NHSCA High School Nationals - Junior Boys Wrap up
I don’t have the time or the bandwidth to write this like a normal article … so I’m going to highlight with bullets the things that stood out to me. Keep in mind that there were tons of matches - and as of Monday I have only been able to watch a handful (I will go back over the next two weeks and watch every match that an SE wrestler competed in - but it isn’t in time for this wrap-up).
An important note … not all brackets are created equal. A wrestler could have gone 4-2 in a very deep weight - not made the podium, but in my estimation had a very good tournament. That doesn’t diminish any wrestler that made the podium in a weight that wasn’t as deep or didn’t have the top-end talent like some others … those wrestler came to compete - they did and they did their job of making the podium. I just want everyone to know that because I highlight someone that didn’t make the podium (over someone that did) doesn’t mean anything (don’t read too much into it). The same is true for the draw … some draws are easier than others. But winning close matches and advancing says a lot - you have no control over your draw - you only have control over how you compete.
THE RESULTS
The Junior class in the SE is something special and it showed at NHSCA’s … and at the World Team Trials in Wisconsin where Cory Land made another Greco World Team. This group had a ton of titles and all of the accolades to go with 3 years of being on top … as a result - the names mentioned below might include a few “others” that are looking to close the gap on the top group.
The SE had an impressive 10 in the finals and walked away with 5 titles - mind you in 2 finals we had SE vs. SE wrestlers.
Georgia crowned 3 Champs and had 6 All Americans in total - Ohio also had 3 JR Champs (the only state to match Georgia on the top step).
Florida eclipsed all others in the SE with 8 All Americans - Florida was 4th overall behind Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.
North Carolina was very strong with 6 All Americans (and 2 finalists)
Tennessee had 2 All Americans and Alabama and South Carolina each had 1
JUNIORS
Championship Finals
113: Cole Hunt (GA) dec. Yanni Vines (AL), 8-1
120: Joey Cruz (CA) dec. Kyle Montaperto (NC), 6-2
132: Danny Nini (FL) dec. Jake Niffenegger (OH), 4-3
145: Michael Kilic (GA) dec. Fin Nadeau (MT), 8-2
160: Luke Geog (OH) dec. Gunner Filipowicz (GA), 9-2
170: Matthew Singleton (GA) dec. Jonathan Conrad (FL), 10-1
195: David Harper (TN) dec. Evan Anderson (OH), 4-2
285: Antonio Ramos (MA) dec. Jamier Ferere (NC), 3-2 UTB
All American Matches
3rd/4th
106: Isaic Paulino (MA) dec. Christian Guzman (FL), 8-1
126: Braden Basile (FL) dec. Damian Mendez (KS), 8-6 TB2
138: Thomas Snipes (SC) dec. Owen Cline (WA), 10-5
182: Gunnar Garriques (TN) dec. Mitchell Broskie (OH), 4-2
220: Austin Kohlhofer (OH) dec. Carson Floyd (NC), 8-1
5th/6th
138: Jacob Woodburn (NC) dec. Reese Davis (OK), 10-9
145: Jeremy Paradice (GA) forfeit over Derek Raike (WV)
152: Jonathan Ley (FL) dec. Mark Takara (CA), 5-4
160: Ceasar Garza (CA) dec. Sergio Desiante (FL), 4-3
182: Hunter Adams (GA) fall Caleb Uhlenhopp (NV), 1:00
285: Nolan Neves (OH) dec. Matthew Jimenez (FL), 4-2
7th/8th
113: Noah Luna (NC) dec. Sefton Douglass (WY), 10-6
126: Jackson Polo (NY) dec. Andrew Austin (FL), 13-5
170: Devon Bell (NC) dec. Orion Thivierge (MT), 2-1
BRIEFLY BY WEIGHT CLASS
106
Florida State Champ Christian Guzman wad the only SE 106 to make the podium. He finished 4-2 with some solid wins and lost to Massachusetts Isaic Paulino twice. Georgia’s Colby McBride won his first match to make the quarters, but lost two close matches and was eliminated.
113
Cole Hunt did what was expected … he dominated 113. It would have been interesting to see him vs. Cruz or Montaperto at 120, but at 113 he had no equals. He went 6-0 with 4 falls, and 11-3 decision over Connecticut’s Evan Linder and beat Alabama’s Yanni Vines 8-1 in his closest match of the tournament. His dominance could have gotten him in our top 10 “on the rise”, but I’d bet he is being recruited by many schools. Vines did make our top 10 on the rise with a great run on the top side. He downed California’s Ethan Perryman - again - and then beat Utah’s Bridger Ricks 3-1 SV1 in the semis. Don’t usually cover Louisiana - but have to give a shoutout to Glenn Price - went 7-3 and won some great matches.
120
NC’s Kyle Montaperto took care of business on the bottom side of the bracket - reeling off 6 consecutive wins to make the finals opposite California’s Joey Cruz. Be sure to go back and watch Kyle’s match vs. Evan Binder of Missouri in the quarters. Unfortunately Kyle lost to Cruz 6-2 in the finals - Cruz is a beast and was rarely challenged on the weekend (other than Montaperto’s match - the only one that was close was his match vs. Phaturos of PA in the quarters). Tough weight, but another wrestler that stood out was NC’s Mark Samuel. Samuel was 5-2 and lost to Binder in the bloodround (he also had a nice win over Florida State Champ Adrian Morales). Georgia’s Ditomasso and Silka each went 2-2 in a very deep weight.
126
Floridians Braden Basile and Andrew Austin both made the podium at 126. If you recall - Austin beat Basile in the Florida 2A finals 6 weeks ago, but it was Basile this weekend that looked on fire. He had 3 falls and a 3-1 decision over NY’s Jackson Polo before losing his semifinal to Nash Singleton. Basile then rebounded to down Kentucky’s Cole Thomas 4-1 and Kansas’s Damien Mendez 8-6 TB2 to finish 3rd. Austin was 5-3 on rhe weekend - had some nice wins including one over Ethan Sellers of Georgia (4-2 in the bloodround). North Carolina’s Jacob Cox and Georgia’s Reese Jones and Ethan Sellers each had good tournaments, but couldn’t find the podium at 126.
132
Florida’s Nini had a breakthrough tournament in my opinion. He has been very close many times of the last few years, but his matches this weekend over Jimmy Harrington of Massachusetts and Jake Niffenegger of Ohio showed he is among the elite at 132. No other SE hammers made the podium in one of the deepest weights of the tournament (regardless of division). Georgia’s Jacob Seymour and Bryce Kresho as well as Alabama’s James Latona and Bryce Wanagat and South Carolina’s (at least I think Layton is still in SC) Dylan Layton all had very good tournaments, but lost close matches and were eliminated. Layton beat Latona 2-1 (eliminating Latona). Layton lost to Nini 3-1 and NY’s Angelo Centrone 4-3 (Centrone finished 6th) - Layton lost in the bloodround. Kresho also lost in the bloodround after making the quarters.
138
South Carolina’s Thomas Snipes and North Carolina’s Jacob Woodburn both made the podium in a deep 138 lb. bracket. Snipes finished 3rd … his only loss coming to eventual Champ Kelvin Griffin 6-0 in the quarters. Few had a better weekend than Snipes. NC’s Jacob Woodburn won 5 in a row to make the semis before he lost to eventual runner-up Benny Rogers of NY. His 10-9 win over Oklahoma’s Reese Davis was a wild one as Woodburn finished 5th. Georgia’s David Panone was 4-2 and lost 6-2 to NY’s Jack Roszko in the bloodround to just miss making the podium. NC’s JT Richards (who lost to Panone in the consis) finished 4-2 and also had a very good weekend. GA’s Anthony Doyle was also 4-2 on the weekend.
145
Georgia was very strong at 145 with Champ Michael Kilic and All American Jeremy Paradice. Kilic won his 2nd NHSCA title (in 2 attempts - remember there wasn’t a tournament last year) and was dominant all the way through. He outscored his opponents 44-10 and also recorded a fall to finish the tournament a perfect 6-0. None of the matches were very close - the closest being a 3-1 decision over Logan Ours of Ohio in the Round of 16 - Kilic scored the takedown in the closing moments of the 3rd period to get the win (FYI - Ours finished 3rd and was dominant in every match except for his loss to Kilic). Paradice nearly made it an all-Georgia final as he lost a tough one to Montana’s Fin Nadeau 4-3 in the semis. The most impressive thing about Paradice’s performance was the two sudden victory wins on the Round of 16 (over Coughlin of VA) and in the quarters (over Acklin of OK). Those wins were the difference between making the podium or not.
Tennessee’s Garrett Foreman was 5-2 on the weekend (with a loss in the consis to Ours). 145 was a huge bracket - look at Florida’s Alex Couto or Alabama’s Melton Powe - both went 4-2 losing to eventual AA’s in and were still 2 rounds from making the podium.
152
Another superb weight class. This was must watch if you enjoy high school wrestling … the JR division from 120 through 160 was the best weights to watch all weekend. Florida’s Jonathan Ley was the only SE hammer that was able to navigate the bracket and make the podium. SC’s David Hunsberger and TN’s Kodiak Cannedy both lost in the bloodround. Cannedy lost 2-1 to Ley (after losing in the Round of 32 to Takara - also an AA). Hunsberger’s two losses came to the 3rd and 4th place AA’s on the podium (Gaitan and Poore).
160
Georgia Gunner Filipowicz and Florida’s Sergio Desiante made the podium in a deep 160. Desiante had a nice win over GA’s Porter Faulk and VA’s Dominic Baker (as well as others) to make the semis where he lost to Filipowicz. Desiante ended the tournament losing twice more in close matches to Matthews of Idaho and Caesar Garza of California. Filipowicz looked great on his way to the finals - beating Desiante and getting an escape with 5 seconds left to beat NY’s Carter Baer 7-6. He lost in the finals to OH’s Luke Geog. NC’s Aidan Curry, GA’s Porter Faulk, Cole Cochran, Zyan Hall, and FL’s Quiton Johnson each went 3-2, but couldn’t breakthrough to find the podium (Cochran was the closest losing 4-3 in the bloodround).
170
170 was the Matty Singleton show. Singleton wasn’t challenged throughout the tournament - outscoring his opponents 71-4! He easily downed Ohio’s Brody Conley 7-1 and Florida 4xer Jonathan Conrad in the semis and finals. Conrad took care of the bottom side - beating Missouri’s Chase Cordia 7-5, ND’s Brock Fettig 5-3, and NY’s Michael Altomer 2-1 before running into Singleton. The SE also added a third member to the podium - NC’s Devon Bell. Bell was 7th with wins over AL’s Kenndy Wyatt, GA’s Joseph Bambinelli to name a few. His losses came to NY’s Altomer 6-4 in the quarters and to Fettig 5-4 in the consis. Alabama’s Caleb Roe went 3-0 before running into Singleton in the quarters and then lost a heartbreaker to Cordia 9-8 in the consis to miss the podium. Alabama’s Levi Miller also had a good tournament - losing in the bloodround to PA’s Jack Lledo 3-2. Georgia’s Bambinelli also finished the weekend 3-2. Was Singleton really the #4 seed?
182
182 had two SE hammers make the podium - TN’s Gunner Garriques and GA’s Hunter Adams. Adams finished 5-2 and took 5th. He had a tough 1-0 loss to Garriques in the consi semis (and that is what separated the two from the spot on the podium). Garriques was 6-1 with his only loss coming to eventual Champ Dylan Fishback of Ohio in the semis. Garriques had nice close wins over Uhlenhopp, Adams, and Broskie. TN’s Gervacio Gonzalez finished 4-2 and Florida’s Dylan Deal and Georgia’s Nolan Pozzobon were 3-2. Gonzalez and Pozzobon both lost in the bloodround.
195
TN’s David Harper was the 2 seed - Harper had a pretty easy time on his way to the top step. He beat a good Jacob Meissner of Minnesota 7-3 in the semis and the top seed Evan Anderson 4-2 of Ohio in the finals. He did give up the first takedown to Anderson in the finals, but got an immediate escape and then an escape and a takedown in the 2nd. Florida’s Thomas Davanzo was 3-2 and missed the podium by a couple of wins.
220
NC’s Carson Floyd went 4-2 and finished 4th at 220. He lost a tough 4-3 quarter to Levid Rodriguez (who is listed as from VA, but I thought he wrestled in KY). Floyd rebounded with three wins before losing to Ohio’s Austin Kohlhofer for 3rd.
285
Good weight at 285 - especially since we are in the middle of spring football (in-season for North Carolina and regular spring for the rest of the country). North Carolina’s Jamier Ferere was been knocking on the door of making a national final for quite some time … he broke through with some really good wins to take 2nd here … losing in the finals on an ultimate tiebreaker. Still Ferere had a nice win over Adrian Sans of Florida, as well as wins over Laventure of PA and Betancur of RI. Florida’s Matthew Jimenez finished 4-3 and took the #6 spot on the podium. He had 2 sudden victory wins and really showed a lot of grit in getting several wins (and is 2 of his losses). FL’s Ethan Vergara was 3-2 and lost to Harrison Merriman to be eliminated in the consis.
On the Rise
The following 10 Juniors - in my opinion - saw their stock rise after the NHSCA’s. Not that some of the them needed their stock to rise, but that they wrestled well in tight spots.
Danny Nini (FL) - Nini won all of the close matches and pushed his way to the top of the podium in a deep 132 lb. bracket.
Thomas Snipes (SC) - Snipes rebounded from a quarterfinal loss to the eventual champ to get wins over VA’s Evan Holloway, NC’s Woodburn, and WA’s Owen Cline to take 3rd at 138.
Jonathan Ley (FL) - 8-2 on the weekend including wins over Cannedy, Sam Beckett of PA, Mark Takara of CA (who he lost to on the championship side). An absolutely great run through a very tough field to take 5th.
Jamier Ferere (NC) - Ferere had a breakthrough tournament. He won some very close matches and nearly took homw the 285 lb. title.
Gunner Garriques (TN) - Garriques has made some significant strides over the last 12 months. He looked good at GFC in the fall and then handled the TN season and State Tournament. His close wins over quality competition shows he is continuing to develop and get better.
Jeremy Paradice (GA) - Paradice came through huge in two overtime wins on the front side. He nearly beat Nadeau to make the finals opposite Kilic. But those two wins on the front side were extremely important in his making the podium … the road from a loss in the Round of 16 would have been brutal.
Yanni Vines (AL) - Vines is a grinder that is always working. He ran into an absolute hammer in Cole Hunt in the finals, but proved that he can compete with anyone at 113/120.
Mark Samuel (NC) - nearly made the podium in a very tough 120 lb. bracket. Samuel is a North Carolina State Champ that doesn’t get noticed as much with Montaperto, Basile, Cole Hunt, Cory Land, and others in the SE - but he showed he can wrestle with anyone.
Sergio Desiante (FL) - Desiante was impressive on his way to making the podium - particularly his win over VA’s Domonic Baker in the quarters.
Jacob Woodburn (NC) - very deep weight and Woodburn won some close matches to push into the semis - he finished the weekend 6-2 and 5th on the podium.
NOTE: You may wonder why Cole Hunt, Michael Kilic, Matthew Singleton, Kyle Montaperto, David Harper, Gunner Filipowicz, Jonathan Conrad as well as many All Americans didn’t make the list. If you are a member of the Junior class in the SE it is tough to distinguish yourself … Cory Land wasn’t here, but made a world Team, Caleb Henson wasn’t here … in all honesty the names above (Kilic, Hunt, etc.) did what we expected them to do. They dominated. Singleton nearly made the list with a dominant win over 4x Florida State Champ Jonathan Conrad (and outscored his opponents 71-4 on the weekend), but I opted to go with a few others that might not be on the tip of the tongue for some D1 schools - but they should be.