It’s not quite set in stone yet, but there is a high probability that the top two high school teams in the country – #1 Faith Christian Academy and #2 Bishop McCort – will square off Saturday in a dual to decide not only the Pennsylvania team title, but possibly the de facto national championship as well.

These two teams have been nearly untouchable this year. Faith Christian Academy won team titles at Ironman, Beast of the East and Escape the Rock, while Bishop McCort won a team title at Powerade and ran through a tough field at the Hall of Fame Duals. 

The only blemish for Faith Christian was a 32-24 dual loss to #4 Wyoming Seminary in December. As for the Crushers, their only setback came when they finished second at Ironman by a pretty wide margin to the Lions – FCA scored 213 team points to McCort’s 177.5. However, McCort then took out Wyoming Seminary in a dual 37-17 this season.

“You know, they beat us at Ironman, but at the end of the day I think that whoever wins this dual, to us, that’s the most important thing,” Bishop McCort coach Bill Bassett said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “They beat us there and then they lost to Sem, and then we beat Sem, so for us this is setting the stage for not only the state championship, but in essence the national championship.”

As for Faith Christian coach Ben Clymer, he really likes how his team has been performing and improving as the season has gone on. 

“There’s a belief in the work they’ve been putting in their whole careers and the whole year long. It’s a fun time to be intentional together and press some of those buttons and get everyone on the same page. I really like where they’re at, man, they seem fresh and excited,” Clymer said. “We try to do a good job with the opportunity that is wrestling for a team state title and just being pumped about it more than there is a pressure to live up to an expectation.”

As for the balancing act of getting up for a big dual while also not letting it get blown too far out of proportion, it can be a tough seesaw to level out, according to Clymer. 

“There’s wisdom in not drumming this up and getting too much hype, but we also try to spin it as it is kind of like a national championship dual — you just don’t get to be in those environments much in your career,” Clymer said. “As talented as these guys are and their goals to wrestle in college, trust me, this type of hype and attention and opportunity doesn’t come around that often. We’re really excited for that — it is a cool opportunity. Instead of ignoring that, let’s feed into it and let it energize us.

“We know our identity is sound in being followers of Christ, and that’s our firm foundation, but we also are wrestlers who have high expectations of ourselves, and this is a neat opportunity — let’s go be the best team in the nation.”

For Bassett and McCort, the season they’ve had has been a good proving ground, especially in duals. On top of the Wyoming Sem dual win, the Crushers also took out #9 Delbarton (37-28) and #13 Edmond North (46-17) at the Hall of Fame Duals, where they went 5-0.

“The excitement for the whole program and the whole area is very high,” Bassett said. “I think getting them exposed to the Wyoming Sem match and the duals out in Oklahoma was very important. I know they’ve been looking forward to this since last year after we lost to them in the state final.”

In that state final a year ago, the Lions were dominant with the 46-18 win.

“I think anytime you can do something once, it definitely does add confidence — there’s experience there and even some repetition, so that adds some belief,” Clymer said of last year’s win before offering a caveat. “This is a year later, so we don’t really want to bring a lot of last year with us.”

A Changing Of The Guard?

Over the past decade, the top of the national team standings has been almost exclusively occupied by two teams — Wyoming Seminary and Blair Academy. Before Faith Christian won Ironman this year with McCort finishing second, the only teams to win team titles there over the last 10 years have been Blair and Wyoming Sem. Right now, Wyoming Seminary is ranked #4, while Blair is #8 on the Flo 40. 

With Ironman generally determining the best team in the country each season, this year’s results were much different than years past. Could it signal a change in the national pecking order?

According to Clymer, there are a number of contributing factors — most notably that kids now have more schooling options if they want to compete nationally. 

“I think that the difference from 10 years ago is if you wanted to go to a school that was going to be competing nationally, your options were smaller,” he said. “A lot of people are looking at alternative options for schooling, and now all of a sudden it’s just a more popular thing for guys to transfer into more private school options for kids to jump on board with.”

And as it happens, Faith Christian has been a popular landing spot with some of the best guys in Eastern Pennsylvania. 

“I really think there is just so much talent in Southeastern PA, and without us really selling it, there were a couple kids that came over in elementary school — namely (Cael) Weidemoyer, (Gauge) Botero, the Bachmanns (Fred and Joe) — so they sort of saw this program get built,” Clymer said. “As guys like that started to go ‘I like the vibe, I like the culture, I like the goals that are being set, and there’s a Christian school I get to be part of both academically and spiritually,’ all of a sudden, a lot of the other guys that these guys are on club teams with all offseason long started to go, ‘I’m in.’”

As for Bassett on the western side of Pennsylvania, he sees the talent base in Pennsylvania continuing to get better.

“This whole group has been coming up together — they used to train together when they were little kids. I think everyone knew Pennsylvania has always been a really good wrestling state, but I honestly think it could be potentially at its best right now,” Bassett said. “I think they had a group of people in Eastern PA working really hard and us in Western PA working hard, and I think the two groups kind of motivated each other throughout the years. it was a nice rivalry that’s made the whole state of Pennsylvania even better. 

“I think the whole push now is I think these kids believe they can wrestle with the Sems and Blairs of the world. It’s a huge step for our entire program. I think that Faith is looking at it the same way — they’re deep and they have really good elementary and middle school wrestlers coming through, and we do as well.”

It’s Lineup Chess, Not Checkers

Right now, Bishop McCort has been led by a trio of elite guys in #1 Bo Bassett at 144 pounds, #1 Jax Forrest at 132 and #2 Melvin Miller at 165, while Faith Christian counters with #1 Fred and #6 Joe Bachmann at 113 and 126, respectively, as well as #3 Adam Waters at 190. 

In all, Faith Christian has nine ranked wrestlers in its lineup with five in the top 10. Bishop McCort has six nationally ranked wrestlers with five in the top 10 as well.

Despite all the top guys between these two teams, these lineups really don’t have a lot of obvious top matchups. Based on Flo’s individual rankings, only one weight class has a ranked wrestler from both teams — 157 pounds where #18 Chase Hontz of FCA and #7 Devon Magro of McCort could square off. 

It seems that where FCA is strong, McCort isn’t as good, and where McCort is good, FCA isn’t as strong. In fact, despite finishing first and second in the team standings at Ironman, there were only two matches total between these two squads in that entire tournament. 

“We’re going to try to create matches, and they are going to try to create the best matchups. It is weird that we don’t kind of overlap there. I think that’s part of the strategy and part of the fun,” Bill Bassett said. “They did a really nice job with their lineup last year and they made some adjustments literally up until the last day, they made some key adjustments. They’re probably anticipating what we’re looking for, and I have a really good understanding of what their lineup is going to look like as well.

“It’s cool. It’s almost like a game of chess. Based off what we see them doing and how they weigh kids in, we’ll kind of counteract and make some moves off of that.”

On the other side of the proverbial chess board, Clymer sees McCort as the squad with more flexibility to move guys around.

“I sort of know their lineup. I would definitely believe Jax Forrest is coming down to 130. I wouldn’t say we have as many opportunities to bump and shift the lineup. They have more opportunity to maneuver those guys, while we’re sort of set,” Clymer said. “It will really come down to when our good guys are wrestling their guys who aren’t the cream of the crop, are we able to get techs and pins? And the same thing when their better guys wrestle our guys who aren’t the cream of the crop, are they able to capitalize on big bonus points? I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays out.”

Clymer has been impressed with the Crushers’ depth this season, something that’s worrisome after Faith Christian lost Cael Weidemoyer at 160 to ACL surgery after Beast of the East. 

“Honestly speaking, I’ve been impressed by their second-tier guys who have been able to snag some big wins and wrestle matches really close,” Clymer said. “I feel like where we have holes, they are maybe a little more significant holes — our guys aren’t snagging a ton of big wins or close matches, so we’ll need to show up because it’s going to be an awesome test.”

Great News Offers Great Perspective

Faith Christian coach Clymer received some of the best news a person can receive on Tuesday morning — a phone call that confirmed that Owin Brunner was cancer-free after a year-long fight against Leukemia, something that can really add some perspective for Clymer and his guys.

“I got a call this morning that he is cancer-free. It’ll be a little bit of fuel, but I think more than anything it’s just perspective — if you do feel yourself getting a little tight and playing that match over in your mind too many times, there’s a lot of different curve balls that can come (in life),” Clymer said. “You know, Brunner isn’t worried about his match against McCort this weekend —  that dude’s just pumped that he’s not going through chemo treatments over and over again.

“That’s a real fight, that’s real pressure, that’s real anxiety. Iif our guy Owin can battle that with a great spirit and a trust in Christ, how much more we should be able to handle the state championships this weekend with a lot of joy and belief and excitement.”

Watching Brunner go through this fight was obviously tough for Clymer, but he wasn’t surprised that Brunner came out victorious. 

“It tears at your heartstrings — he’s just the nicest kid you’ll ever meet,” Clymer said. “It is a really powerful thing to get the attention off yourself and look at what your brother Owin has been battling and let’s use that and return to the sport of wrestling with the right perspective.”

It hasn’t yet been discussed much, but Clymer is hopeful that Brunner will be back on the mat sooner rather than later. What a return that would be.

Bassett’s Three Sons Excelling

Not only did Bill Bassett’s son Bo make his much-anticipated college commitment to Iowa on Tuesday night, all three of his sons have had great seasons. A freshman, Keegan Bassett is ranked #13 in the country at 106 pounds, and Bill Bassett’s adoptive son Melvin Miller is ranked #2 at 165. 

“Just to have those three together on the same team for this year and next year, it’s amazing,” Bill Bassett said. “As a dad, it’s a dream because it’s amazing watching my boys compete on the same team and be there to support each other.”

For Bo, it’s been a long road that led to his decision to commit to the Hawkeyes, one set up by his dad putting him in the best position to succeed.

“My goal since Day 1 was for him to love it and to surround him with the absolute best people, the best role models, the best wrestlers, the best coaches that I could and kind of let it go from there,” Bill Bassett said. “I felt once he decided to love it, anything was possible. That’s kind of like what happened — I got him around some really good role models at Young Guns. He was around Spencer Lee since he was a little kid. I always reminded him that,  ‘Listen, some day you could be that guy. You can be the guy where little kids are running up to you, so don’t ever forget how Spencer just made you feel’ because they used to take their time with Bo and really make him feel special.

“I always wanted to plant a seed in his mind of hey, this could be you. If you work hard, anything is possible.”