AA preseason review and analysis

[AAMatRanking]

WVHS AA Pre-Season Wrestling Preview Edition 1

The 2018 Graduating Class cleared the way for a lot of young up and comers to make their mark but also left a few horses behind to continue their legacy.  With the departure of over 30 seniors advancing to the college rankings from D1 to NAIA, a lot more talented seniors who wrestled their last matches of their careers, the landscape changes dramatically.  There are still two AA wrestlers halfway through their quest of becoming 4X State Champions in Hall and Frazier.  There is also quite a few state champions from the previous seasons still left to compete. 

From an in depth analysis and many assumptions on growth, maximizing line-ups, and best odds of moving up the podium, this is how the beginning of the season could shape up.  As more information becomes available, these can and WILL change.  Furthermore, the only people who know how prepared they are…..is the wrestlers themselves.

106 LB

1.  Casuccio - East Fairmont

2. Short – Point Pleasant

3.  Houser – St Mary’s

4.  Sanders - Independence

5.  Clere – Greenbrier West

If information received is correct, Casuccio will be wrestling 106 this season and with his significant wins last season, he will start the season at number 1. Short wrestled at 113 for the majority of his freshmen campaign and will be a good opponent for Casuccio. Excluding Short and possibly Sanders, the other 106 pounders listed were undersized last year and should develop into stronger 106 competitors this year.  Short will be a big 106 if he can maintain.  If he can’t read the next paragraph, they have a back-up that will be very strong.  Houser edges out Sanders for the number 3 spot based off of his finals appearance, but those that watched the semi-finals know, Sanders is capable of winning that head to head.

Incoming freshmen to watch:  M. Freeman, Point Pleasant, moving up from Middle School that will be competing for a starting spot.  He is a WSAZ Champion and could compete his first year in the high school level.

 
113 LB

1. Moore - Oak Glen

2. Hodges - Grafton

3. Smith - Point Pleasant

4.  Powell - Wirt County

Last year’s champion has announced retirement, although the runner-up has been at this weight for a while, guessing he moves up.  So it opens up 113 to yet another East Fairmont Wrestler to try to maintain a grip on this weight class, with a Whorton winning it 3 of the last 5 for East Fairmont.  Hodges will look to close out a career with less than 10 losses and attempt to finish on top at 113. He is a previous runner-up, champion, and 4th place in arguably the most competitive bracket from last season. Chris Smith is holding at number 2, but with the Point Pleasant depth, who knows who will be in this spot come the end of February. The 113 pound weight class is looking thin right now. There are a few teams out there that had 106 and 113's that just missed placing or qualifying that will find a space here.

Incoming freshmen to watch:  Keep an eye on Riley Curran from Doddridge County.  Curran was a WSAZ Runner-Up losing in the finals to an AAA opponent.


120 LB

1. Raike – Point Pleasant

2. West – Oak Hill

3. Long – Braxton County

4. Ours – Petersburg

5. Blackwell - Roane

3 x Champion Laya moves on to DII wrestling at Wheeling Jesuit, and Derek Raike, Point Pleasant moves in.  Raike has been wrestling at advance levels nationally for years and is a well-known incoming freshmen with 4x potential.  The weight class is interesting with possibly two freshmen in the mix with Thomas Ours from Petersburg.  Ashby West has been very competitive through high school and is setting at number 2 with the early information that has been received. This will be a weight class to watch to see which upper classmen will attempt to derail Point Pleasant's latest and greatest young star and if he transitions to high school as everyone expects him to.

Incoming freshmen to Watch:  Both have already been discussed with Raike and Ours and both should be very competitive in their first high school seasons.


126 LB

1.  Bartee - Point Pleasant

2.  Boyers – East Fairmont

3.  Perdue - Independence

4.  Poole – Wirt County

4 x finalist and 3 x Champion Whorton moves on to wrestle D1 at Clarion.  Runner-up jumping a couple to a few weight classes.   Boyers is a state champion, but was mostly untested in AA and will be going up multiple weight classes from a reported growth spurt.   Point Pleasant will have depth here with returning junior Justin Cornell looking to stay in the line-up. Bartee is an incoming freshmen with an off-season win against 2x AAA finalist Joey Miller, so he will be coming in hot with a significant high school win on record. Perdue is capable of winning this as his only losses were close and he finished the season on a blowout in the consolation finals.

Incoming Freshmen to Watch:  This is a tough call on a rapidly growing wrestler, but If Mike Jones, Fairmont Senior, MS WSAZ Champion, TOC Placer, MAWA Finalist and a long resume of national competition can hold his weight down, he will be very competitive at 126.  If he goes up, the upper classmen strength may give him early season issues.  Interested to see where he lands.

 
132 LB

1.  Flint - East Fairmont

2.  Dawson - Independence

3.  Freeman – Point Pleasant

4.  Powell – Wirt County

5.  Morris – Berkley Springs

6.  Cameron Wilson – North Marion

Last season showed Flint with a huge size and strength explosion from sophomore to Junior Season and looked strong all season.  Was in a weight class with two hammers in Hall, 2 x State Champion, and Rea who is now in a D1 room at WVU.  If Flint maintains strength and conditioning he should graduate with a state title at 132 pounds.   It will not come as a given with Dawson, who has proven he can wrestle with anybody.  Freeman finished third last year and had a strong consolation finals match.  With the room he is in, he is definitely going to come out stronger this season.

Incoming freshmen to Watch: 


138 LB

1.  Hall – Oak Glen

2.  Lusher - Independence

3.  Smith – Point Pleasant

4.  Zimmerman – Berkley Springs

5.  Baird – Madonna

6.  Courtney - Bridgeport

Cook moves up in weight and runner-up Pumphrey and third place Harris graduated.  Three previous state champions collide in one weight class is always exciting.  Most would think about separating, but if you go up one weight class, you will still have three previous state champions in one weight class, so you may as well embrace it and go for an MOW.  Hall clearly the front runner with two titles and beating returning state champions in both finals.  He will not have the opportunity to do that this year as there is some gaps between Lusher and Smith’s championship runs.  Zimmerman from Berkley Springs is a tough competitor that rounds out the preseason top 4 for this weight class.

No Incoming Freshmen on the Radar at this time.


145 LBS

1.  Ward - Winfield

2.  Cook - Madonna

3.  Shaw – Berkley Springs

4.  Mason – Keyser

5.  Creese – Oak Glen

Ward is the defending state champion at 145.  As much as that match has been argued, replayed, debated, he proved that he will wrestle all 6, 8, or 9 minutes so don’t leave it open for him.  The weight class will be full, and updates will be necessary, but again, 2 previous year state champions competing for one title will make the weight class interesting.  And if any projections are wrong at the previous weight class, we could have a third state champion in the mix.  Lusher is the most likely to flex weight classes based on current size and cutting potential.

Incoming freshmen to Watch:  Point Pleasant will get some mid-level help for team points from WSAZ placer Watson, strengthening their run with a young team.


152 LBS

1.  Whiting – Roane Co

2.  Trigg - Bluefield

3.  Parkes – Greenbrier West

4.  Kiska – Franklin

5.  Williams – Grafton

6. Samson - Point Pleasant
 
Mundy, Harvey, Kincell, Reichard and Mitchell graduate.  Cox moves up.  We believe that Ward may ultimately end up here, one of the 138’s behind Hall move up to challenge Cook, and Ward becomes the front runner here.  Assumption being made of current size, but like the story line the other way better.  If as printed stands, Whiting and Trigg will be chasing after their dream for their final season until the next level.  But this weight class may be the 170 weight class of last year, where you can throw 4 of these names in a hat each week and change the order. All of the wrestlers listed will be competitive matches and chasing for a title also.

No Incoming Freshmen Watch List at this time.


160 LBS

1.  Cox – Greenbrier West

2.  Thomas – East Fairmont

3.  McCune - Calhoun

4.  Stearns – Liberty Harrison

5.  Connaway – North Marion

6.  Gibson - Bridgeport

 3 x State Champion Conner Gibson has graduated and left 160 open.   Cox had a fantastic showing at the state tournament placing as the only freshmen with all other returning placers graduating.  He could be in the driver’s seat at 160 this year and earning a state title.  Thomas from East Fairmont who is only in his 4th season of wrestling was a state qualifier and then a state placer.  He could be in line for a state finals appearance and possibly a title. 

Incoming freshmen to Watch:  Point Pleasant has another WSAZ placer in Connoly that could fill a spot and help earn team points this season.


170 LBS

1. Van Meter - Moorefield

2.  Bush - Cameron

3. Dorsey – Greenbrier West

4.  Scott – Fairmont Senior

5.  Postlethwait – East Fairmont

Moore and Devaney graduated.  Patterson size moves up two weight classes and Kotsko moves up to 182.  Van Meter had a very successful freshmen campaign, is well coached, and will continue to grow.  Preseason for having the experience on his side he is the front runner.    Cameron’s incoming freshmen Bush has a ton of potential and those close to him say he will make a run very early in his high school career, maybe too early to give him a #2 preseason ranking, but that will make early season matchups fun.  Dorsey from Greenbrier west is now slotted at number 3 as more information has been published. East Fairmont’s Postlethwait has wrestled two weight classes up from optimal for three seasons just to find room in a loaded lineup.  They have thinned out in depth some and he should be much more competitive down a couple of classes.

Incoming freshmen to Watch:  Bush from Cameron is on the hot watch list.  Being a freshmen at an upper weight class is never an easy task and we will see how he transitions.

 
182 LBS

1. Kotsko – East Fairmont

2.  Williams – Braxton County

3. Kuhn – Lewis Co

4. Casto - Clay

Frampton on to Utah Valley after his state title to compete DI.  Daniels has graduated.  Kotsko from East Fairmont has had very solid performances that were interrupted by injury in his freshmen and sophomore campaigns.  As a junior he had significant wins over everybody in his weight class but also took some losses on his way to a third place finish as a junior.  If he comes in healthy he should be a front runner unless some 195 pounders drop to make this a tougher weight class.  Williams has been tough and looking to move up to a finalist and may have announced he will be shooting for a 182 title, but will have to unseed Kotsko to get there. Point Pleasant may find a way to get Burgess back down which will change the order some, but they have a knack for putting size on their upper weights.


195 LBS

1.  Patterson – Greenbrier West

2.  Cook - Madonna

3.  Burgess - Petersburg

4.  Kump - Independence

5.  Marquez – Point Pleasant

6.  Hovermale - Lincoln

Moomau won it last year and graduates to compete at WVU.  Patterson could have very well been on his way to a state title last season at 170 before an unfortunate circumstance took him out of the state tournament.  He has maintained and increased his size and strength and earned a preseason number 1 ranking.  Cook from Madonna stays active in the Gladiator program out of PA in the off-season and will be a strong contender also.  Petersburg has another solid wrestler that ranks in the top 3.


220 LBS

1.  Kirby - Weir

2.  Morral – Petersburg

3.  Heston – Fairmont Senior

4.  Summers - Bridgeport

5.  Shamblin – Sissonville

6.  Brown – Greenbrier West

Lively the state champion, the runner up, and two other placers graduated.  Kirby has transferred to Weir, is he wrestling?  If so, he makes for a solid preseason #1 at 220 and will have a training partner in the Weir heavyweight who made the most out of an alternate trip to the state tournament.  Morral from Petersburg is a strong contender and with it being up in the air on Kirby, he may jump to number 1.  Heston only wrestled the end of the season last year, but has been solid on the football field and looks to be healthy going into wrestling.  A solid six wrestlers in this weight class to have some depth unlike some of the lower weight classes at this time.


285 LBS

1.  Frazier – Fairmont Senior

2.  Bruek - Weir

3.  Isom – Independence

4.  Muncy – Point Pleasant

4.  Hamrick - Magnolia

Frazier does not look like he will be tested in AA again this year.  Hopes are that he meets some solid contenders throughout the season to earn some significant wins.  His schedule, minus Winners Choice, does not usually find him quality matches.  So after him it should be a fight for the finals    

[hollywood]

Flint back at 132? Wow, those top 3 at 132 are tough!

[Wmc2]

We could see a preview of the 145lb final at super 32 and also hopefully the ovac finals.
If I’m not mistaken, Cook beat Ward their sophomore year at the state tournament. But that was 2 years ago.
Hall probably won’t be challenged at 138.
Patterson is a stud and moving up two weight classes, but the other 3 in that weight class,(Cook, Burges and Kump) are big 195’s
Patterson and the big Cook, lol will meet in the single A challenge. Good preview for the state tournament
As far as I know Kirby isn’t wrestling but that remains to be seen.
Can’t wait for the season!

[Matdad304]

Great post. When will your AAA analysis be posted?

[AAMatRanking]

Great post. When will your AAA analysis be posted?

You would think smaller population would be easier, but there are fewer resources to gather the required information. Working though. Next week some time.

[AAMatRanking]

Updates Made to Original Post on October 5, 2018 at 12:00 PM

1. Hodges - Grafton from #2 at 120 to #1 at 113
2. Williams - Braxton from 170 to 182
3. Dorsey - Greenbrier West from 182 to 170
4. Formatting and spelling.

[AAMatRanking]

Input can be provided to aamatranking@gmail.com

[Bigjub]

Rumor has it, Moore from oak glen is going 113. Watch out

[Bearhugger]

Rumor has it, Moore from oak glen is going 113. Watch out

He should be a top contender at 113 to 126.

[AAMatRanking]

Updated

Moore - Oak Glen to 113
Bartee - Point Pleasant from 3 to 1 at 126 pounds