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All Division III Brackets in PDF

Behind state championships by Alex Yokubaitis and Robert Christman the Saint Louis Saints of Lake Charles won the Division III team title, keeping De la Salle from capturing their third in a row.  The Saints scored 209 points to 204.5 points for the Cavaliers.

Founded in 2010 the St. Louis Saints were split between Division II and Division III.  In Division II from 2010 to 2013, the Saints' best showing was a fourth-place finish in 2013, when Lehrue Stevens, IV, Louis Stutes and Conrad Lebleu won state championship titles.  Upon moving to Division III for the 2013-14 season, the Saints finished fourth again.  Their highest placing in the state championships was third in 2017.

St. Louis wrestlers, coaches and fans celebrate the Saints' first wrestling team title.

 The Coach Terry Gage's Saints did not look like the team to beat in Division III at the start of the season.  They placed fourth at the Brusly Invitational, 3.5 point behind De la Salle, 23.5 points behind runner-up Ouachita Christian and 34.5 points behind the champion Brusly Bearcats.

The Saints served notice by winning the Division III Dual Meet Championship with a 37-27 finals win over De la Salle.  Some might believe that was not a legitimate contest as St. Louis received two forfeits (12 points) from the Cavaliers.  The forfeits, however, were to defending state champions Alex Yokubaitis and Robert Christman, both of whom were defending state champions.  Hence, it is unlikely De la Salle would have defeated the Saints had the Cavaliers put fourth a 14-man squad.

St. Louis had sevens finalists and went 5-2 in those matches, with Yokubaitis and Christman winning titles.  Cameron Witherwax, John-Patrick Broussard, Adam Verrett, Joseph Vincent and William Jicks were runners-up, and of those, only Witherwax was seeded first.

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De la Salle, winners of the last two Division III team titles, also returned two state champion from 2017.  They were Eric Hamrick and Jeremiah James.  Eric and his brother Ryan were #1 seeds, while James was seeded third.  In the finals, De la Salle had Jamar Brown, Jeffrey Hefner and the Hamrick brothers.  None of them, however, was able to win their finals matches.  In the four head-to-head matches between De la Salle and St. Louis, the Cavaliers won three, but that was not enough to surpass the Saints.

After wining team titles in 2016 and 2017, De la Salle had to settle for the runner-up position this year.

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Basile's Gavin Christ (left) won the Division III Outstanding Wrestler award, just as he did as a freshman in 2016 (right)

The Ouachita Christian Eagles had four champions, the most in Division III.  Sam Pitts, competing at 126 lbs., won his second title, and was followed by Mikey Gordy at 132 lbs., Matthew Matherne at 145 lbs. and Matthew Webre at 160 pounds.  The Eagles place third with 179 points.

Basile had the second most individual state champions with three and finished fourth as a team.  Freshman Alex Menier defeated Witherwax 9-4, avenging four losses to Witherwax during the season.  Gavin Christ kept his record unblemished against Broussard at 138 lbs., winning his third consecutive state championship, and Isaac Cortez won over Haven Dominguez of Church Point at 182 lbs.

North Vermillion's Jourdan Theall remained undefeated and won his second championship.  Brandon Turner won his third Division III bracket for South Plaquemines, and Dunham's Robert Rabel made the most of his few matches in the 2017-18 season by winning his second championship.  (Rabel won as an 8th-grader in 2015, was a runner-up in 2016 and was unable to wrestle in 2017.)  The finals matches ended with Lakeside's Mason Sparks and D.J. Harvey both upsetting #1 seeds to win titles for the Indians.

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FINAL TEAM SCORES

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