160 Pounds

#1 Austin Bohne of Rayne vs. #8 Brandon Ashlock of Evangel in the Division III quarterfinals.

Division I

Twenty-two wrestlers competed in the Division I 160 lbs. state championships

Introduction

Luckett defeated Houston St. Thomas' Ricky Regas in the Trey Culotta finals.

Catholic High's Brandon Luckett Defending Division I 152 lbs. state champion Brandon Luckett of Catholic entered the tournament with a 35-1 record against Louisiana wrestlers.  His sole loss was a 10-8 decision in the finals of the Spartan Invitational to two-time defending state champion Tyrek Malveaux of Comeaux.  Whether out of professional courtesy or that the win over Luckett was just too close, Malveaux dropped to 152 lbs. for the vast majority of the remainder of the season.  Luckett won the Central Invitational, the Baton Rouge "Bulldog Open," the Trey Culotta Invitational, the Louisiana Classic and, for the third time, the Greater Baton Rouge Championships.  In fact, at the Trey Culotta, Luckett was able to do what Malveaux was unable to do - defeat Houston St. Thomas' highly touted Ricky Regas.  Whatever people may call what Regas did on the mat, Luckett used wrestling moves to earn a 4-1 victory. When Devin LeBlanc moved down to 152 lbs. Brother Martin had a vacancy at 160 lbs.  It was very adequately filled by senior Patrick Hoppe, who had wrestled at 145 lbs. in the absence of the injured Tyler Robertson.  Hoppe posted a 6-1 record at 160 lbs. winning over St. Paul's Jordan Peterson and Holy Cross' Brice Duhe, and only losing to Division II's Kody Woodson of Shaw.  In his last three matches he won the Greater New Orleans championship and earned a #2 seed at State.  Peterson was seeded third and Mandeville's Frankie Arena, a Ken Cole finalist, was seeded fourth.

Rounds 1, 2 and Quarterfinals

Round 1 had no unexpected results, but Round 2 found two seeding victims.  #6 Mason Schexnaydre fell to unseeded Josh Gauthe of Destrehan by a fall in 4:55.  And #8 Jon Robinson of Comeaux fell to Jesuit freshman Guy Patron, Jr. in a 16-7 major decision (photo left).  The victory was particularly satisfying for the young Patron for, though he placed third at the Ken Cole while Robinson placed fifth, Robinson had knocked Patron out of the winner's bracket in the quarterfinals of that tournament.

The quarterfinals provided one upset, and again it was a #5 seed defeating a #4 seed.  Sulphur's Josh Crochet scored a 7-5 victory and the right to face Luckett in the semifinals, as the Catholic senior scored a 16-1 technical fall over Patron (photo right).  #3 Peterson got by Gauthe 7-2 while #2 Hoppe had a very difficult time with Acadiana's Eric Duhon, Jr., edging the sophomore 8-7.

Patron, Jr. over Robinson	Luckett over Mire (EA) in Round 2.	Luckett over Patron, Jr. in the quarterfinals.

Semifinals

The first semifinal was won in an unfortunate manner by Luckett, as Crochet suffered a concussion very early which prevented him from continuing in the championships.  In the second semifinal size might have caught up with Hoppe, as Peterson, who Hoppe had only beaten by a 7-5 score at the St. Paul's Invitational two weeks earlier, returned the favor by beating Hoppe 6-3.  Peterson would next face Luckett in the finals. 

Consolation Rounds

The Jesuit freshman got over his loss to Luckett quickly, pinning Fontainebleau's Roland Landry in 2:31 and then upsetting Arena (photo-left) convincingly 10-3.  His luck ran out, though just barely, against #2 Hoppe, who defeated him 1-0 in the consolation semifinals.  Patron automatically placed fifth due to Crochet's injury in the semifinals. Destrehan's Gauthe also benefitted by Crochet's injury, but he earned the opportunity with a 5-0 win over Robinson and a 7-3 victory over Zachary's Daniel Rittell.  The Crochet forfeit propelled Gauthe into the consolation finals against Hoppe, but the Brother Martin senior showed renewed vigor, scoring a 13-5 major decision to place third.

Finals: #1 Brandon Luckett (Catholic) versus #3 Jordan Peterson (St. Paul)

Peterson had the pleasure of Luckett's acquaintance once before in the Louisiana Classic, at which Luckett pinned him in 1:35.  Luckett could not pin him this time, so he settled for a 17-5 major decision instead to earn his second Division I state championship.  Luckett finished the season 39-1 (50-3).  Peterson finished the season 30-6 (35-9).

Back to Top

Division II

Thirteen wrestlers competed in the Division II 160 lbs. state championships

Introduction

All indications pointed to St. Louis Catholic's defending 160 lbs. state champion Louis Stutes and the 2012 152 lbs. runner-up, Shaw's Kody Woodson, meeting in the 160 lbs. finals to settle a season series tied a one win apiece.  Stutes won a 6-4 decision over Woodson on December 8th at the Brother Martin Duals.  Woodson surprised Stutes on January 12th with a 9-7 victory at the Holy Cross Division II Duals (photo-left).  With their matches split 1-1, Woodson's loss to Brother Martin's Jordan Giroir and Stutes' Ken Cole championship may have outweighed the fact that Woodson won the last match between the two wrestlers.  Stutes was the #1 seed and Woodson the #2.  At #3 was Holy Cross sophomore Brice Duhe, who had three losses to Woodson and one to Stutes.  St. Michael's Mitchel Youngblood was seeded fourth.

Round 1 and Quarterfinals

The first round produced one minor upset when Sam Houston's Nicolas Ramirez upended #8 Javante Pounds of McKinley in 1:56.  Stutes, Woodson and Duhe received bye and only #6 Jonathan Hagan of Live Oak went the full six minutes with a 9-6 win over Baton Rouge's Thomas Stremlau.

All but one of the quarterfinals proved to be more than routine for the top four seeds.  Stutes pinned Ramirez in 3:05.  Youngblood had to work a little harder to pin #5 Jordan White of Benton in 5:21.  In his first match of the tournament Woodson made short work of Hagan, scoring a fall in 1:38.  #3 Duhe had a much harder route to the semifinals. After six minutes of wrestling he found himself tied 8-8 with Teurlings Catholic's Kynan Sonnier.  This was not the first time the Rebel freshman proved troublesome for Duhe, as Duhe only beat him by a score of 8-5 in the Louisiana Classic.  But Duhe was able to manage a takedown in the "Sudden Victory" round and advance 10-8.

Semifinals # 1

The top-seeded Stutes scored at will in his semifinals match with #4 Youngblood, mixing single-leg and double-leg takedowns with nearfall points until rules dictated he won via a technical fall, 18-2. 

Semifinals # 2 

During the season #2 Woodson had defeated #3 Duhe 11-3, 6-3 and by a 4:54 fall.  But it was very feasible that Woodson was looking forward to a rematch with Stutes while discounting Duhe, which is a dangerous thing to do to an opponent with really nothing to lose.  It was a very close match and it was not clear as to whether Woodson never "uncorked" his potential or if Duhe simply "bottled it up."  Regardless, with 0:35 seconds remaining in the second period Duhe took a 4-3 lead and Woodson could not respond.  Duhe rode him for the entire third period and advanced to the finals.

Consolation Rounds

Woodson and Youngblood both won their first consolation matches: Woodson 7-4 over Benton's Jordan White and Youngblood by a 17-9 major decision over Teurlings Catholic's Sonnier.  To get that far Sonnier had pinned Pearl River's #8 Jason Moran in 3:23 and then got past Live Oak's Hagan 9-8.  White used a 1:15 fall over Central's Aubrey Mitchell and a 4:04 fall over Baton Rouge's Stremlau to reach the consolation semifinals match he lost  versus Woodson.  In the match for fifth place the #5 seeded White placed as expected after Sonnier had to withdraw due to an injury with seven seconds remaining in the match.  Woodson reignited the wrestling that earned him the #2 seed, scoring a 17-2 technical fall against Youngblood to place third. 

Finals: #1 Louis Stutes (St. Louis) versus #3 Brice Duhe (Holy Cross)

After the 126 lbs. final was over nobody in Division II was seriously wrestling for the outstanding wrestler award.  For Stutes, the only thing that mattered was to limit his mistakes against an opponent that had evidently learned a lot from his three losses against Woodson, and to win his second state championship.

Stutes shot a double-leg and slipped behind Duhe for a takedown in the first 20 seconds of the match.  Duhe caught Stutes on a high crab-ride near the end of the period, managed an escape and led 2-1 entering the second period.  In that period Stutes caught Duhe overriding him and backed out, turning into the Holy Cross wrestler and using a double-leg maneuver for a two-point reversal.  He rode Duhe with his legs for the remainder of the round, which ended with Stutes leading 4-1.  Duhe chose the bottom position and Stutes let him escape, decreasing his lead to 4-2. But then he scored two points on a single-leg trip.  Duhe managed an escape with 0:50 remaining and the score 6-3 in favor of Stutes.  Duhe desperately needed to score and shot on Stutes, but the St. Louis wrestlers sprawled and spun behind for an 8-3 lead.  Stutes again let Duhe escape and the Holy Cross wrestler could not take him down.  The match ended in an 8-4 victory and a second state championship for Stutes, who finished the season with a 38-2 record.  Duhe, only a sophomore, ended his season with a 26-11 (27-14).

Back to Top

Division III

Thirteen wrestlers competed in the Division III 160 lbs. state championships

Introduction

Rayne's Austin Bohne had a record of 27-10 entering the state tournament.  But aside from a 3-2 win over North Vermillion's Colin Laird at 152 lbs. on December 8th, he did not have any more impressive wins than #2 seeded Damon Vincent of North Vermillion, who did have a win over #3 Mason Deshotel of Basile.  In fact, aside from a forfeit over Vincent at the Lafayette Metro tournament, Bohne had not competed against anyone in his weight class.  Yet he was given the #1 seed.  John Curtis' G'Corey Fullilove was unknown to most of the competition, aside from Calvary Baptist's #6 Heath Lovitt, who Fullilove beat 2-0 in the finals of the John Curtis tournament.  A member of the national champion John Curtis football team, Fullilove did not wrestle his first match until December 13th, and had only wrestled in 11 before the state tournament. 

Round 1 and Quarterfinals 

More often than not, however, seeding committees make better seeders than mere pundits.  And seeding is not expected to be flawless, and this was demonstrated in Round 1 when the #6 and the #7 seeds fell.  Clay Sellars of Kaplan pinned #6 Heath Lovitt of Calvary Baptist in 0:37 and, a little later, Christopher Hall of Bossier defeated #7 Clayton Kavanaugh of Dunham 12-6.

Losses by #6 and #7 seeds early are rather common.  #8s over #1s are much more rare.  But that is what happened when the top-seeded Bohne met #7 Brandon Ashlock of Evangel.  The sophomore Eagle may not have had the same physical "cut" as the senior from Rayne, but he was quick and he was smart.  And after 3:56 he was done, having put Bohne on his back long enough to him.   Bohne was the first #1 seed to be relegated to the consolation rounds.

The other quarterfinals matches went as expected.  #4 G'Corey Fullilove of John Curtis defeated a tough Blayze Olano of Brusly 14-9.  Deshotel found the going much harder than Fullilove, barely avoiding a pin by Kaplan's Clay Sellars and escaping with an 11-9 win.  Vincent had an even harder time with Bossier's Hall, just eking out a 7-6 win.

Evangel's Brandon Ashlock keeps his feet in bounds Rayne's Austin Bohne tries to go out of bounds to avoid a takedown.	Ashlock, ahead 5-3, jumps off of the mat trying to avoid a Bohne single-leg attempt.	Bohne secures his single-leg hold trying to score a takedown and tie the match.

Kaplan freshman Clay Sellars almost pinned #3 Mason Deshotel of Basile, but Deshotel was able to escape from the predicament an score an 11-9 win.	#5 Blayze Olano of Brusly attacks #4 G'Corey Fullilove's leg in their quarterfinals match.	#4 Fullilove of John Curtis lifts Olano off of the mat en route to a 14-9 win.

Semifinals 

#8 Ashlock and #4 Fullilove wrestled a very entertaining first semifinals match (five photos below), although good defenses prevented them from scoring many points.  Fullilove proved stronger in the end though, claiming a spot in the finals with a 6-4 win.

At the Jacob McMillan #2 Vincent defeated #3 Deshotel 5-3.  This match was very similar as Vincent earned his trip to the finals 5-2.

Consolation Rounds 

The two losers in the semifinals also lost in the consolation semifinals, pitting them against each other for the fifth place spot. 

Deshotel was beaten 3-1 by #5 Olano, who reached the match with two tough wins: 4-0 against #6 Lovitt of Calvary Baptist and 5-4 over #1 Bohne.  Ashlock fell to the Kaplan freshman Sellars, who needed a "Sudden Victory" period to defeat De la Salle's Logan Sylve 6-4 but needed just 0:50 to pin Church Point's Brock Buller.  The fifth place match did not take place as Ashlock forfeited it, ceding fifth place to Deshotel.  In the consolation finals, a battle between freshmen, Olano prevailed via a 4:33 fall to earn third place for Brusly. 

Finals: #2 Bruce Vincent (North Vermillion) versus #4 G'Corey Fullilove (John Curtis

John Curtis sophomore G'Corey Fullilove seemed very poised and confident prior to his finals match with North Vermillion's Bruce Vincent.  But Fullilove's plan appeared to be just to wrestle hard in the last 15 seconds of each round and prevent Vincent from scoring the rest of the time.  While he did not incur any stalling warnings he did allow Vincent to bring a 2-0 lead into the beginning of the third period.  Fullilove escaped from Vincent but Vincent took him down again for a 4-1 lead.  Fullilove again escaped, but did not seriously attempt any takedowns until very little time remained on the clock.  Vincent held off the Patriot and won the championship 4-2.  Vincent ended his season 19-7 while Fullilove had a 13-2 (14-4) record.

Back to Top