State Tournament Predictions--Team

jfingd

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Well, Divisions I & II aren't going to be close. Some tough teams will battle it out for runner-up, but Sunnyside and Casteel, both with their full 14 man lineup will run away with this year's titles in those divisions.

Division III will be an interesting battle between Sahaurita-(my pick), and ALA Gilbert North-(my underdog favorite). I had thought Snowflake could make a showing, but they finished a distant second to ALA Gilbert in their Section, and only qualified 9 wrestlers.

Division IV will be a lot more interesting with a potential three-team race, with Morenci, Yuma Catholic-(my pick) and Mogollon-(my underdog favorite).

Going to be a great weekend of wrestling.
 

Coach Pat

Well-Known Member
Sunnyside is loaded this year, and will be for the next four years. Next year with Casteel moving up to DI, DI is going to be brutal, with Liberty, Casteel, Sunnyside, and other schools like Mesa MV, Desert Vista, etc.

For DIV, Morenci are a bunch of hammers. I think they would be state champs at DII and III as well, and probably place top 5 at DI. Well coached, motivated, and just all around good. I had seldom coached against them, but at our section last Saturday they just straight up dominated.
 

jfingd

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Well, Morenci is loaded. But they were at Doc Wright, with Casteel, and took 3rd, 85 points behind Casteel. Granted, they were missing their varsity 120 & 126 guys there but the backups scored 27 team points between them--so even with a full lineup, they would have lost by 50 to Casteel. (assuming their varsity guys placed in the top 3).

Morenci has 7-8 guys in the top 5, in their own division. Casteel has 11 of their guys ranked in the top five in a tougher division.

They're a scrappy school, with some tough guys, but it's still division 4, with a whole lot of teams that can't field a full lineup. After Mogollon, Yuma Catholic and Morenci, the competition takes a sever drop.
 

jfingd

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Looks like Winslow could make some noise in DIV as well--they qualified 13 kids, and have 5 ranked in the top five and a sixth, who is close to it (HWT, 30-3 record not ranked).
 

wjd

Well-Known Member
Does anyone know why Casteel wasn't D1 this year? They're D1 in football, makes no sense that they'd be a lower classification in wrestling. It would have been nice to have seen the two powerhouses; Sunnyside and Casteel compete and Liberty thrown into the mix.
 
Top