I'll blame PIAA for that. It's one thing to regulate transfers across PIAA schools. It's another to block a kid from his home school district when leaving a prep school.
That's flat out horseshit.
Elite 8 Duals in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Thread starter SlipperyPete12
- Start date
That's flat out horseshit.
Day 2 - Finals - 165 pounds - #5 Asher Cunningham (Powa) VS #20 Ben Smith (Stellar Trained)
P1:
Circling & hand fighting, Cunningham shoots, nothing. Smith shoots, gets to the legs, but Cunningham scrambles & gets an ankle too & it's a stalemate, restart. Circling, Smith fakes, Cunningham coming forward, looks for a slide by, but no luck. Hand fighting & collar ties. Cunningham pushing forward. Smith shoots & gets in deep, Cunningham crotch lifts & rolls Smith over. They're scrambling & Cunningham locks up a cradle, gets the TD, 3-0, & gets 4 swipes, 7-0, he readjusts & almost gets the pin, but the period ends.
P2:
Cunningham chooses down. Smith with a tough ride & Cunningham is bellied out. Cunningham back to his knees, but Smith switches to a crab ride. Smith loses control & Cunningham gets a reversal, 9-0. Cunningham riding, has a leg in & is trying to turk Smith over, 50-sec left. Cunningham has a bar in now & is looking for a turn, but Smith fighting hard, 30-sec left. Cunningham keeps riding & is trying to turn Smith as the period ends. 9-0 Cunningham
P3:
Smith takes neutral. Smith shoots, gets to a leg, Cunningham rolls him through, breaks Smith's grip & gets another TD, 12-0. Smith gets free for the escape, 12-1. Smith shoots, Cunningham counters, looks for a cradle, locks Smith up & gets 4 more swipes, but keeps looking for the fall. Cunningham adjusts & rolls Smith over again, and is in a better position now, but then he loses the grip & it's over as Cunningham gets 4 more points for a 19-1 tech.
#5 Asher Cunningham TECH #20 Ben Smith 19-1 (5:27)
That's the end of Asher's tournament. He went 5-2 with loses to Alessio Perentin & Dom Bambinelli, and wins over Cody Kirk, Bode Marlow, Riley Johnson, Adrien Reyes & Ben Smith.
Powa wins the dual against Stellar Trained 44-23 and wins the tournament.
P1:
Circling & hand fighting, Cunningham shoots, nothing. Smith shoots, gets to the legs, but Cunningham scrambles & gets an ankle too & it's a stalemate, restart. Circling, Smith fakes, Cunningham coming forward, looks for a slide by, but no luck. Hand fighting & collar ties. Cunningham pushing forward. Smith shoots & gets in deep, Cunningham crotch lifts & rolls Smith over. They're scrambling & Cunningham locks up a cradle, gets the TD, 3-0, & gets 4 swipes, 7-0, he readjusts & almost gets the pin, but the period ends.
P2:
Cunningham chooses down. Smith with a tough ride & Cunningham is bellied out. Cunningham back to his knees, but Smith switches to a crab ride. Smith loses control & Cunningham gets a reversal, 9-0. Cunningham riding, has a leg in & is trying to turk Smith over, 50-sec left. Cunningham has a bar in now & is looking for a turn, but Smith fighting hard, 30-sec left. Cunningham keeps riding & is trying to turn Smith as the period ends. 9-0 Cunningham
P3:
Smith takes neutral. Smith shoots, gets to a leg, Cunningham rolls him through, breaks Smith's grip & gets another TD, 12-0. Smith gets free for the escape, 12-1. Smith shoots, Cunningham counters, looks for a cradle, locks Smith up & gets 4 more swipes, but keeps looking for the fall. Cunningham adjusts & rolls Smith over again, and is in a better position now, but then he loses the grip & it's over as Cunningham gets 4 more points for a 19-1 tech.
#5 Asher Cunningham TECH #20 Ben Smith 19-1 (5:27)
That's the end of Asher's tournament. He went 5-2 with loses to Alessio Perentin & Dom Bambinelli, and wins over Cody Kirk, Bode Marlow, Riley Johnson, Adrien Reyes & Ben Smith.
Powa wins the dual against Stellar Trained 44-23 and wins the tournament.
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I don’t disagree with you but the rule is if it has anything at all, even 1% then you’re ineligible no matter how much you don’t like it. There isn’t an exception for moving back to your home school. In his case he needed to proof he fit into one of the very few specific exemptions to be post season eligible.
Yes, that's the rule, and that facet of the rule is complete garbage. They know it and refuse to correct it.
The PIAA is good at rolling around in garbage, all in the name of protecting the kids.
"Proof" is subjective when it comes to the PIAA. Plenty of "exemptions" have been approved.
In his case, the parents felt reasonable people would listen to reasonable explanations (and there was a reason for his leaving and returning to the home school) and didn't feel the need to lawyer up. When they realized they should have, because all it takes is a couple of guys on the panel to make a ****** (and IMO a competitively motivated) decision, it was too late.
The PIAA is going to be reasonable is an assumption that should never be made. The PIAA is going be a collective ass is always the correct assumption.
And for this assumption, the proof is 100% objective with mountains of evidence.
Unfortunately the PIAA also puts this onus on the parents.
Yes, and most parents do not understand this as they have not been involved or following PIAA HS wrestling as long as you, I, most everyone on this board, etc.
I distinctly recall the conversation I had with his father sitting in the stands last year on this and hearing "reasonable people get in a room" and saying I hope it works out like that and thinking "crap, he is not going to be wrestling this postseason." Super nice guy and now knows what he was up against.
Fortunately, he is an ex-D1 wrestler and knows that the picture is much bigger than one HS postseason. I wish some of the guys who run things knew that.
Was this a factor in the move to Northern Virginia?
Because PIAA has set up a clear incentive for athletes to move out of state or to private schools.
No, I am talking about Mutarelli. I think you are referencing Dekraker with Northern Virginia (Chantilly).
But I'll also respond to this on Dekraker. I don't know any details personally, but since he was in the CR system for a short while, I have heard some things. Not sure about the veracity.
He transferred to CR North for a month at the beginning of the school year last year. I think he would have been eligible to wrestle at CR North since it was before sophomore year, but "I heard" that the family wanted to know immediately that he would be eligible and the AD was not keen to circumvent the normal process so they left. He was there to train with Sement whose father was likely a part of it in the first place. But Council Rock is a large public school district with administrators who answer up the food chain, so that doesn't happen that way at either North or South. The HCs are almost always school employees who know that they have ADs who are actually administrators and not just sports fans.
When he headed to FCA, he sat out the year, so by PIAA rule he would be eligible to wrestle for them in both regular season and postseason this year. Not sure why he left FCA, although they did lose several kids this offseason.
This will be his fourth school in 3 years i believe. Blair, CRN, FCA, and whatever school he is going to now in VA. I also think Kindig was a factor in that whole moving to district one/ CRN saga but I don't have a ton of intel on what happened there
Yes, Kindig is/was Sements personal coach. Still haven't figured out how he was able to work him out and corner him at the postseason tourneys without being on staff. I guess if Dekraker had stuck around Kindig would have had two kids to coach.
Technically, you are correct with the 4 schools, but to me it's 5. He was set to attend
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On Kindig, He was the offical assistant coach for the 2022-2023 season and worked all summer with Sement/DeKraker, seemed ready to return to CRN. Sometime around the start of the 23-24 season he moved to Virginia and joined the coaching staff of Staunton HS where Noah Nininger attends. He seems to be Niningers personal coach now. Never got any clarity what lead to him moving down to VA but definitely was interesting to me.
Also I was unaware about the McDonogh thing lol. I would count that as 5 for sure.
Staunton River is attending ETR this year. They have Nininger, Macon Ayers, Landon Jobber-Spence, Colin Martin, and 3 or 4 other tough kids who are not quite at that level. Staunton and Chantilly are at opposite ends of the state, so Kindig probably was not a factor in the Dekraker move to Chantilly.
I'll have to pay more attention to Staunton. It is more in the middle of the state - the valley - and would be inclusive of where Powell's says he is from (Buffalo Gap). Hard to follow Va with their 6 divisions (of of those being privates). Staunton is prob another 5 hours from the furthest southwest point in Va
Yeah, that southwest tail of Virginia may as well be Kentucky or Tennessee, it's west of West Virginia.
Not too hard to figure out why he left FCA, knowing the approximate weight he will be this season. No clue what brought him to chantilly though, other than I think that is where he is from
What weight does he project to go? He is currently ranked 6th in the country at 133. 133 was Faith's weakest weight class last season and neither Bachmann/Botero have registered for any competitions above 120 recently. If he wants to go 127 that could maybe be an issue, but he would be their projected starter at either 133 or 139.
FCA is going to smash the PIAA again this year. What is the projected lineup? I think Dekraker would have fit in there somewhere.
What are they going to do with all their uppers? Might have a few not make the team again. I guess that is a great problem to have.
What are they going to do with all their uppers? Might have a few not make the team again. I guess that is a great problem to have.
currently something along the lines of:
107: ?
114: F. Bachmann
121/127: Botero/ J. Bachmann
133:?
139: M. Wagner
145: Hontz/S. Wagner
152: Stein/Hontz
160: Weidemoyer/Stein
172: Waters/Weidemoyer/N.Singer
189: Waters/N.Singer
215: J.Singer
285: Effendian
I would guess they run the same lineup as last year from 139 up. With N.Singer going 189 instead of C.Wagner and S.Wagner being the odd man out again for PIAA individuals.
For the non PIAA tourneys I expect something like this
113: F. Bachmann
120/126: Botero/J.Bachmann
138: M.Wagner
144: S.Wagner
150: Hontz
157: Stein
165: Weidemoyer
175: Waters
190: N.Singer
220: J.Singer
285: Effendian
Is it confirmed that Weidemoyer is back and not enrolled at Hill?
Yes. It was something along the lines of his credits/classes from FCA were not all transferring over to Hill and he wasn't able to get the classes issue worked out so he came back to Faith.
A little more than that, but you have the general idea. Your weights are also off--a couple kids won't make the weight you listed them at, but you will have to wait for the season to see
My weights were definitely a little optimistic but that was based more on what kids will have to do to get everyone into the lineup. Also looking at where guys are currently competing in the offseason and assuming they have some more cutting to do
