Division III 152 Lbs.

Fini

North Desoto's Chase Bates wins the first state championship for the Griffins

LHSAA State Wrestling Tournament

Division II, 152 Pounds

May 12th, 2017 | Written by: Editor

Early Championship Rounds

3rd and 5th

In 2016, North Desoto's Chase Bates was the first state runner-up for the Stonewall, LA school. In 2017, the third-seeded Griffin became the school's first state champion with a 5-3 victory over top-seeded Eduardo Garcia of Shaw.

Shaw's Eduardo Garcia moved from a fifth-place seeding (and sixth-place finish) in 2016 to being the top seed at 152 lbs. this year. He brought a record of 16-8 to the state championships with first-place finishes at the Teurlings Catholic Rebel Open (over George Femmer of TCS) and at the Bruin Open. He placed third at the Mandeville Open and at the Jefferson Parish Invitational. At the Louisiana Classic, he placed sixth. Six of his losses were to opponents who won state championships or runner-up spots (Jake Rando of Holy Cross twice, Nathan Koenig of Jesuit, Dustin Doucet of Sulphur, Conrad Wyre of De LaSalle.) Another was to Grace King's Perry Hawxhurst, who was seeded fourth. Hawxhurst and Garcia split their two matches during the season, both times in tournaments, and Garcia won the last one. In the quarterfinals at the state championships, the two wrestled a great match in which Garcia needed a Sudden Victory period takedown to win 7-5.

Parkway's Ryan Huckaby was seeded second due to a Northwest Louisiana Regionals finals pin in 5:29 over third-seeded Chase Bates of North Desoto. Huckaby accepted a bye and then won via a fall in 2:18 and a 20-3 Technical fall to reach the semifinals. Bates had a harder route, pinning Cordell Johnson of Benton in 2:41 and surviving a 7-4 threat from Belle Chasse's Hugo Lujano.

Bates came in with a record of 16-4. He placed second at the Spartan Invitational, losing to Brother Martin's Ben Wisniewski. He won the Riot on the Red with a 10-4 decision over Airlines Tucker Almond in the finals. He placed fifth at the Ken Cole and, in his last tournament before the state championships, lost the match to Huckaby.

Bates certainly remembered losing that match and this time had other ideas in mind. He dominated Huckaby, stopping takedown attempts and threatening cradle until he had secured a place in the finals with a 13-7 win.