120 Pounds

Division I Finals Match Clock.

Division I

Twenty-five wrestlers competed in the Division I 120 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Jesuit junior Ben D'Antonio is about as predictable as the LA Wrestling News' editor's ability to conjure appropriate metaphors.  Sometimes he is unstoppable, as he was in his 2012-13 season debut at 106 lbs. in which he ran away with the Louisiana Classic, which he followed a week later with a Ken Cole championship.  Yet at other times he seems as absent as a scirocco in Antarctica (the wind or the Volkswagen - both apply).  He had a good season in 2013-14, amassing 18 wins against only four losses (against all comers - he was 30-7).  Three of his wins were against Division II and III state champions.  One of his losses was against, really, himself.  (The circumstances of that match really should not be further related.)  D'Antonio did not have any tournament victories in the 2013-14 season, but he did have wins over seven of the eight other seeded wrestlers at 120 lbs. in Division I, which is why he was the #1 seed.

With a record of 29-3, Rummel's Tyler Mire was the only wrestler to defeat Brother Martin's Taylor Gambill (in the Trey Culotta finals).  He also had wins over Catholic's Josh Matthews and East Ascension's Jacob Bernard, but a January 22nd loss to D'Antonio in a dual meet placed Mire as the second seed.  Matthews (20-4) was seeded third as he had a win over Bernard in the Greater Baton Rouge Championships final, which relegated Bernard, the Ken Cole champion, to the fourth spot.

Rounds 1 and 2

The first round had no upsets of the top nine seeds, but a minor upset was recorded in the second round when John Ehret's #9 Joseph Davis-Lucas defeated Comeaux's #8 Jake Verrett 8-2.

Quarterfinals

One of the top four seeds did not advance to the semifinals.  East Ascension's #4 Jake Bernard and Holy Cross' #5 Beau Bush wrestled an outstanding match (photos above) in which the lead and momentum changed several times.  Bush, though, scored the last takedown to retake a 9-7 lead which held through the remainder of the match.

At the Ken Cole D'Antonio defeated John Ehret's Joseph Davis-Lucas 10-1 and in this match he again controlled the Patriot with leg rides and tilts before scoring a fall in 5:48 (photos left).

Brother Martin junior Seth Johnson did not start for the Crusaders until a dual meet against Rummel on January 30th, and a day later he received a nasty black eye and nosebleed at the Ken Cole.  At the state tournament he still needed to wear a face guard to avoid further injury or loss of blood, but he wrestled fine with it.  He gave the third-seeded Catholic sophomore Matthews all he could handle in their first match against each other (photos left).  But it was not enough as Matthews prevailed 4-3. Rummel's #2 Mire had little trouble with #7 Nicholas des Bordes of Mandeville.  The two had not met previously, but the Rummel senior scored a fall over the Skipper junior in 3:24.

Semifinal #1

(1) Ben D'Antonio (Jesuit) vs. (5) Beau Bush (Holy Cross)

Beau Bush, Holy Cross's #5 seed, was one of only two seeded wrestlers D'Antonio had not wrestled previously.  Bush wrestled a very tough previous match the night before against East Ascension's Jacob Bernard, but D'Antonio decided that was as far as the Tiger sophomore would go in this tournament.  D'Antonio took Bush down with double-legs and eventually scored a fall in 5:27.

Semifinal #2

(2) Tyler Mire (Rummel) vs. (3) Joshua Matthews (Catholic)

The #2 and #3 seeds, Rummel's Mire and Catholic's Matthews, had a much more even match in the second semifinal.  The two wrestled a tough match in the Rummel-Catholic dual, which Mire won 12-10, but the scoring was harder in this match, exactly twice as hard, actually.  After six minutes the Raider senior proved a point better than his junior opponent and advanced to the finals with a 6-5 win.

Consolation Rounds

Jacob Bernard made the trip to the consolation semifinals and a rematch against Matthews, who defeated him in the last seconds of the Greater Baton Rouge Championships by a score of 7-6.  He gained a rematch impressively with a 17-0 technical fall in 4:19 followed by a pin in 4:13.  Against Matthews he got a measure of revenge, shutting out the Bear wrestler 6-0 to earn the right to compete for third place.  Mandeville's seventh seeded Nicholas de Bordes used a fall in 1:21 and barely eked out a 2-1 victory to reach the other consolation finals.  And like Bernard before him des Bordes advanced over a higher seed via a 6-3 decision over #5 Beau Bush.

Bush was awarded fifth place for the Tigers due to a forfeit by Matthews.

While later accomplishments vaulted Bernard higher in the seeding than des Bordes, the Mandeville wrestler won their only previous match 5-2 at the Trey Culotta.  Bernard, though, was not finished exacting revenge against those who had previously defeated him.  It was a close match, but Bernard, who has a stellar defense which does not allow many points against him, prevailed in a 3-2 decision to place third for the Spartans.

Finals: #1 Ben D'Antonio (Jesuit) versus #2 Tyler Mire (Rummel)

On January 22nd D'Antonio defeated Mire 6-3, a match that led to D'Antonio receiving the #1 seed.  In this match, though, points were at a premium.  After the first round ended the two grapplers were right back where they started with a score of 0-0.  In a match that tight, things looked grim for D'Antonio after Mire successfully thwarted the Blue Jay's attempts to escape in the second period.  Mire did not have the same problem in the third period as after 35 seconds had elapsed he freed himself from D'Antonio's grasp to take a 1-0 lead.  Forty seconds later, though, Mire blundered by an illegal use of his hand to D'Antonio's face, and after the penalty point was awarded to D'Antonio the two were once again tied.  It appeared that overtime was in the future of the two combatants as the third period clock was winding down, but D'Antonio was able to sprawl on a Mire shot and flatten the Raider.  Mire tried holding onto one of the Blue Jay's legs to prevent D'Antonio from spinning behind him, but D'Antonio, with three seconds left, stepped over a Mire arm on which D'Antonio had an under hook, and that forced the Raider to his back.  The associated takedown was awarded with one second remaining.  D'Antonio had a 3-1 decision and a Division I state title.

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Division II

Fifteen wrestlers competed in the Division II 120 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Sophomore Brock Bonin of Teurlings Catholic was a defending Division II state champion and an easy choice as the top seed.  His 33-4 record included wins over Brusly's Baret Sanchez, Basile's Raymond Bushnell, Catholic's Joshua Matthews and Parkway's Jason Pitts.  He had no losses against Division II opponents, and when he did lose it was to stellar competition: Sanchez, D'Antonio, Mire and Bernard.  He had tournament championships from Teurlings, the Jacob McMillan and the Lafayette Metro and was a runner-up at the Ken Cole.

Parkway senior Jason Pitts was 32-3, but his loss to Bonin placed him in the #2 spot.  A loss to Pitts placed Huntington's DeCoreyon Howard (18-4) in the third spot, followed by the 12-6 junior from Grace King, Jonathan Davadi, at #4.

Round 1 and Quarterfinals

Upsets started early in the first round as Huntington's third seed, DeCoreyon Howard, fell to Shaw's Christian Termine in 2:44, and Northwood's #6, Jatoris `J Combs, lost in 2:17 Jonathan Adamanski of St. Michael. The three remaining top seeds advanced to the semifinals as expected.  Bonin defeated Pearl River's Matthew Mears in 1:37.  Pitts used 3:27 to get past #7 DeAvante Cooper of East Jefferson and Davadi pulled out a 14-13 win over Live Oak's #5 seed Ethan Alphonso (photo left).  In the match between the two upset winners, Termine advanced 6-4 over Adamanski.

Semifinal #1

(1) Brock Bonin (Teurlings Catholic) vs. (4) Jonathan Davidi (Grace King)

As a sophomore Brock Bonin has the time to set a number of goals.  A pretty safe bet is that he would like to match or exceed the two Division II state championships won by his older Brother Trey in 2011 and 2012.  Winning a title in his freshman year was a good start re accomplishing that goal, and the Rebel wrestler showed no signs indicating he would not repeat that feat in his semifinals match against Grace King's Jonathan Davidi.  Bonin scored almost at will, and while he could not muster a fall he did manage 14 points to only one for Davidi.  That Bonin actually had to use six minutes before his finals match was about the only surprising thing about his tournament so far.  (Bonin used two pins before his 10-2 finals decision in 2013.)

Semifinal #2

(2) Jason Pitts (Parkway) vs. Christian Termine (Shaw)

Shaw's Christian Termine had already done more than was expected of him by defeating the third-seeded Howard in the first round and advancing to the semifinals after defeating Adamanski in the quarterfinals.  The second seed from Parkway must have decided that was plenty of time for the Eagle wrestler to spend in the winners' bracket as he scored a fall in 17 seconds to advance to the finals.

Consolation Rounds

Carencro freshman Jarred Journet lost to Davidi in the first round, but he used a forfeit a 1:36 fall, a 7-6 decision and a fall in 3:38 to advance to the consolation semifinals and a rematch with Davidi.  In the first match Davidi won 11-8, and this match proved little different as Davidi stopped Journet's run with a 10-5 decision.  Fifth seeded Ethan Alphonso used two very close 3-2 decisions to reach the other consolation semifinals match, and he did not stop there.  What he stopped doing was wrestling five-minute matches by defeating the unseeded Termine via a fall in 36 seconds.

Journet continued his improbable run by defeating Termine in 2:53 to take fifth placed for Carencro.

The rematch between Alphonso and Davadi bore little resemblance to the 14-13 match Davadi won in the quarterfinals.  Alphonso scored a lot of points, 12 in fact, but he limited Davadi to only three, posting a major decision and a third place finish for Live Oak.

Finals: #1 Brock Bonin (Teurlings Catholic) versus #2 Jason Pitts (Parkway)

Bonin defeated Pitts twice during the season.  One win was a fall in 4:41 at the Louisiana Classic.  At the Ken Cole, though, Pitts gave him a much harder time and Bonin just survived 7-6.  This match started off as if it would mimic the second match.  Bonin had the lead after the first period, but only by a scant 2-0 margin.  In the second period Bonin switched gears.  He reversed the Parkway wrestler and put him on his back at least three times.  Pitts managed a reversal, but Bonin reversed him right back as he scored 12 points in the period.  On top to start the third period, Bonin used 45 seconds to stop Pitts' first moves and then place the Panther wrestler on his back one last time.  The ensuing three points gave Bonin a 17-2 technical fall in 5:15 and his second (and brother tying) state championship.

Division III

Thirteen wrestlers competed in the Division III 120 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

For a substantial part of the season it looked as if Brusly's Baret Sanchez and Basile's Raymond Bushnell were on a collision course to the Division III 120 lbs. finals, a rematch of the 2013 113 lbs. finals at which both Sanchez and Bushnell were defending Division III state champions.  Bushnell won that match via an unexpected pin in 3:46.  But in the 2013-14 season Sanchez had the early edge over Bushnell by virtue of a 7-1 win at the Louisiana Classic.  A week later, though, Bushnell's season came to an abrupt end when he suffered ligament injuries in his wrist at the Jacob McMillan.  A possible match at the Ken Cole might have solidified Sanchez' claim to be the top seed if he won, or, if Bushnell won, would have required going through seeding criteria to pick which one would be #1.  But that was no longer an issue, which made Sanchez an easy pick as the top seed.  He was 31-9 and had won championships at the Warrior Open and the Brusly Invitational.

The second seed was a freshman from North Vermillion, Rhett Maturin, with a record of 14-12.  One of those wins was Evangel's Bradley Wright, one of only four losses for the Eagle sophomore versus 26 wins.  Lakeside eighth-grader John Watson (17-8) had a loss to Wright and was seeded fourth.

Round 1 and Quarterfinals

All of the top seeds advanced through the first round and into the quarterfinals.  There was one minor surprise in the quarterfinals when fifth-seeded Jacob Rowland of St. Louis defeated the fourth-seeded Watson by an 11-3 major decision.  In the other matches Sanchez pinned Ouachita Christian eighth-grader Kevin Aaen in 1:24, Wright pinned Kaplan's Taylor Harrington in 1:50 and Maturin used 58 seconds to get past De la Salle's Richard Smith, III.

Semifinal #1

(1) Baret Sanchez (Brusly) vs. (5) Jacob Rowland (St. Louis)

St. Louis junior Jacob Rowland gave Brusly's Baret Sanchez a tough time at the Ken Cole in a match Sanchez squeaked through 3-2.  That was a consolation round match though, and not a match which advanced the winner to the state finals.  Rowland tried hard but Sanchez still seemed to be on a mission to regain the title he won in 2012 yet lost in 2013.  Sanchez prevailed in 4:34 to advance to his third state finals.

Semifinal #2

(2) Rhett Maturin (North Vermillion) vs. (3) Bradley Wright (Evangel)

In the Brusly Invitational North Desoto freshman Rhett Maturin pulled out a 5-4 win over Evangel sophomore Bradley Wright.  This match was almost as close.  The two traded leads until the third round when Bradley, down by only a 5-3 score, injured his shoulder.  After some time it was determined that Bradley would not be able to continue the match and the Griffin freshman found himself in the finals.

Consolation Rounds

In the consolation rounds South Plaquemines sophomore Gerald Barthelemy shook off a first round technical fall at the hands of #8 Watson, and won three straight matches via a fall in 2:20, a technical fall (19-2 @ 3:44) and a fall in 1:25, to meet Rowland.  But the seasoned St. Louis wrestler was up to the task and scored a fall over Barthelemy in 2:15.  Watson used a fall in 2:17 and a 9-1 major decision for the right to face Bradley in the other consolation semifinals.  The two faced each other four times previously, with Watson winning the second match but Wright dominating the first match 17-6 and scoring falls in the second and third in 2:41 and 1:57.  But Bradley was still hurt from his semifinals match and though he tried, he could not muster what was needed for a fourth victory over Watson.  Watson won 6-3 and earned another shot at Rowland.

Bradley did not attempt to wrestle the fifth place match, so that place went to Barthelemy for South Plaquemines.

In the consolation finals match Rowland again took the eighth-grader to task, this time prevailing 10-4 to place third for the Saints.

Finals: #1 Baret Sanchez (Brusly) versus #2 Rhett Maturin (North Vermillion)

That Sanchez was on a mission to regain his title was evident early.  In May he competed for Team Louisiana at the USAW Southeast Regionals (freestyle and Greco-Roman) in Atlanta, and a little later he looked very sharp in June at Jesuit's Jazz Town Duals.  During the 2013-14 season he wrestled 40 matches before the state tournament and he had some high quality wins over the likes of Basile's Raymond Bushnell, Brock Bonin of Teurlings Catholic and Jacob Bernard of East Ascension.  Maturin had a very good year for a freshman, but he did not fare as well against the high caliber competition Sanchez defeated.  The first period was a tad slow as Sanchez scored the only points with 42 seconds left for a 2-0 lead.  The second period was different.  Starting in the bottom position, Sanchez escaped in the first 30 seconds and then took Maturin down for a 5-0 lead.  He added two more nearfall points and then he turned Maturin over again, this time keeping him on his back until he scored a fall in 3:28.  Sanchez scored Brusly's third finals win in succession, and for Brusly opponents, it just got worse.

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