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| Parkway wins Ken Cole, East Ascension nips Comeaux for second |
| January 29th, 2018 | Written by: Editor |
Once again, a team showed that having no individual champions does not mean they cannot win. The Parkway Panthers did that at the 2018 Ken Cole Invitational, held Friday and Saturday, January 26th and 27th, at Comeaux High School in Lafayette. The Panthers had three runners-up, a third-place finish, a fourth-place finish and three sixth-place finishes to outscore runner-up East Ascension 176.5 to 154.5. Comeaux placed third, just 1.5 points behind East Ascension with 153 points. After Friday's action the Panthers were in third place, behind East Ascension and Teurlings Catholic.
East Ascension had a champion in Jordan Campbell, the top-seed at 285 lbs. and host Comeaux had two champions: top-seeded Dyllon Bernard at 138 lbs. and second-seeded Shelby Savoie at 170 lbs.
The fourth through tenth spots went to (with champions in parentheses) Brother Martin, Teurlings Catholic, Ouachita Christian (Matthew Matherne at 145 lbs.)), Rayne (Cooper Simon and Tyler Carriere at 126 lbs. and 195 lbs., respectively)), St. Amant (Hunter Hawkins at 160 lbs.), Zachary and St. Louis (Alex Yokubaitis at 113 lbs.).
Champions not among the top-ten teams were Sam Dreuil of Jesuit (seeded fourth at 106 lbs.), Justin Theall of North Vermillion (seeded first at 120 lbs.), Gavin Christ of Basile (seeded first at 132 lbs.), Camdyn Ingram of Live Oak (seeded first at 152 lbs.), Dane Harter (seeded first at 182 lbs.) and Daniel Monroe of Haughton (seeded second at 220 lbs.).
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| Champions - Parkway Panthers |
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| 2nd - East Ascension Spartans | 3rd - Comeaux Spartans |
Individual Champions
| 106 lbs. | 113 lbs. | 120 lbs. | 126 lbs. | 132 lbs. | 138 lbs. | 145 lbs. |
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NOT
AVAILABLE FOR PHOTO (Facing a very long road back to Monroe, Ouachita Christian did not remain for the awards ceremonies.) |
| Sam Dreuil Jesuit |
Alex Yokubaitis St. Louis |
Jordan Theall North Vermillion |
Cooper Simon Rayne |
Gavin Christ Basile |
Dyllon Bernard Comeaux |
Matthew Matherne Ouachita Christian |
| 152 lbs. | 160 lbs. | 170 lbs. | 182 lbs. | 195 lbs. | 220 lbs. | 185 lbs. |
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| Camdyn Ingram Live Oak |
Hunter Hawkins St. Amant |
Shelby Savoie Comeaux |
Dane Harter St. Michael |
Tyler Carriere Rayne |
Daniel Monroe Haughton |
Jordan Campbell East Ascension |
Individual Awards
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Two-time Winners
The event marked the second consecutive Ken Cole championships for Cooper Simon, Gavin Christ, Matthew Matherne and Hunter Hawkins.
"Big Three" Contenders
Christ and Ingram remain undefeated in Louisiana. Those two, along with Rayne's Cooper Simon and Tyler Carrier, and St. Michael's Dane Harter, have a chance to win the mythical "Big Three," the Louisiana Classic, the Ken Cole Invitational and an LHSAA state championship.
Match of the Tournament
The story of the tournament was the 132 lbs. consolation finals match between second-seeded Trey Fontenot of Parkway and sixth-seeded Morgan Manual of Rayne. In last year's Division II state semifinals, Fontenot defeated Manuel 6-5 in an Ultimate tie-breaker (UTB) round. Fontenot went on the win a state championship and Manuel placed third. This match appeared to be won on a last-second takedown (the editor cannot recall if that took place at the end of the third period or the end of a Sudden Victory period). The wrestlers removed their ankle bands, shook hands, and the official raised Manuel's hand in victory. After acknowledging the Parkway coaches, Manuel left the mat.
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It was then that the Parkway coaches ask for an explanation of how Manuel was awarded the final takedown. The match was officiated by only one official, a matter that may undergo revision for future third-place matches. A bevy of officials, however, were in the middle of the four mats, and some veterans were asked for their interpretations of the last seconds of the match. When all was said and done at the scorers' table, the takedown points were disallowed, and Manuel was called back to the mat. By this time a large crowd had amassed along the barricades and around the two other edges of the mats not used by the scorers' table. It was definitely a partisan Rayne crowd, due to Rayne's proximity to Lafayette, but Parkway fans made their voices known.
In the overtime rounds each wrestler scored an escape, and
the match went into the UTB round. By virtue of winning the
coin toss between the first and second periods, Manuel was given his choice of
starting positions, and he chose to be on the bottom. It took
about 15 seconds, but Manuel escaped to finally win the match outright. |
The lessons of this match are for the tournament directors
and the coaches. In a tournament of this size, two officials
probably should referee 3rd-4th place and 5th-6th place matches.
And if coaches have an issue with an official's call, they should make
that known before the wrestlers shake hands, the winner's hand is held up by the
official, and one of the wrestlers legally leaves the mat.
It is important to know that neither Fontenot nor Manuel
did anything wrong. Fontenot had every reason to act
astounded at the call which originally ended the match, and it turned out that,
according to the observations of veteran officials, he was correct.
Yet before that determination, as disappointed as he was, Fontenot
accepted the call and went to the center of the mat to shake Manuel's hand.
And while the crowd during the match was definitely "Pro-Rayne," they
were not "Anti-Parkway." This was evidenced in that no
disparaging remarks, groans or other negative intonations were displayed by the
fans when Parkway wrestlers entered their finals matches, took their places on
the podium or when the team were* recognized as the tournament champions.
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With a determined look, and not wanting to miss any
action, Gabe Dalton used his size advantage to gain an unimpeded view of
the final minutes of the match. |
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* A retired St. Martin's Episcopal School English teacher said to use "were" in this context is wrong, and that as "team" is a "collective" term, "was" is the proper word to use. This, however, contradicts J.R.R. Tolkien's use of "The Company were..." when speaking of the "Fellowship of the Ring" in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The retired teacher may be correct, despite Tolkien's role as an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. In this circumstance, however, the editor used "were" merely to elicit a debate among readers.
Officials "In Action" and Inaction
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| Brenan Langley |
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| Jordan Giewat |
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| Connor Stampley |
Miscellaneous
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| The Comeaux Honor Guard and the singing of the National Anthem by Comeaux wrestling junior Lillian Richoux |
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© 2018 by Louisiana Wrestling News |
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You may not make electronic copies of these copyrighted materials nor redistribute them to 3rd parties in any form without written permission. |
