220 Pounds


Quin Gilliam of C.E. Byrd in Shreveport finished the Division I state tournament as the only undefeated wrestler in Louisiana in the 2013-14 season.

Division I

Twenty wrestlers competed in the Division I 220 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Usually a Division I wrestler with an undefeated record comes from one of the catholic powerhouses: Jesuit, Brother Martin, Catholic...sometimes St. Paul's or Rummel.  If from a public school Comeaux comes to mind.  But not this year.  The only undefeated wrestler was from Byrd, C.E. Byrd.  His name was Gilliam, Quin Gilliam, and while some unfamiliar with Mr. Gilliam's season might think his record was padded with north Louisiana wrestling, which is too often described as lacking in quality competition, they may not assert that about Mr. Gilliam's competition.  He beat everyone.  He defeated Michael Yeatman of Holy Cross 3-2 to win the Spartan Open, 8-5 to win the Louisiana Classic and 7-5 to win the Ken Cole Memorial.  He beat Lafayette's Rodrigo Diaz twice.  He gave Evangel's Logan Williams his only loss of the season to with the Shreveport City Championships.  He beat Brother Martin's Jacob Clapp 12-9 to win the Griffin Open.  He beat Brother Martin's Josh Tapia, Tyler Sullivan of Calvary Baptist and Tyler Fontana of Rummel.  He won the Airline Invitational and the Northwest Louisiana Regionals.  Several matches were very close, but it was Gilliam's hand being raised at the end of them 33 times.  The Yellow-Jacket was an easy choice as the #1 seed.

With a late start to the season due to football, Destrehan's Rae Juan Marbley was also undefeated at 12-0.  Marbley had championships at the Zachary Big Horse and the St. Paul's Invitational.  Although they had not met during the regular season, Marbley was seeded second over Yeatman, perhaps due to Marbley's 3rd place state finish in Division I in 2013 compared to Yeatman's runner-up spot in Division II.  But they were expected to solve any discrepancies in the semifinals.  Diaz, the Lafayette sophomore who won the District 3-5A, Teurlings Catholic, Jacob McMillan (in which he was an Outstanding Wrestler Award winner) and the Lafayette Metro tournaments, was seeded fourth. 

Rounds 1 and 2

The first round went according to plan, and only one mild upset was scored in the second when Rummel's #9 Tyler Fontana defeated #8 Nicholas Cashio of Catholic 3-2.

Quarterfinals

 In the quarterfinals the top four seeds advanced: Gilliam defeated Fontana 7-2; Diaz scored a major decision over Zachary's Christopher Wright, 16-6; Yeatman survived 6-4 against Brother Martin sophomore Jacob Clapp; Marbley needed all of 53 seconds to get past #7 Travis Goodman of Dutchtown.

Semifinal #1

(1) Quinn Gilliam (C.E. Byrd) vs. (4) Rodrigo Diaz (Lafayette)

These two were not strangers during the 2013-14 season - they met twice, with Gilliam posting victories of 15-7 and 18-3.  Diaz proved tougher to handle in this match but Gilliam managed a 7-4 win.  A non-participant in the 2013 state championships, Gilliam was in the finals in 2014.

Semifinal #2

(2) Rae Juan Marbley (Destrehan) vs. (3) Michael Yeatman (Holy Cross)

The much anticipated second semifinals match between Destrehan's Marbley and Holy Cross' Yeatman proved competitive at first but ended with misfortune as Yeatman suffered a tournament-ending injury to his shoulder.  Now the 220 lbs. finals match had two undefeated combatants, both unexpectedly from public school programs.

Consolation Rounds

Rummel's #8 seed Tyler Fontana had a roller-coaster ride to the consolation finals, receiving a forfeit after his quarterfinals loss, and receiving another one in the consolation semifinals due to Yeatman's injury.  In between those matches, though, was a 6-4 Sudden Victory over Zachary's Christopher Wright, so it was not a really easy road.  Brother Martin sophomore Jacob Clapp emerged in the other consolation semifinals, also after a 3-1 Sudden Victory match against Catholic's Cashio, followed by a 4-1 decision.  But there he met Lafayette's sophomore Rodrigo Diaz, who asserted himself early with a fall in 50 seconds.

Clapp went on to place fifth, two spots ahead of his 7th seeding, as a result of Yeatman's injury.

Diaz was not slowed down by the Rummel senior Fontana, scoring a major 11-3 decision to take third place for the Lions.

Finals: #1 Quin Gilliam (C.E. Byrd) versus #2 Rae Juan Marbley (Destrehan)

The finals match started off slowly, but with a little over thirty seconds remaining in the first period it was Gilliam scoring the first points to take a 2-0 lead.  Then the Byrd senior took control - he owned the second period, taking a 4-0 lead after a reversal in 40 seconds, allowing an escape but then taking the Wildcat down to his back for a takedown, two nearfall points and an 8-1 lead going into the third period.  Gilliam rode Marbley for over a minute before allowing another escape, but 25 seconds later took Marbley down again for a 10-2 lead.  And that takedown put Marbley on his back again, which Gilliam capitalized on with a fall in 5:36.  The last state champion from Byrd, Ray Kightlinger, did so when NATO was formed, when Chairman Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China, when the first EMMY awards were presented, when "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" came out - 1949!  Gilliam had a stellar season and was the first Division I state champion from northwest Louisiana since Airline's Dalton Elliott in 2011. 

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Division II

Fifteen wrestlers competed in the Division II 220 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Belle Chasse senior Logan Thompson, a third place finisher in 2013, had a record of 27-5 against Louisiana competition, never losing by more than two points.  He won the Warrior and Wildcat Opens early in the season and made the finals of the Trygg Memorial and Zachary Big Horse tournaments.  Kennedy was seeded first due to his undefeated record in Division II and because in the five matches he lost to Division I competition, none were by more than two points.  Teurlings Catholic's Adam Garza, a fifth place finisher in 2013, was out for about a month in December and January, and was only able to compile a 9-5 record, but that was sufficient to merit a second seed.  Sam Houston junior Kellen Lockhart was 22-12 and seeded third.  Due to a loss to Lockhart Northside's Willie Washington, Jr., at 17-8, was seeded fourth.

Round 1 and Quarterfinals

Only one upset occurred in the first round when #7 Robert McNeil of Pearl River succumbed to a fall by Shaw's Adam Albarado in 2:27.

The four top seeds advanced to the semifinals, all via falls.  Thompson needed 3:34 to take care of #8 Jonathan McCloskey of Haughton.  Northside's Washington used just 1:28 to get past Bossier's always dangerous Donnie Edwards.  Lockhart scored a fall in 3:11 over Luke Dahlberg of Live Oak (photos left) and Garza dispatched the unseeded Albarado of Shaw in 1:41.

Semifinal #1

(1) Logan Thompson (Belle Chasse) vs. Willie Washington, Jr. (Northside)

The top-seeded Thompson had some trouble from the senior Viking from Northside in their only meeting of the year, but he persevered with an 11-5 win to advance to the finals.

Semifinal #2

(2) Adam Garza (Teurlings Catholic) vs. (3) Kellen Lockhart (Sam Houston)

The #2 Garza, perhaps due to the time he spent while injured, could not handle the Sam Houston junior.  Lockhart took down Garza to his back and scored a fall in 1:16 to give the Broncos their second finalist.

Consolation Rounds

Albarado rebounded from his quarterfinals loss with a fall in 2:36 and another in 4:54, but Washington proved too strong and advanced to the consolation finals with a fall over Albarado in 1:19.  McNeil of Pearl River did the same thing on the other side of the bracket with falls in 2:18 and 1:54.  But then he ran into Garza, who scored a major 10-0 decision to advance to the third place match.

McNeil got revenge on Albarado for his first round loss, defeating the Shaw Eagle 10-6 to take fifth place.

Garza, who already owned a 5-3 victory over Washington from the Lafayette Metro Championships, fared a little better in this match, prevailing 8-3 this time to earn third place for the Rebels.

Finals: #1 Logan Thompson (Belle Chasse) versus #3 Kellen Lockhart (Sam Houston)

Kennedy scored the first points with 44 seconds remaining in the first period to take a 2-0 lead into the second.  Starting on the bottom, Kennedy escaped and then used a high single-leg to put Lockhart on his back briefly, but then locked a cross-face cradle which netted three nearfall points and an 8-0 lead after four minutes had elapsed.  In the third period Lockhart needed to score fast and chose to start in the neutral decision.  Thompson coasted on his feet for two minutes, not stalling, but not doing anything dangerous, preserving his 8-0 state championship, Belle Chasse's first since Dustin Appelt in 2010.

Division III

Eight wrestlers competed in the Division III 220 lbs. state championships.

Introduction

Brusly junior Donald Johnson brought a 22-6 record into the state tournament, with his only losses to Division I competition, and notable wins over Garza of Teurlings Catholic, Garrett Kuglemann of Fontainebleau and Calvary Baptist's 2013 runner-up Tyler Sullivan.  Near the end of the year Johnson played a major role by winning his weight class in Brusly's Greater Baton Rouge team championship.  Johnson was seeded first and behind him in the number two spot was Lakeside junior Luke Griffith and his 18-6 record, including a win over Robert McPherson of St. Louis at the Teurlings Catholic and John Curtis tournaments.   McPherson was seeded third and in the fourth spot was North Vermillion senior Blake Bernard, who had lost matches to Griffith and McPherson.

Quarterfinals

There were no first round matches so the bracket started in the quarterfinals.  The top four seeds advanced fairly easily: Johnson by a fall over Baker's Deon Addison in 2:20; Bernard with a technical fall (17-2 @ 4:54) over Dunham freshman Mason Rabel; and Griffith who needed just 10 seconds to score a fall over Holy Rosary's Julian Smith.  McPherson of St. Louis had the hardest match, but was never really challenged, winning 7-1 over #6 Trenton Anderson of De la Salle.

Consolation Rounds

The eight-man bracket negated a lot of consolation matches and hence quarterfinals losers only had to win one match to advance to the consolation semifinals.  De la Salle's Anderson scored a fall in 13 seconds to face Johnson in the first consolation semifinals, and the #1 seed had a tough time with the Cavalier sophomore, prevailing only by a 3-1 score.  Mason Rabel, the freshman from Dunham, had a much easier route as he received a forfeit.  But he was not ready for the seasoned McPherson, who pasted a 9-0 major decision on him in the second consolation semifinals.

Rabel came back strong against Anderson, scoring a fall in 2:18 to take fifth place for Dunham.

Johnson and McPherson had a radically different match.  Five minutes were not enough, nor were six, and an ultimate tie-breaker round was necessary before the top seed came away with a 5-4 win and a third place finish for the Panthers.

Finals: #2 Luke Griffith (Lakeside) versus #4 Blake Bernard (North Vermillion)

Griffith and Bernard had not met during the regular season, and each proved capable of scoring on the other.  After the second period Griffith had earned a 7-6 lead.  In the third, though, Griffith put Bernard on his back and did not let him go until the official slapped the mat at 3:28.  Griffith, only a junior, became Lakeside's first state champion in only the third season for the Indians.

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