| Friday - January 30th |
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The 285 lbs. weight
class is usually good for a few upsets (or
is tough to seed - six of one...).
Three of the top eight seeds failed to
advance to Saturday's quarterfinals.
Brusly's #8 Jo'Vonte Wheeler was the first
to fall in 3:32 to Catholic's Aaron Wiltz.
Next, #6 Matt Montalbano of the Crusaders
lost to Episcopal's Tyler McKay in 3:53.
And it was Dunham's Kirk Wilson upsetting #7
Blake Pacheco of Dutchtown in 1:54.
[Photo left] John Sinegal (LF) over Logan
Guidry (BR) 1:32 |
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Saturday Matches - February 1st |
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The seeding took control in the
quarterfinals, though, as all
four top seeds advanced.
Three did so via falls, but #4
Travis Santiago of Teurlings
Catholic needed a "Sudden
Victory" period to get past #5
Travis Gardner of Holy Cross
3-1. |
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Top-seeded Robert
Kennedy of Belle Chasse is having a very
good year, but he and Teurlings Catholic's
Travis Santiago had not wrestled each other
so far. The Cardinal senior wasted
little time in asserting himself, scoring a
takedown and three nearfall points in the
first period. He added an escape and
three more nearfall points in the second
period while only giving up an escape to
Santiago, and had a comfortable 9-1 lead
after four minutes. On top for the
beginning of the third period, Kennedy used
a strong half-nelson to turn Santiago over
for the last time, scoring a fall in 4:38. |
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Every year
Northside comes out with some stalwart young
man in the heavier weight classes it seems.
This year it is #3 O'Shea Dugas. The
senior had wrestled a grand total of 2:42 in
his first three matches. Second seed
Conor Karwath of East Ascension had an
undefeated season derailed at the Louisiana
Classic, finishing fourth, and was looking
for a way back into contention. Dugas
was not in a giving mood, though.
Karwath tried a high leg single with an
under-hook, but Dugas, having the associated
over-hook, whipped Karwath down to his back.
Dugas was able to settle into a head-and-arm
hold and finished via a fall as the first
period came to an end.
One East Ascension coach was overheard to
tell Karwath "You've never been taught how
to wrestle a guy who is 6'8" tall."
That's an exaggeration re Dugas' actual
height, but the Northside senior seems to
have a very elevated aura around him. |
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The top-seed
Kennedy and #3 Dugas each only had one
blemish on their 2013-14 seasons.
Kennedy had a loss to Rummel's Ryan Hanley
at the Louisiana Classic, but placed third
nonetheless. He also had championships
from the Trygg Memorial, the Jefferson
Invitational and the Zachary "Big Horse"
tournaments to go with his 30 victories.
Dugas Lost his fifth match of the year to
the highly touted Logan Williams of Evangel,
but had his own championships at the Rayne
Invitational and the Jacob McMillan Memorial
among his 14 wins.
The first round ended in a scoreless tie.
Kennedy attempted a double-leg in on Dugas, but Dugas
responded with under-hooks that almost led
to a bear hug. Dugas tried a trip, and
then a head-and-arm, but Kennedy got under
and behind Dugas, lifting and turning him to
the mat. But the two went out of
bounds and no points were awarded.
Kennedy got in another deep double-leg but
his momentum carried the two out of bounds
again. A last second duck-under
attempt was foiled by the buzzer.
Kennedy started the second period on the
bottom and though it took him over a minute
he did manage to stand up and turn in on
Dugas to earn an escape point. Before
that he had stood up a couple of times, but
Dugas lifted him off of and back onto the
mat decisively. During that time Dugas
was assessed a warning for stalling.
As in the previous round, takedown attempts
were fruitless.
Dugas tied things up one-all quickly with an
escape in the first five seconds of the
third period. Kennedy tried a pretty
weak double-leg attempt and Dugas just
smashed him flat on the mat and spun around
on top for the match's first take down and a
3-1 lead. But he could not turn the
Belle Chasse senior to his back. With
about a minute remaining, the match was
stopped as Dugas was penalized a point for
stalling while in the top position.
The score was now 3-2 in favor of Dugas.
Kennedy stood up again and, although it
seemed a little late, finally got free
enough to earn an escape and tie the match
3-3 with 37 seconds remaining. Ten
seconds later, Dugas was hit with another
stalling point for backing up, giving Kennedy a 4-3 lead
that he did not relinquish. Dugas
tried an immediate double-leg, but this time
his momentum carried the two wrestlers out
of bounds. Dugas grabbed a single-leg
again near the edge of the mat, but time ran
out before he could complete the move.
By virtue of two stalling points, Kennedy
owned the championship. |
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Consolation Rounds
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Karwath
came back strong in the
consolation semifinals with a
fall in 4:48 over Dutchtown's
Pacheco, and there he met the
stalwart Kirk Wilson of Dunham,
who had pinned #4 Santiago in a
quick 29 seconds. Perhaps
the last thing either wrestler
wanted to see was an overtime
match, but this one went into a
"Sudden Victory" round, and it
was Wilson scoring the winning
takedown in a 3-1 match.
Santiago got back on track for
Teurlings Catholic with an 8-3
decision over Pacheco to earn
fifth place for the Rebels. |
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