Status: Fini

Jesuit's Dominic Carmello keeps Fontainebleau's Christian Ponson from escaping in the finals period of the Division I finals.

Division I Bracket	Division II Bracket	Division III Bracket
Place Name School 1 (1) Dominic Carmello Jesuit 2 (3) Christian Ponson Fontainebleau 3 (2) Ryan Hanley Rummel 4 (5) Aaron Wiltz Catholic 5 (4) Travis Gardner Holy Cross 6 (8) Blade Rager Hahnville	Place Name School 1 (2) Travis Santiago Teurlings Catholic 2 (1) Oshea Dugas Northside 3 (3) Matthew Blair Shaw 4 Jonathan McCleskey Haughton 5 (5) Darius Revolta Pearl River 6 Carson McClellan Belle Chasse	Place Name School 1 (1) Kirk Wilson Dunham 2 (3) Aaron Tanner St. Louis 3 (2) Jonathan Wilson South Plaquemines 4 (6) Jeremiah James De la Salle 5 (4) Jo'Vonte Wheeler Brusly 6 Jordan Scott Thomas Jefferson

Division I

Season Synopsis

Jesuit's Dominic Carmello only lost one match to a Louisiana wrestler, Kirk Wilson of Division III Dunham High School, and his only other three losses were to out-of-state competitors at the Kansas City Stampede.  He brought 30 victories into the state championships, which entailed winning titles at the Warrior Open, the Mandeville Open and the South Walton Border Wars.  He was well in control in the Mandeville Open finals against Fontainebleau's Christian Ponson before Ponson suffered an injury that kept him off of the mats for three weeks.  He also had victories over the #2, #3, #4 and #6 seeds in the Division I championship bracket.  Understandably, Carmello was the #1 seed.

Seeded second was Rummel's Ryan Hanley.  Hanley's season started very late and while he only had a 3-2 record prior to the state championships, two of those wins were over #4 Gardner of Holy Cross and #6 Montalbano of Brother Martin, while his losses were to Carmello and Teurlings Catholic standout Travis Santiago.

The third seed was Ponson, who only had two losses as well.  His loss to Carmello did not make a difference re the seeding of this weight class, but a 1-2 record against Montalbano and an injury at the Ken Cole relegated him to the #3 spot. 

Preliminary Rounds

One upset was recorded in the first round when Covington's Robert Nigro defeated #8 Aaron Wiltz of Catholic in 1:25.

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Quarterfinals

Left photo: (1) Dominic Carmello (JES) defeated (8) Blade Rager (HNV) in 5:12; Right two photos: (4) Travis Gardner (HC) defeated Robert Nigro (COV) in 0:24

Left two photos: (3) Christian Ponson (FNT) defeated (6) Matt Montalbano (BM) 5-1; Right three photos: (2) Ryan Hanley (RUM) defeated (7) Christian Fortner (StP)

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Semifinals

(1) Dominic Carmello (JES) defeated (4) Travis Gardner (HC) 8-4

(3) Christian Ponson (FNT) defeated (2) Ryan Hanley (RUM) in 5:56

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Consolation Rounds

3rd Place Match: (2) Ryan Hanley (RUM) defeated (5) Aaron Wiltz (CAT) 9-6 The eighth-seeded Wiltz of Catholic, after a bye followed by a second round loss, scored three falls to reach the consolation semifinals, where he defeated Gardner 7-2 prior to losing to Hanley 9-6 to place fourth.

5th Place Match: (4) Travis Gardner (HC) defeated (8) Blade Rager (HNV) in 4:48

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Finals

(1) Dominic Carmello (JES) defeated (3) Christian Ponson (FNT) 1-0 A 1-0 match usually is not terribly exciting, but with a state championship on the line and one move determining whether it becomes an overtime match this one caused more than enough consternation for coaches and fans alike.  No points were scored in the first period.  In the second period Carmello escaped from Ponson via a switch attempt which turned into a stand-up escape, giving Carmello a 1-0 lead.  Carmello rode Ponson for the rest of the round, but then faced the task of having to ride the Bulldog for the entire third period to avoid overtime.  (Odds are if Ponson were to score, it would have been an escape to tie the match, and there was no reason to believe either would take the other down for a win during the remainder of the third period or in a Sudden Victory round.)  Carmello, though, was up to the task as he thwarted all of Ponson's attempts to escape.  As time ran out Carmello had a 1-0 championship, Jesuit's third of the night, while Ponson had to settle for the runner-up spot, albeit a very good finish in a season in which he was injured twice, for the second consecutive year.  Carmello finished the season 23-1 against Louisiana opponents and 34-4 overall.  Ponson was 21-2 and 23-2.

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Division II

Season Synopsis

The only other wrestler of note to enter the state tournament undefeated (aside from Division I's Klein, Benoit, Jones and Eisenhardt) was Northside's defending 220 lbs. state champion O'Shea Dugas of Northside.  Despite only competing in his first match on December 20th, Dugas was 20-0, had a victory over Dunham's Kirk Wilson, but more importantly had three falls over Teurlings Catholic's Travis Santiago.  Dugas won the Jacob McMillan, the Teurlings Rebel Open, the Ken Cole and the Lafayette Metro championship.  He was an obvious #1 seed,

Seeded second was Santiago.  Santiago brought 37 wins into the tournament and, aside from his three losses to Dugas, he only lost to Division I and out-of-state opponents, although he had victories over Rummel's Hanley, Holy Cross' Gardner, Brother Martin's Montalbano and Catholic's Wiltz.

Preliminary Rounds

One upset was recorded in the second round when unseeded Carson McClellan of Belle Chasse defeated #8 Jonathan McCleskey of Haughton in 4:25.

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Quarterfinals

In the quarterfinals #5 Darius Revolta of Pearl River defeated #4 Clayton Davis of Live Oak in 1:35.

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Semifinals

Left two photos: (1) Oshea Dugas (NS) defeated (5) Darius Revolta (PR) in 1:21; Right three photos: (2) Travis Santiago (TC) defeated (3) Matthew Blair (SHW) in 2:33

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Consolation Rounds

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Finals

(2) Travis Santiago (TC) defeated (1) Oshea Dugas (NS) via disqualification Anyone just looking at the results of this match and the fact that Dugas had pinned Santiago three times this season might think the Teurlings Catholic wrestler got lucky in winning via a disqualification.  Those who saw the match, however, know better.  Santiago came to compete in his last state tournament.  He scored a double-leg takedown and then caught Dugas' head to form a cradle, earning the Rebel wrestler a 5-0 lead after almost 90 seconds had elapsed.  Dugas reversed him late in the round, which ended 6-2 in Santiago's favor.  In the second period Santiago was down and stood up to attempt an escape.  Dugas pulled Santiago's leg into the air but then made a crucial mistake.  Dugas tripped Santiago off of his feet and let the Teurlings Catholic wrestler fall hard to the mat on his back.  The trip did not appear malicious on Dugas' part, but rules state that if one wrestler causes the other to leave the mat, the first wrestler is responsible for bringing the second down to the mat safely.  Dugas did not do that, which led to a penalty point for Santiago and, as Santiago could no longer wrestle due to the possibility of a concussion, Dugas was disqualified.  Santiago understandably did not make it atop the podium to receive his state champion awards.  Dugas, who did not hide his emotions after the match ended, also did not appear on the podium when the awards were distributed.  Santiago finished the season 39-6 against Louisiana competition and 40-8 overall.  Dugas finished 23-1.

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Division III

Season Synopsis

Dunham's Kirk Wilson, a 2014 Division III runner-up, had a very good season despite that it did not start until January 3rd.  He won the Louisiana Classic, which included victories over Dominic Carmello of Jesuit, Travis Gardner of Holy Cross and Aaron Wiltz of Catholic.  He won the Greater Baton Rouge Championships with another win over Wiltz in the finals, and won the Brusly Invitational with a first period fall over South Plaquemine's Jonathan Wilson.  His only setback was in the Ken Cole finals when he was beaten by Oshea Dugas of Northside.  Entering the state tournament he had a record of 17-1.  Dunham's Wilson was the obvious #1 seed.

Seeded second was South Plaquemine's Jonathan Wilson, due to a 15-5 decision over #3 Aaron Tanner of St. Louis.

Preliminary Rounds

No upsets were recorded in the first round.

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Quarterfinals

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Semifinals

(1) Kirk Wilson (DUN) defeated (4) Jo'Vonte Wheeler (BRU) in 2:59

(3) Aaron Tanner (StL) defeated (2) Jonathan Wilson (SPL) in 2:19 Tanner avenged his Ken Cole loss to Williams to advance to the finals.

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Consolation Rounds

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Finals

(1) Kirk Wilson (DUN) defeated (3) Aaron Tanner (StL) in 0:49 Wilson and Tanner had not met during the regular season, which might have been just as well.  Wilson dominated this match from the start, taking Tanner down with a double-leg and then turning Tanner to his back with a half-nelson.  Wilson finished the match via a fall in 1:11 to win Dunham's second title of the evening.  Wilson finished the season 20-1 while Tanner was 21-9.

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