Status: Fini

A three-card-poker table recouped the expense of a horrid dinner at the Belle of Baton Rouge Atrium Garden Buffet, putting a little damper on the day despite the outstanding wrestling to be had next door in the River Center.  Hence, a gambling motif follows.

Against a very strong AAAA team from Gilmer County, GA, Jesuit sophomore Guy Patron, Jr., continued his tear at 182 lbs. by pinning Nick Windsor in 45 seconds.  Patron has one loss on the season, to Fontainebleau's Ethan Eisenhardt, but has defeated Brother Martin's returning state runner-up Yehia Riles twice as well as Holy Cross' Porter Dazet. Patron holds 2013 tournament championships from the St. Michael Warrior Open, the Central Wildcat Invitational, the Raider Open and last week's Trey Culotta Invitational.  He should have another match against Riles Saturday morning.

The 2013 Deep South Bayou Duals pits 37 high schools comprising 40 teams (Brother Martin, Jesuit and Teurlings Catholic each have two squads participating) who compete on 12 mats Friday and Saturday at the Baton Rouge River Center.  Admission to the event is free to the public. 

Brother Martin and Jesuit may be forced to show their cards earlier than they might prefer, as Saturday morning they face off in the day’s first semifinal match.  Last year the Blue Jays and Crusaders both lost in the semifinals and were slated to compete for third place.  Due to a dual meet to be held three weeks later, Jesuit decided not to wrestle their starters and the Crusaders cruised to third place.  That option is not an available this time, as the winner will advance to the finals of the Deep South Bayou Duals.

Of the 17 out of state teams, nine qualified for the championship bracket of 16.  Two Georgia teams remain in the bottom half of the bracket, and the winner of Jefferson-North Forsythe will face the winner of the Brother Martin-Jesuit match.

Remaining contenders for third place from Louisiana are Brusly, Catholic and Rummel.  Brusly will meet Catholic for the second time this season Saturday morning.  The Bears defeated the Panthers 36-30 on December 7^th.   Live Oak, the first Baton Rouge area team to defeat Catholic in recent history, 44-30 in November, was ousted by Rummel in the first consolation round.

Wrestling is scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

BEST BET TO WIN: The Crusaders.  Jefferson, GA defeated Catholic 50-16 (Jefferson’s Jack Dollar gave Claitor his first loss of the season 6-5) and they may win four or five weight classes, but the Crusaders are simply too deep in the lower and middle weights to cede more than that.

BEST BET TO PLACE: Jefferson, GA.  They almost defeated Catholic as bad as Brother Martin did a few weeks ago (61-7), but it is doubtful they can must a victory against the Crusaders without some major upsets.

BEST BET TO SHOW: Jesuit.  The Blue Jays convincingly beat Gilmer County, GA, who gave N. Forsythe, GA one of their three dual meet losses this year.  Jesuit will have to get past Catholic or Brusly, though.  Those two start tomorrow off against each other.  Catholic defeated Brusly 36-30 at the Catholic duals, but matches between Claitor and Brusly’s Trevor Schermer (Claitor – 6-4) and Matthew Moreau and Diondre Dorsey (Moreau 3-2) could have gone either way.  Noah Landry’s move to 132 lbs. could make a difference.  Brusly and Catholic have defeated Jesuit by small margins this season, but Jesuit has a few new and very good faces on their team.

UPSET SPECIAL:    Catholic's James Claitor had his hands full against Jack Dollar of Jefferson, GA.  Claitor, whose first two losses last year came to out-of-state opponents at this event (his third and last loss was to an Alabama wrestler at the Hoover, AL Invitational), lost a close 6-5 match, his first loss of the season.  The nationally ranked Dollar also posted a 10-7 win over Brother Martin's previously undefeated Austin Meyn.

WORST INSIDE STRAIGHT DRAW   Jesuit freshman Jake Rando.  According to several onlookers, Rando was robbed of four to seven points in his 6-4 loss to Daniel Bautista of Gilmer County. By all appearances, since the round started with both wrestlers on their feet, it looks as if Jesuit's Jake Gilmore scored at least two takedown points, if not two nearfall points, against Bautista  (photo: left).  The official did not see it that way after Rando was called for an illegal leg hold AFTER the Georgia wrestler had been put on his back.  Another missed takedown call prevented Rando from scoring an additional two points, and as luck would have it, two points was the difference in the score of the match.

BEST INSIDE STRAIGHT DRAW: This goes to Jesuit’s B team sophomore at 113 lbs. Austin Pfister.  Pfister had four pins on the day, and in a loss to Live Oak, defeated defending Division II state champion Jacob Chenevert 8-6.

BEST FIVE CARDS NOT EQUALLING 21 OR MORE   Joseph Dupre of Jesuit was initially in trouble against Gilmer County's Alberto Perez, but hung around long enough to tire his opponent out.  Surging ahead by one point after a takedown, Coach Spencer Harris yelled at Dupre, asking the sophomore if he felt he could take Perez down again in the remaining 30 seconds.  Dupre said he could and let Perez escape, tying the match and allowing the next takedown to win the match.  True to his word, Dupre shot and completed a double-leg takedown at the edge of the mat (photo: left) to win another match for the Blue Jays.

Other notes:

South Walton's William Pickren, the winner of the Trygg Memorial 106 lb. weight class, lost a match to a Platte County, MO opponent on Saturday.  His older brother Cody, a Trygg winner at 145 lbs., lost a tough 9-7 match to returning Division I state runner-up Rick Lacava of Rummel.

Rummel's Devyn Breaud has returned to the mat.  Breaud was last seen in action in the finals of the Spartan Open, which he won by a fall over Brother Martin's Mason Mauro, the Crusader's only loss of the season.

Airline's Javarious Jones scores nearfall points against Shaw's Christian Termine.  Before Friday the Vikings had an unblemished dual meet record.  Roswell, GA put an end to that with a 46-27 win.	160 lbs. contender Gaston Eymard had trouble with Gilmer County's Johnnie Flakes in a 16-7 loss.  Flakes was a 2013 Georgia AAAA state champion at 138 lbs.	Jesuit's Dominic Carmello pinned Gilmer County's Levi Seabolt in 39 seconds in the 285 lbs. weight class.

Doubling-down: Brusly's Baret Sanchez scores on a double-leg against Roswell, GA's Robert Woolley.  Sanchez won the match 4-1 but the Panthers fell to Roswell 33-30.	Jake Eccles made an impressive return to action at 170 lbs. vs. Gilmer County's Matthew Waddel.  In a close match Eccles prevailed 8-7.	Will Lafranca of Jesuit's glances toward the clock as Gilmer County's Dusty Lacy struggles to avoid being pinned.  Lacy's efforts were for naught as Lafranca scored the fall in 5:30.

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