar bracket has been built with one side looking significantly deeper than the other. The bottom half contains #1 BAM Lawrence of Portage, #2 Cael McCormick of Yorktown, #4 Dru Berkebile of Frankton and #5 and #6 Elijah Dunn of Indian Creek and Brett Johnson of Perry Meridian. Can you say meat grinder? I like McCormick and BAM to survive but honestly would not be surprised if any of the other three ranked wrestlers to get to the semis because of the depth at this weight class. At the other end, the bracket gods smiled down on Trent Pruitt. The third ranked Warren Central junior has a stacked quarter bracket with a tough Friday night tilt with Mater Dei senior Mitch Lehman. Pruitt will face the winner of a likely Denzyl Prentice/Andrew Herrin match up that looks to be a donnybrook. Both are coming off excellent semi states where Herrin throttled the field at Evansville and Prentice looked as good as he ever has, giving Lawrence a great match in the finals. 160 – Speaking of bracket gods, they were not too kind at 160 as #1 Jacob Covaciu and #2 Alston Bane were both bracketed on the same side. However, Bane’s Batman last week, Noah Warren of Perry Meridian won the New Castle semi state and put himself in a position to wrestle under the lights on Saturday night. Warren has only one blemish on his record and that was to Jarod Swank of Penn at team state. For Warren to get to the semis he might need to avenge his loss to Swank and then also defeat either the Fort Wayne champ Josh Garman or the ultra talented Tavonte Malone of South Bend Adams. The other side of the bracket has top ranked and Wisconsin bound Jacob Covaciu of Merrillville. I honestly don’t think he will be seriously challenged until he reaches the finals. 12th ranked Laine Frazee of Fountain Central and Jed Levitz of Prairie Heights is an interesting battle Friday night between a couple of small school studs. Upset Alert: Bellmont’s Tony Busse will be focused and ready to knock of the 2nd ranked Alston Bane of Richmond. 170 – This is another weight class where one side of the bracket appears to be a little top heavy. The first quarter bracket contains four ranked grapplers including the 2nd and 3rd ranked Nathan Walton of Brownsburg and Jacob Gray of Delta. Walton is one of the most exciting wrestlers in the state to watch and his match up with Tristan Goering of South Bend Riley will be filled with all kinds of fireworks. Wait for this match to be done before you get your 3rd Shave Ice. Three unranked wrestlers will try to slay “Dragon” Drew Hughes. “Winter is coming” for any of Hughes opponents. He probably won’t be challenged by anyone in the state this year. On the other side, semi state champs Ricky Samuels and Bryce Baumgartner thanked the bracket gods and both have a shot to wrestle under the spotlight. These two are by no means shoe ins as Thomas ‘Launcher’ Dull and super soph Kameron Fuller will look to make a name for themselves statewide. 182 – You win some and you lose some when you randomly draw brackets. Not being able to see the potential match between nationally ranked Big Ten recruits Andrew Davison and Blake Rypel is a shame but let’s not dwell on that and just enjoy this battle between Davison, the undefeated junior from Chesterton and Rypel, the undefeated senior from Cathedral. Davison has committed to Michigan and Rypel to IU. Hopefully they will match up down the road as well. A couple of other wrestlers look to crash the party. They include Lawrence North’s 3rd ranked Cameron Jones, 4th ranked David Eli, 6th ranked CJ Damler of Brownsburgh and 7th ranked Isaac James of Lowell. James is my pick to click in this half of the bracket. No real reason, just a feeling I have after watching him last weekend. 195 – I see at least five potential state champs in the 195 pound class. This makes this bracket incredibly hard to predict but incredibly fun to watch. The top quarter bracket features semi state champ Jake Kleimola of Lake Central. Kleimola is ranked 6th and will face the winner of Carmel’s Nick Fox and Brownsburg’s Isaac McCormick. These two suburban Indy studs have met earlier in the season with the Greyhound winning a narrow 3-1 match. The second group of four has Fort Wayne semi-state champ Corbin Maddox of Daleville. The Broncos are the third smallest school to send a wrestler to Banker’s Life and he will have a tough road to get through Cedrick Vakalahi of Penn and second ranked Ben Stewart of Indy Cathedral. In the bottom half, Kurtis Wilderman appears to have a relatively clear path to the semi finals but might have to beat the talented Damari Embery of South Newton (the second smallest school to qualify a finalist) to reach the semis. The bottom four includes three ranked wrestlers but ‘T Squared’ Triston Tonte is the clear favorite due to his experience, talent and coaching. 220 – Ahhhh…… after a few weight classes where the top two were located on the same side of the bracket, we have a match up where two national ranked big men are poised to wrestle under the lights. But this weight class features more than just the big two. All four semi state champs are undefeated and three of them are non seniors. This is good news for the future. In the top half of the bracket, the semi state champs Mason Parris of Lawrenceburg and Evan Ellis of Eastern (Greentown) are a combined 90-0. Parris is ranked 2nd in the state and 19th in the country. Ellis will be looking to make his bones on Saturday afternoon. The bottom half of the bracket features 3rd ranked Gunnar Larson of Avon. It seems like he has been around forever but he is still just a junior and comes into the state finals with a 39-0 record with a semi state crown to his name. He is likely to face returning state champ, Kobe Woods of Penn. Woods record is spotless at 33-0. Some have questioned if Kobe is as sharp as he needs to be to win this weight class. I would expect the senior to be ready to rock and roll this weekend. 285 – Shawn Streck has been an absolute joy to watch perform the past four years. In many people’s minds he is the finest heavyweight wrestler the state has ever produced. He is the best I have seen in the past 15 years. Unfortunately for 2nd ranked Cory Klem of Gibson Southern that he is in the same quarter bracket as Streck. In a race for second, 6th ranked Robert Samuels of Lawrence North and 5th ranked Sean Galligar of Columbus East appear poised to match up in the semi finals for a shot to take on the big Pirate in the finals. Samuels would present a nice style contrast whereby Galligar might be able to match Streck for pure strength.

A new era in the northwest part of the state will commence this Saturday at the John A. Baratto Athletic Center on the campus of East Chicago Central High School. After 40 plus years at Merrillville High School, the wrestling semi-state has changed venues and moved to the 2nd largest high school gymnasium in the nation. The additional space should allow for an earlier finish time but the biggest plus in my mind will be that athletes should have adequate space to warm up for their matches. 106 – Four state ranked flyweights headline the bill at 106. Penn’s returning state qualifier Kory Cavanaugh has a fine 35-4 record and will face fellow upper classman, Dylan Petrovski of Lake Central in round one before a match up between the winner of Rensselaer’s Ryne Webb and Lowell’s Andres Moreno. Cavanaugh is the heavy favorite. On the same side of the bracket we find state ranked Jose Diaz of Wheeler. Looking to become Wheeler’s first state qualifier for their young program he must defeat Tyson Coon of Benton Central and then Portage’s Brock Peele. Not an easy task. On the top half of the bracket is arguably the toughest quarter bracket. Crown Point regional champ Jacob Moran is the favorite by virtue of his 27-1 record and his #9 ranking in the state. But he will likely face a stiff challenge from state ranked (19) Angel Perez of Hammond Morton. The last quarter bracket has no state ranked kids but does feature 50 match winner Trey McCartney of Lafayette Harrison. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Two great ticket round match ups are in this bracket. Crown Point’s rookie Moran vs. Angel Perez of Hammond Morton. The other is the likely matchup between Jose Diaz of Wheeler and the peaking Brock Peele of Portage 4 on the Floor - 1. Cavanaugh – Penn. 2. Moran – Crown Point 3. Peele – Portage, 4. McCartney – Harrison. 113 – Six state ranked wrestlers will make the 113 class highly competitive and highly entertaining. The top quarter bracket presents the most compelling story line with last year’s 106 pound state champion, Colton Cummings of Lowell likely squaring off with last year’s 5th place finisher at 106, Tylor Triana of Hobart. Triana is in the ticket round match because of another Portage Indian who is peaking at the right time. Colin Poynter is that Indian who by virtue of defeating Triana last week has set himself up to make a run at Indy. He will likely face Duneland rival Austin Line of Valpo. Line is a senior and that will give him some extra motivation to qualify for state. Austin Slates of Penn is the silent beast in the Kingsman lineup. He is not talked about very much but is a likely qualifier and will be a bad draw for someone next week at state. In the final quarter bracket, an interesting battle between one lose junior Donavan Johnson of Logansport and super talented freshman Rehan Uribe of Crown Point is the likely ticket round match. Will the Berry ripen or burst in the Region? Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Three of the four quarter brackets have excellent potential ticket round tilts but the most competitive will likely be the donnybrook between Valpo’s Austin Line and Portage’s Colin Poynter. Will a senior trying to qualify for the first time be able to trump a sophomore coming off the biggest win of his career. 4 on the Floor - 1. Cummings – Lowell 2. Poynter – Portage 3. Slates – Penn 4. Uribe – Crown Point. 120 – Another weight class with six state ranked wrestlers means that a couple of deserving kids will not be getting the opportunity to continue their season next week. The bracket gods were kind and put the #1 and #2 wrestlers in the state on opposite sides of the semi state bracket. #1 Drew Hildebrandt of Penn is looking to for a 2nd semi state crown but he should be tested by #2 Jeremiah Reitz of Griffith. Jon Anderson of Lafayette Jeff and Jonathan Moran of Crown Point seem to be frontrunners for the other two spots in the state final bracket but their paths are both filled with potential trouble. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Anderson’s potential ticket round match with Culver Military’s Adam Davis should be excellent. 4 on the Floor - 1. Hildebrandt – Penn 2. Reitz – Griffith 3. Moran – Crown Point 4. Anderson – Lafayette Jeff. 126 – Only 3 grapplers crack the states top 20 at 126 and two of them are in the same quarter bracket. To me that means this should be a wide open bracket where upsets will be common. Senior Gaige Torres of Portage is the clear favorite here. He has been there and done that, wrestling under the lights in Indy last year. In the other quarter bracket, Torres’ likely semi final opponent is anyone’s guess. Steve Biancardi wrestled lights out this past Saturday and really seems to be hitting on all cylinders. At the top of the bracket another wide open quarter bracket is found with one loss Justin Porter of Logansport facing the winner of Kankakee Valley’s Bryce Niewoehner and Griffith’s Cole Cervantes. These two seem very evenly matched. The final golden ticket will probably be secured by the winner of a great match between Michael DeLaPena of Merrillville and Ryan Hardesty of Mishawaka. DeLaPena hammered Hardesty at the Al Smith but Hardesty is wrestling much better at this point in the season. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – DeLaPena vs. Hardesty. A great matchup between two blue blood programs as well as two former state qualifiers. 4 on the Floor - 1. Torres – Portage 2. DeLaPena – Merrillville 3. Biancardi – Chesterton 4. Niewoehner – Kankakee Valley. 132 – I really like the way this bracket has taken shape. Like 126 it looks like much of the top talent is fairly evenly matched which makes for close matches, upsets and excitement all around. With that being said, Brendan Black of Hobart is a clear favorite to win this bracket. He should cruise into the semis where the funky Blake Strawsma of Benton Central is likely to meet him. The other half of the bracket is full of regional flavor. Chesterton’s Jack Tolin is peaking at the right time and has a regional crown to prove it. He will have to slay the scary Cody Crary of Munster in the round to go to become a state qualifier. Mishawaka’s Preston Risner is another hot wrestler but he will have his hands full with battle tested Kris Rumph of Portage. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Tough call here. Risner vs. Rumph and Crary vs. Tolin should be tightly fought battles. 4 on the Floor - 1. Black – Hobart 2. Tolin – Chesterton 3. Rumph – Portage 4. Strawsma – Benton Central 138 – A fistful of ranked wrestlers dot the bracket at 138 and many of them are familiar names to those who follow region wrestling. 9th ranked Daylan Schurg of Crown Point might be the thirty-fifth Schurg to wrestle for Crown Point but he is 34-1 with a regional crown to his name. He will most likely face the winner of #19 Jacy Leon of Hobart and Trace Manspeaker of Penn. Leon won a narrow 7-4 decision over Manspeaker back in December at the Al Smith. After a long four year wait, the bracket gods seem to have looked favorably on Benton Central’s Cole Lukaszka. The long predicted state finals appearance will look to be a reality as Lukaszka’s three potential quarter bracket opponents have a combined 40 losses. The bottom half of the bracket has the two highest ranked wrestlers with Jason Crary appearing to have the easier ticket to punch. In the final quarter bracket, Warsaw’s ‘Sloth’ Hatch will be tested in his quarter final round match by Valpo’s Tristan Dembowski but should make it through for his third trip to state. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Hatch versus Dembowski is the top ticket round match up in this bracket. Dembowski has the skill to pull off the upset but I am guessing he would rather be in another quarter bracket. 4 on the Floor - 1. Hatch – Warsaw 2. Schurg – Crown Point 3. Crary – Munster 4. Lukaszka – Benton Central 145 – The 145 class returns 3 state qualifiers from last year and five state ranked wrestlers. Kasper McIntosh has a state medal to his name and looks to be the favorite in the top quarter bracket. He should have a very competitive ticket round match with Penn’s senior Cameron Beam. Another former state qualifier looks to be the front runner in quarter bracket number 2. South Bend Riley’s 8th ranked Austen Laughlin went absolutely bananas last year at semistate on his way to a championship. He must defeat Crown Point’s Noah Lamore in what looks to be an epic ticket round match up. The bottom half of the bracket features Logansport regional champ Clay Jones, who should be tested by Dante Colza. Jones’ funky style is tough to prepare for and look for the Broncho to move to the semis where he will seek revenge for one of his two losses on the season. Culver’s Triston Rodriguez narrowly topped Jones over Christmas break. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Two ticket round beauties await the fans at 145. In the top quarter bracket, a rematch from last year’s ticket round between Kasper McIntosh of Portage and Cameron Beam of Penn is likely. In the second quarter bracket, Riley’s explosive Austen Laughlin will mostly likely tilt with Crown Point’s steady Noah LaMore. 4 on the Floor - 1. Rodriguez – Culver 2. Laughlin – SB Riley 3. Jones – Laf. Jeff 4. McIntosh – Portage 152 – 152 is a scary weight class that has seven to ten guys that have state level talent. Steven “BAM” Lawrence is the unquestioned favorite and one my favorites to watch in the entire state. Kassius Breathitt of South Bend Riley got the “death draw” notice on Saturday night and will have to pull off a miracle to be a qualifier. Looking to meet BAM in the semi finals is a trio of grapplers I feel have state finalist level of talent. Unfortunately, only one of the three will qualify. Matt Grammer of Lafayette Jeff, Tavris Evans of South Bend Adams and Diego Lemley of Chesterton are all three excellent wrestlers. The two seniors, Evans and Grammer, will square off early Saturday morning for a chance to face super sophomore Lemley in the ticket round. In the bottom half of the bracket are regional winners Denzyl Prentice of Penn and Cody Widner of Twin Lakes but neither is lock for state due to the depth at this weight class. Prentice must dispatch of 11th ranked Zach Lorek of Crown Point to earn his first trip to Indy. The final quarter bracket is the proverbial meat grinder with Widner having to beat studs Micah Calhoun of Plymouth and Lucas Scott of Lowell to punch the golden ticket. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – 3 of the 4 will be intense and some of the best wrestling all day. I’m not even that sure who will be in most of them. 4 on the Floor - 1. BAM - Portage 2. Prentice – Penn 3. Lemley – Chesterton 4. Calhoun – Plymouth 160 – Merrillville is making its debut when it comes to state qualifiers and they will do it with a bang due to the presence of defending state champion Jacob Covaciu. Covaciu has gone wire to wire this season and has barely been stressed. The University of Wisconsin recruit is the poster child for consistency and toughness. The second quarter bracket features two of the top juniors in the semi state. Penn’s Jarod Swank and Valpo’s Greg Lichtenberger are both very seasoned and both have wrestled schedules to prepare them for this moment. Swank was dinged up earlier but appears to be clicking on all cylinders at this time. Oszkar Kasch of Crown Point highlights the next group of four. He has put together a great sophomore campaign and has already won sectional and regional. He will be challenged by Duneland rival Drake Guerrero and Triton senior Gage Waddle. Tavonte Malone is the definition of a bad draw for Logansport winner Dennis Ingle. Malone is a returning state finalist, strong, skilled and hungry after last weeks loss to Swank. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Swank of Penn versus Lichtenberger of Valpo is my top pick here. Both are hard nosed, lunch pail type kids who will leave it out on the mat. 4 on the Floor - 1. Covaciu – Merrillville 2. Malone – SB Adams 3. Swank – Penn 4. Kasch – Crown Point 170 – One of the OG’s dominates the bracket at 170. That Original Gorilla is Drew Hughes of Lowell. Hughes has grown from a lil 120 pound freshman into the 170 beast in four years. He is very likely to pick up his second state title on his way to wrestle in East Lansing, Michigan for Sparty. He has been so dominant this year that only one wrestler has made it to the second period. That wrestler who made it to the second period is Portage’s Ismael Cornejo. Cornejo has put together a 30-6 season with Portage’s brutal schedule and that’s a good enough resume for me to pick him as the runner up. Challenging Cornejo for a spot in the finals should be Delphi’s Hunter Mote. Seemingly around forever, this is Mote’s senior season and he would love to make the finals at Merrillville. Rounding out the fab four should be Tristan Goering of South Bend Riley. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Logan Nowak of Kankakee Valley will face Ismael Cornejo of Portage for the right to wrestle in Indy. It’s been a few years for a Wheatfield wrestler to make the big stage. 4 on the Floor - 1. Hughes – Lowell 2. Cornejo – Portage 3. Mote – Delphi 4. Goering – South Bend Riley. 182 – In much the same Hughes has dominated the 170 class this season, Chesterton’s Andrew Davison has had his way with 182 class this season. Davison has already committed to the University of Michigan halfway through his junior season. Only a nationally ranked Blake Rypel is keeping Davison from being top ranked in the state. In the fight for second place, Lowell’s Ike James looks to join his practice partner at the Big Show next week. There will be no easy tickets, however, and James will have to avenge an earlier season loss to Plymouth’s Jeremy Splix in order to qualify. The other two qualifiers will also not be regional champs according to my prognostications. I see South Bend Clay’s Mason Cao earning a trip for himself and first year coach, Adam O’Neil. Hanover Central’s Ashton Mutuwa seems poised to be Hanover Central’s next state qualifier but he must defeat Logansport regional champ Isaac Mathis of Lafayette Harrison to do so. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – South Bend Clay’s Mason Cao and Lake Central’s Russell Gibbs look to be the top ticket round tilt. 4 on the Floor - 1. Davison – Chesterton 2. James – Lowell 3. Cao – SB Clay 4. Mutuwa – Hanover Central 195 – One of the worst death draws at East Chicago is in the top quarter bracket at 195. 6th ranked Jake Kleimola of Lake Central will likely match up with Chesterton sophomore, Lucas Davison. Both of these guys deserve a spot at the state finals. The second group of four is tough to call. The regional champ here is the largely unknown Damari Embery of South Newton. The Rebel has only one loss but South Newton is so far off the grid that Embery doesn’t even appear in the semi state rankings. Embery will have to knock off either LaVille’s Corrian Correll or Plymouth’s peaking sophomore, Nate LaFree. In the third quarter bracket another brutal ticket round match loom between one match Evan Larsen of Hanover Central and Chris Kidwell of West Lafayette. Larsen’s father was a state champ for the Wildcats and Evan has been to the semi state 3 times. The final berth is wide open as none of the four wrestlers look to be favorites. The interesting thing about this last quarter bracket is that there is a grappler from Penn, Portage and Crown Point. Whomever comes out on top of this group will have helped their team tremendously. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Kleimola vs Davison will be fun for the fans but heart breaking for the loser. 4 on the Floor - 1. Kleimola – Lake Central 2. Evan Larsen – Hanover Central 3. Damari Embery – South Newton 4. Vakalahi – Penn 220 – Penn’s Kobe Woods is a runaway favorite here and might not be tested until the semifinals of state. The Purdue recruit might be looking for bonus points all day in order to help his team secure a semi state crown. Returning state qualifier Justin Akers of Crown Point got the proverbial death draw and will likely face Woods in the ticket round. Facing Woods in the semi finals and earning a trip to state will be the goal of regional champ Brandon Streck. Coming off of injury might be a barrier for Streck 2.0 and seniors Dan Mochen of Chesterton and Dylan Trent of West Lafayette will be gunning for that state berth. Big Alex Kukurugya of Valpo is the favorite at the top of the bracket. Mishawaka Marian’s Patrick Ernst will be no pushover for Big Green. In the final quarter bracket Warsaw’s Andrew Brock seems likely to battle with regional champ Donnie Crider of Lafayette Harrison. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Kukurugya of Valpo and Ernst of Mishawaka Marian should be outstanding. A contrast of styles usually makes for good entertainment. 4 on the Floor - 1. Woods – Penn 2. Kukurugya – Valpo 3. Dan Mochen – Chesterton 4. Andrew Brock - Warsaw 285 – Streck 1.0 has been a real joy to watch over the past 4 years. He would be my pick for the best heavyweight wrestler the state has ever produced. In the East Chicago semi state he will probably face either Duneland rival Gio Murillo or big Aron Ceglarek of Kankakee Valley. Ceglarek has really impressed me over the past two weeks. Isiah McWilliams of South Bend Washington is a fast rising sophomore who looks like he could bench press a Buick. He will likely face Delphi’s Garrett Clark in the 3rd and 4th place match-up. Top Ticket Round Tilt(s) – Ceglarek of Kankakee Valley and Gio Murillo should be a doosy. Murillo has faced the best and Ceglarek moves very well for a big man. 4 on the Floor - 1. Streck – Merrillville 2. Ceglarek – Kankakee Valley 3. McWilliams – South Bend Washington 4. Clark – Delphi

Take 'em as gospel or take 'em with a grain of salt but here they are: 106 – A potential Mishawaka sectional sweep here with Penn’s junior Kory Cavanaugh leading the way for the flyweights. South Bend Adams frosh Vincent Calhoun will likely meet Cavanaugh in the finals for a second week in a row. I like St. Joe’s Matt Cysewski in a close one over Culver Military’s Spencer Penrose in the 3rd/4th match. 113 – Penn’s Austin Slates is clearly the top dog at 113. The Best match in the bracket might be the semi final battle between Wawasee’s freshman, Braxton Alexander and Adams’ Joey Zahl. Alexander was very impressive in winning the Plymouth sectional title and Zahl is a proven tough competitor. Culver Academy should get their 2nd semistate qualifier in junior Robert White. 120 – A strong class for the Plymouth Sectional with a trio of former semistate qualifiers looking to return to the region. CMA’s Adam Davis, Triton’s Malachi Greene, and Plymouth’s Zane DeVault all have enough firepower to make the trip to East Chicago but all three together might be needed to slay Penn’s mighty Drew Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt has gone wire to wire as the state’s top ranked 120 pound wrestler. 126 – The fab four out of the Mishawaka sectional stand a great chance of moving on to East Chicago. Mishawaka’s Ryan Hardesty has put together an excellent senior season and won last week versus rival Jarrett Selis of Penn. An all Catholic clash will probably make up the 3rd place match with St. Joe’s Jared Kazmierczak and Marian’s Nick Blasko. 132 – The Green will be mean at 132. South Bend Washington’s Tondrew Tyler comes in with an excellent 38-1 record and a state ranking of 14th. His likely finals opponent, Tristin Ponsler of Wawasee has been under the radar all season but has state level talent. I like Mishawaka’s Preston Risner and Rochester’s gritty senior Aaron Orr to move on as 3rd and 4th place finishers. 138 – This should be a fun weight class to keep an eye on this Saturday. Warsaw’s Kyle Hatch is the clear favorite based on his two state medals but he should be challenged by Clay’s exciting Rishod Cotton in the semis. Penn’s Trace Manspeaker squeaked a victory out over Cotton last week and it set him up well in the regional bracket. I like CMA’s Steven Muthart to be the fourth to move on. 145 – I may be biased but I think this is the strongest weight class at the Rochester regional. Two state qualifiers are here in Riley’s Austin Laughlin and Culver’s Triston Rodriguez along with a senior from Penn that has beaten both of them in Cameron Beam. I like Plymouth’s Bodie Neidig to be the fourth qualifier. This regional will create some bad draws for the other regionals at East Chicago. 152 – If 145 is not the strongest class then 152 might be. The top five here are all excellent and someone will be ending their season much sooner then they would have liked. The first round tilt between Bremen’s Alex Bollenbacher and South Bend Adams’ Tavris Evans will be a slobber knocker. Penn’s Denzyl Prentice would love a rematch with rival Kassius Breathitt of Riley but first must overcome the ‘rastlin’ Rockie’, Micah Calhoun of Plymouth. 160 – These middle weight classes at Rochester will be worth the price of admission and the rivalry between Adams’ Tavonte Malone and Penn’s Jarod Swank will highlight this division. Both are serious threats to be on the podium in a couple of week at Banker’s Life. With Triton’s Gage Waddle added into the mix, there are three legitimate studs at 160. 170 – South Bend Riley’s Tristan Goering is the clear favorite here. He has followed up last year’s magical post season run (finishing 4th in the state) with an outstanding junior campaign. No serious challengers to the junior Wildcat have emerged in the regional area. 182 – A trio of grapplers have separated themselves from the rest of the field in the 182 weight class. Austin Faulkner won a pair of tight matches last Saturday to put himself in a great position this weekend. He has the easier path to the finals where he will probably meet either conference rival, Mason Cao of Clay or Jeremy Splix of Plymouth. Young Max Chaffee will likely be the fourth qualifier. 195 – Wide open would the way to describe the 195 pound class at Rochester. Penn’s Cedrick Vakalahi and Plymouth’s Nate LaFree are the likely finalists but no wrestlers in this weight class have particularly distinguished themselves this season and upsets could likely occur here. 220 – The big boys should provide some entertaining wrestling for the fans at Rochester. State champion and Purdue recruit, Kobe Woods is the headliner but there are four other studs that have state level talent. One will be heading home. Bremen’s Tyler Moser has put together an excellent 34-2 record and a sectional championship. Marian’s Patrick Ernst and Culver Academy’s Simon Griffith will square off in a great first round match. Warsaw’s Andrew Brock is the other likely qualifier. 285 – South Bend Washington’s Isaiah McWilliams is the favorite here with his 36-3 record and sectional championship. On the other side of the bracket is Rochester’s big man, Dan ‘#TRUCK’ Clark, along with an interesting match up between St. Joe’s veteran Michael Koebel and Culver’s young Alecks McBee. Will Vakalahi, the undersized Penn heavyweight is the other likely semistate qualifier here.