Fini

Heavily favorited Brother Martin and De la Salle made substantial gains after the end of Friday's second session of wrestling at the Bossier City CenturyLink Center.  Teurlings Catholic took a 9.5 lead over Rummel after Friday's competition, but Live Oak and Rayne loom close behind.

Coaches assemble in front of the head table prior to the start of Session II.

Division I

The Crusaders, who had only an 8.5 point lead over St. Paul's after the first session, boasted a 23.5 point lead over the new second place Jesuit Blue Jays.  The current battle for the third spot is very tight, with only 4.5 points separating a surprisingly strong Comeaux team (currently third), St. Paul's (currently fourth) and Holy Cross.

With 11 of their 14 wrestlers in the semifinals, the Crusaders seem to be on track to win their fifth consecutive Division I team championship.  Jesuit once again looks to take the runner-up spot as they have seven semifinalists.  Comeaux and St. Paul's each have five in the semifinals while Holy Cross has six.

Division I Upsets:

• 106 lbs. - #3 Clay Celli of Byrd was upset by Kobe Bernard of Dutchtown via a 14-3 major decision.  Prior to that Bernard knocked off #6 Blake Menard of Comeaux 9-8;
• 120 lbs. - #3 Cameron Carpenter of Catholic was upset in the second round by Hahnville's Robert Bryan.  Bryan, however, fell to #6 Briar Babin of St. Amant, who became the first of three Gators to make the semis;
• 126 lbs. - #5 Beau Bush of Holy Cross defeated #4 Shane Ulfers of St. Paul's 5-3:
• 138 lbs. - #5 Hunter Fitch of Comeaux defeated #4 Davis Polito of Catholic 8-3:
• 152 lbs. - #5 Thaquan Priestley of Lafayette pinned #4 Kevin Casey of Brother Martin in 4:21;
• 170 lbs. - #5 Chase Menendez defeated #4 Evan Palmisano of Jesuit 9-5;
• 182 lbs. - (to be discussed below)
• 195 lbs. - No upsets to recount, but the second semifinals match is the fourth meeting between #2 Trevon Honor of Hahnville and #3 Cole Alphonso of Brother Martin.  Bring a lunch - their first three matches each were decided in tie-breaker periods.
• 285 lbs. - #5 Dominique Williams of Lafayette defeated # 4 Blade Rager of Hahnville 3-1 in a Sudden Victory period.

Four upsets were recorded at 182 lbs.:  #6 Matthew Putnam of Holy Cross defeated #3 Dakota Brogdon of Covington 4-0; unseeded Jakobe Durant of Destrehan defeated #4 Josh Mascaro of St. Paul's 11-10; Durant then lost to #5 Payton Wicker of Zachary in 1:05 who advanced to the semifinals.

By far the biggest upsets of the day were recoded by Jesuit's Brandon Greer.  Being unseeded, Greer had a Round 1 match against David Schaubhut of Hahnville which the Blue Jay won via a fall in 3:16.  Next for Greer was top-seeded Keegan Gilligan of Airline.  Gilligan may have been less than 100%, as he just returned to competition on February 6th for the first time in over a month due to an injury.  Greer, however, competed at 160 lbs. and 170 lbs. the entire season before his first match at 182 lbs., which was a loss to Holy Cross' Matthew Putnam in 5:17.

 Despite Gilligan's time off he still was expected to win over an unseeded former 160-170 pounder who had a 22-13 overall record.  Greer, however, was not only not looking for excuses, but was planning ahead.

In the third period the match was tied 4-4 with 1:06 remaining and the two combatants on their feet.  Greer became the aggressor and shot and scored on a takedown to take a 6-4 lead.  Gilligan was able to escape but Greer held him off for the remaining few seconds to post a 6-5 win.

Greer's next match was against 8th-seeded Nicholas Danna of Catholic.  This was a low scoring affair and with 20 seconds remaining Greer was ahead 2-1.  Danna shot several times and Greer defended himself, albeit he was warned once for stalling.  But he also took shots and when the clock ran to 0:00 had a 2-1 win and a trip to the semifinals.  There he will meet fifth-seeded Payton Wicker of Zachary.

Back to Top

Division II

In Division II the two-time defending champion Teurlings Catholic Rebels have a 9.5 point lead over Rummel.  Both teams have eight semifinalists, and at 106 lbs. and 113 lbs. they have head-to-head matches.  Live Oak is only a point-and-a-half behind Rummel, but the Eagles only have five in the semifinals, which is one more than fourth-place Rayne, which is three points behind Live Oak.  Shaw remains in fifth place and has six semifinalists, but they have a long way to go to catch either Rayne or Live Oak 

Division II Upsets:

• 138 lbs. - #5 Dalton Driggers of Parkway defeated #4 Eddie Williams of Caddo Magnate in 3:21;
• 145 lbs. - #5 Eduardo Garcia of Belle Chasse defeated #4 Dylan Hezeau of Rummel 6-3; #6 Jacob LaFleur of Teurlings Catholic defeated #3 Perry Hawxhurst of Grace King 8-7;
• 160 lbs. - #7 Joshua Fontenot of St. Thomas More defeated #2 Levar Allen of Parkway 10-6; #6 Martin Garrett of Shaw defeated #3 Joseph Venable of Carencro 9-6;
• 220 lbs. - #6 Chandler Beach of Benton defeated #3 Anthony Ingram of Live Oak in 2:36;
• 285 lbs. - #7 Justin Frost of Riverdale defeated #2 Mason Benoit of Rayne in 5:12;  #6 Gabe Duplechain of Carencro defeated #3 Ethan Wood of St. Thomas More in 4:37.

Back to Top

Division III

Though leading after the first session by 11 points, South Plaquemines has fallen to third place, four points behind second place North Vermillion and 24 points behind the favored De la Salle Cavaliers.  The defending Division III team champion Brusly Panthers are making a good show and are currently in fourth place.  The race appears to be between the Cavaliers, who have eight semifinalist, and the Patriots, who have six.

Division III Upsets:

• 113 lbs. - #6 Hunter Richey of Brusly defeated #3 Curtis Sylve, Jr. of South Plaquemines in 1:34; #5 Grant Gebo of De la Salle defeated #4 Cameron Frost of Haynes Academy 9-8;
• 126 lbs. - #5 Brendon Wilcox of John Curtis defeated #4 Corey Ancar of South Plaquemines 10-8 after TB-1;
• 138 lbs. - #6 Tyrone Broussard of Kaplan defeated #3 Glenn Gebo of De la Salle 5-3 after TB-1; #5 Devin Bazinet of Basile defeated #4 Robert Christian of St. Louis 7-0;
• 145 lbs. - #5 Jacob Pelle of Crescent City defeated #4 Tony Sode of South Plaquemines in 5:57;
• 160 lbs. - #6 Connor Derouen of North Vermillion defeated #3 Matthew Webre of Ouachita Christian 3-2; #5 Cody Bedgood of Calvary Baptist defeated #4 James Hebert of South Cameron 9-5;
• 170 lbs. - #5 Jude Hebert of Kaplan defeated #4 Jacob Melancon of John Curtis in 3:02;
• 195: #5 Accord Green of Holy Rosary defeated #4 Dylan Maassen-Veeters of Episcopal in 2:20;
• 220 lbs. - #6 Wyatt Mallet of St. Louis defeated #3 Eric Hamrick of De la Salle 14-12.

Wrestling starts on Saturday at 9 a.m.  The semifinals are scheduled to start around 10 or 10:30 am.

Back to Top