How did Penn State connections do on Day 1 of the PIAA Wrestling Championships?
HERSHEY — Penn State backpacks were hard to miss on the floor of the GIANT Center here on Day 1 of the PIAA Wrestling Championships. Future members of Cael Sanderson’s team carried most of them around, of course. But, one football signee also hit the mat, as did top underclassmen recruiting targets for both sports. Here’s a rundown of how they all performed.
Penn State wrestling commits mostly shine in Class 2A action
The Class 2A first round kicked off this three-day event in Chocolatetown. It went mostly as expected for Penn State commits and recruiting targets.
At 133 pounds, senior Mason Gibson from Bishop McCort rolled to an 18-2 technical fall in 2:42 over David MBalla of Wilson to move into Friday morning’s Round of 16. Two of his uncommitted sophomore teammates who are Penn State targets, Jax Forrest and Bo Bassett, also rolled to tidy victories to open the state tournament. Forrest was a 17-2 winner over Elijah Brosius of Cranberry at 127 pounds. Bassett, meanwhile, was steamrolling Easton Comp of Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 8-2 when he stuck his shoulders to the mat and pinned him at the 44-second mark of the first period. Forrest and Bassett are seen as two of the top recruits in the Class of 2026.
The only setback for a Penn State wrestling connection in the Class 2A session came at 152 pounds. Ty Watson of Penns Valley struggled to get his offense going in an 8-4 loss to a tough draw in Mountoursville Gage Wentzel. Watson won his first consolation bracket match by fall to continue chasing a medal by moving on to tomorrow morning’s consolation round of eight.
Brewer keeps medal hopes alive
Penn State football signee Caleb Brewer thought long and hard about enrolling early back in January. He opted not to and instead chase a PIAA Class 2A 285-pound state championship. He can not longer earn that. But, he can still earn a medal.
In his first match, Brewer took but could not finish a number of shots and a late takedown for his opponent, Fort LeBoef’s John Duran, sent Brewer out of the championship bracket just one match into his final state tournament. Brewer wrestled with a wrapped right wrist, the same one that caused him to miss last year’s postseason. He bounced back in the consolation bracket with a 3-1 decision victory to move onto tomorrow’s consolation round of eight.
How did Penn State ties in Class 3A fare?
Penn State commits Dalton Perry and Brock Weiss both won their opening PIAA Class 3A bouts at 139 pounds to move into tomorrow morning’s quarterfinals. Fellow future Nittany Lion Asher Cunningham is into the QFs too at 160 thanks to a first period fall.
On the football side of things, top 50 Class of 2026 Harrisburg offensive lineman Kevin Brown surrendered a takedown with 1:04 left to Andrew Brennan of LaSalle to drop a 4-2 decision. He is in the consolation bracket late Thursday night. This post will be updated with the result.
