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| State championships: Recap II Crusaders take back the Division I championship; Jesuit places second again Parkway and Teurlings Catholic tie for Division II championship St. Louis Catholic ends De la Salle's two-year Division III reign |
| February 23rd, 2018| Written by: Editor |
Bossier City, LA -- One team successfully defended their 2017 title. The other three were new.
Please note - this is not a ploy arguing for four wrestling divisions. More than anyone could have imagined, a simple Facebook "Brackets are up on TW" notification elicited 142 replies, most of which involved wrestling divisions.
The fact is that in Division II Parkway and Teurlings Catholic tied, so technically this event had four state championship teams. Nothing like this has occurred since 1988 when Bonnabel, Holy Cross and Jesuit each tied for the Division I team championship.
Brother Martin regained the top spot after a one-year hiatus from their five-year Division I domination. Teurlings Catholic won its fifth consecutive Division II title, to go with two previous titles. Parkway shared that title and was a champion for the first time since their wins in 2006 and 2003.
New to the group was St. Louis Catholic of Lake Charles, which ended De la Salle's two-year reign as Division III champions.
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| Photos, commentary, team scores, champions and runners-up, and Outstanding Wrestler award winners |
DIVISION I
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Champions - Brother
Martin Crusaders 319.5 Points |
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| The Crusaders had
sewn-up the tournament after the quarterfinals, in which 12
advanced to the semifinals (the remaining two Crusaders
were already in the consolation semifinals, guaranteeing a 3rd,
4th, 5th or 6th place). Half of that 12 advanced to the
finals and four won: sophomore Connor Hoffman, Junior Daniel
Croy (his 2nd), junior Patrick Evans and junior Mack Brown.
Senior Justin Leal fell 8-6 to Michael Lundin of Holy Cross
and sophomore Mason Masicot lost 9-2 to Catholic's Jacob
Fereday. Of the remaining eight Crusader wrestlers, one
placed 3rd, five placed 4th, one placed 5th and one placed 6th.
Any team with all 14 members placing in the top-six is going to
be tough to beat. The only Louisiana event the Crusaders did not win was the Ken Cole, in which the entered only 11 wrestlers, none of whom were starters. They dominated the Mandeville Open, the Trey Culotta, the Louisiana Classic, the Division I Duals and the Catholic League Championships. They won the George Trygg Memorial with no state tournament starters and won the Jefferson Invitational with only two of their 11 entrants later starting in the state championships. |
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Treuting was seeded second at 160 lbs. Defending Division I 145 lbs. champion Jared Thieler of St. Paul's jumped into the weight class after recovering from an injury and was put in the #1 spot. Thieler did not make it through the semifinals though, so Treuting faced St. Amant junior Hunter Hawkins in the finals. Treuting defeated Hawkins 12-6 in the Louisiana Classic finals, and this time prevailed 9-5.
Defending state champion Perry Ganci was seeded first but he had a tough time in the finals against Zachary's Wes Brady. In the Louisiana Classic finals Ganci won by a fall in 1:16. At the Division I Duals Championships, however, Brady returned the favor with a 10-7 victory. Hence, it was not surprising that in the state finals these two went into a Sudden Victory round, which was won by Ganci 3-1.
The other Jesuit finalist was Luke Eccles at 132 lbs., who lost to East Ascension's Trent Mahoney. Eccles was seeded 3rd and, in a battle of recovering wrestlers, Eccles defeated 2nd-seeded Luke Cotton of Brother Martin, a 2016 state champion and a 2017 runner-up. A month earlier Eccles spent a few days in the hospital after a slam in the Louisiana Classic. Shortly before the state championship Cotton recovered not from his first, but his second bout with the flu. That the two placed 2nd and 3rd shows their talent and desire to excel in the sport. The Holy Cross Tigers placed third with 222.5 points. The Tigers, last year's team champions, had four finalists, but only one, Michael Lundin, won his finals match. Eight-grader Jacob Frost was a runner-up, but a smiling one as he may be the only eighth-grader to place that high in a Division I state championship. Sophomore Caruso Signorelli had to settle for the runner-up spot for the second consecutive year after a heart-breaking 7-6 loss to Catholic's Luke Romano. At 182 lbs., second-seeded Spencer Rayes was controlling top-seeded D. J. Evans of Airline until just after the middle of the second period, when Evans caught him in a terrific head-and-arm throw which led to a fall. The Tigers can be optimistic about the 2018-19 season as they are only losing two seniors who started in the state championships: Jacob Spahn who placed 3rd at 126 lbs. and Rayes.
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| Place | School | Points |
| 1 | Brother Martin | 319.5 |
| 2 | Jesuit | 233 |
| 3 | Holy Cross | 222.5 |
| 4 | St. Paul's | 190.5 |
| 5 | Catholic | 167.5 |
| 6 | Airline | 143.5 |
| 7 | East Ascension | 142 |
| 8 | Zachary | 124.5 |
| 9 | St. Amant | 120 |
| 10 | Fontainebleau | 111 |
| Weight | Seed - Champion - School (Grade) | Seed - Runner-up - School (Grade) | Score |
| 106 | #1 Connor Hoffman - Brother Martin (10) | #2 Jacob Frost - Holy Cross (8) | 11-4 |
| 113 | #1 Luke Romano - Catholic (11) | #3 Caruso Signorelli - Holy Cross (10) | 7-6 |
| 120 | #1 Michael Lundin - Holy Cross (11) | #3 Justin Leal - Brother Martin (10) | 8-6 |
| 126 | #1 Daniel Croy - Brother Martin (11) | #3 Peyton Bass - Airline (11) | Fall in 1:11 |
| 132 | #1 Trent Mahoney - East Ascension (10) | #3 Luke Eccles - Jesuit (11) | 7-1 |
| 138 | #4 Adam Larriviere - Jesuit (12) | #2 Dyllon Bernard - Comeaux (11) | 5-4 |
| 145 | #1 Patrick Evans - Brother Martin (11) | #3 Nakie Brown - St. Amant (12) | 11-2 MD |
| 152 | #3 Nathan Koenig - Jesuit (12) | #1 Grant Hughes - St. Paul's (12) | 3-2 |
| 160 | #2 Paul Treuting - Jesuit (12) | #4 Hunter Hawkins - St. Amant (11) | 9-5 |
| 170 | #1 Jacob Fereday - Catholic (12) | #3 Mason Masicot - Brother Martin (10) | 9-2 |
| 182 | #1 D. J. Evans - Airline (12) | #2 Spencer Rayes - Holy Cross (12) | Fall in 3:17 |
| 195 | #2 Gavin Bonilla - McKinley | #1 Matt Salinas - Airline (12) | 6-1 |
| 220 | #1 Perry Ganci - Jesuit (11) | #2 Wes Brady - Zachary (11) | 3-1 SV |
| 285 | #1 Mack Brown - Brother Martin (11) | #2 Jordan Campbell - East Ascension (12) | Fall in 5:59 |
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Mahoney was the #1 seed in a weight class in which the 2nd, 3rd,
4th, 5th and 6th seeds were a grade ahead of him. That
refers to high school, though, not wrestling mats. Mahoney won his Round 1 match with a 0:58 fall and followed that in Round 2 with a fall in 1:23. In the quarterfinals he defeated Logan LaCoste of Holy Cross via a fall in 4:34. The #4 seed, senior Thomas Barringer of Airline, lasted 1:17 with Mahoney in the semifinals. In the finals the Spartan sophomore faced 3rd-seeded Luke Eccles of Jesuit, who had defeated Luke Cotton, the second seed, in the semifinals. Eccles was the only opponent Mahoney did not pin, but he won convincingly 7-1. In the Greater Baton Rouge finals Mahoney won his 77th match of the season, breaking the record of 76 posted by Live Oak's Cody Hill. After the state championships, Mahoney's wins record stands at 83. |
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The Division II team championship was really a competition for third place. The first two spots were all but reserved for either the Parkway Panthers or the Teurlings Catholic Rebels. Teurlings Catholic was a four-time defending Division II team champion. Parkway's last title was in 2006, and during the current Teurlings Catholic run the Panthers best finish at the state championships was third.
The two programs went head-to-head in several events during the season. At the Parkway Lone Survivor tournament on December 29th and 30th, Teurlings Catholic placed first, 50 points ahead of runner-up Parkway. On January 15th, Parkway won the Jacob McMillan Memorial, beating the third-place Rebels by 57 points (Division I's Comeaux was second). In the Louisiana Classic, held on January 11th and 12th, Teurlings Catholic placed sixth to Parkway's 11th. On January 26th and 27th at the Ken Cole Invitational, Parkway won the event while the Rebels placed fifth, with three Division I teams taking the 2nd through 4th spots. On January 20th Parkway took a 3-2 lead by defeating the Rebels 42-26 to win the Division II State Duals Championships.
One more event remained in which the two schools would again vie against each other - the state championships.
The difference between being crowned the champion or settling for the runner-up position could have been decided in any match in which a Parkway or Teurlings Catholic wrestled on both Friday or Saturday. As luck would have it, in a scenario too often utilized by Hollywood screenplay writers, the championship boiled down to the last Division II match of the tournament.
Top-seeded Miles Santiago of Teurlings Catholic and second-seeded and defending state champion Anthony Ingram of Live Oak were pitted against each other. Santiago had a 2-0 record against Ingram. The first win was by a major decision. The second ended in a fall. The Rebels were four points behind Parkway before the match started, and they had to like the chances of Santiago defeating Ingram by at least a major decision, which would have given them the four points to catch-up with the Panthers and another bonus point which would secure their fifth consecutive the championship.
State champions do not often defend their titles without a fight, and this proved true of Ingram. Santiago won the match 8-5, which merited only four team points for the Rebels. For the first time ever there were Division II co-champions.
Teurlings had the edge in individual state champions with wins at 113 lbs. and 285 lbs.,while Parkway won at 160 lbs. Parkway had the edge in runner-up finishes with four: 120 lbs., 138 lbs., 182 lbs. and 195 lbs. Teurlings had runners-up at 106 lbs., 132 lbs. and 152 lbs. The two teams did not have any head-to-head finals matches.
The co-championship was a fitting end to the rivalry and was definitely not akin to "kissing one's sister."* Both teams obviously worked very hard during the season and it would have been a shame for either to settle for anything but a championship.
* That was just a little "baby pun."
| Place | School | Points |
| T-1 | Parkway | 244.5 |
| T-1 | Teurlings Catholic | 244.5 |
| 3 | Live Oak | 171.5 |
| 4 | Rayne | 153 |
| 5 | Shaw | 149 |
| 6 | Belle Chasse | 142.5 |
| 7 | Rummel | 106 |
| 8 | Carencro | 103.5 |
| 9 | North Desoto | 99 |
| 10 | Haughton | 92.5 |
| Weight | Seed - Champion - School (Grade) | Seed - Runner-up - School (Grade) | Score |
| 106 | #2 Clayton Hill - Live Oak (10) | #1 Matthew Carrier - Teurlings Catholic (10) | Fall in 4:45 |
| 113 | #1 Colton Sonnier - Teurlings Catholic (11) | #2 Cody McCollister - Shaw (12) | Fall in 0:56 |
| 120 | #1 Blake Mateu - Rummel (12) | #2 Zachary Harper - Parkway (12) | 1-0 |
| 126 | #2 Cooper Simon - Rayne (12) | #1 Chris Montalbano - Rummel (11) | Fall in 2:34 |
| 132 | #2 Morgan Manuel - Rayne (11) | #1 Brett Schneider - Teurlings Catholic (12) | 12-7 |
| 138 | #3 Richard Mack, III - North Desoto (10) | #1 Trevor Tamburo - Parkway (12) | 4-2 SV |
| 145 | #1 Taylor Clay - Carencro (11) | #2 Lance Robinson -St. Michael (11) | 10-1 MD |
| 152 | #1 Camdyn Ingram - Live Oak (10) | #2 Carlos Femmer - Teurlings Catholic (11) | 1:39 |
| 160 | #2 Dalton Driggers - Parkway (12) | #1 Martin Garrett - Shaw (12) | 7-4 |
| 170 | #1 Eduardo Garcia - Shaw (12) | #2 Billy Clay - Carencro (12) | Fall in 5:55 |
| 182 | #1 Dane Harter - St. Michael (12) | #2 Kaleb Garcia - Parkway (10) | Fall in 1:55 |
| 195 | #1 Tyler Carriere - Rayne (12) | #3 Peyton Miller -Parkway (10) | Fall in 2:56 |
| 220 | #1 Daniel Monroe - Haughton (12) | #2 Kanyn Barton - Sam Houston (11) | 10-1 MD |
| 285 | #1 Miles Santiago - Teurlings Catholic (11) | #2 Anthony Ingram - Live Oak (12) | 8-5 |
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The senior Driggers was a runner-up to Shaw's Martin Garrett in
2017. In that event Driggers was seeded second and Garrett
fourth, and Garrett won the finals match 7-3. Seeded second again, Driggers pinned his Round 1 opponent in 2:59 and his Round 2 opponent in 3:45. In the semifinals against third-seeded Mataius Lavine of Sam Houston, Driggers posted a 13-4 major decision to once again advance to the finals. Like the previous year, his opponent was Garrett, who was the #1 seed. In the Trey Culotta Invitational Garrett pinned Driggers in 5:30 and placed 8th to Garrett's 5th. This time, however, the match went in Driggers' favor, as he defeated the defending champion 7-4. |
Champions - St. Louis
Catholic - 209 Points |
The St. Louis Catholic Saints won their first Division III state
team championship by a 4.5-point margin over two-time defending
champions De la Salle. The Saints had state champions in
Alex Yokubaitis at 113 lbs. and Robert Christman (his second) at
152 lbs. Finishing in the runner-up spots were Cameron
Witherwax at 106 lbs., John-Patrick Broussard at 138 lbs., Adam
Verrett at 145 lbs., Joseph Vincent at 160 lbs., and William
Jicks at 220 lbs. The two schools did not know much about each other as they both were entrants in only three events. One of them, the Louisiana Classic, should not even count as De la Salle entered only 10 wrestlers (as small number in itself), whereas St. Louis only entered four. At the Brusly Open the Cavaliers placed third with 136 points, 3.5 points more than the Saints, who placed fourth. The Saints proved they were a legitimate Division III team contender at the Division III Duals State Championships on January 20th. The Saints, seeded second, handily defeated Brusly 51-25 to advance to the finals against the top-seeded Cavaliers. In the finals the Saints prevailed 37-27. The match included one double forfeit and two forfeits by the Cavaliers. However, the two forfeits were to Alex Yokubaitis and Robert Christman, both of whom were returning state champions. The Cavaliers, had they wrestlers to compete against Yokubaitis and Christman, would have had to defeat both of them to win the dual. That was a very unlikely scenario. |
Runner-up - De la Salle - 204.5 Points |
In 2016 the De la Salle Cavaliers won their first Division III
team title with no Cavalier winning a championship. In
that year they had two #1 seeds. This year, the Cavaliers
also had two # 1 seeds and did not win an individual
championship. Entering the finals, the Cavaliers held a 3.5-point lead over the Saints. St. Louis had six finalists to De la Salle's four. After Alex Yokubaitis and Robert Christman won their finals matches, the Saints pulled ahead by 4.5 points, but then they were out of finalists. De la Salle, however, had two #1-seeded finalists in Ryan Hamrick and defending state champion Eric Hamrick, as well as third-seeded Jeremiah James, yet to wrestle their finals matches. Ryan Hamrick was upset by South Plaquemines' Brandon Turner, who was a two-time Division III champion but who had lost to Hamrick twice in the regular season. Eric Hamrick faced Lakeside's Mason Sparks. Hamrick was seeded first because he won 80% of his matches while Sparks only won 68% of his. The telling factor, though, was the margin by which they defeated their only common opponent, Evangel's Skylar Jarvis. Match scores are not used as seeding criteria, but they explained Sparks' 7-4 win. Sparks pinned Jarvis in 3:47. Hamrick needed a Sudden Victory period to defeat Jarvis 7-5. Despite the drama of the finals, had just two matches gone De la Salle's way at any time during the tournament, the Cavaliers would have a third consecutive title. |
| Place | School | Points |
| 1 | St. Louis | 209 |
| 2 | De la Salle | 204.5 |
| 3 | Ouachita Christian | 179 |
| 4 | Basile | 173.5 |
| 5 | Brusly | 110 |
| 6 | Church Point | 103 |
| 7 | Hannan | 101 |
| 8 | John Curtis | 96 |
| 9 | North Vermillion | 93 |
| 10 | Lakeside | 92 |
| Weight | Seed - Champion - School (Grade) | Seed - Runner-up - School (Grade) | Score |
| 106 | #2 Alex Menier - Basile (9) | #1 Cameron Witherwax - St. Louis (12) | 9-4 |
| 113 | #1 Alex Yokubaitis - St. Louis (10) | #3 Colton Kendrick - John Curtis (10) | 12-5 |
| 120 | #1 Justin Theall - North Vermillion (12) | #3 Jamar Brown - De la Salle (11) | Injury |
| 126 | #1 Sam Pitts - Ouachita Christian (12) | #2 Jeffrey Hefner - De la Salle (12) | Fall in 5:12 |
| 132 | #3 Mikey Gordy - Ouachita Christian (11) | #1 Jacob Routon - Church Point (12) | Fall in 4:35 |
| 138 | #1 Gavin Christ - Basile (11) | #3 John-Patrick Broussard - St. Louis (10) | 17-6 MD |
| 145 | #1 Matthew Matherne - Ouachita Christian (12) | #2 Adam Verrett - St. Louis (12) | Fall in 2:00 |
| 152 | #1 Robert Christman - St. Louis (12) | #3 Bruce Arseneaux - Church Point (11) | Fall in 1:40 |
| 160 | #1 Matthew Webre - Ouachita Christian (12) | #2 Joseph Vincent - St. Louis (12) | 10-3 |
| 170 | #2 Brandon Turner - South Plaquemines (12) | #1 Ryan Hamrick - De la Salle (12) | 7-2 |
| 182 | #2 Isaac Cortez - Basile (10) | #1 Haven Dominguez - Church Point (11) | Fall in 4:00 |
| 195 | #1 Robert Rabel - Dunham (11) | #2 William Jicks- St. Louis (11) | Fall in 4:54 |
| 220 | #2 Mason Sparks - Lakeside (12) | #1 Eric Hamrick- De la Salle (12) | 7-4 |
| 285 | #2 D. J. Harvey - Lakeside (11) | #1 Datremecio White - Evangel (10) | 3-1 SV |
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Basile junior Gavin Christ, now a three-time Division III state
champion, wrestled most of the season at 132 lbs. But he
was nonplussed about competing at 138 lbs. in the Division III
state championships, as he was the best wrestler in the state at
132 lbs. His undefeated season included two wins over
Brother Martin's Luke Cotton (a 2016 Division I state champion,
2017 runner-up and 2018 third-placer), 2018 Division I state
champion and Outstanding Wrestler Trent Mahoney, 2017 Division
II state champions Trevor Tamburo and Trey Fontenot of Parkway,
2018 Division II state champion Morgan Manuel of Rayne and 2018
Division III state champion Mikey Gordey of Ouachita Christian. In this tournament, Christ pinned his Round 1, quarterfinals and semifinals opponents in 0:57, 5:18 and 3:40 respectively. In the finals he defeated St. Louis' John Patrick Broussard via a 17-5 major decision. When he won the Outstanding Wrestler award in 2016 as a freshman, that was a Division III award. This one was more of an entire tournament Outstanding Wrestler award, commending him for a remarkable undefeated season against some of the best wrestlers in the state. |
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| Live Oak's Clayton Hill magically goes from third-place to first place. Behind him, his father Norvin Hill is justifiably concerned. |
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| Left to Right: Mandatory Minimums?; A pensive moment for Stephen Rumney; Time's up; Who invited the Russian Olympic Curling team? |
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