A Fan's Guide to the NC 3A State Duals
We have reached the Elite 8 and if we believe the ranking we have a couple of “Cinderellas” still dancing after the opening weekend of the state series. Because the NCHSAA uses rankwrestlers.com for their seeding (or at the very least the separation in the bracket - we have included their current ranking below). Like other Fan’s Guides … we are not in the business of predictions - interested in that in North Carolina? Visit Carolina Takedown Talk on Rokfin. Rhett and Ryan are happy to give you their two cents on who they think will win it all.
A Fan’s Guide is a little different. So what is a Fan’s Guide?
The Fan’s Gudie is a look at the tournament as a whole (at least from this point moving forward since two rounds have already been wrestled and there wasn’t enough time to provide this information after brackets were released on Thursday and before wrestling happened on Saturday) … from a fan’s perspective. But it is not a prediction of who will hoist the tophy on Saturday.
A Fan’s Guide is a little different. It is a look at a few individual pieces from each bracket … they include:
Favorite: the team (of the 8 that remain) that look (at least on paper) as the team to beat.
Darkhorse: a team a little off the radar … everyone seems to be talking about this team or that and this team has all the pieces to surprise some people.
The most in-depth part of the dual Fan’s Guide is a look at the possible lineups for the 8 teams and this next matchup which will happen this Wednesday. We try to breakdown each of those matchups and tell you which team might have an edge … projecting to possible final 4 matchups or the finals more difficult - so like each team below we will focus on the next match. The favorite, the darkhorse, and the overall summary gives you an idea of what we think might happen the rest of the week.
First the Bracket:
Overall: Good bracket that features a bottom side that is going to be wild on Wednesday. Top seed and #1 ranked Foard is the team to beat, but there are a number of teams in the field that feel like they can knock off the Tigers. West Rowan vs. Eastern Guilford features two unbeaten dual teams that are littered with ranked wrestlers … winner will likely get Foard in the nightcap. Up top Union Pines is the top seed and is ranked #7 - they should be the favorites to march on, but keep an eye on Swansboro.
Favorite: Foard - 31-1 on the season with the only loss coming NW Guilford. Foard wrestles everyone … they do not shy away from competition and as a result they are battle-tested and will come ready for whatever Enka, West Rowan, and Eastern Guilford have in store for them on Wednesday night.
Darkhorse: Either West Rowan or Swansboro … both come in as #3’s on their side of the bracket - so not underdogs, but both could be overlooked by most people. Both teams create matchup problems for other teams - they have the hammers to beat anyone, but they also must make things happen if they are going to knockoff those teams in front of them.
Union Pines edge: 4
106, 138, 160, 182
First Flight edge: 4
Returning State Champ Jacob Kresicki and returning placers Blake Austin and Azareal Simpson give First Flight a solid lineup down low but Kresicki will likely matchup with a good Jayden Crawford
145 (if Simpson is at the weight - or 152 if he is up there) and 220
Toss-ups: 3
113 – Reagan Riddick is a hammer, but has a busy week with the Women’s Invitational and her coming in as the top 107
Huge matchups at 170 (Dustin Maness vs. Kai Reece),195 (Colton Collins vs. Trevor Schweitzer), and 220 (Everest Ouellette vs. Dantrell Williams)
Swansboro edge: 5
120, 126, 138, 152, 285
Orange edge: 2
170, 195
Toss-ups: 7
Potentially really good matchups at 132 (Jared Hutchins and Aiden Russell) and at 220 (Elijah Acosta and Brayden Cline)
106, 113, 145, 160, 182
Foard has the decided edge in the dual, but there are a number of top 10 matchups that (if Enka could get - even though they are Foard leans) would be huge in Enka pulling the upset. Flipping a few of those will likely be necessary for Enka.
Foard Edge: 9
106, 113, 145, 152, 170, 182, 195, 220, 285
Enka Edge: 2
126, 160
Toss-ups: 3
Best match is also a toss-up between Hunter Clark and Noah Tocaben. This dual should have several good matches including Smith vs. Park at 195 (leans to Foard) and Birtchet vs. Push at 170 (also leans to Foard). Those matches will go a long way in deciding this one.
On paper this looks like a fairly close dual that leans to Eastern Guilford, but only slightly. The key for West Rowan will be from 152-195 - Eastern Guilford has the edge in several of those matches, but if West Rowan can stay close then they may have a shot with their hammers from 120-145. Same is true for Eastern … they need to stay close from 120-145 and then rely on their hammers up top.
West Rowan Edge: 4
120, 132, 145, 285
Eastern Guilford Edge: 5
106, 152, 160, 170, 220
Toss-ups: 5
Hunter Miller vs. Karin Sein at 195 could be a huge match and go a long ways in deciding the outcome and who advances