The Brother Martin Crusaders, with seven champions and one runner-up,
dominated the competition at the Trey Culotta Invitational Saturday.
Mason Mauro, Taylor Gambill, Paul Klein and Austin Meyn won the first four
finals matches of the day. They were followed later by wins from Daniel
Albrecht, Kyle Delaune and Ross Brister. Josh Tapia added a second-place
finish, pushing the Crusaders to a 235 point margin of victory over Catholic,
their nearest competitor. The Crusaders scored 909 points to Catholic's
674.
Brother Martin was missing Dominic Casadaban at 138 lbs. and Tyler Robertson
at 145 lbs. In their stead Daniels Evans and Patrick Hoppe fared just
fine, taking 5th at 138 lbs. and 3rd at 145 lbs. respectively. The Crusaders had
additional 3rd place finishers in Mason Williams at 132 lbs. and Devin LeBlanc
at 160 lbs., a 4th place finish by Yehia Riles at 195 lbs. and a 5th place
finish by Jordan Giroir at 152 lbs. Even Crusader wrestlers not wrestling
for Crusader points did well. Stephen Rumney at 106 lbs., Wade Nash at 126
lbs. and Aaron Gambino at 182 lbs. each placed 4th, leading a team of
"Unattached" wrestlers which outscored three of the participating school teams.
The addition of Casadaban (unbeaten this season) and Robertson (one loss in
overtime this season) would have been interesting as their 138 lb. and 145 lb.
weight classes were won by James Claitor of Catholic and David Englehardt of St.
Paul's, respectively, both of whom are undefeated so far this year.
Not that Brother Martin needs any help to be considered favorites to repeat
as Division I state champions, but of the nine times a Louisiana team has won
the Trey Culotta Invitational, the winning team went on to win the Division I
state championship seven times.
Four out-of-state teams participated this year: Vestavia Hills of Alabama,
who won the tournament in 2008, Houston of Germantown, Tennessee, St. Thomas of
Houston, Texas, and Shawnee High School in Oklahoma. Shawnee had a
champion in Daylan Stuteville at 152 lbs. and had runners-up at 113 lbs., 120
lbs. and 195 lbs. Vestavia Hills had a champion in Dalton Campbell at 220
lbs. and a runner-up at 145 lbs. St. Thomas had a runner-up at 160 lbs.
Vestavia Hills placed 3rd with 657 points followed by Shawnee in 4th place with
655 points.
Jesuit placed 5th (618) followed by St. Paul's (506), East Ascension (388),
St. Thomas (356), Fontainebleau (339), Houston, TN (248), Mandeville (216) and
Archbishop Shaw (129). Technically, a team of "Unattached" wrestlers,
comprised of extra wrestlers in weight classes other schools could not fill,
placed 10th with 334 points.
No one who participates in the Trey Culotta Invitational goes "two and out."
Friday can be considered a day of attrition. With few exceptions, each
wrestler wrestles five times, as each weight class is divided into two pools of
six which are run in a round-robin format. The top four wrestlers in each
pool are seeded, based on their pool records, for Saturday's bracketed
tournament. As such, each wrestler is guaranteed at least two matches in
the bracketed section. The two wrestlers in each pool who do not qualify
for the bracketed section are also guaranteed two matches on Saturday against
the members of the other pool of their weight class.
A description of the finals and other notes per weight class is presented
below. (All photos enlarge when clicked.):
| Weight |
Finals/Notes |
| 106 |
| Alex Betteridge of East Ascension and
Mason Mauro of Brother Martin were initially seeded 1 and 2 and
each won their pools with 5-0 records. The match was close
throughout with Betteridge maintaining a two point lead through
most of it, but only leading 8-7 in the 3rd period. Mauro
escaped and, when Betteridge tried a double-leg shot, Mauro
whipped him almost to his back, but enough to score a takedown
for a 10-8 win. |
|
Betteridge now has a
record of 13-2 while Mauro is 10-0. Nicky Charles of Jesuit placed
third.
[Above: Mauro in gold & red; Betteridge in
blue & white.]
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|
|
| 113 |
| Ben D'Antonio of Jesuit was the top
seed and he won all of his pool matches, but two were very
close. Bryce O'Connor of Shawnee, Oklahoma, who made it
into the brackets but not as a top-4 seed, got revenge in the
semifinals with a pin over D'Antonio in 2:55. Brother
Martin's Taylor Gambill pinned his way to a 5-0 pool record and
was seeded second on Saturday. He had a very tough
semifinal match against East Ascension's Jacob Bernard, winning
by a 4-3 score. The finals were close in the first two
periods. Gambill had been trying ankle picks most of the
match, but shot a double in the third period. O'Connor
whipped him to his back but Gambill rolled through it, putting
O'Connor on his back and pinning him in 4: 46. |
Gambill is now 18-1
for the season.
D'Antonio did not wrestle after his semifinal
match so Jacob Bernard placed third.
[Above: Gambill in gold & red; O'Connor in
white.]Back to Top
|
|
| 120 |
| Top-seeded returning Division I state
champion Paul Klein, and Michael Smith, who placed 3rd in the
Oklahoma state championships for Shawnee last year, won their
pools easily to be seeded #1 and #2 on Saturday. Klein
advanced to the finals with two major decisions while Smith won
a tough semifinal with a 4-2 SV win over Hayden Hill of Vestavia
Hills, AL. Scoring was rare in the finals, but impossible
for Smith, who gave up a takedown in the 1st, could not escape
from Klein in the 2nd and allowed Klein to escape in the 3rd,
resulting in a 3-0 win for Klein. |
Klein improved his
record to 21-1 with his only loss coming from a wrestler not from
Louisiana.
Hayden Hill placed third.
[Above: Klein in gold & red; Smith in white.]Back to Top
|
|
| 126 |
Catholic's top-seeded Brennan Taylor
and Brother Martin's 2nd-seeded Austin Meyn had no problems in
the pools on Friday, nor much difficulty making it to the finals
on Saturday. Taylor's five losses on the year are
deceiving. Four are to Live Oak's Cody Hill (whom Taylor
has also beaten twice) and the other an OT loss to Rummel's
two-time defending Division I state champion Matt Calcote
(Calcote's only loss this year - Cody Hill). Three of
Meyn's five losses on the season were to wrestlers from Texas.
Another was early in the season to Ehret's Stefon Foster, whom
he beat a few days later. Meyn's other loss - Cody Hill.
Taylor was the aggressor during most of the match but Meyn
countered his single-leg and fireman's carry attempts. In
the 2nd period Meyn did a stand-up switch for the first points
of the match and rode Taylor until the end. In the 3rd
period, Taylor managed an escape but again could not manage a
takedown, preserving Meyn's 2-1 win.
As it stands now, seeding for the LA Classic could have Taylor,
the only wrestler to beat Hill this season (and twice at that)
seeded 4th in Hill's top half of the bracket, which would leave
Calcote and Meyn (who have not wrestled this season) 2nd and
3rd. Add Foster, Jacob Guillory of Comeaux, Angelo
Medina-Perez of King, Josh Caskey of Benton, Devin Bazinet of
Basile, Wyatt LeJeune of Brusly, Jorge Sanchez of Helen Cox -
this weight class is stacked. |
Meyn now sports a
19-5 record while Taylor is 21-6.
Quinn Perret of St. Paul's placed third.
Hill was off this week. Calcote won the
Teurlings Rebel Open while Foster placed 2nd at the Jefferson Parish
Championships at 132 lbs.
[Above: Meyn in gold & red; Taylor in black.]
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|
|
| 132 |
| One reason 126 lbs. is so hard this
year is that St. Paul's senior Connor Campo is at 132 lbs.
Campo was an undefeated Division I state champion last year and
is undefeated this year, including tournament wins at
Mandeville, the St. Tammany Parish Championships and the Capital
City Classic in Tallahassee. Campo had five pins and two
technical falls in his pool matches and his road to Saturday's
finals. Second-seeded Matthew Mire also went 5-0 on Friday
but had a close 5-4 semifinal win over Mason Williams of Brother
Martin. Mire entered with an impressive 13-1 record,
although his one loss was a 2nd period pin by Campo.
History repeated itself. Campo was ahead 6-0 after the
first period via a takedown and two tilts, and he pinned Mire in
3:07 for the title. |
Campo improved his
record to 20-0 while Mire is 20-2.
Mason Williams of Brother Martin placed
third.
[Above: Campo in yellow; Mire in black.]
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|
|
| 138 |
| Catholic's James Claitor does not seem
to have received much attention this year, despite amassing a
12-0 record and winning the Spartan Invitational and the Bulldog
Open before entering the Trey Culotta. Claitor was seeded
second on Friday and won his pool convincingly. A major
decision against St. Paul's Trey LeBlanc put him in the finals.
Vestavia Hills' Morgan Paugh was the top seed at 138 lbs. on
Saturday and pinned all of his pool opponents on Friday.
Seeding rules, though, put East Ascension's Michael Bernard in
Paugh's half of the Saturday bracket and Bernard came through
for the Spartans with a 7-6 victory in the semifinals.
Bernard entered the tournament at 6-6 with a loss to Claitor,
and he lost to Claitor in 3:26 on Friday. Claitor again
dominated Bernard, taking a 7-4 1st period lead and not looking
back, pinning Bernard in 4:46. |
Claitor improved to
20-0 and is one of only four Division I contenders to remain
undefeated.
Bernard is 13-7.
Morgan Paugh of Vestavia Hills placed third.
[Above: Claitor in black; Bernard in blue &
white.]Back to Top
|
|
| 145 |
The top seed Friday was defending
Division I state champion David Englehardt of St. Paul's, who was
9-0 entering the tournament, with wins at the Capital City Classic
and St. Tammany Parish Championships. Englehardt's 5-0
pool record had two wins by only three points but he advanced to
the finals via a pin and a major decision. Will Knox of
Vestavia Hills was the second seed and only ran into trouble in
Saturday's semifinals, needing a 6-4 SV win over Brother
Martin's Patrick Hoppe.
Englehardt started the finals taking down and releasing Knox,
which seemed to frustrate the Alabama wrestler. In the
second period, when he was significantly behind on points, Knox
was warned for stalling while he was riding Englehardt.
Later in the match Knox was penalized for pushing Englehardt off
of the mat. Englehardt was unfazed, though, and continued
to a 16-3 major decision. |
Englehardt is now 17-0.
Patrick Hoppe placed third.
[Above: Englehardt in yellow; Knox in gray.]
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|
|
| 152 |
The only "constant" at 152 lbs. was
top-seeded Daylan Stuteville of Shawnee, Oklahoma, who placed
fourth in the Oklahoma state championships last year.
Stuteville had four pins and a major decision on Friday and two
pins on his way to Saturday's finals. #2 seeded Jordan
Giroir of Brother Martin appeared to be on his way to being a 2nd seed
on Saturday until he matched up with Dominic Iovenetti of St.
Paul's. The 4th-seeded Iovenetti upset Giroir 6-5 to go
5-0 on Friday. His Saturday semifinal match evened his
record against Catholic's Kevin Moran. Moran beat
Iovenetti 7-6 in a dual meet earlier this season, but Iovenetti
prevailed in this match 3-2.
Iovenetti stayed close in the 1st period and trailed only 2-0
beginning the 2nd. Stuteville reversed Iovenetti and used
a leg ride to score near-fall points. In the 3rd period,
Stuteville, starting on top, turned Iovenetti to his back again
and pinned him in 4:30. |
Iovenetti improved
his record to 19-8 and certainly improved his seeding position for the
Louisiana Classic.
Joe Timberlake of Vestavia Hills placed 3rd
with a 5-1 victory over Moran.
[Above: Stuteville in white;
Iovenetti in yellow.]
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|
|
| 160 |
On paper, the 160 lbs. final match
should have been the event of the day. Top-seeded Ricky
Regas of St. Thomas in Houston is an All-American candidate, and
earlier in the season gave Comeaux's Tyrek Malveaux his only
loss of the season, in double overtime, at the Woodlands Tournament. Second
seed Brandon Luckett of Catholic is a defending Division I state
champion and entered with a 21-1 record, with his only loss a
10-8 decision vs. Malveaux. Both wrestlers went 5-0 on
Friday, but Luckett did it in an easier fashion than Regas.
Regas did have to get through Brother Martin's Devin LeBlanc,
the 3rd seed, who was undefeated until that match, won by Regas
6-1. On Saturday Regas needed an SV round to defeat
Christian Queyrouze of Jesuit and just barely got past Jordan
Peterson of St. Paul's 4-2. Luckett won his first two
matches handily on Saturday, including an 8-1 victory over
LeBlanc.
In the finals one understood why "candidate" was attached to
Regas' All-American status. In every way he resembled
"candidate" President Obama in his first debate with Mitt
Romney this year. Regas seemed bored and did absolutely
nothing, to the point that he was warned for stalling in the
first period while the wrestlers were still in the original
neutral starting positions. Luckily, though not
surprisingly, Luckett was able to infiltrate Regas' defensive
posture with a takedown and an escape. In the 3rd period
Luckett let Regas go (Regas' only point) and when Regas realized
his tactics were not going to work on Luckett, he got frustrated
and lost a point by pushing Luckett off of the mat.
Luckett took the championship with a 4-1 win. (To add to
the Luckett family's good fortune on the day, his family also
won a flat-screen television in a raffle.)
For his efforts in getting through Regas' defensive attack,
Luckett was voted the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler by the
participating coaches. |
Luckett is now 29-1
on the season.
Devin LeBlanc placed 3rd with a 3-1 victory
over Peterson..
[Above: Luckett in black; Regas in white.]
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|
|
| 170 |
Top-seeded Travis Bradford of St.
Thomas allowed a lot of points in his pool rounds on Friday, but
scored enough to post a 5-0 record relatively easily.
Second seed Daniel Albrecht of Brother Martin had an easier time
until his last match against Jesuit's Jimmy Brown, but he
prevailed 7-6. But Brown was not finished, and as the 4th
seed, he upset Bradford in the semifinals 5-1. Meanwhile,
Albrecht stumbled only a little on his way to the finals,
getting by Jack Ingalls of Mandeville 7-4 in the semis.
Aside from his win over Brown in Friday's pool Albrecht had
already beaten Brown 10-4 at the Mandeville Open in November.
In their third match Albrecht did not give Brown a chance,
taking him down with a double-leg shot and pinning him at 1:11
of the 1st period. |
Albrecht improved
his record to 24-2, with his only losses coming from out-of-state foes.
Brown moved to 14-7 on the season.
Bradford placed 3rd with a 7-2 victory over
Ingalls..
[Above: Albrecht in gold & red; Brown in
blue.]Back to Top
|
|
| 182 |
| Brother Martin's Kyle Delaune is tall,
lanky, double-jointed and, in not only his own words, "funky."
Those attributes have served last year's state-runner-up well
this season, as he had only one blemish, from a non-Louisiana
wrestler, on his 17-1 record entering the Trey Culotta.
Delaune was not even tested on his way into Saturday's finals,
scoring five pins, a technical fall and winning one match on a
disqualification. Second seed Gage Grush of Jesuit was
18-3 prior to the Trey Culotta. A pool opponent's injury
only necessitated three matches on Friday, but he won all three
with pins and had a pin and a major decision on his path to the
finals. Delaune and Grush had not previously wrestled each
other, but Delaune's aggression and agility proved to be too
much. The match was not as close as the 6-2 victory seems
to indicate, but Grush served notice that Louisiana wrestlers
are not going to "just lie down" for Delaune. |
Delaune
now has a 25-1 record.
Grush's stands at a very respectable
25-4
Walker Smith of Shawnee placed 3rd with a
16-7 victory over Aaron Gambino, an "unattached" Brother Martin wrestler.
[Above: Delaune in gold & red; Grush in
blue.]Back to Top
|
|
| 195 |
| Jesuit's 16-2 Manny Armour's losses
came at the Mid-American Tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He
had three falls and four technical falls on his way to the
finals. His finals opponent, Gage Humphrey, was from
Shawnee High School in Oklahoma, and he pinned seven wrestlers on
his way to meet Armour. Humphrey should have stopped after
his seventh pin. Armour man-handled Humphrey with a
takedown and several near-falls en route to a 2nd period pin at
3:53. |
Armour's record is
now 24-2.
Caleb Sutton of Catholic placed 3rd with a
5-3 decision over Yehia Riles of Brother Martin.
[Above: Armour in blue; Humphrey in
white.]Back to Top
|
|
| 220 |
| Jovial and polite off the mat, Vestavia
Hills freshman Dalton Campbell is quite different when the
whistle blows. The top seed at 220 lbs. pinned his five
pool opponents on Friday and won on Saturday with scores of 9-4
and 10-2 to reach the finals. Brother Martin senior Josh
Tapia, with his 14-3 record, was seeded second to Campbell.
Tapia pinned his five pool opponents in a combined time of 3:47.
After a 1st period pin in Saturday's quarterfinals Tapia was
challenged by 3rd seed Miles Nash of Catholic, but prevailed
6-4. Campbell, though, was not impressed. Early in
the 1st period Campbell stood Tapia up and then back-tripped him
and kept him on his back, pinning him in 18 seconds. |
Tapia is now 23-4.
Dom Carmello of Jesuit took 3rd with a 1:29
pin of Nash.
[Above: Campbell in gray & red; Tapia in gold
& red.]Back to Top
|
|
| 285 |
The winner of the 285 lb. weight class
wins the Trey Culotta Award. #1 seed Ross Brister of
Brother Martin was 10-3, with his only losses coming from to non-Louisiana
wrestlers. Brister went 5-0 on Friday, although he ran
into a little trouble against East Ascension's Conor Karwath,
winning 5-2. Zac Creel of Jesuit was seeded 2nd overall,
or 1st in his pool, on Friday, but that pool was the least
true-to-form of the tournament. Creel went 3-2 on the day.
Shawnee's Ryan Goodfox and Vestavia Hill's Jahaad Jackson each
went 4-1. Jackson was pinned by Fontainebleau's Christian
Ponson in 3:27, but Ponson only managed three wins in the pool.
Goodfox's loss was via a 3:44 pin by Jackson, so Jackson ended
up winning the pool and being the second seed in Saturday's
bracket. Jackson had to pins on his way to the finals, but
Brister had a tough 3-0 win against Ponson before a semifinals
pin in 1:54 over Goodfox.
The finals match was scoreless after the 1st period but Brister
started the 2nd with a reversal, let Jackson go, took him down
and let him go again for a 4-2 lead. In the 3rd period
Jackson netted an escape but could not get a takedown on
Brister, who was ahead 4-3 when the match ended. |
Brister moved to
18-3 on the season.
Karwath took 3rd for East Ascension with a
pin in 2:20 over Jack Reidy of St. Thomas.
[Above: Brister in gold & red; Jackson in gray
& red.]Back to Top
|
|
After a short Christmas break all of the local schools who participated in
the Trey Culotta, with the exception of Archbishop Shaw, which will be at the
Evangel Holiday Classic in Shreveport, are scheduled to participate in the Deep
South Bayou Duals on December 28th and 29th at the River Center in Baton Rouge.
