The "going" really did not get too tough for the favorites in this weight class.  Division II runner-up Austin Gouedy had the toughest quarterfinals match in which he ground out a 7-3 win over Brother Martin's Daniel Varnado (photo below). 

In a pairing that may be seen a lot this year, Jesuit senior Brody Martin had a tough time with Rummel freshman Blake Mateau but was able to persevere 6-4 (photos top).  Gouedy kept his match with Jesuit freshman Adam Larriviere, but the Blue Jay dominated the third period in a 15-7 decision (photos bottom).

Eunice High School entered its first wrestler ever in sophomore Brady Smith.  Smith went 0-2 but showed plenty of pluck in his first matches (below center vs. Episcopal's John Rollins).  Rummel freshman Blake Mateau, after losing a close 6-4 match to eventual champion Brody Martin of Jesuit, made it through the consolation bracket unscathed to take third place over Gouedy via a fall in 2:26 (below right).

In an all Blue Jay finals senior Brody Martin did what he probably does during practice to freshman Adam Larriviere, pretty much scoring at will to garner a 17-1 technical fall.  The weekly competition, however, certainly seems to be helping Larriviere, though, and most likely explains his opportunity to meet Martin in the finals.

The lack of seeding knocked out a potential finalist when Robert Fairchild of Rummel defeated Jesuit's Austin Pfister 4-2 in the quarterfinals (below left).

Fairchild dispatched his first Brother Martin opponent in the semifinals by pinning John Oliver in 2:56 (below left).  Oliver's teammate, Paul-Stephen Schmidt, advanced to the finals with a fall over Live Oak's Seth Menard in 2:57, one second longer than Fairchild required (bottom right).

Fairchild is not overtly flashy but is very skilled in the fundamentals. A strong double-leg shot netted him an additional two nearfall points in the first period, although Schmidt was able to bridge off of his back for a reversal.  Fairchild rode Schmidt for the entire the second period but gave up a technical violation near the end.  On bottom for the third, Fairchild got the technical violation point back when Schmidt was cited for locking hands, and then quickly switched Schmidt for a 9-3 lead which he rode-out to the end.

This was arguably the toughest weight class of the tournament as it contained a 2014 Division II state champion, a 2014 Division III state champion, a 2013 Division III state champion and a 2012 and 2013 Division III state champion who missed the 2014 state championships due to an injury.

The match arrangements worked out pretty well for those four as two were in each half of the bracket, although the top half contained two who could have been #5 and #6 seeds.  Brusly's 2014 Division III state champ Austin Franklin faced one of them in Brother Martin's Sam Montgomery, and Franklin required a third period reversal to eke out a 4-3 win (bottom right).  Live Oak senior Colt Olinde, the 2014 Division II champion at 106 lbs., had a tough match with the other Jesuit Larriviere twin, Eli, but outscored the Blue Jay 13-8 in the end (bottom left).

In the bottom half of the bracket Thomas Jefferson's Logan Griffin, a 2013 Division III state champion, had little problem with Dutchtown's Luke Hazlett in a 16-1 technical fall, and Division III's 2012 and 2013 champion Raymond Bushnell required less time by pinning Catholic's Lance Blanchard in 3:27.

The first meeting of the state champions was in the form of Franklin versus Olinde, and in this match the Brusly sophomore proved too much for the seasoned senior from Live Oak in posting a 7-3 win.  The other semifinal was a different story as Bushnell overpowered Griffin, taking him to his back with a lateral drop and netting a fall in 0:52.

In the finals state championship title seniority took precedence as Bushnell showed he had not lost a step from his season-ending injury in 2014.  Bushnell used lightning-fast ankle picks twice to take down Franklin, and after escaping in the beginning of the second period quickly managed a head-and-arm throw which finished the match in 2:23.  In his matches Bushnell used 7:04 to pin his four opponents, including two LHSAA state champions.

Two Division I state placers made it to the finals, one from a particularly difficult bracket.  The fourth match of the weight class pitted Brother Martin's Seth Gambill against Jesuit's Joseph Dupre, in a match that could be repeated often this year.  This time it was Dupre coming out on top by a 6-2 score.  East Ascension junior Landon Wheat ran into difficulty against the 2014 Division III state runner-up, freshman Matthew Matherne of Ouachita Christian, falling 6-0.  Dupre, however, got past Matherne 10-3 (photo below).

Catholic's Joshua Matthews, a Division I 6th place winner and a Greater Baton Rouge Champion in 2014, received a first round bye and then needed just 1:55 to defeat Central's Tyler Fontenot.  In the semifinals he dominated Brother Martin's Matt Williams via an 18-1 technical fall.  After two quick pins Mandeville's Nicholas Des Bordes, a 2014 fourth place finisher in Division I, prevailed in an exciting match with Dupre, needing a takedown in Sudden Victory to win 7-5 (bottom - far right).

Des Bordes Scored first with a single-leg takedown which he rode to a 2-0 first period lead.  After escaping to start the second period he used another single-leg shot to open a 5-0 lead, but Matthews managed an escape at the end of the second.  Matthews escaped in the third and shucked Des Bordes down and spun behind him, narrowing the gap to just one point at 5-4, but Des Bordes escaped and took Matthews down again with a single-leg shot to lead 8-4.  (Video footage shows Des Bordes parlaying the single into a nearside cradle for three nearfall points, but those points were not posted to the bracket or TrackWrestling scores.)

In what some may have thought was an early upset, Jesuit senior Payton Markey came back strong in the last half of his quarterfinal match with 2014 Division I third-placer Jacob Bernard of East Ascension for an 8-7 win (photos below).  Yet Markey should not be overlooked just because he did not compete for the Blue Jays in last year's state championships.  Markey was 21-11 last season with wins over Tristan Rupert of Ocean Springs, Collin Guerra of Holy Cross and Zach Lawson of Fontainebleau.  In his 11 losses, only one was by a fall (to Guerra).  Two were by five and six points (Chris Meraux of St. Paul's and Brusly's Kendon Kayser), and the rest, including the likes of Brother Martin's Taylor Gambill, Kayser, Guerra and Airline's Christian Walden, were all by three points or less.

Catholic junior Daniel Gunn got past some pretty stiff competition in Thomas Jefferson's Jeffrey Kirkland and Rummel's Damien Tornabene to make the semifinals, but then he ran across Kendon Kayser, the Brusly Panther Division III who was undefeated in Louisiana last season as a freshman.  Gunn survived the first two minutes well enough but the second period was something different entirely as it only lasted three seconds.  At least that is what the tournament brackets and TrackWrestling indicate - a fall for Kayser in 2:03.

Kayser and Markey met twice in the 2013-14 season, once in the Warrior Open finals, which Kayser won 7-4, and then in a dual meet won by Kayser 7-1.  This finals rematch would serve Markey no better, however, as after opening up an 8-0 lead in the second period, Kayser used a taut banana-split-like move to put Markey on his back, scoring a fall in 3:10.  It was Kayser's fourth pin of the tournament and netted him an Outstanding Wrestler award for the lighter weight classes.

This weight class was lacking in notable names from the 2014 state championships, but the finalists spent little time proving they were the best of the lot, advancing with falls in 0:16, 3:38, 1:05, 1:54 and 1:04. 

After pinning Grosch at 5:59 in the quarterfinals Catholic's Tristan Williams faced another Blue Jay in Brandon Wolff, and Wolff avenged his teammate with a strong double-leg takedown which led to a double-chicken-wing pin in 1:54.  Prouty used even less time to defeat Rummel's John Doyle via a single-leg takedown that put the Raider on his back.  Prouty recorded a fall in 1:04.

Catholic's Tristan Williams and Jesuit's Max Grosch made it to the consolation finals.  Williams defeated Grosch via a fall with one second remaining in a quarterfinal match, but the Blue Jay would not get another chance as Williams was awarded third place via the 5-match rule.  (Below - Tristan Williams rides Dutchtown's Brendan Warner en route to a 10-0 consolations semifinals victory.)

Prouty owned the first round with two single-leg takedowns on either side of an escape by Wolff.  Wolff knotted the match at 4-4 in the second via an escape followed by countering another Prouty single-leg shot by wrapping his legs around Prouty and gaining control.  A Granby roll earned Prouty an escape in the third period for a 5-4 lead.  Wolff tried to arm drag Prouty, and when Prouty dropped down to the mat to stop it, he caught Wolff trying to spin around him, gaining a double-leg takedown and a 7-3 championship.

Several recognizable names stood out in the 145 lbs. weight class, but Sam Johnson was not one of them.  It assuredly will be in the future.  A junior transfer from Michigan, Johnson required only 1:31 to record two falls to reach the semifinals against Jesuit's Jake Rovira.  Seth Johnson, Brother Martin's late 2014 starter at 120 lbs., survived a very tough 10-8 victory over Airline's Tony Lococo (photos below) to earn a quarterfinals match versus Catholic's Mitch Vidrine. 

In the midst of a fairly even semifinals match thing got "heated" between Zachary's Johnson and Jesuit's Rovira, to the extent that both were cited for misconduct.  And from there things just got worse.  The officials deemed a push by Rovira that sent Johnson into the scorers' table was the last straw, and Rovira was disqualified from the tournament for a flagrant misconduct foul.  In the other semifinal Brother Martin's Johnson Handled Catholic's Vidrine, posting an 8-4 score before scoring a fall in 4:22.

Sam Johnson's Louisiana debut was looking to be a stellar one as late in the third round of his finals match against Brother Martin's Seth Johnson he was ahead 12-4.  However, with 39 seconds remaining he was called for another misconduct penalty after pushing the Crusader when the two had gone off of the mat and a whistle had blown.  After a short conference Sam Johnson was disqualified and Brother Martin had their sole championship.

This weight class could also be considered the toughest as it contained a state champion, a runner-up, a third place finisher and a fifth place finisher from the 2014 Division I state championships.  Unfortunately, however, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners were in the same half of the bracket.

2014 runner-up Brandon Cowell of Dutchtown Scored two falls to reach the semifinals including one in 4:40 over Catholic's Jacob Fereday (photo left), but state champion Matthew Mire had a tougher road.  After a 34 second fall over Central's Mire faced Christian Walden of Airline, who placed third at 126 lbs.  Walden kept it close early, but in the third period, with a 5-2 lead, Mire caught Walden in a bear hug and took the Viking sophomore to his back, scoring five points in a 10-5 win (photo right).

After a quick fall and a technical fall, Jesuit's 2014 fifth place finisher Griffin Mason reached the semifinals against Brother Martin's Cal Palermo, who advanced via two falls.  Griffin controlled this match, scoring points via single-leg takedowns points and a cross-face cradle for a 9-5 win.  In the other semifinal match, Mire and Cowell met for what could be the first of many meetings this season unless one of them opts out of the weight class later in the season.  The match was close but Mire was flawless with single-leg takedowns all tournament, and though he gave up a double-leg one to the Griffin, his three takedowns and one escape were enough for a 7-4 win.

As he did all tournament Mire relied on a single-leg takedown and it worked to perfection in the finals.  He scored one in the first period and two in the second, letting Mason go in order to score them.  After a third period escape Mire scored on another single-leg shot and, after letting Mason escape, stopped two shots by Mason, spinning around the Blue Jay twice for two more takedowns and an eventual 13-5 championship.

Ehret's Jack Fontenot had to get past two Brother Martin opponents to reach the finals, with a Zachary opponent in the middle.  He first defeated Kevin Casey of the Crusaders 11-4 (photo right) and then things got closer when he posted a 9-3 decision over the Broncos' David O'Neal to reach the semifinals.  Awaiting him was Brother Martin's Anthony Schneider, who advanced via falls over Rayne's Andrew Chiasson and Dunham's Jonathan Breaux.  In the bottom half of the bracket Rummel's Josh Ramirez required just over 2 1/2 minutes to advance to the semifinals via falls over opponents from St. Michael and Live Oak, while Baton Rouge's Jarrett Moss received an injury forfeit and advanced over a third Crusader in the field, Cole Alphonso, by an 8-1 score.

Against Schneider Fontenot had even a harder time but was able to advance via a 5-2 win.  Ramirez had an easier time with Moss, scoring a fall in 2:51 to make the finals.

Apparently Fontenot got tired of six minute matches as after stopping a Ramirez double-leg shot he lateral dropped the Raider for a takedown, three back points and a little respite prior to Ramirez extracting himself from the pinning combination.  In the second round Ramirez scored an escape, but that was the extent of the scoring in that round and Fontenot headed into the third period leading 5-1.  After scoring an escape with a Granby roll, Fontenot countered a Ramirez throw attempt with a re-throw to score another five points to forge an 11-2 lead.  Ramirez got out of the predicament and escaped, but while attempting a shot on Fontenot the Patriot secured and underhook and the Raider's head, enabling him to turn Ramirez to his back and score his first fall of the day in 5:33.  Fontenot was awarded the Outstanding Wrestler award for the upper weight classes.

Every semifinalist in this weight class reached a spot via at least one easy match - all except Rummel's Joseph Kerry, a sixth place Division I placer in 2014, who struggled to a 5-3 win over Dutchtown's Brian Almond, followed by a 5-4 decision over Airline's Tyler Almond (photo below).  Kerry would face Brother Martin's Brad Guidry while, in the other half of the bracket, Jesuit's Kyler Pisciotta would face Central's Austin Cavin.

Pisciotta started the first semifinal match strong but Cavin stayed around and in the end was able to secure a fall over his Jesuit opponent in 5:26.  Rummel's Kerry, after the previous two close matches, evidently had had enough and dispatched Brother Martin's Guidry in 47 seconds.

After losing his first match of the day to Catholic's Sam Bourgoyne 6-5, Baton Rouge's Thomas Stremlau put together a string of four wins via 7-3 and 6-1 decisions and falls in 2:45 and 3:00.  But the last pin was in his fifth match and he was not allowed to compete against Jesuit's Pisciotta, who advanced to the consolation finals with a 4:26 fall over Airline's Tyler to place third.

Kerry wasted little time in the finals.  After taking down Cavin with a double-leg shot, Cavin tried to sit out and Kerry pulled him straight back to the mat, scoring a fall and another first tournament championship (he won the 2013 Mandeville Open also) via a fall in 30 seconds.

Brody Bonura of Live Oak had the best resume in this weight class as a Division II runner-up, but Keegan Gilligan of Airline placed sixth in Division I and Zachary's Nick Wallace was one match away from placing.  Bonura and Wallis made their acquaintances in the first round in which Bonura survived 4-3 (photos below).  Bonura had an easier time with Catholic's Nick Danna, registering a fall in 1:22 to make the semifinals.  Bonura would meet Airline's Keegan Gilligan who was tested in the quarterfinals by East Ascension's Sidney Mitchell in a 13-7 win.  Dylan Verret of the host school St. Michael, a Division II third place finisher in 2014, cruised into the other semifinal with two quick pins.  His opponent, Matthew Bowman of Rummel, had to eke out a 2-1 quarterfinal decision over Jesuit's Dylan Daboval after a round two pin over Dunham's Luke Scoggins.

Verret and Bowman had a close match with Verret prevailing by a mere two points, 7-5.  Bonura had an easier time with Gilligan, whose upper body strength was no match for the Live Oak senior's savvy, and scored a 13-2 major decision.

The finals was a Division II all-senior affair and one which may well be replicated at the state tournament.  In this instance, though, Bonura dominated, scoring a takedown with a single-to-a-double-leg shot and then back points via a bar-arm-chicken-wing.  On top to start the second period Bonura again utilized a bar-arm-chicken-wing and this time pinned Verret after 3:26 had elapsed.

There was no doubt who the top three of the day in this weight class were when all was said and done.  The only question of the day, really, was who would be "lucky" enough to face Jesuit junior Guy Patron, Jr. in the finals.  Unexpectedly, Travis Viener of Brother Martin had the toughest route to the semifinals, which required 4-1 and 7-0 six-minute decisions over Baton Rouge's Jimmy Do and Rayne's Jacob Hebert, respectively.  Patron required only 2:43 to reach the semifinals; his opponent, Bailey Dufrene of Mandeville, only 1:40.  To face Viener, Catholic's Connor Ortego needed only 53 seconds with East Ascension's Koi Malarcher.

Against Dufrene Patron used a double-leg shot and, instead of letting his opponent "belly down," rolled him onto his back for a stack pin in 1:03.  Viener, last season's Trygg Memorial champion, required a little more effort to get past Ortego in 2:31.

Patron took less than half the time he used in his first match to win his semifinal match (2:43 vs. 1:03).  He did it again in his finals match, lateral dropping Viener and scoring a fall in only 28 seconds for his second Warrior Open title.

This early in the season it was not unexpected that most of the matches in this weight class were either fast pins or arduous tests of stamina.  Of the 16 matches contested, seven ended in first round falls.  Six of them were decisions by three points or less.  And everyone got to play in the feast or famine scenario.

Two semifinalists, Rayne's Andrew Arceneaux and Airline's Eric McGuire, got that far via falls in 1:36 and 0:36 respectively.  Their opponents, Mandeville's Blake Degioanni and Brusly's Donald Johnson, required six minutes, albeit Johnson's 17-5 win was a bit easier than Degioanni's 4-2 win over Rummel's Tyler Troncuso. 

Degioanni got the break in the semifinals as he was able to score a fall over Arceneaux in 4:47.  Johnson was not as lucky as he needed all six minutes to get past McGuire by a 3-2 score.

Six minutes was not enough for Degioanni and Johnson in the finals.  After both only managed escapes in regulation a Sudden Victory period was required.  Shortly after it started Johnson, who placed third in Division III in 2014, found the strength to spin behind Degioanni for a 3-1 victory and the championship.

The eight big guys at 285 lbs. were having none of the grief they must have seen in the 220 lbs. weight class.  All except Brusly's Jo'Vonte Wheeler.  While the other three semifinalists used a total of 2:20 to end their quarterfinals matches, Wheeler had a battle with Zachary's Chris London that took 5:34 (photos below).

Things did not get easier for Wheeler as Baton Rouge's Logan Guidry took him the distance in their semifinal match, although it was Johnson who prevailed 6-1.  On the other side of the bracket Jesuit's Dom Carmello needed just 24 seconds to toss Dunham's Tyler Johnson to the mat and score a fall.

After spending only 77 seconds on the mat during his first two wins Jesuit's Dominic Carmello, the 2014 Division I third place winner, may have been surprised in the finals as Brusly's Wheeler, a 2014 Division III third place finisher, kept the first round scoreless.  However, working from the top in the second period, Carmello was able to turn Wheeler and score a fall in 2:46 for the championship.