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Division I - 170 pounds: Pierce Williams joins father P.L. as a Crusader champion

March 25th, 2016 | Written by: Editor | * Photo by Dionne Harter

Senior Crusader Pierce Williams defeated St. Amant's Sage Nugent to add another state championship for the Williams family.

It has been 33 years since Brother Martin's Williams family had a state champion. In 1983 P.L. Williams was undefeated after over 30 matches and won the Division I title 7-2 over Tara's Peter Bush (article below). P.L.'s eldest son Mason (currently wrestling for the University of Chicago) was seeded first in 2014 at 152 lbs. but lost a heartbreaking 4-3 match in the finals. In 2015 Mason, again seeded first and undefeated against Louisiana competition, and his younger brother Pierce, seeded second at 170 lbs., both made the finals. Both, however, ended up as runners-up, a feeling shared by their father in 1982. Earning a second chance at a title against the St. Amant junior who owned a 2-1 season record against him, Williams dominated the match, prevailing 9-4. (From the photo below left, one would hardly guess that either lost.)

Synopsis

St. Amant junior Sage Nugent put himself in the spotlight early in the season by winning the Warrior and Wildcat opens, but really made an impression with a 3-2 win over Pierce Williams of Brother Martin. Before that match Williams was off to a good season as well, having won the Cinco Ranch Big 12. Williams' success continued at Nugent's expense at the Spartan Invitational, in which Williams won a 7-6 decision in the finals. After placing second at the Blackhorse Invitational, Williams won the Trey Culotta Invitational with a 12-6 finals victory over Comeaux's Kole Miller, who proved to be a threat to Williams and Nugent as his only losses came against those two opponents. Williams went undefeated at the Deep South Bayou Duals and then placed second in the Prep Slam VIII event in Atlanta.

When Williams was not around Nugent won the Zachary Big Horse and went undefeated at the Deep South Bayou Duals, but later he dropped a match to Brusly's Richard Hunter, whom Miller had previously defeated, and thus was seeded fourth at the Louisiana Classic. This set-up a Louisiana Classic semifinals match between Williams, seeded first, and Nugent, which Nugent won 6-3 (along with the Outstanding Wrestler award after defeating Miller in the finals). Nugent went on to win the Greater Baton Rouge Championships and was the #1 seed in Bossier City. Williams won matches against Jesuit, Holy Cross and St. Paul's in dual meets before going to the state tournament as the #2 seed.

February 4th, 1983 Times-Picayune article

Miller's season was great aside from his third-place and runner-up finishes to Williams at the Spartan and the Trey Culotta respectively, and his runner-up finish to Nugent at the Louisiana Classic. He won the Brusly 8 over 2016 160 lbs. finalist Jacob Fereday of Catholic, the Jacob McMillan Memorial over Northside's Byron Zeno and the Ken Cole over defending Division II state champion D'Anta Anderson of Huntington.

Destrehan's Chase Menendez deserves mention as the Destrehan senior only lost two matches before the state championships (to Nugent and soon-to-be Division II state champion Cameron Bertot of Shaw). Seeded fifth Menendez upset #4 Evan Palmisano of Jesuit 9-5 in the quarterfinals and made it to the consolation finals, finishing fourth after a 7-0 loss to Miller.

Placers

Place	Name	School	Seed	Year
1st	Pierce Williams	Brother Martin	2	12
2nd	Sage Nugent	St. Amant	1	11
3rd	Kole Miller	Comeaux	3	12
4th	Chase Menendez	Destrehan	5	12
5th	Denver Denison	Catholic	>8	12
6th	Evan Palmisano	Jesuit	4	12