132 Pounds

#1 Connor Campo of St. Paul vs. #2 Rick LaCava of Rummel in the Division I finals.

Division I

Twenty-four wrestlers competed in the Division I 132 lbs. state championships

Introduction

Connor Campo pinning an opponent at the Deep South Bayou Duals on December 29th, 2012.

Connor Campo did not lose a match to a Louisiana wrestler in his state championship junior season.  In his senior season he added Floridians, Oklahomans, Texans, and, suffice to say, anyone who stepped onto a wrestling mat to face him.  Campo was 39-0 upon entering the state championships.  He won the Mandeville Open, The Capitol City Classic in Tallahassee, Florida, the St. Tammany Parish Championships, the Trey Culotta, was undefeated at the Deep South Bayou Duals, won the Louisiana Classic for the second time and the St. Paul's Invitational.  The closest someone came to matching him was 3-2, but that was against a wrestler from Platte County, Missouri.  Among Louisiana wrestlers, Catholic's Matthew Mire came closest to not being pinned by Campo in a 10-1 major decision.  He pinned 30 of his 39 adversaries, scored major decision over two and scored technical falls over six.  Yet Campo was seeded...right...#1. Rummel's Rick LaCava dominated the weight class when he was not wrestling Campo, and he was seeded #2.  He was 26-2 (33-4) entering the tournament, with wins at the Sam Sara and the Teurlings "Rebel Open" and had defeated the likes of Helen Cox's Jorge Sanchez, North Vermillion's Austin Scalisi, Lafayette's Adrian Ducote and, twice, Brusly's Trevor Schermer.  LaCava's two losses to Louisiana competition were both pins by Campo. Mire and LaCava had not wrestled before, but Mire lost to Schermer twice so was seeded third.  Mire beat Ducote and Sulphur's Trey Duhon had lost to Ducote, so Duhon was seeded fourth.

 Rounds 1, 2 and Quarterfinals

The first round went as expected and in the second round only the #8 seed, Fontainebleau's Michael Hart, was upset, losing to Hahnville Cameron Cambre by a fall in 3:50 All four top seeds advanced through the quarterfinals.  Campo pinned Cambre in 0:54 while Duhon of Sulphur did the same to #5 Mason Williams of Brother Martin in 1:27.  Matthew Mire of Catholic scored a 19-10 major decision for a second win over Jesuit's #6 Jackie Robinson (photo left) and LaCava pinned Mandeville 's #7 Garrett Pellegrin in 3:35.

Semifinals

#1 Campo and #4 Trey Duhon of Sulphur had not met during the season.  Campo provided Duhon with a full tour of his arsenal in scoring a 17-1 technical fall 4:56 to reach his second state finals match (photo left). #3 Mire proved a difficult task for #2 LaCava in their first meeting of the season, but the Rummel Raider remained defeated only by Campo as yet in Louisiana with a 8-4 decision.

Consolation Rounds

Crusader #5-seeded sophomore Mason Williams placed fourth at 132 lbs.

Jesuit's #6 seed Jackie Robinson quickly advanced to the consolation semifinals with a pin in 3:37 over Fontainebleau's Michael Hart and another pin in 2:48 over #7 Pellegrin of Mandeville.  In the consolation semifinals he met Duhon, though, and the Sulphur wrestler pinned him in 1:00. Brother Martin sophomore Mason Williams, the son of 1983 Crusader state champion Patrick Williams, advanced in the wrestlebacks with a pin over Comeaux's Kole Miller in 1:55 and another pin over Hahnville's Cameron Cambre in 3:57.  In the consolation semifinals Williams faced #3 Mire of Catholic.  Mire had 6-3, 5-4 and 7-4 wins over Williams during the season, but this match went in Williams' favor, albeit it narrowly, 4-3.  Both wrestlers are sophomores so they may see each other again in the next two years. Mire won an 11-5 victory against Robinson on December 28th but had a much harder time in this match with the Blue Jay senior.  Tied 10-10 after the first three rounds, Mire won 12-10 with a takedown in the "Sudden Victory" period to take fifth place for the Bears. Sulphur's Duhon, also a sophomore, showed little regard for the Brother Martin sophomore, as he pinned Williams in 0:58.  But both wrestlers had placed one spot higher than they were seeded.  Duhon, though, had a very impressive 3-1 record in the tournament. His three wins were pins in 3:56, 1:27 and 0:56.

Finals: #1 Connor Campo (St. Paul) versus #2 Rick LaCava (Rummel)

Now at 42-0, Campo saw no reason not to try to pin LaCava as he had in their previous two encounters in 2:00 and 1:28.  He did just that in 1:39 to win his second Division I state title.  Campo finished the season 43-0.

LaCava had a great year posting a 28-3 (35-5) record, with his only losses being to arguably the best wrestler in the state.  He finished fourth in the state tournament as a sophomore.  He divided that place by two as a junior to finish second.  Divide that by two.

Campo stalks LaCava at the outset of their finals match.	Campo trips-up LaCava with a single leg.	Campo supervises the choreography of LaCava and the official.	Campo wins his second state championship.

Back to Top

Division II

Twenty-three wrestlers competed in the Division II 132 lbs. state championships

Introduction

This was one of the toughest weight classes of the tournament.  The #1 seed, Jorge Sanchez of Helen Cox, placed third in 2012 at 120 lbs.  Second-seeded Holy Cross Tiger Nicholas Bonck placed sixth at 132 lbs.  Third-seeded Jacob Rees of Teurlings Catholic placed sixth at 126 lbs., and fourth-seeded Jordan Mastrianni of Belle Chasse placed third at 132 lbs.  Bonck earned the second spot with a win over Sulphur's Trey Duhon at the Louisiana Classic, whereas Rees lost to Duhon at the Ken Cole.  Somewhat surprising was Mastrianni's #4 seeding.  Of his six losses during the season, three were one point decisions and only one point differential went as high as four.  Quite possibly, the fact that Mastrianni had only wrestled at 132 lbs. in his last match before the state tournament contributed to his seeding snub.

Sanchez had something else besides the competition that threatened his chances of winning a state championship.  He had no other teammates from Helen Cox, and had to depend on other programs to be able to get quality practice time.

Rounds 1, 2 and Quarterfinals

No upsets were to be had in the first or second rounds. The quarterfinals went as seeded, also.  Sanchez scored a major 14-2 decision over #8 Jeffrey Lewis of Benton.  Mastrianni used most of the time allotted and finally pinned St. Thomas More's Andre' #5 Walther in 5:18 (photo left).  Rees had a tougher match vs. #6 Austin Smith of Parkway but advanced with a 5-1 decision.  Bonck had little trouble with #7 Ryan Williams of Woodlawn in a 9-0 major decision.

Semifinals # 1

Belle Chasse was one of the schools at which Sanchez practiced, and he had become good friends with Jordan Mastrianni, who wrestled at 138 lbs. for most of the year.  But Mastrianni had lost to Holy Cross' George Benoit and twice to Live Oak's Seth Bosarge, and decided he might have a better chance at success at 132 lbs., despite Sanchez's presence there.  Their semifinals match was a classic.  Scoring was held to a minimum but neither wrestler lacked aggression or ceded easy points to the other.  By the time the "Ultimate Tie-breaker" round started, after eight minutes of wrestling, the two were tied 2-2.  The choice in the final 30 seconds belonged to Sanchez.  He chose the bottom position and finally scored an escape against Mastrianni to survive the match 3-2.

Semifinals # 2

Bonck and Rees also had a close semifinals match.  The two had not previously met and both proved worthy of a spot against Sanchez in the finals, but after a 5-4 match it was Bonck who made it to the finals.

Consolation Rounds

Eight-seeded Camera of St. Louis started the wrestlebacks with a fall in 2:14 over St. Michael's Jesse Zeringue, and then benefitted from two forfeits to reach the consolation semifinals against Mastrianni.  Benton's #8 Jeffrey Lewis pinned McKinley's Jevon Wiley in 2:31 and then edged #5 Andre' Walther of St. Thomas More 2-0 in a "Sudden Victory" period to meet #3 Rees.  Rees defeated Lewis 9-2 to meet #4 Mastrianni, who pinned Camera in 3:47, in the consolation finals.  Lewis scored a 9-4 victory over Camera to place fifth for Benton.  Mastrianni, a third-place finisher in 2012, repeated that accomplishment by pinning Rees in 0:43 and take third place again. 

Finals: #1 Jorge Sanchez (Helen Cox) versus #2 Nicholas Bonck (Holy Cross)

Sanchez and Bonck had not met before and the match stayed very close.  Sanchez had a 3-2 lead with 1:28 left but Bonck escaped to tie the score at 3-3.  It was Sanchez who scored a final takedown in the last 30 seconds.  Bonck was able to escape but did not have time to score again and Sanchez won a state championship for Helen Cox as the only member of their wrestling team ever.  Sanchez finished the season 33-7 (35-7) while Bonck, another Tiger who is only a sophomore, finished 30-10 (33-12).

Back to Top

Division III

Four-time Division III state champion Austin Schermer debates the wisdom of informing the Louisiana Wrestling News that when he has the time he beats-up his little brother Trevor at Brusly wrestling practices.  Schermer further commented that such behavior is condoned and even encouraged by members of the Brusly High School coaching staff and many Brusly, Louisiana, parents. If such practices continue at Brusly, it is highly likely that the Schermer brothers will attain eight state championships between them come February of 2014.

Eighteen wrestlers competed in the Division III 132 lbs. state championships

Introduction

Brusly's Trevor Schermer turns Jesuit's Jackie Robinson to his back in the Ken Cole finals.  Schermer won the match 10-5.

Little mystery surrounded who would be the Division III #1 seed at 132 lbs. Brusly junior Trevor Schermer had won two previous Division III state championships.  In this season he won the Griffin Open, his third Brusly Invitational, his second Ken Cole championship and the Greater Baton Rouge Championships.  He entered the tournament with a 36-3 (40-4) record having only suffered losses to Rummel's Rick LaCava and Holy Cross' George Benoit. The second spot went to Bossier's Oscar Telles due to wins over two wrestlers who had defeated #3 Cameron Corley of Lakeside.  Church Point's sophomore Mason Olivier was seeded fourth.

Rounds 1, 2 and Quarterfinals

Only two matches between four unseeded wrestlers comprised Round 1, but two upsets were recorded in Round 2.  Anthony Seaux of Rayne edged #8 Jeffrey Kirkland of Thomas Jefferson 9-7 and Evangel freshman Hunter Williams pinned #7 James Graham of South Plaquemines in 1:46.  The remaining six top seeds advanced to the quarterfinals.

Two more upsets occurred in the quarterfinals.  Basile's #5 Gavin Cortez pinned Church Point's #4 Mavrick Olivier in 0:34 and Holy Rosary's #6 Reid DiMaggio surprised the third-seeded Corley of Lakeside in 3:06.  Schermer advanced with a fall over Rayne's Seaux in 3:00 and Telles took even less time to pin Evangel's Withers, doing so in 1:59.

Semifinals

The semifinals took less than five minutes to complete.  Brusly's Schermer had pinned #5 Gavin Cortez in 1:15 on January 12th and he pinned the Basile eighth-grader again this time in 2:00.  Telles had to go into the second period but then recorded a fall against #6 DiMaggio.

When not warned in advance, this is often the only pose one gets of Trevor Schermer.

Bossier's Oscar Telles puts Holy Rosary's Reid DiMaggio on his back.

Consolation Rounds 

Lakeside's #3 Cameron Corley had the longest road in the consolation bracket.  He got past Thomas Jefferson's # 8 Kirkland in 1:26 and then defeated Evangel's Withers 15-9.  That set him up against the Basile eighth-grader Cortez who, in his two wins before meeting Schermer, averaged pins in 0:33.  But the junior Corley was seeded third for a reason, and he pinned Cortez in 2:39 to reach the consolation finals.  Rayne's unseeded Seaux advanced far enough to meet DiMaggio after the latter's semifinal loss.  Seaux pinned Doyline's Levi Dufour with a fall in 4:40 and then beat # 7 Graham of South Plaquemines 9-3.  DiMaggio stopped Seaux's string of wins with a fall in 2:16 to advance to the consolation finals.  For fifth place the eight-grader from Basile prevailed over Seaux with a 10-2 major decision.  In the consolation finals 41 points were scored.  It was a rematch of the quarterfinals match won by DiMaggio, but Corley exacted revenge, outscoring DiMaggio 23-18. 

Finals: #1 Trevor Schermer (Brusly) versus # 2 Oscar Telles (Bossier)

Schermer bided his time against Bossier's second-seeded Oscar Telles.  That meant only cautiously building a 7-1 lead after the first period.  Once he knew he was in control he turned things up a notch and started scoring at will.  Telles managed one more point but Schermer scored 11 more, ending the match very close to pinning the Bearkat.  Schermer ended the season 40-3 (41-4) and with his third straight Division III state title.  Telles ended a very respectable senior year as a state finalist with a 17-7 record.

Back to Top