160 Pounds


St. Paul's Tanner LeBlanc topped off a near-perfect season with a Division I state championship for the St. Paul's Wolves.

Division I

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

Introduction

There was never any question that Tanner LeBlanc would be the top seed at 160 lbs.  The St. Paul's senior won championships at the Mandeville Open, the South Walton Border Wars, St. St. Tammany Parish Championships, the Trey Culotta, the Louisiana Classic and the St. Paul's Invitational.  The only tournament which he entered but did not win was the Trygg Memorial, in which he suffered his only defeat of the year to Alex Martin of De la Salle (a match he would avenge in the Louisiana Classic finals).  His matches were often very close, but LeBlanc ended up on the winning side 31 of 32 times.  He beat everyone he faced at least once, including Jesuit's Gaston Eymard, Brother Martin's Travis Quarterman and Fontainebleau's Brandon Verges. 

Jesuit senior Gaston Eymard entered the tournament with a 27-5 record and victories at the Warrior and Wildcat opens.  He had victories over Quarterman and Verges and hence was seeded second.  Quarterman was 24-6 and had a victory over Verges, so he was seeded third while Verges, at 31-11, was seeded fourth.

Rounds 1 and 2

The top eight seeds had no problems advancing through the first two rounds and into the quarterfinals. 

Quarterfinals

Only Verges, the #4 seed, failed to make the semifinals after meeting #5 Daniel Rittell from Zachary.  The Bronco senior defeated Verges 10-3 to advance to the semifinals in only his second year participating in the sport (photos right - courtesy of Rip Rittell).  LeBlanc scored a 16-2 major decision over #8 Eric Duhon, Jr. of Acadiana.  Eymard also advanced via a 9-0 major decision over #7 Gabe Arceneaux of Dutchtown.  The third seed, Travis Quarterman of Brother Martin, defeated #6 Morgan Root of Catholic 7-2.

Semifinal #1

(1) Tanner LeBlanc (St. Paul's) vs. (5) Daniel Rittell (Zachary)

Zachary senior Daniel Rittell had a very good second year which included winning his home tournament, the Zachary "Big Horse" Open.  But LeBlanc was too experienced and, as he showed match after match, was very hard to score upon. Rittell did well in scoring six points against the Wolves' senior, but that was not enough as LeBlanc scored 10 (photos #1 and #2 courtesy of Rip Rittell).

Semifinal #2

(2) Gaston Eymard (Jesuit) vs. (3) Travis Quarterman (Brother Martin)

Eymard and Quarterman split during the regular season (Quarterman won 6-5 while Eymard won 5-4), but Eymard was seeded second as he had two tournament victories. This match was a fitting tie-breaker which required a Sudden Victory period.  Quarterman was the benefactor of a takedown and two additional nearfall points which he was allowed to score in the event he garnered a pin for the Crusaders.  He did not, but the 8-4 victory placed the Texas transfer into the finals.

Consolation Rounds

With 26 competitors the 160 lbs. weight class was one of the largest in the event.  As such a loss in the second round by Comeaux's unseeded Cabot Bellard meant the Spartan had a long path to the consolation semifinals, but he completed it with falls of 1:26, 2:18 and decisions of 9-3 and 6-3 (the latter over the fourth-seeded Verges).  Bellard almost made it one match further but fell to Eymard in a close 3-2 match.  Having made it to the quarterfinals Catholic senior and 6th seed Morgan Root needed only two matches to make the consolation finals against Rittell.  Root did so with falls in 4:34 and 4:01, and he continued his winning ways with a 6-4 Sudden Victory win over #5 Rittell to face Eymard for third place.

The seniors Rittell and Bellard had not previously and they provided an excellent match.  Rittell earned the necessary takedown in a Sudden Victory period to place third via a 4-2 score.

Root and Eymard had met twice in the regular season.  An 11-1 victor in their first match, Eymard had a tough time repeating it in their second meeting, and only did so via a 3-1 Sudden Victory win.  But Eymard again limited Root to only one point while scoring five himself to place third for the Blue Jays.

Finals: #1 Tanner LeBlanc (St. Paul's) versus #3 Travis Quarterman (Brother Martin)

Tanner LeBlanc does not score a lot of points but, as his now 33-1 record indicated, he also does not allow many points to be scored against him.  Travis Quarterman found that out as the speedy Crusader fell to LeBlanc 6-4 in the Trey Culotta.  The same proved true in the first period as Quarterman was not able to score, but neither did Leblanc.  In the second period LeBlanc got on the scoreboard with an escape and a takedown in the first 30 seconds.  Quarterman managed an escape but on an ensuing Quarterman shot LeBlanc crushed him with a sprawl and gained another takedown to take a 5-1 lead into the third period.  Quarterman escaped in the first 10 seconds, but LeBlanc countered with another takedown, this time allowing him a chance to put the Crusader on his back.  Unable to free himself, Quarterman succumbed to a fall in 5:47.  A third place winner in 2013, Leblanc made sure St. Paul's was recognized at least once on top of the podium, as they have been since 2009 (Korey Miller).

Division II

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

Introduction

Teurlings Catholic's Kynan Sonnier posted a record of 16-7 which included wins over Benton's Jordan White (25-7) and Huntington's The`Anthony Taylor (19-6), meriting the sophomore a #1 seed.  White had three victories over Taylor and was seeded second.  Taylor was seeded third due to a victory over St. Michael's Dylan Verret, who with a 31-17 record, was seeded fourth.

Round 1 and Quarterfinals

All but one of the top eight seeds advanced to the quarterfinals.  Seventh-seeded Kelvin Brooks, Jr. of Bossier was upset by Riverdale freshman Robert Coates in 38 seconds.

In the quarterfinals another upset was had when #5 Max Chambers of Shaw defeated #4 Verret 6-0.  Otherwise Sonnier advanced over #8 Jacob Hebert of Rayne via a fall in 2:54, Taylor scored an 8-3 decision over #6 Ben Averette of Central, and #2 White handed Coates a taste of his own medicine with a fall in 31 seconds.

Semifinal #1

(1) Kynan Sonnier (Teurlings Catholic) vs. (5) Max Chambers (Shaw)

Sonnier and Chambers had not previously wrestled against each other, but the top-seeded sophomore controlled the Shaw junior throughout the match en route to a third period fall in 5:26.

Semifinal #2

(2) Jordan White (Benton) vs. (3) The`Anthony Taylor (Huntington)

Juniors Jordan White and The`Anthony Taylor had wrestled four times prior to the state semifinals match.  White won the first three matches, but after the first one (10-1) the margins decreased significantly (4-1 and 1-0).  In their fourth match, Taylor defeated White 7-6.  This match was very similar.  In the end, only one point separated the two wrestlers for the third straight time.  But it was White surviving by a score of 6-5.

Consolation Rounds

St. Michael's Verret reached the consolation semifinals via a major 11-0 decision and a fall in 2:39.  Against Taylor Verret was again victorious, scoring a 6-3 decision.   Averette of Central reached the consolation semifinals with 9-4 and 10-1 decisions, but he fell to Chambers via an 11-3 major decision.

Taylor rebounded with a fall over Averette in 2:35 to place fifth for Huntington.

Verret finished two spots ahead of his #5 seeding with a 7-3 decision over Chambers to earn third place.

Finals: #1 Kynan Sonnier (Teurlings Catholic) versus #2 Jordan White (Benton)

Jordan White started the scoring in the first 45 seconds with a takedown of Sonnier for a 2-0 lead which lasted into the second period.  Thirty seconds into that period White escaped from the bottom position to take a 3-0 lead.  Between that time and 96 seconds into the third period White had opened a 7-0 lead and had Sonnier on his back. He scored a fall in 5:37 to earn Benton's second consecutive state championship and seventh state championship in the program's 17th year.

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Division III

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

Introduction

De la Salle's Alex Martin is not a "flashy" wrestler.  Sure, he knows fancy moves, but when it comes down to what may be deemed difficult matches, he sticks to the basics, which he knows very, very well.  A Division III state champion in 2012 and 2013, he saved his best season for his senior year.  He had a record of 41-2, his only losses coming at 170 lbs. to Shaw's Kody Hill (though not an excuse used by Martin, that was shortly after he had stitches sewn into the corner of his eye and he had to wrestle wearing a protective mask) and to St. Paul's Tanner LeBlanc (a one point loss in the Louisiana Classic finals).  Martin, though, was the only wrestler to defeat LeBlanc this season in a 6-4 match for the Trygg Memorial championship.  Martin also won the Pearl River Open, the GNO Division III Championships, The Brusly Invitational, the Greater New Orleans Championships and the Ken Cole.  As expected, he was seeded first at 160 lbs.

Brusly's Diondre Dorsey had a 26-11 record, one of them being a fall to Martin in the Brusly Invitational.  Dorsey was seeded second.  With a 12-6 record, Doyline's Johnny Brooks-Feaster was seeded third while Lakeside's Thomas Lambert, at 15-4, earned a fourth seed.

Round 1 and Quarterfinals

Two seeded wrestlers were relegated to the consolation rounds after the first round.  Sixth-seeded Kyle Jones of Central lost a major 16-4 decision to Dunham's Clayton Kavanaugh and #7 Caleb Catrett of Evangel fell to Basile's Lane Joubert in 4:46.

The quarterfinals were not upset free.  St. Louis' #5 Andrew Pousson defeated # 4 Thomas Lambert in 4:24.  But the remaining quarterfinals matches went according to form.  Martin pinned #8 Ellis Herring, III, of Baton Rouge in 1:01, Brooks-Feaster defeated Kavanaugh 14-7 and Dorsey made short work of Joubert with a fall in 28 seconds. 

Consolation Rounds

Kavanaugh of Dunham, with a 9-2 decision and a fall in 0:34 advanced to the consolation semifinals match against Pousson.  But the St. Louis senior was too experienced and scored a fall in 2:05.  Herring won his first consolations match 9-1 and scored a fall in 4:21 to meet Brooks-Feaster for the right to vie for third place.  The 8th-seeded Herring prevailed over the #6 seed with one second left in the match, in 4:59.

Kavanaugh scored a fall over Brooks-Feaster in 2:26 to place fifth for Dunham.

Pousson did the same to Herring in 1:53 to place third for the Saints.

Finals: #1 Alex Martin (De la Salle) versus #2 Diondre Dorsey (Brusly)

Martin, as is his forte, methodically took apart Dorsey, scoring a takedown in the first 45 seconds, allowing an escape and scoring another takedown for a 4-2 first period lead.  Dorsey escaped in the second period but Martin tacked another takedown on him for a 6-2 lead.  In the third Dorsey scored a reversal to again make it a two point match, but that was as close as Martin would allow the match to get.  Martin reversed Dorsey for an 8-4 lead.  Dorsey escaped again but Martin countered by lifting Dorsey off of the mat with a single-leg and adding subsequent takedown points for a 10-4 lead. Dorsey escaped again, but by this time Martin was used to scoring takedowns, and he did so twice more.  The routine was duplicated one more time before time ran out in the match.  Martin had a 14-6 major decision and his third Division III state title.

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