Division I 132 Lbs.

Fini

Mahoney tops off record-setting season with state championship and Outstanding Wrestler award

LHSAA State Wrestling Tournament

Division I, 132 Pounds

May 30th, 2018 | Written by: Editor

Weight Class Synopsis

Early Championship Rounds

3rd and 5th


State Champion: Trent Mahoney East Ascension	Runner-up: Luke Eccles Jesuit	Third-place: Luke Cotton Brother Martin

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Name	Trent Mahoney	Luke Eccles	Luke Cotton	Thomas Barringer	Logan LaCoste	Ben Davidson
School	East Ascension	Jesuit	Brother Martin	Airline	Holy Cross	St. Paul's
Seed	1	3	2	4	8	Unseeded
Class	Sophomore	Junior	Senior	Senior	Junior	Sophomore

Weight Class Synopsis

This was a tad bizarre weight class. Of the top eight Division I seeds all but two (#4 Thomas Barringer of Airline and #6 Roach of Chalmette) were defeated by Division III's Gavin Christ of Basile in his undefeated season. That influenced the Division I seeding. East Ascension's Trent Mahoney and Brother Martin's Luke Cotton, a 2016 Division I state champion, were equal in seeding criteria with one exception. Cotton had more experience, as in he wrestled two matches, against Christ, who was the best 132 lbs. wrestler in the state. One might think having more experience against the toughest competition would work in Cotton's favor, but instead it gave Cotton a lower winning percentage than Mahoney against the same competition. By losing to Christ once rather than twice, the East Ascension sophomore was seeded first and Cotton was second.

Not lost in the mix was Jesuit's Luke Eccles. Although he had not competed since he was injured in the consolation semifinals of the Louisiana Classic, he still merited a #3 seeding via wins over Barringer, #5 Cody Comeaux of St. Amant, #6 Roach and #8 LaCoste. Cotton earned the second spot for his runner-up finish at the Louisiana Classic.

Competing primarily at 138 lbs. until the Ken Cole, Mahoney lost two early November matches (both of which he later avenged) but then won 34 consecutive matches before placing second to St. Paul's Cole Houser in the Trey Culotta finals. He won his next 14 matches, including going undefeated at the Deep South Bayou Duals, but was derailed in Sudden Victory by Richard Mack, III, of North Desoto in the Louisiana Classic, in which he placed third. Five wins later he dropped to 132 lbs. and placed second at the Ken Cole, losing to good friend Gavin Christ 10-3. In winning the Greater Baton Rouge Championships he bested the single season wins record of 78 set by Live Oak's Cody Hill in 2014. In that span he defeated a defending Division II state champion (Trey Fontenot of Parkway), a soon-to-be state Division I state champion (Adam Larriviere of Jesuit - x3), a soon-to-be Division II state champion (Morgan Manuel of Rayne), a soon-to-be Division III state champion (Mikey Gordy of Ouachita Christian - x2) and a soon-to-be Division I runner-up (Dyllon Bernard of Comeaux - x2). Also in that span Mahoney won six tournament championships, placed second in two and third in two.

Against Louisiana competition Mahoney was 70-5 entering the state championships. He pinned his way into the finals with falls in 0:58, 1:13, 4:34 and, in the semifinals over fourth-seeded Thomas Barringer of Airline, whom he had lost to by a point in November and defeated 10-6 in December, in 1:17.

Neither Eccles, who had not competed in over a month, nor Cotton, who had two bouts with the flu before the state championships, appeared hindered due to their earlier misfortunes. Both scored two falls and 13 points in their first three matches. Neither wrestler was really tested before they met in the semifinals. That match was outstanding, won by Eccles 12-8 (the most point allowed by Cotton since December 30th of 2016 in the Prep Slam finals).

The finals started off rather slowly. Mahoney scored a takedown with a single-leg to a duck-under, and the round ended 2-0, although Mahoney was hit with a warning for stalling. Eccles chose to start standing in the second period, but neither could score on the other despite several good leg shots by each.

Three times as many points were scored in the third period than in the first two. Mahoney, on bottom, started a switch, and Eccles stepped over it, but Mahoney just rolled over and grabbed Eccles' leg, then grabbed the other, and parlayed that into a double-leg switch. His 4-0 lead did not last long as during his reversal Mahoney was penalized for locking his hands, making the score 4-1. Mahoney was relentless on top, and was determined to cradle the shorter (in stature only) Eccles. With a minute left Mahoney finally forced Eccles' head to his knee and turn Eccles to his back for three nearfall points. Eccles got out of it, but with only five seconds remaining. Mahoney added a Division I state championship as a sophomore to his Louisiana Classic championship as a freshman. And just as in the 2017 Louisiana Classic, Mahoney was voted the Outstanding Wrestler in Division I.

Cotton scored a fall over eighth-seeded Logan LaCoste of Holy Cross, who scored a fall and a major decision to get to the consolation finals. Barringer survived 6-3 with St. Paul's Ben Davidson, who advanced to the consolation semifinals with decisions of 4-3 and 9-5. In the first meeting of the season between the two seniors, Cotton took third-place with a 5-1 decision. LaCoste placed fifth with a 13-5 major decision over Davidson.

Early Championship Rounds