Dual Predictions?

[Tarheel212]

With the dual season starting this week, who are the favorites? Who are the stud 9th graders or transfers expected to put some team over the top? Will it be the usual power programs or is there a new team to fear? Let’s hear it. I’m ready for this forum to provide some reading material.

[jobelk]

1A - Avery and Robbinsville will battle in the West for the right to battle the Defending Champs Uwharrie in the East.

2A - 2 Time Champ West Lincoln has to be the favorite in the West but Fred T Foard, Newton Conover, and Central Academy will definitely have something to say about who represents the West.  You always have to expect Croatan to come out of the 2A East but hopefully, another contender can emerge to make things interesting in the 2A East.

3A The East will come down to Union Pines and Cape Fear as both teams return plenty of firepower from last year. West Carteret and Orange can always field great teams and will be contenders as well.  The west will come down to who reloads the best.  Defending champ Saint Stephens must relace its 10 senior starters, Piedmont, Southeast Guilford, and Ashboro will need young guys to step up if they hope to be in the mix.  My bet to represent the west will be Enka High School.  Coach Harris had his youth movement last year and has a veteran team returning this year. 

4A - The west will run through defending State Champion Northwest Guilford.  Look for Hough, Mooresville, and possibly Lake Norman to contend as well.  I believe the East will be a 3 way battle between Cardinal Gibbons, Laney, and Cary.  I think Cary is the front-runner


just my two cents.

[Fwrogers]

Yeeeesh that one conference in the 4a west.......

[Coach Atwood]

In the 4A east, I think the pre-season favorite is Laney.  They return a great deal of talent and have a quality transfer. Cardinal Gibbons will be good as well.  I saw them at a scrimmage tournament last week minus their lead headbanger and they looked impressive. Not sure if their entire team was present otherwise though due to football.  I don't know if they have the complete top to bottom to beat Laney, but that's why the matches are wrestled.  Cary will be in the mix as well.  They have been working hard in the off-season and in spite of a hiccup here or there they will be a force to be reckoned with. 

In the 4A west, the NEW top team appears to be Hough. The have a good number of quality returners and an incoming freshman who will help tremendously.  Northwest Guilford was scheduled to return a host of talent as well, and they were my original pre-season #1, but there are some problems in Viking land between injuries and kids deciding not to wrestle.  Northwest did get a quality transfer though. Mooresville will still be tough, but lost a great deal to graduation.  They do have a couple of quality freshmen coming in though.  Lake Norman also returns some quality wrestlers and got a quality transfer as well.  Their question mark will be production in the upper weights.  Down low they are as competitive as anyone.  Team to watch for could be Ragsdale.  They have some quality wrestlers scheduled to return, but they very well could be bolstered by several transfers.  I KNOW of three that are there.  Two from Northwest and one from Northern Durham (Donald Cates..yes the state champ) although Cates is not on their roster right now.  That will certainly change. Another great team in the west is Glenn.  They have the potential to be very good this season once the entire team gets on the mat. On paper they should win their conference and will have quality wrestlers in almost every weight.  Glenn could very well represent the west in the state finals.   

[Tapout]

Agree with coach Atwood, Laney will be a tough out. With their transfer according to rankedwrestlers they have 7 kids ranked in the top 8. The question will be what team can stay healthy. They have two #1’s and 3 kids ranked #2. Total of 8 state qualifiers returning.

[Perkdog]

2a should be interesting! I know some people from these schools and this is some of what I am hearing.
West Lincoln returns a lot of their kids as well as adding solid kids to the lineup each year. Right now they are still in football playoffs and I don't know how they will spread their lineup out. I suspect that if they can get all the weights covered, they will be scrappy!
Foard should be real good this year. I know they have a couple kids hurt right now, but when they get healthy, they are going to be hard to beat!
CATA has some studs, but still has some holes. Matching up will be key.  Can the other schools limit their lower weight power?
I think it will come down to these 3 teams, but of course, there are others. Newton Conover, Pisgah, Croatan,and West Wilkes are always tough and if they can match up right, they could be there at the end.

[Kendro]

Don’t sleep on Surry Central.

[Perkdog]

I will take Mooresville as my 4a top team. Cary, Laney, Lake Norman,and Hough are my next 4. 

[Tapout]

I don’t think Mooresville will have the horses up and down the lineup to compete with Cary or Laney but we will see. Interesting results the first two weeks of the season.

[psu9wrestler]

 4A In the West I have a 2 or 3 way race - Northwest Guilford, Mooresville and possibly Hough (could be the sleeper this year).  In the East Cardinal Gibbons, Laney and Cary.  The overall top team going to Laney.

Some teams mentioned in previous post have significant wins, but you have to dig deeper and see if football and  forfeits are a factor

3A  Northern Guilford and Enka

2A West Wilkes and Newton Conover

1A Avery County and South Stokes

It is still early and teams are doing lots of dual tournaments.  So some head to head matches will start to happen.

[Oldman63]

Any big surprises so far in duals? Avery looking tuff for a 1a team taking down Enka at their dual tournament.

[Perkdog]

3a seems wide open!  I don't know who to say.  Northern Guilford,Enka, SE Guilford, maybe Piedmont.
4a is starting to separate themselves with Cary and Laney, but I still think if Mooresville can get healthy, they could be in the conversation.  Hough as an outsider.
1a seems to be a 2 horse race between Avery (the favorite in my opinion) and U Charter.
2a seems to be a 2 horse race as well, with West Lincoln and Foard, but West Wilkes and CATA are close.

[Ironman152]

Pinecrest is the sleeper team. Theyre kind of flying under the radar for some how but, theyre still undefeated i'm pretty sure.  Just beat jack britt last night.

[psu9wrestler]

Yes this is a good conversation to bring up, since we have a lot more info to go on.

(4A) Pinecrest also beat Piedmont (3A perennial dual powerhouse) and Cardinal Gibbons in addition to last nights win over Jack Britt.  Have they crossed paths with Laney or Cary?  In the west Hough just beat Mooresville last night, so not sure what is happening out west. I believe Lake Norman, Hough and Mooresville are all in the same conference.  Pretty tough.

In the east Laney seems to be the team.  They are billed as the #1 tournament team.

(3A) Enka and Northern Guildford
(2A)  I think it is all West Lincoln.  Unless CATA can pin there way through.
(1A) Avery all the way
   

[Russian]

Yes this is a good conversation to bring up, since we have a lot more info to go on.

(4A) Pinecrest also beat Piedmont (3A perennial dual powerhouse) and Cardinal Gibbons in addition to last nights win over Jack Britt.  Have they crossed paths with Laney or Cary?  In the west Hough just beat Mooresville last night, so not sure what is happening out west. I believe Lake Norman, Hough and Mooresville are all in the same conference.  Pretty tough.

In the east Laney seems to be the team.  They are billed as the #1 tournament team.

(3A) Enka and Northern Guildford
(2A)  I think it is all West Lincoln.  Unless CATA can pin there way through.
(1A) Avery all the way
 

Pinecrest does appear to be building a lot of momentum. And Lake Normans conference is quite tough.

As far as 3a goes Id take Enka.

In 2a West does deserve the benefit of the doubt until  someone can  beat them in the playoffs. However if you look at the teams you mentioned as top teams Foard has beaten Enka in a dual and individual tourney and Avery in a dual and individual tourney. They also just beat Northern Guilford on the same Sat that  NG beat CATA. Their case is strong. But for now 2a runs thru West.

1A it is Avery hands down. Uwharrie is strong but Avery wrestles more higher classifications than any 1a team I remember and wins a lot of them.