Faith Christian Wrestling Rallies Past Wyoming Seminary to Stay at No. 1 in the Nation

A stunning late takedown at 165 pounds sparked a five-match surge that lifted the Lions to a 31–27 comeback win in a national Top 10 showdown in Pennsylvania.

Shane Wagner's upset victory at 165 sparked Faith Christian's comeback and proved to be the difference in a 31-27 win over Wyoming Seminary in a battle of Top 10 nationally ranked wrestling teams. / Shane Wagner

One match. Just one match. That was the difference in Faith Christian Academy wrestling holding onto its No. 1 ranking in the country on Friday night when they visited No. 10 Wyoming Seminary in an early season Pennsylvania showdown in a match that ended with a 31-27 tally in favor of the Lions.

Wagner’s Stunning Takedown Turns the Dual Upside Down

Every match on the card played out as expected except the one at 165 pounds.

A lot was happening in the Knights’ favor by the time the 165-pound bout rolled around, the hosts were up 24-9 after winning five of the first eight matches and trotted out the favored wrestler at 165 in No. 18 Sammy Almedina. Faith Christian countered with No. 26 Shane Wagner.

A night the Knights requested a “Whiteout” from fans in attendance seemed to be unfolding in their favor and winning this match was important with the Lions getting ready to run out consecutive number one wrestlers at 175 and 190 pounds (Nick Singer and Adam Waters respectively) with sixth ranked heavyweight Mark Effendian in the hole as well.

Unfortunately for Wyoming Seminary, this became the turning point in Faith Christian’s comeback and not the nail in the proverbial coffin. The two traded escapes and looked like they were heading to overtime when Wagner picked up a very late takedown as time was expiring to win the match, 4-1.

Faith Christian’s Upper Weights Take Control

That began a five-match win streak that saw Faith Christian take its first lead of the dual and hold on to lockdown the win. Following Wagner’s heroics, Singer put up a 14-3 major decision of Seminary’s Lucas Parietti and Waters received a forfeit when he came out to close the gap to two-points, 24-22.

Heavyweights Extend the Lead Before the Final Bout

One of two things happened in the Lions’ Den at 215 pounds. Either No. 6 Jason Singer is injured, or Cael Weidemoyer beat him out for the spot. We only rank one guy per team during the season, but prior to narrowing it down to one from a team, Weidemoyer was in the rankings as well, so his 18-3 technical fall over Nolan McCarthy was not surprising. Weidemoyer’s victory put his squad ahead for the first time, 27-24.

The big boys took to the mat, but did not finish it off, since the dual started at 113 pounds, the 106 pounders would have the final battle. Effendian put up a methodical 14-4 major decision of Seminary’s Anderson Palian to add four more to their count, 31-24.

Palian used to be in our rankings, but we were informed that he was a post graduate student. His participation here makes that declaration uncertain. We know that when it comes to PIAA and National Prep teams mixing it up, the weight classes are dictated by the hosts, so this had the 14 NFHS weights instead of the 13 the PIAA uses. We thought postgrads could only compete against other prep schools in prep events but could not go against schools that are part of an athletic association such as the PIAA.

Foreman Closes Strong, But Seminary Falls Short

The final bout featured two guys who are new to the high school landscape and Lucas Foreman ended it positively for the Knights with a 6-3 decision of Riley Crandall at 106 pounds to arrive at the 31-27 final count.

If Almedina had won at 165 pounds, that score would have been 30-28 in favor of the hosts.

Faith Christian’s Young Lineup Shows Both Promise and Vulnerability

In our first team rankings of the year, we placed Faith Christian at No. 1 and said their young guys in the lower weights needed to hit the ground running or a tumble from the top spot could be forthcoming. While they survived today, what will the future hold?

Seminary Controls the Early Weights With Technical Dominance

Including Crandall, the Lions newcomers were 1-4 down low. The match kicked off at 113 pounds with a forfeit to Seminary’s Will Webb (No. 29 at 106). Wyatt Spencer overwhelmed Cruz Little at 120 pounds, posting takedowns in each period and accumulating back points with a few tilts before running an arm bar in the third to stick Little at the 4:45 mark and grown the Seminary lead to 12-0.

After Super 32, the Knights’ Alex Marchetti was in the honorable mention section of the national rankings but has been squeezed out by others migrating to his weight class, Marchetti showed why he is on our radar with a dominate 13-3 major decision over Flynn Arnestad at 126, adding four to Seminary’s score, 16-0.

Lions Start Their Climb Back With Key Mid-Match Wins

No. 9 Fred Bachmann stopped the bleeding for Faith Christian as he grounded out a 4-1 decision versus Marcus Heck that saw him capture the winning takedown in the back half of the final frame to get his squad on the board, 16-3. Seminary’s Dale Corbin (No. 8 at 132) moved up to 138 pounds and kept the Lions from building on Bachmann’s win by dismantling Nathan Yoder with an 18-1 technical fall to put the Knights up 21-3.

One could argue that the match at 144 pounds that was won by Faith Christian’s freshman Reece Movahed over Matt Dailey was another one (and the first in running order) that the Knights, on paper, should have won. Almedina/Wagner was such based on the rankings. This one could be the same based on perception as Dailey is a junior and while he hasn’t been a starter at Seminary, Dailey has been in that practice room for a few years now.

Movahed’s 4-0 shutout was powered by an early takedown and an escape later in the match. Normal 144-pounder, Joe Bachmann (No. 3 at 144) moved up to150 pounds to take on No. 8 Michael Turi. Overtime was needed but eventually, Bachmann claimed a 2-1 win for the Lions to inch them closer to the Knights at 21-9.

Seminary’s Chamberlain Caps Early Surge Before Momentum Shifts

Wyoming Seminary’s No. 26 Brian Chamberlian squared off with Honorable Mention Asher Bacon and like a few other matches on the card, only escapes were scored in regulation. In overtime, Chamberlian secured the winning takedown to arrive at the 24-9 count that greeted Almedina and Wagner.

The next big thing for both squads is next weekend’s Walsh Ironman Tournament in Ohio.

Faith Christian Academy 31, Wyoming Seminary 27

(match started at 113)

113-Will Webb (WS) won by forfeit

120-Wyatt Spencer (WS) pinned Cruz Little, 4:45

126-Alex Marchetti (WS) maj dec Flynn Arnestad, 12-3

132-Fred Bachmann (FCA) dec Marcus Heck, 4-1

138-Dale Corbin (WS) tech fall Nathan Yoder, 18-1

144-Reece Movahed de Matt Dailey, 4-0

150-Joe Bachmann dec Michael Turi, 2-1 OT TB

157-Brian Chamberlain (WS) dec Asher Bacon, 4-1 OT SV

165-Shane Wagner (FCA) dec Sammy Almedina, 4-1

175-Nick Singer (FCA) maj dec Lucas Paretti, 14-3

190-Adam Waters (FCA) won by forfeit

215-Cael Weidemoyer (FCA) tech fall Nolan McCarthy, 18-3

285-Mark Effendian (FCA) maj dec Anderson Palian, 14-4

106-Lucas Foreman (WS) dec Riley Crandall, 6-3