Wednesday Duals - On Paper

Four big ranked duals Wednesday evening, with none bigger than KLAA rivalry Brighton vs Hartland. This is one of the most highly anticipated duals between the two teams since their D1 state finals dual 10 years ago won by the Bulldogs. Lowell will also be in a conference quad with Cedar Springs and previously ranked Greenville. D1 perennial powers Clarkston and Oxford will square off, while we see a D2 vs D3 dual in Mason vs Portland.

Outlook: While the two teams are in separate regions, this could have seeding implications for the D1 state tournament. The winning team will be opposite of #1 DCC come the team state tournament should they qualify. This past weekend, #5 Culver made his return to the mat while also dropping down to 138. State champ Korponic made the drop down to 144 for the first time. However, we assume those moves are for a regional throwdown with Clarkston, as those two moves may not make sense for this dual. Hartland will likely try to get Culver on Courneya and Korponic on Tindall. If Brighton has any big weight changes to make, this may be the dual to make them. For now, we assume each team is fully healthy and will wrestle their lineup straight up. The match of the dual could come down to 106 where state qualifier Wood should wrestle Freshman Sensor. The winner of that weight should be in a good situation to win the dual. Brighton has the slight advantage down low and up top, while Hartland should be the favorites in quite a few matches through the middle.

Prediction: Brighton +4

Outlook: Lowell is coming off a massive 31-point win over D1 champs Detroit Catholic Central. Lowell has another high-profile dual on Friday against Dundee, but they don't want to overlook their conference duals on Wednesday. It's unlikely they slow down Wednesday night against #7 Cedar Springs and previously ranked Greenville, but there should still be some solid individual matches. We will assume Lowell wrestles their full lineup, although they may be looking to slide some guys around and get a few new faces in the dual. If Lowell is at full strength, we would love to see #2 Cassiday vs #3 Carter Cichocki in our match of the dual. We also could see #1 Blum bump up to 138 to see #1 Egan.

Prediction: Lowell +48

Outlook: Clarkston has been on a roll this year. They look like they are on a collision course with #4 Hartland come team regionals. First, Clarkston will need to get past an Oxford team that has been solid all season. The match of the dual in this one should come at 113lbs where we would see #2 Lewis vs #4 Culloty. Lewis took the match the last time they saw each other, but Culloty is putting together a solid season of his own. That match could be a preview of an individual regional finals. Clarkston will likely have too much firepower between 126 and 157 in this dual.

Prediction: Clarkston +15

Outlook: Unfortunately, we did not get to see the big dual in D2 this past weekend, as Mason did not wrestle #2 Three Rivers. The Bulldogs will get another shot at a tough team here, as they take on D3 #4 Portland. While Portland does not have a lot of top-ranked wrestlers, they have an extremely tough lineup from top to bottom. The match of the dual could come at 175 where we would see D2 #6 vs D3 #6 in Vankirk vs Meyers. Overall, Mason should have too much for Portland through the middle weights.

Prediction: Mason +18