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Airline's Christian Walden scores a takedown against Brother Martin's Mason Williams in the Division I finals.

Division I Bracket	Division II Bracket	Division III Bracket
Place Name School 1 (3) Christian Walden Airline 2 (1) Mason Williams Brother Martin 3 (4) Sam Johnson Zachary 4 (7) Clint Brownell St. Amant 5 (5) Brandon Cowell Dutchtown 6 Preston Robichaux Holy Cross	Place Name School 1 (1) Nathan Pitts Parkway 2 (3) Dante Hebert Teurlings Catholic 3 (2) Aaron John St. Louis 4 (4) Perry Hawxhurst Grace King 5 (5) Brody Lege Belle Chasse 6 Eduardo Garcia Shaw	Place Name School 1 (1) Gavin Cortez Basile 2  (2) Conrad Wyre De la Salle  3 (5) Owen Mabile Brusly 4 (3) Connor Costello Ouachita Christian 5 (4) Austin Moss Lakeside 6 Kenneth Vidalier North Vermillion

Division I

Season Synopsis

This appeared to be Brother Martin's Mason Williams' weight class from the start of the season.  The 2014 Division I runner-up had defeated all of the opponents Louisiana threw at him and had won the Stewart Schay Blackhorse Invitational and the Louisiana Classic.  He had defeated Jake Rando of Holy Cross twice and his only really close match against a Louisiana opponent had been a 4-3 win over Airline's Christian Walden in the Louisiana Classic semifinals.  Walden cut down from 152 lbs. to 145 lbs. for the Parkway Lone Survivor, which he won to go with his victories at the Airline Invitational, the Ark-La-Tex Invitational and the North Louisiana Regionals.

Williams was the #1 seed, but he had other serious challengers with which to contend.  There was Dutchtown's Brandon Cowell (seeded second), also a 2014 Division I runner-up, who cut down to 145 lbs. for the Ken Cole and was the winner of the Central Wildcat Open, the Dutchtown Griffin Open, the Trygg Memorial, the Ken Cole and the Greater Baton Rouge Championships.  Walden was seeded third, followed by Zachary's Michigan transfer Samuel Johnson.  Johnson and Walden had St. Amant's Clint Brownell as a common competitor they had beaten, but Walden defeated Brownell by a major decision whereas Johnson struggled to wins of two and one point wins.  Cowell also struggled with Brownell, beating him by two points (one in a Sudden Victory period) in their two matches.  Seeded fifth was Jesuit's Griffin Mason, who had defeated Baton Rouge's Nijahl Butler, seeded sixth, who had a win over the seventh-seeded Brownell. 

Suffice to say Williams was considered a favorite to make it to the finals, but as to who his opponent would be, it was anybody's guess between Cowell, Walden, Butler and Brownell.

Preliminary Rounds

Round 2: (7) Clint Brownell (StA) defeated Zach Bowman (RUM) in 3:57

Round 2: (4) Sam Johnson (ZAC) defeated Brennan Bourliea (ACA) in 0:44 (left three photos); Round 2: (1) Mason Williams (BM) defeated Keaton Tucker (MND) in 1:43 (right two photos)

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Quarterfinals

(1) Mason Williams (BM) defeated Preston Robichaux (HC) 12-4

(4) Sam Johnson (ZAC) defeated (5) Griffin Mason (JES) 5-2 (left two photos); (3) Christian Walden (AIR) defeated (5) Nijahl Butler (BR)

(7) Clint Brownell (StA) defeated (2) Brandon Cowell (DUT) 9-7 Second-seeded Brandon Cowell had defeated his fellow Ascension Parish opponent Clinton Brownell three times in the last two seasons.  He won with a third period fall and a 12-0 major decision last year, but this season the St. Amant junior made it much harder as he took Cowell to a Sudden Victory period in the Greater Baton Rouge Championships semifinals.  In their fourth meeting things finally went Brownell's way as he prevailed in a hard-fought 9-7 match.

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Semifinals

(1) Mason Williams (BM) defeated (4) Samuel Johnson (ZAC) 5-1

(3) Christian Walden (AIR) defeated (7) Clint Brownell (StA) 4-2

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Consolation Rounds

3rd Place Match: (4) Sam Johnson (ZAC) defeated (7) Clint Brownell (StA) 8-6 SV

5th Place Match: (2) Brandon Cowell (DUT) defeated Preston Robichaux (HC) 8-0

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Finals

(3) Christian Walden (AIR) defeated (1) Mason Williams (BM) 11-6 This was a very close match through the first two rounds.  No points were scored in the first period.  In the second, Williams scored an escape point but Walden came back with a takedown.  A penalty point assessed on Walden, however, tied the match at 2-2 going into the third round.  And the third round belonged to the Airline sophomore.  Walden immediately escaped to take a 3-2 lead and before 13 seconds had elapsed scored a takedown for a 5-2 lead.  Williams was able to escape but Walden again took the Crusader down, now leading 7-3.  The two repeated the process, giving Walden a 9-4 lead with just over a minute remaining.  Williams managed a reversal with 20 seconds left, but fifteen second later Walden score one of his own to end the match on the top with an 11-6 victory.  Walden completed his sophomore season 33-2 against Louisiana competition and 41-2 against all opponents.  Williams ended his career with a 24-1 Louisiana record and a 38-4 overall one.

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Division II

Season Synopsis

Parkway's Nathan Pitts placed third at the state championships in 2014, and this season he did not lose a match to a Division II or Division III opponent'  His Division I losses were to some stalwart competition, including Antonio Lococo and Christian Walden of Airline, and Dutchtown's Brandon Cowell.  Seeded first at 145 lbs., he had two wins over second-seeded Aaron John of St. Louis as well as a win over third-seeded Dante Hebert of Teurlings Catholic.  John, apparently, was seeded over Hebert due to a better performance than Hebert in losses to Lafayette's Thaquan Priestly, as he and Hebert had not met each other during the season. 

Preliminary Rounds

Nor upsets occurred during the first round.

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Quarterfinals

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Semifinals

The third-seeded senior Hebert upset the second-seed freshman from St. Louis 7-1.

(1) Nathan Pitts (PKY) defeated (4) Perry Hawxhurst (GK) 10-2

(3) Dante Hebert (TC) defeated (2) Aaron John (StL) 7-1

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Consolation Rounds

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Finals

(1) Nathan Pitts (PKY) defeated (3) Dante Hebert (TC) 7-6 Pitts defeated Hebert convincing by a fall in 2:41 in the Ken Cole quarterfinals.  Hebert, however, was going to make Pitts work harder for a state championship.  Pitts opened the scoring with a takedown after a minute had passed in the first, but Hebert tied the match with a switch and two back points to end the round leading 4-2.  In the second period no points were scored as Pitts rode Hebert for the entire two minutes.  In the third period Pitts reversed Hebert to tie the score and then put the Rebel on his back for three nearfall points.  Hebert would manage a reversal with about 10 seconds remaining, but he did not have the time to work Pitts to his back, and Parkway had their second state champion of the evening.  Pitts ended his season with a 24-6 record against Louisiana competition and a 29-8 aggregate record.  Hebert finished 22-9 and 22-10.

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Division III

Season Synopsis

Basile's Gavin Cortez brought a 20-6 record to the state championships with titles from the Jacob McMillan, the Brusly Invitational and the Rayne Invitational¹.  He was the #1 seed due to a Ken Cole pin over second seed Conrad Wyre of De la Salle.  Wyre, with one, and Cortez, with three, had victories over third-seeded Connor Costello of Ouachita Christian.  Wyre also won the Greater New Orleans Division III District championship.

¹    This result is listed on the TrackWrestling Rayne Invitational page, though not on the TrackWrestling record page for Cortez.

Preliminary Rounds

No upsets were recorded in the first round.

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Quarterfinals

Brusly's fifth-seeded Owen Mabile upset #4 Austin Moss of Lakeside in 2:50.

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Semifinals

(1) Gavin Cortez (BAS) defeated (5) Owen Mabile (BRU) in 3:34

(2) Conrad Wyre (DLS) defeated (3) Connor Costello (OC) in 1:28

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Consolation Rounds

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Finals

(1) Gavin Cortez (BAS) defeated (2) Conrad Wyre (DLS) in 3:34 As at the Ken Cole Invitational, Wyre could not match Cortez, and succumbed to a second round fall in 3:34.  Cortez ended the season with a 23-6 record while Wyre was 39-16 against Louisiana and 43-17 against all opponents.

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