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| Louisiana Wrestling News "Best of 2014-15" Rankings |
| May 17th, 2014 | Written by: Editor |
Louisiana Wrestling News "Best of 2015-16" Rankings
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They are all great seasons, of course, but this
one was remarkable in several ways. Leading the way was Paul Klein capturing his fourth consecutive Division I state championship for the Brother Martin Crusaders, who also captured their fourth consecutive team title. After three years of finishing second, Holy Cross' George Benoit capped off a perfect season with a Division I state championship. Two other Division I state champions went undefeated on the season: Kendrick Jones of Hahnville (who won his second Division I title) and Fontainebleau's Ethan Eisenhardt. The race for the team runner-up spot for Division I was exciting, and, after losing to Holy Cross all season, the Jesuit Blue Jays emerged once again by a margin of one point. Along with Jones, Steven Shields and Yehia Riles of Brother Martin, and Ben D'Antonio of Jesuit won their second Division I titles. In Division II Colt Olinde of Live Oak and Zach Funderburk of Parkway successfully defended state championship titles they won last season, as did Brusly's Austin Franklin, Kendon Kayser and Koby Mancuso, and Fisher's Matt Adams in Division III. Capturing their third state titles were Division II's Brock Bonin of Teurlings Catholic and Division III's Raymond Bushnell of Basile. Four of the wrestlers listed above, Shields, Bonin, Franklin and Kayser, are on track to win four state titles in their respective divisions. Also winning his third state title, this time in Division II for Shaw, was Mason Mauro, who won Division I titles for the Crusaders in 2013 and 2014. |
Let the flaying begin! Email: Muller, you're an idiot!
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This was a very exciting weight class,
albeit dominated by three individuals. Jesuit senior Brody Martin and Rummel freshman Blake Mateau split their first four matches. Senior Chris Zea of Holy Cross was at times just a takedown away from beating both Martin and Mateu. Zea could not break that barrier, though, and Martin took the last two matches of his series with Mateau with wins in the Louisiana Classic and Division I state finals. |
106 Pounds
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The returning sophomore Division I
state champion Crusader was almost unbeatable this season.
His only loss was to a Wyoming Seminary wrestler in the Holy
Innocents Prep Slam VII in Atlanta. Against Louisiana
opponents he only won four matches by less than four points
(to Jesuit's Austin Pfister, Rummel's Robert Fairchild, 2x D3 state
champion Austin Franklin of Brusly, and Bush in the finals). Colt Olinde gets the second place nod for capturing his second Division II state title and for his Ken Cole finals win against Bush. Bush competed at 120 lbs. for the first two months of the season, posting a 12-2 record, but dropped to 113 lbs. when Holy Cross realigned several wrestlers to lower weight classes. |
113 Pounds
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The weight class was loaded with talent from the start. Early in the
season Raymond Bushnell of Basile was very strong, but he passed that
torch to Rumney at the Griffin Open. Soon after, in the Trey Culotta, Rumney was supplanted after losing to Hahnville's Nicholas Lirette twice. Rumney surprised Lirette in the Louisiana Classic, though, and then Lirette promptly took back the reins four days later. The weight class was already very strong, but it was subdued a bit when Jesuit's defending 120 lbs. state champion Ben D'Antonio entered into the fray on December 13th with a one-point win over Rumney. Always exciting to watch, D'Antonio did not lose to a Louisiana opponent all season. |
120 Pounds
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This one was tough. Soileau
started the season strong at 132 lbs. but then sustained an
injury in mid-December which kept him off of the mat for over a
month. The first match of his return was a gutsy one against Brother Martin's Paul Klein, but it did not end
favorably for Soileau, nor did the Louisiana Classic two days
later in which he placed fourth. Soileau dropped to 126
lbs. to win the GNO Championships, including a finals win over
the as yet unmasked Dupre. Soileau earned his place by
winning a stacked Division I state championship with wins over
tough competitors in St. Paul's Steven Van Zandt, Catholic's
Joshua Matthews and second-seeded Jacob Bernard of East
Ascension, prior to his six-point win over Dupre in the finals. Picking between Gambill and Dupre was hard. Gambill won the Trey Culotta and the Louisiana Classic, and until his match with Dupre at the state championships did not lose to a Louisiana wrestler. Dupre won the Ken Cole when he was yet to be a Jesuit starter, and he lost seven times to Louisiana wrestlers. Yet only one of those seven losses were to a common opponent of Gambill's, that being Holy Cross' Collin Guerra. Gambill won his match with Guerra by barely getting into a Sudden Victory round which went his way. Early in the season, before he evidently knew what he was capable of doing, Dupre lost to Guerra only by a 4-2 score. Going into the state championships Gambill would have been the choice, but Dupre's 16-13 semifinals win sealed second for the Blue Jay. They will both be back next season, so we may very well see them against each other again. |
126 Pounds
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After 126 lbs. this was cake!
Klein, Paul Klein, a four-time Division I state champion for the
Brother Martin Crusaders who posting an undefeated season which
included eight tournament wins and opponents from seven states. Brusly's Kendon Kayser could have received the 126 lbs. award due to his two wins over Soileau at the Louisiana Classic. But that was at 132 lbs., where Kayser chose to wrestle all season until the state tournament. Kayser wanted a shot at Klein, and he got two, albeit hard fought 7-5 and 5-1 losses. Yet placing second to Klein is hard to call losing. Kayser was able to avenge a loss to Teurlings Catholic's Brock Bonin as well as defeat Foret at the Ken Cole. Foret looked to be in a race with Blaine Eisensohn of Brother Martin for the 138 lbs. championships, but that was before Holy Cross adjusted their line-up, and Foret had a better chance than all save Kayser to be one to defeat Klein. Two more years of Kayser and Foret may make-up for Klein's decision to go to Arizona State University rather than try for a fifth Division I state title. |
132 Pounds
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This was the weight class originally
ceded to Blaine Eisensohn of Brother Martin or Joey Foret before
he dropped to 132 lbs. And one must include St. Paul's
Hunter Bourgeois, who chose to perform outstandingly as he
deemed fit. But that was before Jake Rando of Holy Cross dropped into the weight class. Rando had two Louisiana losses at 145 lbs., both to Mason Williams of the Crusaders (he had one more loss at the Las Vegas Holiday Classic where he placed an impressive third). On January 30th, however, Rando found a home at 138 lbs. and he dominated the weight class going 13-0 through the state championships. Bourgeois and Eisensohn split six matches during the season, but it was Bourgeois, seed-busting again as a #6, defeating the second-seeded Eisensohn by one point in the state semifinals that gave him the edge. |
138 Pounds
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145 Pounds
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This is another easy one after trying to validate 145 lbs. Benoit
was undefeated over the entire season, including in Nevada. Mire
came within two points of him in the Louisiana Classic, but in their
other two matches Benoit dominated. Mire only had one other loss to a Louisiana wrestler over the season, and that was to Dutchtown's Cowell, but Mire won the season series with Cowell 2-1. OK - third was a lot tougher to justify. Ehret's Jack Fontenot had a great season, winning the Warrior Open, Mandeville Open, Ken Cole Invitational and the District 7-8 tournaments. However, after only starting at the Deep South Bayou Duals and competing in too high a weight class in the Ken Cole, Jesuit's Will Lafranca only suffered losses at 152 lbs. to Benoit, Sam Dufour of St. Paul's, which he avenged in the state quarterfinals, Cowell, who dropped to 145 lbs., and to Seth Johnson by one point. Against Cowell Lafranca lost via a 6-2 score whereas Cowell pinned Fontenot in 1:00. Fontenot beat Johnson in a UTB match, but he was 0-2 against Dufour. The clincher, however, was that despite Fontenot earning a lot more "hardware" over the season, Lafranca pinned Fontenot in 0:55 in the St. Paul's Invitational and scored a major 14-2 decision over the Patriot in the state consolation finals. |
152 Pounds
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160 Pounds
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After consecutive state runner-up finishes (2013 to Louis Stutes of then
Division II St. Louis and 2014 to Jesuit's Jake Eccles), Duhe was not
prone to make many errors this season, and the ones he did make were
pretty insignificant. Duhe lost via a pin to Joe Kerry in a dual
meet on January 21st, but by that time Duhe had two pins and a major
decision over Kerry, all of which were in tournament finals. Duhe
lost another match to Live Oak's Brody Bonura, but that was a venture
into the 182 lbs. weight class, and giving up 12 pounds to an excellent
opponent makes nothing easy. The most interesting part of this season was that Kerry and Williams did not meet until a February 4th dual meet. This would only determine who would be seeded second as opposed to third, so whatever happened, barring an early upset, the two would meet again in the state semifinals. Williams prevailed by a point, 11-10, in the dual meet, and then left no questions unanswered in a 10-7 win in the state semifinals. |
170 Pounds
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The defending Division I state champion Riles had a great season, losing
only once at the Prep Slam in Atlanta, but defeating all other
challengers from Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee and
Texas. That is not to say the Crusader champ did not have his share of close calls. In the Dutchtown Griffin Open finals he outlasted Live Oak's Bonura with a 3-1 UTB win. He outlasted Fontainebleau's Brandon Verges 6-4 in the Trey Culotta and only by a 3-2 score in the Division I state finals. Regardless of how (although the vast majority of Riles' wins were via falls), Riles became the third Crusader of the evening to defend his 2014 championship. Bonura gets the nod over Verges by the slightest of margins: a 4-3 TB-1 victory in the Ken Cole finals. Bonura's only Louisiana losses were his two to Riles, whereas Verges' losses were only to Riles and Bonura. |
182 Pounds
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195 Pounds
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220 Pounds
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Despite a mental error that cost him a second Division II state
championship, Northside's Oshea Dugas once again proved he was the man
who could not be beaten unless under fairly extraordinary circumstances.
The illegal trip that he did to Teurlings Catholic's Travis Santiago in
the Division II finals did not appear intentional. Trips like that
just sound intentional when they entail 285 lbs. or so hitting the mat. While Santiago started off well with a five-point move, and then had his score adjusted to 6-0 after the trip and before his forced retirement from the match, Dugas has been in similar scenarios. At some point it seems his opponents just get too tired to move and/or resist him, which explains why every one of Dugas' 23 wins were via falls before his finals match disqualification. Moreover, Dugas beat the Division III champion Kirk Wilson of Dunham in the Ken Cole finals, and Wilson beat Jesuit's Dominic Carmello in the Louisiana Classic semifinals. |
285 Pounds
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