At least five top seeds and three 3rd-5th seeds for this weekend's Louisiana
Classic should be on the line Wednesday night at Holy Cross as the Brother
Martin Crusaders visit the Tigers for their annual dual meet. At least
that is the determination of this wrestling pundit based on his personal and now
seemingly nonsensical rankings of the state's best grapplers. While my
projected seeds will certainly differ from that which might be gleaned by two
others' "rankings" of this season's best, the matches mentioned here will
nonetheless affect seeding in one way or another. If that is not drama
enough, add that this is the first time season that any of these wrestlers have
faced one another.
As I see it the following matches will be of concern to the Louisiana Classic
seeding committee:
| Weight |
Brother Martin
(Grade) |
Holy Cross (Grade) |
At Stake... |
Notes |
Prediction |
| 106 |
Luke Cotton (9) |
Chris Zea (12) |
#3 |
Blake Mateau of Rummel
and Brody Martin of Jesuit will take the first two spots. |
Sure, you can |
| 113 |
Steven Shields (10) |
Jeffrey Argrave (10) |
#3 |
Shields is going to be
#1, even with one loss in a dual meet. Fairchild will be #2
because his only loss was to Shields. Argrave, Jesuit's Austin
Pfister and Catholic's Cameron Carpenter have been beating up each
other. A win over Shields puts Argrave in the front, or top, or
whatever one can determine to be the best place to be in a Mobius Loop. |
read this if you |
| 120 |
Steven Rumney (11) |
Beau Bush (11) |
#3 |
Nicholas Lirette of
Hahnville and Ben D'Antonio are the top two in this weight class,
arguably one of the toughest this year. Both have defeated Rumney
(Lirette by a fall and D'Antonio by two points) and D'Antonio has
defeated Bush. Rumney and Bush have common victories over Colt
Olinde of Live Oak, Landon Wheat of East Ascension and Eli Larriviere of
Jesuit. |
know how, |
| 126 |
Taylor Gambill (11) |
Collin Guerra (12) |
#1 |
Shaw's two-time Brother
Martin state champion Mason Mauro will have an effect on this weight
class, but with only two matches under his belt so far it is too early
to give him top billing just yet. East Ascension's Jacob Bernard
is also a serious contender for the Division I championship in this
weight class, but Bernard just moved to 126 lbs. last weekend and only
has one match at that weight. Gambill and Guerra are both
undefeated in Louisiana and have very respectable records against
out-of-state competition. |
but if you |
| 132 |
Paul Klein (12) |
Dylan Soileau (12) |
#1 |
Klein gets it with a win.
Soileau gets it with a win as, despite not having competed since
December 10th, he will remain undefeated. |
think I am about |
| 138 |
Blaine Eisensohn (12) |
Joey Foret (10) |
#1 |
Joey Foret is undefeated
in Louisiana against some pretty good competition, including Brock Bonin
of Teurlings Catholic, Max Grosch of Jesuit and Mitchell Vidrine of
Catholic. Eisensohn only has one loss in Louisiana, and he avenged
that (and took a 2-1 season lead) at the Southeastern Prep Slam VII.
The two have several opponents in common and have beaten them, albeit
not the same ones, more convincingly than the other. |
to publish predictions |
| 145 |
Mason Williams (12) |
Jake Rando (10) |
#1 |
Like Gambill vs. Guerra,
these two are undefeated in Louisiana and have done very well against
high caliber out-of-state competition. |
that is akin to |
| 170 |
Brice Duhe (12) |
Pierce Williams (11) |
#3 or #5 |
This match can only
improve Williams' seeding potential. Even with a loss Duhe has
dominated the best local competition, including those who have beaten
Williams. A Williams win could vault the Crusader to the #3 spot. |
taking me for an idiot. |
| 285 |
Matthew Montalbano (11) |
Travis Gardner (12) |
#3 or #4 |
Northside's O'Shea Dugas
and Jesuit's Dominic Carmello should be the top seeds. Montalbano
and Gardner both have losses to Fontainebleau's Christian Ponson,
although the Bulldogs will not be participating. Montalbano, however, has two losses to
Shaw's Matthew Blair while Gardner defeated Blair twice. Gardner
stays to #4 with a win. Montalbano goes to #5, behind Blair, with
a win. |
Think again! |
