Status: Fini

Division III

In three years, Coach Rod Cusachs has taken De la Salle from double-digit placing at the state championships to two runner-up finishes and now a Division III team championship.  And they did it without a single state champion.  The Cavaliers had four runners-up and six other top-six placers to win the title by 20 points over Brusly at the 2016 LHSAA State Wrestling Championships on February 12th-13th, at the Bossier City CenturyLink Center. 

Division III Team Champions - De la Salle Cavaliers	Coach Rod Cusachs with the Brother Melchior Trophy

Conrad Wyre, Landon Dorsey, Ryan Hamrick and Jerimiah James earned runner-up spots for the Cavaliers, while Jeffrey Heffner and Raekwon Thomas placed third.  More good news for the Cavaliers is that of the 10 who scored placement points, four are juniors, four are sophomores and one is a freshman.

Runners-up - Brusly Panthers   The Panthers should never be counted out.  This year, with the loss of Kendon Kayser to Oklahoma and only entering 10 wrestlers in the state championships, most people thought they would place in the lower half of a top-five spot. The Panthers placed eight of their 10 wrestlers in the top-six spots.  Three, Austin Franklin (his third in a row), Richard Hunter (his second) and Owen Mabile won championships, while David Kent and Brandon Young placed second.  That was enough to outscore North Vermillion by 4.5 points for second place.

South Plaquemines or North Vermillion were expected to vie for runner-up status in Division III.   The Hurricanes beat the Patriots for the second place team honors at the Brusly Invitational by a mere 4.5 points.  But many of the Hurricanes did not live up to their seedings.  As for the Patriots, while they had eight top-six placers and three state champions among their 13 entrants, their lone third place bonus points and additional points from the five who did not place could not overcome the points scored by Brusly's two runners-up.  Gavin Becker, Rhett Maturin and Brennen Landry won titles for the Patriots, with Landry's being his second.  The Patriots placed third, again 4.5 points short of second.  South Plaquemines placed fourth and recorded their first state champions in Brandon Turner and Jonathan Wilson, the Hurricanes' only finalists.

Three championships and a runner-up spot went to the Basile Bearcats, who placed fifth in the team standings.  Brenan Langley, Gavin Christ and Lane Joubert won titles for Basile while Zack Vinson placed second.

Other state titles went to Adam Gaspard of Kaplan (a first for the Pirates), Ellis Herring of Episcopal and Mason Rabel of Dunham.

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Individual Champions

(Kneeling L-R) Brennan Langley, Gavin Becker, Gavin Christ, Rhett Maturin, Austin Franklin, Brennen Landry.  (Standing L-R) Brandon Turner, Richard Hunter, Owen Mabile, Ellis Herring, Lane Joubert, Mason Rabel, Jonathan Williams.

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Outstanding Wrestler

Division III Outstanding Wrestler Gavin Christ of Basile 120 lbs. - Freshman   The Basile freshman, who only lost one match all season, breezed through his first two rounds with falls in 0:20 and 1:04.  In the semifinals Christ scored 16-0 technical fall after only 2:40 had elapsed.  In the finals he pinned his opponent in 2:46.

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Final Team Scores

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