152 Pounds

#1 Alex Martin of De la Salle vs. # 4 Brody LeMaire of North Vermillion in the Division III semifinals.

Division I

Twenty-four wrestlers competed in the Division I 152 lbs. championships

Introduction

Tyrek Malveaux - Comeaux   In 2011 it was Jesuit senior Chris Johnson.  In 2012 it was Catholic senior Ryan Toups.   About all that was left to determine in 2013 was who Tyrek Malveaux would face in the state championship finals in an attempt to do what only a select few wrestlers have accomplished - win a third Division I state championship.  In doing so Malveaux would match Comeaux's own Kerry Baumans and David Bonin, Holy Cross' Ryan Hess, current Jesuit coach Spencer Harris and current Redemptorist coach Roderick Ratcliff (McKinley). Asking who he might face in the finals might have seemed a little brash, but Malveaux's 2012-13 record makes not asking it plain foolish.  Against Louisiana competition (he suffered one double-overtime loss early in the season to a Texan) Malveaux was 32-0.  He won the Spartan Open with a 10-8 victory over Catholic's returning 152 lbs. state champion Brandon Luckett, and that was before Malveaux moved down to 152 lbs.  He won the Jacob McMillan and the Teurlings Rebel Open.  He won the Louisiana Classic for the second time and the Ken Cole for the third.  His closest match aside from the two point win over Luckett was a 6-4 win over De la Salle's returning state champion Alex Martin.  Ten of his wins were via first round pins and seven were by second round falls.  Five were by major decisions and three were by technical falls.  His expected finals opponent was #2 seed Devin LeBlanc of Brother Martin.  Malveaux beat LeBlanc 8-4 at the Deep South Bayou Duals on December 28th, but had a very close 1-0 match against the Crusader in the Louisiana Classic finals.  #3 seed Tanner LeBlanc of St. Paul's had suffered only one setback all season, a 9-3 loss to Malveaux.  #4 Kevin Moran of Catholic counted a 2:30 fall by Malveaux in his record.

Rounds 1, 2 and Quarterfinals

Round 1 and 2 were completed without any upsets of the top eight seeds.  Only #7 DeQuan Jackson of East Ascension had a difficult time, edging John Ehret's Derron Harris 5-4.

In the quarterfinals Malveaux cruised over #8 Keegan Gilligan of Airline 17-4.  St. Paul's LeBlanc scored an 18-3 technical fall over #6 Leroy Johnson of St. Amant and Brother Martin's LeBlanc scored a 10-0 major decision over #7 Jackson.  But once again the #5 seed upset the #4 seed as Jesuit junior Ashton Queyrouze defeated Catholic's Moran 8-5.

Semifinals

Malveaux and Queyrouze had not met during the regular season, and Queyrouze might have liked to have kept it that way.  Malveaux used a head-and-arm (bottom left) to pin the Blue Jay in 3:37 and earn his third straight trip to the finals.  The LeBlancs, however, had a very close match.  The Crusader LeBlanc, though, had wrestled almost twice as many matches as the Wolves' LeBlanc (43 vs. 23) and the experience might have proved to be the difference, as it was Brother Martin's Devin LeBlanc who moved onto the finals match with a 4-2 victory.

Consolation Rounds

Unexpectedly it was unseeded sophomore Michael Niedermair of Mandeville who managed the long road to the consolation semifinals versus St. Paul's LeBlanc.  The Skipper scored a 12-1 major decision over Gilligan* and pinned Covington's Jaden Gillespie in 2:17.  Against LeBlanc, though, Niedermair fared better, or longer, than in Round 2, succumbing to a pin with only two seconds left in the match (4:58).  For fifth place he would face #7 Jackson of East Ascension, who pinned Rummel's Cody Lacoste in 1:25 and scored an 18-4 major decision over St. Amant's #6 Johnson.  His run ended in a 4-0 loss to Queyrouze though, and his troubles continued as Niedermair scored a 14-6 major decision over him to take fifth place.  In the consolation finals, LeBlanc earned a tough third place with a 4-2 victory over Queyrouze.

Finals: #1 Tyrek Malveaux (Comeaux) versus #2 Devin LeBlanc (Brother Martin)

Malveaux and LeBlanc had met twice during the regular season.  Malveaux won a "standard" match 8-4 at the Deep South Bayou Duals.  LeBlanc tried a different strategy in the Louisiana Classic.  According to witnesses he was not very aggressive, though without blatantly stalling, and waited to see if Malveaux would make a mistake of which he could take advantage.  But Malveaux did not make a mistake and was as patient as LeBlanc 1-0 after scoring an escape.  One cannot fault LeBlanc's tactics.  After losing his first match against Malveaux he simply tried to do something different the second time.

Evidently LeBlanc decided, and wisely so, that Malveaux needed assistance to make any mistakes, and that meant LeBlanc had to be more aggressive in the state finals.  But Malveaux scored a takedown in the first period and another two points 20 seconds into the second.  The two traded two points during the remainder of the match, and Malveaux won his third Division I state championship 6-2.  Malveaux finished the season 36-0 (42-1).  LeBlanc finished with a 25-4 (41-6).

LeBlanc attempts an early single-leg. Malveaux gets behind Leblanc to score two points. Malveaux controls an ankle while keeping pressure on LeBlanc's head. Malveaux tries to pick an ankle to halt a takedown attempt by Leblanc.

Malveaux stays glued to LeBlanc's back to prevent the Crusader from sitting-out.	Malveaux having his hand raised in victory.	Malveaux on the podium with the LeBlancs, the latter two showing the difference between placing third after a win and second after a loss.	Malveaux possibly pondering if enough wall space exists for his third championship bracket.

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Division II

Sixteen wrestlers competed in the Division II 152 lbs. championships

Introduction

Teurlings Catholic senior Travis Thibodeaux entered the state championships with a 31-5 record against Louisiana competition.  Three of those losses were to Tyrek Malveaux, including only a 9-5 loss on January 12th.  Another was to St. Paul's Tanner LeBlanc in the Louisiana Classic and his fifth was to St. Paul's Dominic Iovenetti, who proved all season that he was as capable as beating anyone in the state.  Thibodeaux had defeated very good opponents in Colin Laird of North Vermillion, Andre Dean of Benton and Patrick Hoppe of Brother Martin, and was worthy of the top seeding.  Grace King senior Brandon Briones had an impressive 26-9 (32-6) record but did not have the "quality" wins Thibodeaux had and was seeded second.  Holy Cross senior Austin Doyle was 26-10 (30-12) but had lost to Covington's Jaden Gillespie, who Briones had defeated, and was seeded third.  Doyle had a win over the #4 seed, Live Oak's Brandon Chenovert. 

Round 1 and Quarterfinals

Round 1 featured a minor upset when Nijahl Butler of Baton Rouge scored an 18-6 major decision over Northwood's #8 Joe'Quan Richardson.  One other top-eight seed received a forfeit and the other six pinned their opponents.

In the first quarterfinals match Thibodeaux pinned Butler in 0:30.  In the second one, though, #5 Lehrue Stevens, IV of St. Louis Catholic defeated #4 Chenovert by a fall in 2:36.  Doyle had a little trouble with the sixth-seeded Huntington sophomore The'Anthony Taylor, but advanced with a 10-6 win.  Briones took care of #7 Joffrion Gaines, Jr. of Northside in 4:42.

Semifinals

St. Louis Catholic's #5 seed Lehrue Stevens, IV had a record that may have been a little overlooked because he wrestled at 145 lbs. for most of the season.  He had seven losses to Louisiana wrestlers (all at 145 lbs.) but they were to the likes of the Division I #2 seed Tyler Robertson of Brother Martin, Division III #2 seed Colin Laird of North Vermillion (at 152 lbs.) and Division III #3 seed Cody Thomas of Parkway.  Of the top five seeds in the weight class, Stevens was the only one who had competed at 145 lbs. and thus he had very few common opponents with the others.  He did have an advantage in that he got to practice with St. Louis' defending 160 lbs. state champion Louis Stutes every day. The sparring practice worked well for Stevens, who dominated Thibodeaux with an 18-9 major decision (photo left). That was not the last upset as #3 Doyle of Holy Cross beat #2 Briones of Grace King 3-1, placing another Tiger in the finals.

Consolation Rounds

The Huntington sophomore Taylor defeated St. Michael's Logan Knox 9-4 and Northside's Gaines 7-1 to wrestled Thibodeaux in the consolation semifinals.  The Teurlings Catholic senior proved too strong though, and advanced with a 13-9 decision.  Thibodeaux would face #4 Chenovert of Live Oak who ran-off three straight wins after his loss to Stevens, pinning McKinley's Edward Ott in 1:21, Baton Rouge's Butler in a 6:56 overtime match, and then edging Briones 10-8.  Briones and Taylor met to decide who would place fifth, and it was the senior from Grace King by a fall in 2:57.  Chenovert's streak was ended by Thibodeaux, who took third in a 10-6 match. 

 Finals: #3 Austin Doyle (Holy Cross) versus #5 Lehrue Stevens, IV (St. Louis)

One might think that things would get a little easier for someone with the top two seeds out of the picture.  Neither of the 152 lbs. finalists thought that.  With 1:39 remaining in the third period the match was tied 1-1.  A minute and 20 seconds later the match was "all square" at 3-3.  Stevens held off a last second takedown shot by Doyle to send the match into overtime periods.  But nobody could score in the "Sudden Victory" period, or in the two subsequent 30-second periods.  Having the choice in the "Ultimate Tie-breaker" period, Lehrue chose the bottom position and was finally able to score an escape point.  Doyle was not able to counter with points of his own and Lehrue, the #5-seeded junior, had won the championship.

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Division III

Twelve wrestlers competed in the Division III 152 lbs. championships

Introduction

De la Salle returning state champion Alex Martin was the clear #1 seed.  Martin had a 36-6 record and won championships in the Raider Open, Griffin Open, Zachary "Big Horse," Brusly Invitational, the John Curtis tournament and the Greater New Orleans championships.  All but one of his losses were when he was at 160 lbs.  He had defeated #2 Koby Mancuso twice and #3 Thomas Lambert of Lakeside once.  With a loss to Lambert, North Vermillion's Brody LeMaire was seeded fourth. 

Round 1

Round 1 went as expected with byes going to the top-4 seeds and two first period falls and a forfeit going to seeds #s 6, 8 and 7 respectively.  Fifth-seeded Ellis Herring of Episcopal had a tough match with John Curtis' Cody Hamrick, needing an overtime period to win 9-6.

Quarterfinals

Martin made short work of Basile's Darren Fontenot with a fall in 0:47.  #4 LeMaire also had a pin in under a minute, defeating Herring in 0:56.  The bottom half of the bracket quarterfinals all went the full six minutes.  #3 Lambert scored a 10-2 major decision over #6 Inocencio of Doyline and Mancuso also scored a major decision, 14-4, over #7 Joshua Peltier of Rayne.

Brusly's Koby Mancuso cradles Rayne's Joshua Peltier. Mancuso uses a leg-ride to turn Peltier to his back.

Top-seed Alex Martin of De la Salle shoots a single-leg on Basile's Darren Fontenot.	Martin lifts Fontenot's legs to expose his back...	...and then grabs a leg for a cradle which he used for a 0:47 fall.

Semifinals

The #1 and #2 seeds each scored major decisions over their semifinals opponents.  Martin used forced-nelsons and cradles to defeat #4 LeMaire of North Vermillion 13-2 and Mancuso incorporated a "stack" into his entourage of moves to defeat #3 Lambert 16-4.

Martin slips behind LeMaire prior to taking him down to the mat. Martin turns LeMaire with a forced-nelson. Martin attempts a standing cradle on LeMaire. Mancuso "stacking" Lambert.

Consolation Rounds

The two semifinals losers each won their first consolation round matches to meet each other for third place and relegate their opponents to the fifth-place match.  #6 Peltier of Rayne pinned Evangel's Justin Smith in 1:19 but had a hard time getting past Curtis' Hamrick, edging him 5-4.  But LeMaire ended his streak with a fall in 2:39 that sent Peltier to the fifth place match.  Episcopal's Herring pinned Kaplan freshman Gavin Broussard in 0:22 and then fought hard to overcome Basile's Fontenot 6-4.  That set him up against Lambert, who sent him into the match for fifth place with a fall in 1:16.  The Rayne senior proved too strong for the Episcopal freshman though, as Peltier pinned Herring in 2:25 to take fifth place.  In the consolation finals LeMaire, the junior from North Vermillion, outwrestled the sophomore Lambert of Lakeside, pinning him in 2:35 to take third place for the Patriots.

Finals: #1 Alex Martin (De la Salle) versus # (2) Kobe Mancuso (Brusly)

Martin and Mancuso had met twice during the regular season.  Martin pinned him in 3:24 in the finals of the Brusly Invitational and outscored him 5-1 in the Ken Cole semifinals.  In this match Martin was determined to simply control the match at his own pace, which he did by taking Mancuso down in the first period and reversing him in the second.  Martin was just fine riding Mancuso during the rest of the match, preventing the Brusly wrestler from scoring, and garnering his second Division III state championship.  A junior, Martin finished the season with a record of 41-6.  Mancuso, a sophomore, finished with a 41-10 record.

Martin and Mancuso grapple for position in the first period. Martin scores nearfall points by cradling Mancuso. Martin signifies his second state championship. Martin with his bracket on the awards podium.

*  Just shoot me now! (back to where you were)

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