Cougar05

Principal already cancelled all events this weekend.

Just left the high school and its still on. Did have one local team that won't be coming.

Myers and Cooper will split I have a gut feeling on that. Also don't sleep on Hensley from Scott. Has wrestle some tough instate competition and done well.

Just finished reading the final Brakeman reports and showing some love for Kevin Cooper and both Myer brothers. Our boys up north are handing it to top kids in Ohio. Stephan has wins over both Davis (4 @ 152 D1) and Globke (1 @160 D1) Kevin holds a win over Davis as well. Also holds win over Kowal (9 @145 D1) Austin pin over Boyd (2 @220 D3) and Ross kid (3 @220 D2) I'm sure there is more but these kids were mentioned by name in the report! Mathews also holds a win over Connor (3 @182 D1) Some cool stuff! Mpire I know I missed some of the wins but this was just some snap shots of what I read.

Mpire- Again it was just an attempt by me to line up the top two teams in the state and compare their chances. Believe me I am no Union Homer! Judging by my name and how highly I think of others around Conner i'm just a NKY homer! I am very passionate about NKY wrestling and read the paper every Sunday just to get a scope. My attempt here thou is with no bias, which I think I was successful at. I did somehow forget about Woods and I have no clue how- He is very good and definently changes the breakdown. Because I havent him wrestle since he was in middle school or freshman year I don't know much about him. Maybe you could help with that and where he falls at 145. The eye test would probably put him around 6-10 in he won Hammer? Sound about right? I know Bachman didn't make it to state last year because he lost his wrestle off but we both can agree he is a very good wrestler. I watched him wrestle at conference last year against Meiman and I believe the match went into overtime. He is very competitive and he won't win the dang thing but he could very well place and I expect him too or atleast win 3 matches for CC which will be very important in the team title race. In regards to Mathews, he will be opposite Heiro and he could very well make it to the finals. However I havent seen him compete against anyone other than Heiro. Can he beat Carmen? McDaniels? Bauer? Possibly but if I was putting money down on it, one if not two of those guys will be on his side of the bracket so he will have to beat one of them to be in the finals. He can but I feel much safer saying he finishes somewhere between 3-5th at state. And Union does have some great lightweights as do other schools. If I tried breaking down every weights class I would just release a version of the Brakeman reports lol I only compared UC and CC-

Man you really don't want me to get any work done lol. Let me take a look at some of the regional results, district results and the draw and I will give it a shot-

To be honest I didn't realize that lol it all depends on the draw and when kids meet up

Where will Werth be?

Haha thank you sir! Your right a lot of coaches head out early and some wont even care to watch the finals after their kid has wrestled. I will never forget the year we hosted districts that two coaches put a certain wrestler on their ballets and turned it in before the finals started. The wrestler got destroyed in the finals! Losing like 11-0 and funny thing about it he finished 2nd in the balloting by only 1 vote.

Let's take a look- (This is just my opinion so don't blast me for making this attempt) 106- Sheffer has an outside chance of placing and going 3-2 at state with possibly 2 wins coming in the championship rounds. Big thing for him will be his draw. Currently he is either a 1 or 2 seed coming out of his region. This compared to Krebs who will more than likely go as a 3 seed having a much tougher first round match up. Krebs is more likely to go 1-2 than 2-2. If he does go 2-2 it will be in the conso where he won’t score as many team points. Advantage UC 113- Dezember has a legitimate shot of finishing top 4 at this weight class. If he can get bonus points in the early rounds he could end up scoring UC a lot of extra points that they will need. Maggard on the other hand will likely be a 1 or 2 coming out of the region. Watching Maggard he isn't really a bonus point’s kind of kid. I see Maggard winning his first and maybe his 2nd. After that he will slip into the conso's where he has an outside chance of placing. Big Advantage UC 120-Trea Blackwell will more than likely be returning to the state finals where he should win number 2. Trea is a pinner so I look for him to score bonus points up to the finals. This is unless Adam's falls on his side of the bracket. Sparh is a good looking freshman but coming out of Region as 3 seed will make his run very difficult. He could win his first but I don’t see him advancing past the 2nd round in the Championship rounds. Falling down to the conso he could give CC some advancement points but I don't see him on the podium this year. Big Advantage UC 126- Brock Ervin! Enough said let’s move on. LOL. In all seriousness Brock should get bonus points throughout including the state finals. His points will be huge if UC wants to win a state title. Ranger doesn’t have a single CC wrestler ranked and I don't see them sending a kid out of the region. Big Advantage UC 132-Sean Fausz should finally win him a state title! He has been on a mission this year and has always been one of my favorite wrestlers to watch. Unfortunately for CC, UC has Werth and he is a formidable contender for a state title. If he and Sean end up on opposite sides of the bracket that would be a huge blow to CC, as Werth would more than likely face Sean in the finals negating about 15 points for them. Best case scenario, Werth and Fausz are on the same side of the bracket to limit UC points. Slight Advantage CC 138- Just like 132 this weight class is all about the draw. If Hamilton can be opposite Carr in the brackets then that is a huge help to CC, if he isn't then it’s a huge blow to them. If 132 has them opposite and 138 has them meeting in the semi's then CC is in legitimate trouble repeating. I think Carr wins the head to head match up. However both boys will score bonus points throughout the tournament so I go with a slight edge to UC. Slight Advantage UC 145- Gabe Ervin here is senior from the "Clutch" Ervin family. If he brings his A game he is on the podium. I see him finishing anywhere between 4-8. His points will help UC as we approach the meat and potatoes of CC lineup. CC currently doesn't have anyone here that I am aware of. I am assuming Myers will be at 152 for the state tournament. Big Advantage UC 152- Stephan Myers looks to be in prime position to win this weight class from Cooper. Myers should bonus his way to the finals. Cooper will be opposite him in the bracket. I know Lampe is out there so if he tangles with Myers, CC might not get all the bonus points they will need. However, if anyone can pin when his team needs him big time, it’s Stephan. Gahfer here should provide UC with some points. Wouldn't be surprised to see him on the podium; however I feel like he is in the 6-8 range if he makes it there. Big Advantage CC 160- Assuming Bachman is here for CC this is big advantage for them. Bachman is a senior who has been around forever. He is a top 8 kid who could be on the podium pretty high depending on his draw. UC doesn’t have much fire power here if any at all. If Bachman can win some close matches and make it to the Semi's then that would be huge for him. He should come out of Region 6 as a 1 seed helping him immensely the first couple of rounds. Big Advantage CC 170- This could get tricky, here is why. Turner is an outstanding wrestler; however he is in a meat grinder of a region. With L. Jones, Meiman, B. Jones, and D. Hicks there are 4 kids who could do very well at the state tournament. Sadly though that is not going to happen as one of them will not make it. I see Turner at best being a 3 seed. Close losses and wins against Hicks and Meimen, and I'm sure he would match up well against Lane. If he has a rough day and finishes 4 then that is bad news bears for CC. They need all of Turners points and they need them in the championship round not the conso. Another weight class where UC doesn’t have really anybody. If Turner goes as 2 or 3 seed then HUGE advantage to CC, if he doesn't or he limps in not so much of the advantage CC needs. I will go with Advantage CC 182-This could be another big one for CC. Eli Mathews has been wrestling his tail off over the last couple of weeks. I look for Mathews to place high at the state tournament. Depending on his draw he could fall anywhere between Quarters and Semi's. Don't see him as a state finalist this year but it would surprise me if he made it there. His points will be crucial to the team. I look for Mathews to enter state as 2 seed. UC has Smith who is a very solid wrestler. Don't look for him to medal this year and all of his wins outside round 1 should come in the conso's. Big Advantage CC 195-Keeton and Carter are in the same boat here. Both kids are middle of the pack wrestlers. Advantage goes to Carter though who will come from a weak region. Region 6 will be tough to finish any better than 3rd in, whereas Carter should finish 1 or 2 giving him a slightly easier draw. Both have an outside chance of placing. This will be the first one I call a wash on. 220- Austin Myers, bonus points every round moving on! Huge Advantage CC HWT- Since i'm tired of typing and have to finish a lesson, this weight class will more than likely be a wash as well. Both kids are competitive but neither will podium in my opinion. So the eye test favored CC big time, but now I'm 50/50. I think it will all come down to the when CC and UC wrestlers will meet up. If Carr and Hamilton meet up in the quarters that is a huge blow to CC, likewise if Werth and Sean meet up in the quarters that’s a huge blow to UC. I can't wait for the state tournament this year!

Haha I dig it! What is so great about Middle School state is kids will actually beg and plead with you to vote them for MOW. I think this has happened to me every year at state and it is something I look forward to, being down on the floor and having kids come up to me and say did you vote me for MOW? FYI- kids this has never worked! The only problem I have with MOW is every tournament director half way through the finals will say, "Coaches please turn in your MOW votes now" or "Coaches don't forget to turn in you MOW votes". By doing this the upper weight kids get slighty shafted. I remember Keith Lageman hating when tournaments did that because he believed at that time no one was going to vote the big guy in. I think his Senior year he only won 1 MOW and that was in Ohio. Where is the love for the upper weights?!?! ( Gramby- This is my lobbying for Colytn Kearns lol) Why can't we just have all the coaches turn in their votes at the end of the heavyweight match and tournament directors can tally the votes then while team trophys are being handed out? MOW is always the last award out anyways.

113 is definitely loaded as this weight usually is. However I don't know if the MOW will come out of this weight class. MOW comes down to each coach’s individual opinion on the award. Typically I have always voted for the winner of the toughest weight class, not always the most competitive. Like last year I remember talking to others that the 105lb weight class was far and away the best weight class there and the winner should win MOW. There are some exceptions, I voted for Fahy his 7th and 8th grade year although his weight class was weak because everyone ran from him. Some coaches pin it on who had the most pins in least amount of time, which I believe is how they do it at a lot of national tournaments. Others put it on the best finals match, and some put it on who was least likely to win state out of all the state champions. So predicting MOW is very difficult and something I am not about to do.

GOO- I only know because I inquired about the position, was told it was filled and if I was interested in an Asst. coaching position I needed to contact a certain person in regards to it.

I was asked to keep it tight lipped. Really not sure as to why but that was the request that was bestowed upon me.

It's not Barnes. It mighht have been last time around but this time it is not him. I know several names that applied for the position and interviewed. They should be announcing the position after the state tournament since the coach is currently coaching another Northern Kentucky school.

I have talked to administrators at Cov Cath and not only are they starting their program they believe they have their coach already as well. I would know because I inquired about the position.

Oh shot I completely overlooked Cornett, I guess I thought it was impossible for someone not to have him in the finals lol

Look pretty good. I think your finals are really accurate. Now make some picks! I don't see Holub and Frietch in the finals against each other thou. Two very inconsistent wrestlers. I think Holub is there but Frietch should end up on the podium. Probably in the 4-6 range.

No Lee but we did have Watson both Jones brothers and the Moore brothers. Actually we had a decent squad and finished 2nd in club that year( it was a really weak club division that year). What I'm getting at is that I LOVE state duals an think it is awesome for our state. I don't think Ohio has state duals at the middle school level it's so unique to Kentucky. While I see why some would cancel I would ask those coaches why not fundraiser for the event? That team also had Wolnitzek and we ran a fundraiser for extra money that week and state. A big ole candy sale helped us to get the money needed for those tournament.

My appologizes- I took information from a parent on the team. Looks like he might have been off on his results. He was updating me live at the tournament as I was at Regions.

Don't change the location. Every year it rotates. This is the way it's been done for years and should stay this way. If a team doesn't want to come that is their deal, but I will say from experience it’s a great atmosphere and something that is really great for the kids to experience. Many years ago we went as filler in at Ryle and finished 2nd to last and our kids loved it. We loved the competition and the environment. I think Pioneer_Pride is talking about us in his story on another board lol. I've backed out of tournaments before so I understand why teams do it; it is just unfortunate it has to happen at state duals.

I know Johnson Central will be there. Wish I was there to see Thompson vs Preston- should let Trevor know where he stands with the best in the state. Usually Scott is there and I know Ryle has been there in years past.

Jacob Warwick is now at 160.

Jacob Warwick is now at 160 and lost by a point to Wyatt Courtney at Dragon.

Your thinking of Chris Phillips there mpire.