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| Crusaders take comfortable lead after day one of the Louisiana Classic |
| January 16th, 2016 | Written by: Editor |
| Select Day One Photos | Upsets | Semifinals Matches |
Brother Martin basically crushed any rumors that they may be vulnerable come the state tournament in February. After the first day of the 2016 Louisiana Classic Friday, held at Baton Rouge Community College, the Crusaders had a comfortable 43 point lead over St. Paul's, 160 to 117. Jesuit is in third place with 96.5 points, followed by Holy Cross (91 points), St. Amant (75.5 points) and host Catholic (73 points).
Nothing will get any easier on Saturday for those hoping to catch the Crusaders. Brother Martin has semifinalists in nine of the 14 weight classes. Eight of them are seeded either first or second (one was seeded third but defaulted into the second spot when the actual second seed withdrew from the tournament), meaning the odds are the Crusaders will add a lot of points late Saturday morning.
The Wolves of St. Paul's have six semifinalists, but they hold little of their fate in their hands. Only one semifinals match, at 120 lbs., pits a Crusader wrestler versus one from St. Paul's. In that one St. Paul's Jared Thieler, seeded fourth, faces #1 seed Steven Shields. Should the seeding hold up the Wolves will have three finalists. The Crusaders, though, will have seven.
[All photos are from the championship rounds save the 132 lbs. one featuring Destrehan's Abbie Nette and Anthony Washington of St. Michael. The names of match winners are shown first.]
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| 106 Fuselier (SUL)-Varnado (BM) | 106 Mateu (RUM)-Kent (BRU) | 120 Dupre (JES)-Rollins (EPI) | 120 Oubre (COM)-Babin (StA) | 126 Bush (HC)-Gunn (CAT) |
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| 126 Rumney (BM)-Bernard (COM) | 126 Ulfers (StP)-E. Larriviere (JES) | 132 Franklin (BRU)-Alfonso (LO) | 132 Franklin (BRU)-Alfonso (LO) | 132 Nette (DES)-Washington (StM) |
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| 132 S. Gambill (BM)-Goddette (SC) | 138 Ballast (FNT)-Touchet (LAF) | 138 T. Gambill (BM)-Fitch (COM) | 152 Brownell (StA)-Robinson (StM) | 152 Foret (HC)-Messina (CAT) |
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| 152 Foret (HC)-Richards (COM) | 160 Adams (COV)-Park (DLS) | 160 Guidry (BM)-Benton (HC) | 160 Walden (AIR)-Mabile (BRU) | 170 Hunter (BRU)-Palmisano (JES) |
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| 182 Ramirez (RUM)-Mascaro (StP) | 220 Cloud (HNV)-Mitchell (BAR) | 220 Diaz (LAF)-D. Wyre (TAR) | 220 M. Rabel (DUN)-DeLee (CAT) | 220 Mitchell-BAR)-Hudgins (RUM) |
The seeding committee should be commended as only seven of the top four seeds fell on Friday. One second seed and two third seeds were upset in the quarterfinals. The upsets recorded are listed in the table below:
| Weight | Winner (seed) | Upset Victim (seed) | Score |
| 106 | Colten Sonnier (Teurlings Catholic - #7) | Michael Lundin (Holy Cross - #2) | 11-4 |
| 106 | Kiefer Fuselier (Sulphur - #6) | Daniel Varnado (Brother Martin - #3) | 8-4 |
| 126 | Shane Ulfers (St. Paul's - #5) | Eli Larriviere (Jesuit - #4) | 14-8 |
| 132 | John Doyle (Rummel - #6) | Raekwon Thomas (De la Salle - #3) | 6-3 |
| 138 | Davis Polito (Catholic - #5) | Leaf Ballast (Fontainebleau - #4) | 7-4 |
| 147 | Evan Richards (Comeaux - #6) | Brennan Webb (Live Oak - #3) | 7-2 |
| 152 | Griffin Mason (Jesuit - #5) | Kevin Casey (Brother Martin - #4) | 11-5 |
The semifinal match-ups are as follows:
| Semifinal # 1 | Semifinal # 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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* After winning his first match second seed Brock Bonin withdrew from the tournament. Hence Gambill became the de facto #2 seed and Ballas' trip to the semifinals was as seeded.
The second round of consolation matches starts at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. The championship semifinals are scheduled to begin on two mats at 10:30 a.m.
Admission for the day is $10. Concessions are sold on-site.
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© 2016 by Louisiana Wrestling News |
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