Fini

Division I may be a closer championship race than many expected.  Brother Martin had only a 5.5 point lead over Jesuit (171.5 to 165) at the end of competition on Friday night.  The Crusaders have ten wrestlers in the semifinals while the Blue Jays have nine.  In matches at 106, 152 and 160 the two teams face each other.  Catholic is not out of the picture as the Bears are in third place with 145.5 points and have six semifinalists, including two defending state champions.  Holy Cross, who was expected to at least challenge Jesuit for the runner-up spot at least, and possibly the Crusaders for the championship, suffered a couple of setbacks that will be tough to overcome.  Prior to the state tournament junior and the then #3 seed Collin Guerra at 126 lbs. sustained a fractured mandible, and junior Mason Williams suffered a first round tournament-ending injury at 160 lbs.  The Tigers are in fourth place but are already 41 points behind Brother Martin and 34.5 points behind Jesuit.  Archbishop Rummel is hanging tough in fifth place with 122 points.

The top two Division I seeds at 126 lbs. both advanced to the semifinals.  #1 Taylor Gambill of Brother Martin (photo left) defeated #8 Mason Rader of St. Paul's 11-2.  #2 seed Connor Stampley of Comeaux (photo right) nears the end of an 11-6 win over #7 Austin LeBouef of St. Amant.

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As expected the Division II championship race is between Teurlings Catholic and Live Oak.  The Rebels currently enjoy a 17 point lead over the Eagles (139 to 120) and Archbishop Shaw is not out of the picture with 106.5 points.  Teurlings has ten semifinalists while Live Oak has seven semifinalists.  The schools have head-to-head matches at 113 and 126.  Live Oak may have the edge in those two matches as both Live Oak competitors are defending state champions and #1 seeds.  This championship will probably be determined in the consolation rounds, however.  Shaw has 5 semifinalists.

The Division II #1 seed at 106 lbs., Live Oak's Colt Olinde (in the blue uniform), holds a significant advantage over Northwood's unseeded Kymani Bryan.  Olinde scored a fall in 1:20.	Teurlings Catholic's #4 Luke Kilchrist and #5 Chase Bates of North Desoto wrestled a tough match in which Kilchrist eventually prevailed by one point, 6-5.

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The editor has not yet determined if Brusly was crowned the Division III state team champion right after the weigh-ins, or if they had to appear on the mats in the proper uniforms first.  The Panthers have semifinalists in 13 of the 14 weight classes.  They have the #1 seeds at 113, 120, 126, 132, 152, 195 and 220.  Barring an unprecedented disaster of Titanic, Hindenburg or Ishtar magnitude, the Panthers are in pretty good shape toward winning yet another Division III title.

The race in Division III is for the runner-up spot, and it is tight.  De la Salle is in second place with 93.5 points but North Vermillion is only two points behind them at 191.5.  St. Louis is also in the mix, as the Saints (alas, not the editor's Saints) are in fourth place with 82 points.  Basile owns the fifth spot with 60.5 points and will be hard-pressed to finish among the top three, particularly with the loss of defending state champion Raymond Bushnell at the Jacob McMillan Memorial.

In the Division III 170 lbs. quarterfinals #8 Mason Deshotel of Basile (photo left) caught #1 G'Corey Fullilove of John Curtis off-guard and scored a fall in 2:55.  He will face #4 Griffin Miller of Dunham (photo right-gray singlet) after his close 9-8 victory over 5th seeded Brody LeMaire of North Vermillion.

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Upsets/Close Calls

As is usually the case, most upsets were relatively minor (except of course for the wrestlers and teams involved), as in a 5th seed defeating a 4th seed.  But a few higher seeds were ousted, including #1 seeds in Division III at 106 lbs. and 170 lbs.  A summary of those matches, as well as some close calls for the higher seeded wrestlers, is provided below:

NOTE: This "NOTE" is being written a few minutes after midnight.  For the editor to get any rest and maybe choose and publish a photo or two, the already sparse "in depth" analysis of D1 through 132 lbs. will have to be even more sparse and only include upsets.  Semifinals are available on the brackets links, but will probably be easier to see on one of those new-fangled phones that can get TrackWrestling.

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First Female D1 Victory

After losing her Round 1 match to Logan Mire of East Ascension (in a weight class in which the gentlemen can weigh no more than 138 lbs.), Abigail Nette of Destrehan became the first young lady to win a state championship tournament match in Division I via a fall in 1:40.  Her next match, however, was unexpectedly versus #3 seed Will Lafranca of Jesuit, who defeated the Wildcat sophomore.  However, Miss Nette's accomplishment is impressive, and as this is her first year back in competitive wrestling after an injury three years ago, she may very well be much better in the 2014-15 season.

Also among the female competitors, #2 seed Brittany Bates of Doyline advanced to the Division III semifinals (in a weight class in which the gentlemen can weigh no more than 106 lbs.) where she will face the #3 seed from Brusly, freshman Austin Franklin.

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Final Friday Team Scores and Brackets

Editor's Picks

The editor felt confident that his picks re the top three placers in each weight class and division would be better than his Super Bowl prediction of Denver beating Seattle when he mailed his envelope to himself from Atlanta, GA Thursday evening.  He is no longer that confident, and it is highly likely that when he receives said envelope at his River Ridge, LA home someday next week, rather than opening it and seeing how he fared, he may just introduce it to the device pictured below:

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