145 Pounds

#5 Sidney Rodriguez of Catholic vs. #1 Tyler Frame of Rummel in the Division I semifinals.

Division I

25 wrestlers competed in the Division I 145 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Returning from an injury that kept him from wrestling for five weeks, Rummel's Tyler Frame defeated Jesuit's Efosa Eboigbe 6-1 and John Curtis' Nicholas Bloomer 18-2 prior to the state championships. Frame was seeded first, entering the tournament with a 27-1 record, his only loss being to Redemptorist's defending Division III state champion Grant Godso, who outscored him in the last few seconds of the Sam Sara finals.  Frame won the Raider Open, the Mandeville Open and the George Trygg prior to his injury in the finals of the Teurlings Rebel Open.  Returning a little earlier than Frame from an injury was Brother Martin's Tyler Robertson, who had a 9-1 record against Louisiana competition with his only loss being in overtime to Frame at the Mandeville Open.  Robertson won the Cinco Ranch "Big 12" in Texas and the Blackhorse Invitational in Tennessee.  Upon his return he won the Greater New Orleans Championships.  During the absence of Frame and Robertson the Blue Jays' Eboigbe earned recognition by winning the Louisiana Classic, and was seeded third.  Dutchtown sophomore Brandon Cowell the runner-up at the Greater Baton Rouge Championships, was seeded fourth.

And then there's this guy...

Dominic Iovenitti of St. Paul 2012-13 LWN SEED BUSTER St. Paul 145 lb. wrestler Dominic Iovenitti cannot be trusted to abide by the efforts of the best seeding committees in the state.

What can one do with Dominic Iovenitti?  The St. Paul wrestler shows absolutely no respect for the hard work performed by seeding committees or just an "average Joe" who likes to determine rankings. In 2012-13 he won the Trygg as a second seed.   To do so he beat Parkview Baptist's Marshall Hill, who a few months later would be a state champion in Division III.  Now that is not too "upsetting", and neither was his win a little later in the St. Tammany Parish Championships as he was the best 152 lb. wrestler there. A week later, though, as a #5 seed at the Trey Culotta, he beat #2 Jordan Giroir of Brother Martin and went on to place second.  At the Deep South Bayou Duals he defeated Teurlings Catholic's 2012 state runner-up Brennan Trosclair.  At the Louisiana Classic Iovenitti was the fifth seed but defeated #4 Patrick Hoppe of Brother Martin, and no slouch in Colin Laird of North Vermillion who had defeated the #1 seed, to make it to the finals. Then there was the state tournament.  Iovenitti was seeded #7, but in the quarterfinals he defeated #2 Tyler Robertson (photo left) 5-2. This disrespect is not limited to the 2012-2013 season.  In 2011 he beat Hill again at the Trygg after Hill beat the #2 seed Brent Matherne.  And in the 2012 state tournament the unseeded Iovenitti barely lost to #5 John Mudge of Brother Martin 5-4, and then went on to place fifth, defeating the # 6, #7 and #8 seeds. The senior finished his season at 28-11 (34-16).  Starting the season at 152 lbs., he moved down to 145 lbs. when teammate David Englehardt moved down to 138 lbs., which allowed Tanner LeBlanc to compete at 152 lbs. for the Wolves. "Regarding him, he is in my opinion one of the best wrestlers in the state. And as odd as that sounds for somebody finishing in 6th place this year, I mean it. In fact, he was my main practice partner this year, and we would go back and forth a lot. He honestly may have beaten me more than I beat him this year in practice." - David Englehardt

Rounds 1, 2 and Quarterfinals

East Ascension's Aidan Carter was the first upset victim in the bracket.  He would not be the last.  Carter lost to Zachary's Brice Ortego in 1:38 in the bracket's first round.  Ortego was the only non-top-8 seed in the quarterfinals.

Frame took care of Ortego in 4:00 to be the first to advance to the semifinals.  But it was #5 seed Sydney Rodriguez of Catholic who advanced next via a 9-7 win over Dutchtown's #4 Cowell, avenging a February 2nd 11-4 loss in the Greater Baton Rouge Championships, which was Rodriguez's first match of the year.  Eboigbe needed a "Sudden Victory" round to defeat John Ehret's #6 seed Jack Fontenot 8-6.  In the last quarterfinal, #7 Dominic Iovenitti of St. Paul's, who showed absolutely no respect for seeding committee decisions all season, did so again by besting #2 Robertson 5-2.

Frame putting Ortego on his back.	Rodriguez upending Cowell.	Eboigbe and Fontenot.	Iovenitti and Robertson.

Semifinals

The fifth-seeded Rodriguez from Catholic placed third in 2012 at 120 lbs.  But the senior had grown substantially since last season and only found a place on the Bears' state squad due to a season-ending injury to teammate Reid Burns.  He entered with a record of 4-2 but was not intimidated.  He threw the Raider top seed to his back to score five points, and scored four more to Frame's three, resulting in a 9-3 victory and the first and only introduction of a top-seeded Division I wrestler to the consolation bracket.

Eboigbe and Iovenitti had met in the finals of the Louisiana Classic, another event in which Iovenitti scoffed at his #5 seeding by beating #4 Patrick Hoppe of Brother Martin and #8 Colin Laird of North Vermillion, who had previously defeated the #1 seed, Cody Thomas of Parkway.  Eboigbe dominated Iovenitti in the finals though, with a 17-9 major decision.  Their state semifinal match did not take quite as long as Eboigbe was able to pin his St. Paul opponent in 5:23 to advance to the finals against Rodriguez.

Rodriguez puts Frame on his back...	...and struggles for a pin.	Eboigbe earns a spot in the finals.	Eboigbe pleased very much to get past Iovenitti again.

Consolation Rounds

#4 Cowell advanced through his first three matches in the consolation round to make it to the consolation finals.  He scored a 21-6 technical fall over East Ascension's Carter, pinned Lafayette freshman Damian Lasseigne in 2:22, and then pinned the unpredictable Iovenitti in 3:00.  Robertson, Brother Martin's #2 seed, had just as long a road as Cowell.  He pinned Covington's Hayden Parsons in 0:18 and then scored a 8-0 major decision over Ehret's Jack Fontenot to set-up a rematch of the Mandeville Open finals against Frame in the consolation semifinals.  Robertson avenged the earlier loss 3-0 to advance.  In the fifth-place match Frame had a difficult time but defeated Iovenitti 5-1.  Robertson had a harder time to win third, decisioning Cowell 6-4. 

Finals: #3 Efosa Eboigbe (Jesuit) versus #5 Sidney Rodriguez (Catholic)

Rodriguez led 2-0 after the first period and then, with Rodriguez starting in the bottom position, the two wrestlers exchanged reversals and Rodriguez led 4-2 entering the third period.  Eboigbe chose to start in the neutral position.  With 0:30 remaining Eboigbe took down Rodriguez to tie the match 4-4, but Rodriguez was able to escape and win the championship, as a #5 seed, 5-4.

Eboigbe, only a junior, finished with a 31-7 (42-9) record.  Finishing the season with an 8-2 record, Rodriguez brings back recollections of another 5th-seeded senior to win Division I.  In 2005 Mandeville's Caleb Levee broke his wrist while playing football and only wrestled one match prior to the state tournament.  Levee was seeded #5, scored a 12-4 major decision over Jesuit's top-seeded Cameron Loebig, and then defeated Rummel's #2 Mark Rome 11-4 to win his second Division I state championship.

The two finalists at the start of the match.	Rodriguez stand-up on Eboigbe.	Eboigbe ties the match 4-4 with a takedown in the third.	Eboigbe tries to ride Rodriguez and go into overtime.

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Division II

Nineteen wrestlers competed in the Division II 145 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Northwest Louisiana 's presence made itself known in the Division II 145 lbs. bracket.  Anthony Dean of Benton was 18-4 and defeated Huntington's Anthony Taylor 3-2 in the finals of the North Louisiana Regionals, his final match before the state tournament.  Dean defeated Cody Thomas of Parkway in the same tournament, and Taylor defeated Thomas in the Ken Cole tournament.  Dean was seeded first, followed by Taylor at #2 and Thomas at #3.  Bryant Montero of St. Thomas More in Lafayette broke the northwest Louisiana stranglehold as he was seeded fourth. 

Rounds 1, 2 and Quarterfinals

Round 1 had no upsets but round 2 did when Holy Cross' unseeded David Olivier defeated Teurlings Catholic's #5 Alexander Kellar 7-4, which at the time was considered a crucial win by the Tigers.

The quarterfinals held no surprises at all.  Dean pinned Northwood's #8 Jason Wallette in 2:57.  #4 Montero had to work hard but got past Olivier 9-7.  Thomas pinned Baton Rouge's #6 Jarrett Moss in 1:22 and Taylor pinned #7 Austin Hodge of Live Oak in 1:53. 

Semifinals

#4 Bryant Montero of St. Thomas More started the season very strong, winning the Central and Sam Sara tournaments and placing second in the Griffin Open.  After Rayne's Cody Manuel prevented his placing in the top-six at the Ken Cole, he came back and won the Lafayette Metro tournament which included a win over Manuel.  Dean, the junior from Benton, proved the stronger and advanced to the finals with a 6-3 win.

Huntington senior Taylor had a 23-1 record entering the tournament, and in it was a 6-4 victory over Parkway's Cody Thomas at the Ken Cole.  In another even closer match in the semifinals, Thomas proved one point better, despite losing a point for stalling, winning a 3-2 match.

Montero upends Dean.	Dean gains control and threatens to put Montero on his back.	Thomas and Taylor vie for takedown opportunities.	Thomas counters a Taylor single-leg attack.	Taylor contemplates an arm-drag against Thomas.

Consolation Rounds

The unseeded Olivier just wanted to help his teammates any way that he could.  He did that with his Round 2 win over Kellar and, in the consolation bracket, pins in 2:14 over Central's Ben Averette and in 4:51 over St. Michael's Dylan Verret.  In the consolation semifinals, though, Taylor was more than Olivier could handle, and the Huntington senior won via a 15-2 major decision.  Teurlings Catholic's Kellar showed his dissatisfaction with losing in Round 2 by pinning Live Oak's Hodge in 2:26, scoring a major decision over Baton Rouge's Moss, 14-6, and then defeating #4 Montero 6-1.  For fifth place Montero outlasted Olivier 8-3, but the Tiger senior did all a coach could ask for by winning three matches.  In the consolation finals, the Ken Cole champion Taylor was unflappable, pinning Kellar in 3:41.

Finals: #1 Andre Dean (Benton) versus #3 Cody Thomas (Parkway)

Having avenged his loss in the Ken Cole to Taylor, Thomas, entering with a 32-4 record against Louisianans, set his sights on doing the same to Benton's Andre Dean, who defeated Thomas 4-2 in the Northwest Louisiana Regional Championships.  In another close match Thomas did just that, persevering over Dean 6-4 and winning a state championship.  The senior finished the season with a 6-4 (40-4) record.  Dean, a junior who should make his presence known statewide next season, finished 21-5 (22-5).

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Division III

Seventeen wrestlers competed in the Division III 145 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Redemptorist senior and returning Division III state champion Grant Godso lost two matches all season.  The first was in mid-November to East Ascension's Michael Bernard.  The second was in the semifinals of the Louisiana Classic, a 3-1 defeat by Jesuit's Efosa Eboigbe.  Godso went on to place third.  (Godso lost to Huntington's Anthony Taylor in the finals of the Ken Cole due to a concussion that halted the match.)  His wins were impressive: a 2:05 fall over Comeaux's Abram Sellers; a 5-3 decision and a 4:45 pin against Catholic's then 145 lbs. wrestler Reid Burns; a 5-2 win over Brother Martin's Patrick Hoppe; 7-4 and 5-3 wins over Dutchtown's Brandon Cowell and, most impressively, a 4-3 victory over the then undefeated Tyler Frame of Rummel at the Sam Sara.  But those were victories against Division I wrestlers.  In Division III he was seeded first due to a 6-5 win over North Vermillion's Colin Laird, who received the #2 seed, and four decisions over Parkview Baptist's Marshall Hill, who was seeded third.  Rayne senior Cody Manuel was seeded fourth.

Rounds 1, 2 and Quarterfinals

Only one Round 1 match was contested, pitting two freshmen against each other.  North Desoto's Ethan Sarpy pinned Jude Hebert of Kaplan in 3:21.  Round 2 presented two surprises.  Evangel's Jabriel Hall outpointed #8 seed Avery Jones of Bossier 10-9.  Shortly thereafter John Curtis junior Rod Schouest pinned #5 Trey Fontenot of Basile in 3:36.  Avoiding those little mishaps in round 2, the top four seeds advanced to the semifinals as expected.  Godso pinned Evangel's Hall in 5:20 while Manuel did the same to Schouest in 3:38.  #3 Marshall Hill had a difficult time with #6 Quinton Berthelot but got by with a 9-6 decision.  #7 James Davis of Episcopal lost to #2 Laird by a fall in 5:16.

Episcopal's James Davis rides North Vermillion's Colin Laird.	#3 Marshall Hill (in white) tries to keep Brusly's Quinton Berthelot on the mat for a takedown.	Hill slips behind Berthelot to take him down.

Semifinals

Godso had to wrestler the full six minutes against Manuel and ended up the winner by an 8-4 score, advancing into the state championship finals for the second straight year

At this point Mr. Hill must have started to disagree with his seeding.  #2 Laird took him down quickly but when Laird tried to insert a leg-ride, Hill pulled Laird over and pinned him in 0:26.

Consolation Rounds

Fisher's Darby Fabre is in trouble against Basile's Trey Fontenot.  But Fabre was able to extract himself from that position and win the match 11-9.

In the consolation rounds Jones of Bossier had to get through two matches to challenge one of the losers of the semifinals matches.  He won his first one when Brusly's Quinton Berthelot had to withdraw due to an injury.  In his second match he pinned Episcopal's James Davis in 3:29 for the right to wrestle Rayne's Manuel to get to the third-place match.  But Manuel stopped Jones' progress with an 11-5 decision, sending Manuel to the consolation finals and Jones to the match for fifth place.  Evangel's Hall followed the same path in the top half of the consolation brackets.  Hall beat Doyline's Christopher Inocencio 4-2 and, if that was not hard enough, needed to use 7:30 to win an "Ultimate Tie-breaker" 3-3over Schouest of John Curtis.  After those two hard matches he got the pleasure of meeting a well-rested Colin Laird.  Hall made the North Vermillion Patriot go the entire six minutes, but Laird scored the majority of the points, winning 12-5.  Hall then got to meet Jones in the match for fifth place.  Another five minutes of wrestling favored the Bossier wrestler as Jones won 7-0.  In the consolation finals Manuel and Laird wrestled a very close match, but Laird prevailed 3-1 to take third place for North Vermillion.

Finals: #1 Grant Godso (Redemptorist) versus #3 Marshall Hill (Parkview Baptist)

In four previous matches this season Grant Godso of Redemptorist defeated Marshall Hill of Parkview Baptist by scores of 8-2, 15-8, 3-2 and 12-7.  Hill probably was not thinking about those matches before his finals match.  He might easily have been thinking "I just pinned a guy in 0:26 that my current opponent only beat 6-5."  Whatever he was thinking, it worked.  Twenty seconds into the second period Hill had a 6-3 lead over Godso.  Godso scored one more point but Hill just seemed to be able to turn Godso to his back at will, scoring six points and walking off of the mat with a 12-4 victory and a state championship.  Hill finished the season with a 26-16 record and will be back again next year.  Godso ended a fantastic season on a discordant note, but can certainly be pleased with his 36-3 record.

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