Status: Fini

Prep Slam VII - Atlanta, GA:

The Brother Martin Crusaders had one champion and two runners-up but finally met their match in a 32-man tournament format at Prep Slam VII.  But it took a team from Pennsylvania, sort of, to finally beat them.  The Crusaders finished in the runner-up position at the Prep Slam VII in Atlanta, GA, which was won by Wyoming Seminary Prep School of Kinston, PA.  Wyoming Seminary scored 331.5 points to the Crusaders' 262.5.

Paul Klein, Louisiana's three-time defending Division I state champion, won the 132 lbs. championship 4-3 over Tampa Prep's Donoven Hough, a 2014 Florida 1A state runner-up, in the finals.  Klein defeated a Florida 1A state champion, Jake Brindley of Lake Highland Prep., by an 11-2 major decision in the semifinals.  Klein advanced his 2014-15 record to 28-0.  (As reported by SportsNOLA, Hough previously won two state championships in Florida - they were for class 2A Armwood High School in 2012 and 2013.)

Seth Johnson and Yehia Riles placed second for the Crusaders.  Johnson, at 152 lbs., lost 6-3 to Tampa Prep's Leonardo Tarrantino.  Riles, at 182 lbs., lost to last year's undefeated New York state champion Chris Dietrich, currently competing for Wyoming Seminary, after defeating a 2014 Florida 1A state runner-up 7-2 in the semifinals.

What kind of team does it take to beat the Crusaders?   No ordinary one, to say the least.   "Wyoming" and "Pennsylvania" are not quite enough to describe this team (albeit the "Wyoming" part is due to an area known as Wyoming Valley, located in northeastern Pennsylvania).   While they do have a wrestler who hails from Wyoming, and they have eleven from Pennsylvania, they also have seven from New York, four from Texas, eight more from eight other states and one from the District of Columbia.   In essence, this is a national high school all-star team.  The Knights were the 2014 National Preps national champions and are currently ranked as the #4 team in the nation according to Intermat. 

The last time the Crusaders lost a tournament was on December 1st, 2012, when they placed second at the Stewart Shay Blackhorse Invitational in Germantown, TN, by 20.5 points to a team from Christian Brothers, TN.

Five Crusaders advanced to the consolation finals.  Placing third were Steven Shields (won 3-2 over Luke Davis of St. John's, D.C.) at 113 lbs., Mason Williams (won 7-2 over second-seeded Joseph Clemente of LaSalle Institute of New York) at 145 lbs., Pierce Williams (won via a fall in 1:19 over Jack Marsh of St. Pius X of Georgia) at 170 lbs. and Matt Montalbano (won 8-1 over John Kelly of Tennessee's Montgomery Bell High School) at 285 lbs.  Steven Rumney, who made the semifinals at 120 lbs., placed fourth after a 10-6 loss to Montgomery Bell's Michael Elkin.

Luke Cotton at 106 lbs., Taylor Gambill at 126 lbs., Blaine Eisensohn at 138 lbs. and Jacob Clapp at 220 lbs. placed fifth for the Crusaders.  Eisensohn gained a measure of revenge in the fifth round of consolations with a 3-0 win over Hunter Bourgeois of St. Paul's, who defeated the Crusader in the finals of the Trey Culotta Invitational in December.

The Crusaders were not the only Louisiana team in the mix.  St. Paul's placed 14th in the 36-team field and had a third place finish by Sam Dufour at 152 lbs., who defeated second-seeded Andrew Munn (née Houston St. Thomas) of Wyoming Seminary 7-5.  Dufour lost to Brother Martin's Seth Johnson 4-3 in the semifinals.

Scott Rohrer Hoover Invitational - Hoover, AL:

In 2013 it was Catholic defeating Vestavia Hills, Alabama, at the Scott Rohrer Hoover Invitational.  This year the tables were turned and Vestavia Hills prevailed, outscoring the runner-up Bears 807-699.

Catholic's Jonathan Matthews won the 126 lbs. championship with a 3-2 win over Max Hopkins of Vestavia Hills.  Defending Division I state champion Matthew Mire fell to Alabama's defending 6A state champion Jackson Hall, of Hoover, 6-4 in the 152 lbs. finals.  At 285 lbs. Aaron Wiltz, seeded fifth in the championship bracket, pinned top-seeded Daniel Bland of Alabama's Benjamin Russell High School in 3:55 to set up a finals match with Vestavia Hills' Benjamin Cage.  Cage, who pinned Wiltz in Friday's pool rounds, had a harder time with the Catholic senior this time, posting only a 9-3 win.  Wiltz, who only wrestled one match prior to the Deep South Bayou Duals, now has a record of 10-3 and has not lost to a Louisiana wrestler.

Others who qualified for Saturday's championship bracket placed as follows:

3rd: Cameron Carpenter (113 lbs.), Dominic Dewey (120 lbs.), Mitchell Vidrine (138 lbs.), Jacob Fereday (145 lbs.);

4th: Tristan Williams (132 lbs.);

5th: Andrew Messina (160 lbs.), James DeLee (220 lbs.);

7th: M.J. Coates (106 lbs.), Nicholas Danna (172 lbs.), Connor Ortego (182 lbs.);

8th: Lance Blanchard (122 lbs. non-scoring).

Grapevine Duals, Grapevine, TX:

The Airline Vikings, after placing a hard fifth in their pools on Friday, came back from a 27-12 deficit  in the Consolation Championships finals before scoring 29 unanswered points to defeat Paschal, TX, 41-27.  The Vikings used consecutive wins by Javarious Jones, Scott Prouty, Dalton Lambright, Antonio Lococo and Christian Walden in the last five pairings to end the match.

Jones (126 and 132 lbs.), Lococo (145 lbs.), Walden (152 lbs.) and Matt Salinas (170 and 182 lbs.) were undefeated during the two-day event.

On Friday the Vikings were one win away from winning three of their four matches, falling by scores of 39-33, 34-33, 42-39, before being more soundly defeated by Lake Highlands, TX, 51-22. 

In the Consolation Championships Airline defeated Wylie, TX, 55-24 and Coppell, TX, 51-27 before their match with Paschal.

Lake Highlands placed second to Oklahoma's Harrah High School in the Championship Bracket finals.

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