8 Powerade Matches You Don't Want To Miss
8 Powerade Matches You Don't Want To Miss
Check out some of the can't-miss potential matchups coming up this weekend at the 2024 Powerade!
The Powerade Wrestling Tournament is consistently one of the toughest high school wrestling tournaments and is the final of the "Big 3" high school tournaments which includes Ironman, Beast of the East, and Powerade. This year's Powerade field will include 62 nationally ranked competitors along with plenty of on the bubble guys poised to make a deep run to the podium. Here we will look over some of the can't-miss potential matchups coming up this weekend at the 2024 Powerade!
Powerade Wrestling Tournament Brackets
Brackets will be available on FloArena here.
2024 Powerade Wrestling Tournament
107 lbs - #7 Justin Farnsworth, Malvern Prep vs. #2 Sean Kenny, Christian Brothers Academy
#7 Justin Farnsworth has had an outstanding start to his sophomore season, as he finished as the runner-up at Ironman and won a Beast of the East title in dominant fashion this past weekend. Super 32 runner-up Sean Kenny will be competing in his first Powerade and will be looking to uphold his #2 ranking in the country. I believe this could be an incredible style clash and am excited to see how it will shake out if we see it in the finals.
Watch Farnsworth cap off a dominant Beast of the East title run
133 lbs - #1 Jax Forrest, Bishop McCort vs. #8 Tyler Dekraker, Chantilly
#1 Jax Forrest is always must-see every time he takes the mat. The junior will be making his third appearance at Powerade and will be looking for his third title. However, #8 Tyler Dekraker will have something to say about it in what will likely be a semifinal. Dekraker had an impressive performance at Beast of the East this past weekend where he finished as the runner-up to #3 Aaron Seidel in a very competitive final. Forrest has a relentless pace and the ability to score from anywhere in bunches but Dekraker has a nasty slide-by and top game that may be able to slow down and neutralize some of Forrest's pace.
Watch Tyler Dekraker vs. Aaron Seidel in the Beast of the East Final
145 lbs - #1 Bo Bassett, Bishop McCort vs. #10 Eren Sement, Council Rock North
Much like his teammate Jax Forrest, you never want to miss an opportunity to watch #1 Bo Bassett wrestle. Bassett has continued to evolve and turn up his pace and overall dominance, and we saw that on full display a couple of weeks ago where he tech-falled his way through Ironman for his third title. Michigan commit #10 Eren Sement has been third at the PIAA state tournament the past three seasons and finished as the runner-up at Powerade a year ago after losing a relatively competitive match against Jax Forrest by fall late in the match. Sement also finished second at Beast of the East this past weekend, falling in sudden victory to #5 Tahir Parkins. Sement is very strong and keeps good positioning and is really tough on top. Can he prevent Bassett from winning his third Powerade title this weekend?
Watch Bo Bassett dominate his way through the 2024 Ironman
152 lbs - #2 Jayden James, Delbarton vs. #12 Maddox Shaw, Thomas Jefferson
A potential Who's Number One rematch in the Powerade finals? Sign me up. #2 Jayden James showed the gains he has made over the last year at Who's Number One after defeating both at the time #4 Collin Gaj and #2 Maddox Shaw. However, there is no guarantee we will see this matchup in a weight class with 11 ranked wrestlers including Ironman champ #7 Noah Nininger and Beast of the East champions #8 Zeno Moore and #11 Chase Van Hoven. Shaw took a loss in the Beast of the East semifinals last weekend to Van Hoven 1-0 in tiebreakers and looked to have suffered an injury as he forfeited out to sixth-place after. We could see James hit Van Hoven in the quarterfinals and Moore in the semis while Shaw if healthy could see Nininger in the semis before we get to the finals. All-in-all, the 152 lb bracket should be awesome all weekend long and could result in huge shakeups in the rankings when the dust settles.
Watch James defeat Shaw at the 2024 Who's Number One
160 lbs - #1 Alessio Perentin, Delbarton vs. #3 Melvin Miller, Bishop McCort/#7 Vince Bouzakis, Wyoming Seminary
160 lbs is another great weight class where we could see a couple of amazing matchups. #1 Alessio Perentin is the 2 seed and will likely see Super 32 and fellow Fargo champion #3 Melvin Miller in the semifinals. Miller has proven to be one of the most clutch wrestlers in the country and will be no easy task for Perentin to get through in what will be an amazing semifinal which would set up a showdown with two-time Powerade champion #7 Vince Bouzakis. Perentin has been runner-up at this tournament the last two seasons and will be looking to win his first Powerade title in his final try.
172 lbs - #5 Asher Cunningham, State College vs. #3 Ryan Burton, St. Joseph Regional
This may be the most anticipated matchup of the entire weekend. Super 32 and returning Powerade champion Asher Cunningham has made incredible improvement year-to-year throughout his entire high school career and was an all-time William Henckel comeback away from winning Ironman. Ryan Burton has been excellent the last two years and just fell in the Beast of the East finals to Henckel in a Fargo final rematch to lose his #1 ranking. Both of these guys will be looking to bounce back after losses to Henckel in major tournament finals and I expect there to be some amazing scrambles.
215 lbs - #1 Jude Correa, Wyoming Seminary vs. #8 Austin Johnson, Muncy
This is a rematch from last year's Powerade finals in which Correa won 4-3. Correa has always been towards the top of the national rankings and has been excellent but showed a little bit of vulnerability to #3 Cade Ziola in the Ironman finals a couple of weeks ago as he was pushed to the absolute brink but found a way to get to his takedown and came away with the 4-3 win. Johnson won Powerade back in 2022 and is a very strong and disciplined wrestler. The Oklahoma State commit will be looking to get revenge against Correa for his second Powerade title.
Watch Correa vs. Johnson in the 2023 Powerade Final
Tune in LIVE on FloWrestling this weekend to check out all of these potential matchups and all of the other action at the 2024 Powerade!