Penn State wrestling, football commits and targets set for PIAA state championships

The PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships kick off Thursday at GIANT Center in Hershey, Pa. Multiple Penn State wrestling and football commitments/signees and recruiting targets will be on the mat in either the Class 2A or 3A classification. Blue-White Illustrated will be on hand for some of the action at states and recapping the action each day. Before it starts, a look at the names to know for both sports can be found below.

When are the PIAA state wrestling championships and how can I watch and follow them?

Let’s get this out of the way first. Flo Wrestling is the exclusive broadcast arm of the state tournament. Learn more about signing up for a subscription to stream the action at this link. They also have live bracket updates to follow the Penn State connections throughout the tournament. You can find those here.

The schedule is a bit different than past years in 2024 now that girls wrestling is a PIAA sanctioned sport. Here is when the boys will be on the mat:

Class 2A

Thursday, March 7
9 a.m. – Preliminaries and first round
12:45 p.m. – First round consolations

Friday, March 8
8 a.m. – Quarterfinals, second round consolations
10:30 a.m. – Third round consolations
7 p.m. – Semifinals
9 p.m. – Fourth round consolations

Saturday, March 9
9:30 a.m. – Fifth round consolations
11:30 a.m. – Third, fifth, and seventh place matches
4 p.m. – Finals

Class 3A

Thursday, March 7
4 p.m. – Preliminaries and first round
7:45 p.m. – First round consolations

Friday, March 8
2:15 p.m. – Quarterfinals, second round consolations
4:45 p.m. – Third round consolations
7 p.m. – Semifinals
9 p.m. – Fourth round consolations

Saturday, March 9
9:30 a.m. – Fifth round consolations
11:30 a.m. – Third, fifth, and seventh place matches
4 p.m. – Finals

Penn State wrestling commits who will be in action

We’ll start with Class 2A competitors who are committed to Penn State and then move onto the Class 3A group. All rankings are not tournament seeds but rather each wrestler’s place in Flo Wrestling’s PA state rankings.

Class 2A

No. 3 Mason Gibson, Sr., Bishop McCort, 133 pounds: Gibson has been a Penn State commit since Nov. 2022. The decorated prep and freestyle wrestler is likely on a collision course with Montgomery star Brandt Harer to make the finals. He lost to Harer 3-1 earlier this year. Gibson is 44-5 on the year.

No. 8 Ty Watson, Sr., Penns Valley, 152 pounds: Watson picked Penn State back in November. He is 33-5 on the year. A rankings upset will be required to stay in the championship bracket out of the gates as he faces No. 5 Gage Wentzel of Montoursville to open the tournament.

Class 3A

No. 3 Brock Weiss, Sr., Jersey Shore, 139 pounds: Weiss picked Penn State in May of 2023. He is 30-0 on the year and just beat future teammate Dalton Perry (more on him in a minute) at the PIAA NW AAA Regionals. He is on the top side of the bracket with state No. 1 Maddox Shaw of Thomas Jefferson. The pair are expected to clash in the semifinals for the right to compete in the finals.

No. 6 Dalton Perry, Sr., Central Mountain, 139 pounds: Perry has been committed to the Lions since March of 2022. By losing to Weiss at regionals, he arguably earned a better draw at states. Perry, who is 31-3 on the year, has an outstanding chance to reach the finals.

No. 1 Asher Cunningham, Jr., State College Area, 160 pounds: The son of Penn State head assistant coach Casey Cunningham is a force this year. He is 33-1 and the best wrestler in the Keystone State, which makes him the odds-on favorite to win this weight class.

One Penn State football signee will be in action

It’s Caleb Brewer. The Wyomissing standout did not enroll early at Penn State so that he could chase PIAA wrestling gold during his final high school season. A future lineman at the college level, he logically wrestles at 285 pounds, where he is 39-6 at the Class 2A level. His medal chances are good. How high can he finish? That will be up to him, of course. But, he’s ranked No. 10 in the state and would not have to see a wrestler ranked higher than him until the quarters at the earliest. A possible semifinals meeting with state No. 1 Brenan Morgan of Central Valley, who is going to Virginia, would likely end Brewer’s run in the championship bracket. But, he’d still have a chance to wrestle back for as high of a placing as third.

Targets to know

Starting on the mat, the two names Penn State fans will be monitoring who are not commits are a pair of Class of 2026 Class 2A standouts: Bishop McCort’s Jax Forrest and Bo Bassett. The former is 49-2 at 127 pounds and the latter 52-0 at 139 pounds. Both are favorites to take gold.

As for Penn State football, Class of 2026 target Kevin Brown of Harrisburg competes in the Class 3A tournament at 285 pounds. The four-star interior offensive lineman who is a top-50 football recruit will have every chance to medal but may be a year away from earning a spot in the finals.