Fini

Sophomore and top seed Gavin Christ of Basile pinned third-seeded Calep Balcuns of Brusly to win his second Division III championship.

The other wrestler, aside from St. Louis' Yokubaitis, with a shot at four consecutive state championships, is Basile's Gavin Christ.  Barring an injury, four consecutive titles will keep him sharp through the next two Division III state tournaments.  Christ though, who has won two Division III titles so far, is looking for more than that.  In 2016, he was a runner-up at the Ken Cole.  This year he won it, and, in doing so, avenged an early season loss to St. Amant's Brier Babin (later a Division I finalist).  Christ's only other loss was to defending Division I and Louisiana Classic champion Cole Houser of St. Paul's.  Christ, only seeded sixth at the LA Classic, ran through the bottom half of the bracket with a technical fall, two first period falls and a 9-2 win over second-seeded Morgan Manuel of Rayne.  He met Houser in the finals, losing 8-5 in what could be described as an undisciplined match on the part of Christ.  A week later he won the Ken Cole, adding another championship to go with his wins at the Warrior Open, the TC Rebel Open, the Evangel Eagle Open, the Jacob McMillan Memorial, the Brusly Invitational and the Lafayette Metro championship.  Upon entering the 2017 state championships, Christ's record was 39-2, which included the win over Division I's Babin, Division II state champion Trey Fontenot of Parkway, two wins over the Division III 120 lbs. champion Sam Pitts of Ouachita Christian and a 9-2 win over the Louisiana Classic champion and Outstanding Wrestler Trent Mahoney of East Ascension.  At the state championships, Christ advanced to the finals after 1:12 on the mat in his first two matches.

The "tournament within the tournament," as in who Christ's finals opponent would be, was between second-seeded Jacob Routon of Church Point, and Calep Balcuns, the third seed from Brusly.  Routon had defeated Balcuns 5-4 at the Brusly Invitational and 9-0 at the Ken Cole.  As it was in the Brusly Invitational, the Routon-Balcuns semifinal was decided by one point.  This time, though, it the freshman Balcuns prevailed 6-5 over the junior Routon.

Christ and Balcuns did not meet prior to the finals, but that did not phase Christ at all.  The Basile sophomore pinned Balcuns in 3:46.   

1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Gavin Christ	Calep Balcuns	Jacob Routon	Grant Gebo	James Geiger	William Kennedy
Basile	Brusly	Church Point	De LaSalle	Hannan	Episcopal
#1 Seed	#3 Seed	#2 Seed	#4 Seed	#5 Seed	#7 Seed
Sophomore	Freshman	Junior	Sophomore	Sophomore	Junior

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Early Championship Rounds

Round 1: #6 Son Nguyen (NOMMA) defeated Hayden Humphrey (LKS) 10-8.

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Quarterfinals

#1 Gavin Christ (BAS) pinned #8 Divintre Plowden (NV) in 0:16.

#4 Grant Gebo (DLS) defeated #5 James Geiger (HAN) 13-12.

#3 Calep Balcuns (BRU) pinned #6 Son Nguyen (NOMMA) in 3:06.

#2 Jacob Routon (CP) pinned #7 William Kennedy (EPI) in 1:59.

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Semifinals

#1 Gavin Christ (BAS) pinned #4 Grant Gebo (DLS) in 3:46.

#3 Calep Balcuns (BRU) defeated #2 Jacob Routon (CP) 6-5.

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Consolation Rounds

C2: #5 James Geiger (HAN) defeated Hayden Humphrey (LKS) via a 13-0 Major Decision.

C2: #7 William Kennedy (EPI) pinned John Green (DUN) in 4:37.

C2: #8 Divintre Plowden (NV) pinned Christian Giddens (EVA) in 4:15.

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Championship Consolation Rounds

#2 Jacob Routon (CP) defeated #4 Grant Gebo (DLS) via an 11-2 Major Decision to place 3rd.

James Geiger (HAN) defeated #7 William Kennedy (EPI) 8-3 to place 5th.

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Finals

Top-seeded Gavin Christ of Basile pinned third-seeded Calep Balcuns of Brusly in 3:46.

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