Status: Fini

Yehia Riles of Brother Martin scores a fall over McKinley's Tyler Ventress in the Division I semifinals.

Division I Bracket	Division II Bracket	Division III Bracket
Place Name School 1 (1) Yehia Riles Brother Martin 2 (2) Brandon Verges Fontainebleau 3 (5) Tyler Ventress McKinley 4 (6) Keegan Gilligan Airline 5 (3) Jordan Averett St. Amant 6 (4) Trevon Honor Hahnville	Place Name School 1 (2) D'Anta Anderson Huntington 2 (1) Cameron Bertot Shaw 3 Mason Castle Live Oak 4 (6) Justin Atkins North DeSoto 5 (3) Austin Gary Carencro 6 (4) Tanner Leger Rayne	Place Name School 1 (3) Grant Rabel Dunham 2 (4) Julius Johnson Kaplan 3 (1) Joe Clark De la Salle 4 (2) Chris Inocencio Doyline 5 Dylan Maassen-Veeters Episcopal 6 (6) Brandon Young Brusly

Division I

Season Synopsis

This weight class really belonged to only two people: defending Division I state champion Yehia Riles of Brother Martin and Brandon Verges of Fontainebleau.

In Verges' four losses to Louisiana opponents, three were to Riles with the other coming from Division II's Brody Bonura of Live Oak.  His wins, though, were impressive.  While in November he only defeated Holy Cross' Mason Williams 2-1 and De la Salle's Joe Clark 3-1, only four of his other 24 wins came by less than a major decision or a fall.  Verges won the Mandeville Open, the Rayne Invitational and placed third at the Trey Culotta.

Riles had a great season.  He was undefeated in 27 matches against Louisiana opponents.  His only loss was to Wyoming Seminary's Christian Dietrich at the Prep Slam VII tournament in Atlanta.  Riles won the Cinco Ranch Big 12 in Texas, the Griffin Open, the Trey Culotta, the Louisiana Classic and the St. Paul's Invitational.

Riles was naturally the #1 seed while Verges was seeded second. 

Preliminary Rounds

One upset was recorded in the second round when unseeded Connor Ortego of Catholic defeated #8 Matthew Bowman of Rummel in 3:13.

Round 1: Ezekiel Hunter (ACA) defeated Matthew Putnam (HC) 11-6

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Quarterfinals

Two upsets were recorded in the quarterfinals.  Fifth-seeded Tyler Ventress of McKinley pinned #4 Trevon Honor of Hahnville in 3:46 and #6 Keegan Gilligan of Airline defeated #3 Jordan Averett of St. Amant 5-1.

(1) Yehia Riles (BM) defeated Connor Ortego (CAT) in 1:19

Left three photos: (5) Tyler Ventress (McK) defeated (4) Trevon Honor (HNV) in 3:46.  Honor had defeated Ventress 7- at the Deep South Bayou Duals; Right two photos: (6) Keegan Gilligan (AIR) defeated (3) Jordan Averett (StA)

(2) Brandon Verges (FNT) defeated (7) Payton Wicker (ZAC) via a 20-3 TF

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Semifinals

(1) Yehia Riles (BM) defeated (5) Tyler Ventress (McK) in 1:55

(2) Travis Verges (FNT) defeated (6) Keegan Gilligan (AIR) 7-4

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Consolation Rounds

3rd Place Match: (5) Tyler Ventress (McK) defeated (6) Keegan Gilligan (AIR) 4-1

5th Place Match: (3) Jordan Averett (StA) defeated (4) Trevon Honor (HNV) via a forfeit

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Finals

(1) Yehia Riles (BM) defeated (2) Brandon Verges (FNT) 3-2 In their three matches during the regular season Riles defeated Verges in a number of ways: a 6-4 victory in the pool round of the Trey Culotta; a fall in 1:37 in a dual meet; via an injury in the St. Paul's Invitational finals.  This match would be much like their first one.  No points were scored in the first period.  Fifteen seconds into the second Riles broke the ice with an escape for a 1-0 lead.  A minute later Riles scored the only takedown of the match to lead 3-0.  Verges managed an escape and the round ended with Riles leading 3-1.  Riles wanted to start the third period on his feet, so he gave Verges an escape point before the third round started, cutting his lead in half to 3-2.  Verges tried everything to score a takedown but Riles held him off, without stalling, for the full two minutes, preserving his 3-2 lead and becoming the third Crusader to successfully defend last season's Division I state title.  Riles ended the season undefeated again Louisiana wrestler at 31-0 and ended the season 43-1.  Verges was 29-5 and 35-6.

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Division II

Season Synopsis

When only looking at the records of the finalists the seeding is a little hazy.  Shaw's Cameron Bertot brought a 21-18 Louisiana record into the tournament.  D'Anta Anderson of Huntington's record was 17-7.  Both were knocked out of the Ken Cole, the only tournament they had in common, in the fifth round of consolations.  More confusing, however, is that at the Ken Cole Anderson defeated Zachary's Payton Wicker 5-3, while in a dual meet Wicker pinned Bertot in 5:45.  Anderson had a loss to Central's Austin Cavin by a technical fall, yet Cavin was seeded third behind Anderson, the number two seed, and Bertot, who was seeded first. 

Preliminary Rounds

A minor upset occurred when Benton's Taylor Rivet defeated #8 Christian Weaver of Pearl River in 3:06.

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Quarterfinals

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Semifinals

(1) Cameron Bertot (SHW) defeated (4) Tanner Leger (RAY) 7-3

(2) D'Anta Anderson (HUN) defeated (3) Austin Gary (CAR) 14-8

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Consolation Rounds

It is worth noting that Live Oak's unseeded sophomore Mason Castle, who lost in the first round via a fall in 1:22 to Carencro's third-seeded Austin Gary, scored four straight pins, including one over Gary in the consolation semifinals, and then defeated North DeSoto's Justin Atkins 9-7 in a Sudden Victory round to place third.

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Finals

(2) D'Anta Anderson (HUN) defeated (1) Cameron Bertot (SHW) 6-2 Taylor scored a takedown to take a 2-0 lead after a minute had elapsed in the first period.  In the second, Bertot scored an escape but Anderson took him down to his back and scored two nearfall points, making the score 6-1 in Anderson's favor as the third period started.  Bertot would only merit a penalty point assessed against Anderson before time ran out and Anderson, only a sophomore, had Huntington's second state championship of the evening.  Anderson finished the year 21-7 while Bertot was 23-19 against Louisiana competition and 25-19 in all of his matches.

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Division III

Season Synopsis

De la Salle's Joe Clark and Doyline's Christopher Inocencio were the top two seeds in this weight class.  Aside from a match ended due to an injury (and a subsequent forfeit) at the Ken Cole, Clark's only three losses were to Division I opponents.  Inocencio had a loss to Clark at the Brusly Invitational and his only other two losses were to Division I and Division II opponents.

None of that mattered, though, as both were knocked out of the Division III championship bracket in the semifinals via falls in 3:00.

Clark fell to fourth-seeded Julius Johnson, a Kaplan sophomore who entered the tournament with a 15-9 record and whose best finish at a tournament was 3rd at the Lafayette Metro.  Inocencio fell to third-seeded Grant Rabel, an eighth-grader from Dunham.  Rabel entered the tournament with a 16-14 record, but one of those wins was a 9-4 decision over Johnson at the Brusly Invitational in which he placed third.  His best finish was as a runner-up at the Teurlings Rebel Open. 

Preliminary Rounds

No upsets were recorded in the first or second rounds.

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Quarterfinals

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Semifinals

(4) Julius Johnson (KAP) defeated (1) Joe Clark (DLS) in 3:00

(3) Grant Rabel (DUN) defeated (2) Chris Inocencio (DOY) in 3:00

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Consolation Rounds

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Finals

(3) Grant Rabel (DUN) defeated (4) Julius Johnson (KAP) in 5:59 Kaplan appeared he would avenge his previous loss to Rabel as he took down the freshman early, but Rabel rallied to escape and score a takedown of his own.  The match was close throughout but Rabel gained control late in the third period and with one second remaining, scored a fall over Kaplan (at 5:59) to win for Dunham.  Rabel finished the season 19-14 while Johnson was 17-10

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