195 Pounds


Hahnville's Kendrick Jones scores a takedown on Daniel Relayson of Holy Cross in a Sudden Victory round to win the Division I state championship.

Division I

Twenty-three wrestlers competed in the Division I 195 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Holy Cross senior Daniel Relayson was the second Tiger top seed.  Relayson had a record in Louisiana of 26-3.  He won the Raider Open, the Louisiana Classic, the Ken Cole Invitational and the Greater New Orleans championships.  His only losses came in two extremely close matches with two Brother Martin wrestlers - Yehia Riles (in the Mandeville and Spartan Open finals) and a last second loss Joshua Tapia during a dual meet against the Crusaders.  His finals opponent in the Raider Open and the Ken Cole, as well as one he met in a dual meet and at the Louisiana Classic, was Sulphur senior Matthew Perez.  Relayson, however, got the best of Perez in all four matches, but only Lafayette's Rodrigo Diaz could say the same.  Perez won the Ronnie Suarez tournament, the Jacob McMillan and the Southwest Louisiana Shootout, and was seeded second.  Hahnville junior Kenderick Jones only had 12 matches on the year, but he only lost one - to Perez - so Jones was seeded third.  Tapia, who had a 30-3 Louisiana record and won the Trygg and the Trey Culotta, while he had the one win over Relayson, had losses to Perez and Jones, and thus was seeded fourth. 

Rounds 1 and 2

Only a mild upset took place in round two when Aaron Langlinais of Comeaux defeated the sixth seed, Robert Hudgins of Rummel, in 3:01.

Quarterfinals

Relayson had little trouble advancing to the semifinals with a 3:17 fall over Dutchtown's Gerald Ben, whom he had also defeated in the Louisiana Classic.  The number two and three seeds had even less trouble.  Perez pinned #7 Sean McManus in 1:33 (photos left) while Jones took only 54 seconds to defeat Langlinais. It was another story for #4 Tapia against the #5 seed, Daniel Thompson of Destrehan.  Tapia defeated Thompson 8-2 in the St. Paul's Invitational, but Johnson turned the tables on the Crusader in this match just enough to post a 3-2 win.

Semifinal #1

(1) Daniel Relayson (Holy Cross) vs. (5) David Thompson (Destrehan)

Johnson was 20-4 on the season, but he and Relayson had managed to avoid each other during that time.  Thompson pushed the top seed, but Relayson prevailed 8-4 to advance to the finals.

Semifinal #2

(2) Matthew Perez (Sulphur) vs. (3) Kenderick Jones (Hahnville)

In the Louisiana Classic #2 Perez and #3 Jones wrestled a hard match which was won by Perez 3-0.  But Jones has the strength that does not allow for errors, and Perez made one.  Jones caught Perez with an over-hook and an under-hook and wrenched the Sulphur wrestler straight to his back, ending the match in 0:51 to advance to a meeting with Relayson in the finals.

Consolation Rounds

Brother Martin's Tapia had two five minute matches to reach the consolation semifinals.  He won a tough 3-2 decision over Barbe freshman Darion Mitchell and then a 7-2 match over Hudgins.  Then he met Perez again, and while putting up a good fight, succumbed by a point, 5-4.  East Ascension's Austin Guedry made the trip in the bottom part of the consolation bracket with an exciting 16-12 win over Zachary's Sean McManus, followed by a grueling 4-3 match over Covington's John Brogdon.  But Thompson proved too hard to handle, and Guedry's run was stopped by a fall with three seconds left, in 4:57.

Tapia defeated Guedry via a fall at the Spartan Open, and this time prevailed 5-1 to place fifth for the Crusaders.

Thompson avoided a Perez pin in the consolation finals, but the Sulphur senior won the match 9-5 to place third.

Finals: #1 Daniel Relayson (Holy Cross) versus #3 Kendrick Jones (Hahnville)

Relayson and Jones provided a great match, a hard thing to say after the 182 lbs. finals.  It was a grueling affair, with neither wrestler allowing the other to score until over a minute passed in the third period, at which Relayson managed an escape.  Relayson doubled his lead to 2-0 via a penalty call against Jones, but in the waning seconds of the third period Jones scored a takedown to send the match into a Sudden Victory period.  As points were so rare in the first six minutes of the match, Jones surprised everyone by shooting a double-leg almost immediately, and he was able to lift Relayson up and over to score the winning takedown.  It took 6:09 but Hahnville had their first state champion since Levi Gruwell in 2006.

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Division II

Fifteen wrestlers competed in the Division II 195 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Shaw's Brennan Falcon had three losses all season - all at the Trey Culotta to Division I wrestlers - and his 16-3 record earned him the top seed for the Eagles.  Riverdale's Cody Stutson, with a 17-6 record that included a win over Live Oak's Nick Simoneaux in the finals of the Parkway Division II Lone Survivor Tournament, was seeded second.  Simoneaux, at 38-7, was third due to a win over Pearl River's Jacob Spohrer, who was seeded fourth with a 29-16 record.

Round 1 and Quarterfinals

Two unseeded wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals.  Huntington junior Kassell Fair did so due to a forfeit by #8 David Quiring of St. Thomas More, and Teurlings Catholic sophomore did so with a 5:19 fall over #7 Austin Wilson of Benton.

Falcon needed just 1:01 to get past Fair to advance to the semifinals.  Stutson did so in 1:20 over Thomas, and Simoneaux did the same in 3:31 over #6 Isaiah McKinsey of Bossier.  Spohrer did not fare as well, though, as he was upset 13-6 by #5 Ian Harter of St. Michael.

Semifinal #1

(1) Brennan Falcon (Shaw) vs. (5) Ian Harter (St. Michael)

Harter continued to wrestle hard but he could not overcome the speed and strength of Falcon, who defeated him by six points, 11-5.

Semifinal #2

(2) Cody Stutson (Riverdale) vs. (3) Nick Simoneaux (Live Oak)

In the Parkway Division II Lone Survivor finals, Stutson pinned Simoneaux in 1:34 and this match looked as if it was going to end the same way. But Simoneaux caught Stutson on his back and kept him there to earn his own fall, and a trip to the finals, in 2:34.

Consolation Rounds

Thomas of Teurlings Catholic made it to the consolation semifinals with a 7-6 win over McKinsey and a fall in 2:57 over Central's Austin Cavin.   But the St. Michael senior Harter had much more experience and pinned the Rebel in 1:53.  Benton's Austin Wilson took the long way to the consolation finals after his first round loss with falls in 2:22, 4:07, 2:25 to meet Stutson in the other consolation semifinals, and he won that match in 2:24 to meet Harter.

Thomas won fifth place for Teurlings after Stutson was disqualified for throwing his headgear after his second loss of the tournament.

Wilson's pin-fest came to an end against Harter, who scored a fall in 3:55 to take third place for the Warriors of St. Michael.

Finals: #1 Brennan Falcon (Shaw) versus #3 Nick Simoneaux (Live Oak)

Shaw's Brennan Falcon did not wrestle in his junior year but showed promise in 2012 when, as a 7th seed, he placed 5th at 170 lbs.  He previously defeated Live Oak's Nicholas Simoneaux 8-1 at the Trey Culotta and he wasted little time in asserting himself in this match.  He scored with a single-leg shot after 55 seconds elapsed.  On bottom to start the second period, he escaped in six seconds to take a 3-0 lead and took Simoneaux down with a single-leg lift again.  Simoneaux managed an escape to cut the lead to 5-1, but then Falcon took the Eagle wrestler down, to his back this time, and finished the match with a fall in 3:25 to give the Shaw Eagles their second state championship of the evening. 

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Division III

Eleven wrestlers competed in the Division III 195 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Only two of the top four seeds had faced each other all season.  At the Southwest Louisiana Shootout, Jared Smith of St. Louis defeated Grand Lake's James Phillips 10-4.  Smith, with a record of 8-4, won the John Curtis tournament and was seeded second.  Ahead of Phillips, who was seeded fourth, was North Vermillion senior Jonathan Thompson who owned a 20-9 record.  At the top spot was Brusly junior Dillon Prejean, who had a record of 18-8.  Prejean started the season strong with a win at the South Walton Border Wars and followed that with a Warrior Open championship.

Round 1 and Quarterfinals

No seeded wrestlers suffered defeats in the first round. 

Semifinal #1

(1) Dillon Prejean (Brusly) vs. (4) James Phillips (Grand Lake)

Phillips gave the top-seeded Prejean all he wanted in the semifinals, but it was the Panther who scored all of the points via a takedown and an escape for a 3-0 win.  Prejean was the tenth Brusly Panther to make the finals.

Semifinal #2

(2) Jared Smith (St. Louis) vs. (3) Jonathan Thompson (North Vermillion)

Thompson and Smith looked to be a brutal match at first as the two traded bear hugs and put each other in compromising positions.  But Smith was able to take advantage of a Thompson miscue and scored a fall 1:30, becoming the only finalist for the Saints.

Consolation Rounds

De la Salle junior Darrel Francis, III, received a bye and scored a fall in 2:21 to advance to the consolation semifinals against Phillips, but the Grand Lake junior required only 57 seconds to advance to the third place match.  University Lab's Brendan Holliday, only a freshman, registered a major 11-1 decision and a fall in 2:15 to meet Thompson for the same chance, but the Patriot senior proved too strong and pinned him in 3:47.

Franklin and Holiday wrestled an entertaining match for fifth place with Hansen prevailing 10-8 for the Cavaliers.

Phillips and Thompson had an even closer match, and it was Phillips emerging as a 3-2 victor to place third for Grand Lake.

Finals: #1 Dillon Prejean (Brusly) versus #2 Jared Smith (St. Louis)

The top two seeds battled back and forth in this match.  Prejean struck first with a takedown in the first minute, but that was followed by a Smith escape and the round ended 2-1 in favor of the Panther.  On bottom for the second period, Prejean scored an escape to take a 3-1 lead, but then Smith took him down to tie the match at 3-3.  Prejean managed an escape for a 4-3 lead entering the third period.  In the third, it was Smith scoring a reversal from the bottom position to take a 5-4 lead.  With just over a minute remaining Prejean evened the match 5-5 with an escape, and then almost immediately added a takedown for a 7-5 lead.  Smith managed another escape but could not score again, giving Prejean a 7-6 win and the ninth championship of the evening for the Panthers.

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