By John Foster

There are few events as fun as the brilliant showcase swiftly following the high school postseason that is the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic (forever the Dapper Dan in my heart!). 

My home state of Maryland was there when the event began in 1975, returning to mix it up in 1996 and in 2012. Those first two visits resulted in losses, though I kindly place an asterisk on ‘96 as we loaned out our beast of a heavyweight to the triumphant USA All-Stars. More recently, the boys from this side of the Mason-Dixon put on a show in 2012 and took out the WPIAL squad 34-10. Eight years later, can they stun the Keystone State all over again? Maryland is the state that sent standouts like Kyle Snyder and Myles Martin to the PWC in the past, so the talent is there. Let’s get a detailed look at the team the Terps are bringing and assess their prospects!

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One of the complications that comes with assembling a roster for an event like this is the confluence of injuries and scheduling conflicts that can cause some shuffling and substitutions. A quick glance at the participants draws the eye for the lack of wrestlers from the program that has won the state team title all four years that these kids have been in school. But this season was very different from the three before it for Mount St. Joe’s, as little went according to plan and several wrestlers returned just in time for that scrappy title run (kudos to Coach Barnabae for patching things together). Added to the lack of MSJ kids, Hunter Catka can sleep a little easier knowing that Isaac Righter won’t be in attendance (not that Catka won’t have his hands full with Braxton Amos).

The side effect is that the roster is a fun mix of a few national names and peppered with some under-the-radar hammers. With a good chunk of the lineup still uncommitted as to where they will wrestle next year, this will also be a chance for the Maryland kids to turn some heads in front of the entire country, along with a mountain of college coaches and scouts. Having spent the week calling matches at the PIAA tourney, I am well aware that this will be a super stacked WPIAL squad staring back from the other side of the mat. Maryland would have welcomed underdog status coming in, and even more so now as this group of grapplers will relish having something to prove. Led by a talented multi-generational mix of coaches in Ryan Mackin, Joe Bakewell, and JR Plienis (that heavyweight we loaned out back in ‘96), let’s get to know our Terps one by one.

Team Maryland

113: Alex Dufour (Owings Mills)

2-Time State Champion, 3-Time Finalist

Dufour brings a compact bulldog style and does the most damage when he can get in close. Once things are in tight he can score out of nowhere. He was denied in his quest to win three straight at Show Place Arena last weekend but he won’t be denied in his push to get the Terps started on the right foot against a tough grinder in Dom Giordano.

120: David Panda (Atholton)

State Finalist, 3-Time Placer

Sometimes you’re sitting at a state tourney and a wrestler catches your eye just on grit and effort alone. David Panda did that for me during his junior run last year. This kid is all heart! Panda leaves nothing in the tank when he clashes on the mat. Panda only started wrestling in high school and has a work rate and sense of determination that gives him quite a high ceiling moving forward. Ryan Michaels won’t be a lot of fun but Panda is one of the Terps that could really surprise here.

126: Will Guida (St Paul’s)

2-Time National Prep All-American

One of the pleasant surprises of the adjustments made due to injuries late in the season is the return of University of North Carolina commit Will Guida. Guida engaged in one of the best lightweight feuds in recent history around these parts with McDonogh’s Cooper Flynn, and along with Kurt McHenry formed a can’t-miss start to any St Paul’s dual. Due to age restrictions Guida was unable to compete in either the regular season or National Preps, so we haven’t seen him this season, making him a bit of a landmine for Zach Wright. I for one will be very excited to get a look at the potential future for the Tar Heels at the lightweights with Guida here and Lachlan McNeil with Team PA later in the evening.

132: Lorenzo Lopez (Landon)

Maryland State Champion

Lopez is very talented and can have a rangy style and has been sure to challenge himself up and down the East Coast, throwing himself into Beast of the East and any tournament that he can. 120-132 has been a serious grinder here during his four years and Lopez has had some epic battles with Nate Porter along the way. Freshman Clayton Gabrielson threw the entire thing into disarray by the end of the season and will be leading the charge for Team Maryland to return to the PWC in three years with that celebrated class of 2023. Lopez has drawn one of the toughest opponents on the WPIAL side with pinning machine Gabe Willochell. Willochell is coming off a heartbreaking loss to Kenny Herrmann in the semis in Hershey, but he rebounded with a big win over Alejandro Herrerra-Rondon to claim third. If Willochell is firing on all cylinders (when has he not been this year?) this might be a case of trying to hold it to a decision.

138: Max Bentley (Easton)

2-Time State Champion, 4-Time Placer

Maryland has an Easton of its own and Max Bentley will be proudly repping the colors with his two state champ medals. Bentley stays active in his matches and has been testing himself against national competition, going 3-2 in a tough Super 32 bracket to start the year. Nathan Lukez had a brutal draw in Hershey and went out in sudden victory, but this is a kid with a handful of losses that are all to top talent, including a narrow 7-5 defeat to Wyatt Henson. If Bentley can win this one it will be a great indicator as to how much of a chance Team Maryland has.

145: Phil Smith (Owings Mills)

3-Time State Champion, NHSCA National Champion

If there is any kid in this lineup that a national audience has somehow missed, but should most definitely know, it is Phil Smith. Smith has been dominant on the public school level here but he truly caught my eye when he blazed through the 132 junior bracket at NHSCA. Unseeded, he went the distance, winning the whole enchilada. PA folks should take note that he beat Cade Balestrini in the semifinal, should they require a proper measuring stick. Mason Spears is also super talented and turned my head during his match last week with Cole Handlovic, where he had one of those outings where you dominate one of the best guys in the country for half the match but have no points to show for it. Go ahead and circle this one right now as it has the potential to be one of the most entertaining matches of the entire evening. 

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152: Owen Butler (La Plata)

Maryland State Champion, 2-Time Finalist

We are bringing along both finalists from the 1A/2A 152 title match as it was past champ Butler who Phil Smith defeated last weekend. Butler reps a tough Southern region and likes to control matches. He doesn’t throw up a ton of points for the weight class and likes to get two to three takedowns and just keep his opponent at bay. Keeping Jack Blumer on the mat for a prolonged period might be a tall order as Blumer is a handful and is battle-tested. He was fourth at Hershey and has a big win over Preps champ Gabe Arnold on the resume this year.

160: Josh Stokes (Huntingtown)

Maryland State Champion, 3-Time Finalist

Stokes will be coming in on a hot streak as he stormed through the top of the 170 bracket at states after it went sideways with an injury to top seed Jaedyn Harris. Once he reached his third final he was determined to make it happen his senior year and powered out for an escape with seconds remaining to grab the crown. He will have his hands full as Thayne Lawrence is surely going to be looking to make a statement after his controversial loss to Andrew Cerniglia in the PIAA final. (If you were wondering what all the talk about booing at the PIAA tournament was about, be sure to check out that final and get your fill.)

170: Drew Sotka (Glenelg)

2-Time State Champion

Sotka brings a ton of athleticism and a fun style to the mat. He also takes some outrageous risks and can give you several heart attacks per match. Sotka somehow finds a way to get it done, including tie-breakers in his semi last weekend as he repeated, and a wild hang on to take the 1A/2A title last year. Sotka is a local football star so we don’t see him on the mat against national competition, but he will fit right in with the wildly talented insanity that has been 170 in PA this year. He draws an opponent in Eli Brinsky that just finished sixth in Hershey in one of the deepest brackets at any weight in the country, so we will get a real look at where Sotka stands.

182: Dom Solis (McDonogh)

3-Time State Champion

Solis has been in and out of the national rankings and put together a fourth-place finish at Ironman and seventh at Beast this season before slapping a tight cradle on Malvern Prep’s Andrew Connolly for third at National Preps. Solis is staying home as part of Coach Clemsen’s rebuild at College Park and is a physical wrestler who won’t shy away from a proper tangle. Austin Walley was an unstoppable force at PIAA, bringing home Ellwood City’s first-ever title, and these two are likely to get stuck in quickly.

195: Jack Wimmer (McDonogh)

Maryland State Champion

Jack Wimmer is a pretty straightforward wrestler bringing you a steady diet of underhooks and pushing forward to work his offense off of. His approach may be simple, but in his hands it is also very effective. After being achingly close for years, Wimmer brought home a state title this season and will be looking to cap it off with one last win before he heads to Duke. We should see a rematch from Wimmer’s meeting with Luke Montgomery in the preseason at Super 32. That bout was a tight contest that Wimmer turned on its head by suddenly going upper body and pinning Montgomery with just a few ticks of the clock remaining.

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220: Timothy Furgeson (Damascus)

2-Time State Champion, 3-Time Finalist

If you asked coaches in Maryland their least favorite wrestler to send their kids up against, the answer would be Timmy Furgeson across the board. Furgeson can bring an edge to any match and will happily push the boundaries of what the officials might allow. He is confident and relentless. His Damascus Hornets have been a dominating force on both the gridiron and the mat. Furgeson will continue to entertain Pennsylvania as a linebacker at Villanova, but he plans to leave an impression here in Pittsburgh before doing so. John Meyers won’t tolerate any of the things Furgeson might get away with back home so this one should be very active and potentially very chippy.

285: Garrett Kappes (McDonogh)

2-Time State Champion

Garrett Kappes has had a difficult high school career getting fully healthy, but he does have a knack for being at full strength at just the right time. Closing out his seasons with a bang, he won a state title last year at 220 over Kyonte Hamilton, and was untested in his 285 run this year. A finalist at National Preps, narrowly losing to Cole Deery, Kappes has been all over the weight classes and the various rankings throughout the past few years. Finally looking comfortable at his weight, Kappes will be diving right into Big Ten action next year as the anchor in this Maryland recruiting class. Riley Kemper is a big boy that slows the pace, finishing sixth in AA last weekend. You can fast forward to his match with Bronson Strouse to hear my soon to be famous “this match is like a walk-in closet - all ties” line with 45 seconds left. Kappes will be hungry with the left underhook early and will push for a fall once they hit the ground.