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Fini |
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Evans'
lateral-drop abruptly ends the 182 lbs. championship match |
LHSAA State
Wrestling Tournament |
Division I, 182
Pounds |
May 30th, 2018 | Written
by: Editor |
 |
Airline's D.J. Evans left no doubt who the best
at 182 lbs. was in Division I |
Place |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
Name |
D.J. Evans |
Spencer Rayes |
Kenyon Martin |
Thomas Arseneaux |
Michael Clapp |
Cole Ulfers |
School |
Airline |
Holy Cross |
Zachary |
Jesuit |
Brother Martin |
St. Paul's |
Seed |
1 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
Class |
Senior |
Senior |
Sophomore |
Senior |
Junior |
Sophomore |
Weight Class Synopsis
Airline's D.J. Evans had a 34-2 record prior to the state championships.
Dane Harter of Division II St. Michael accounted for one of those losses, and
the other came from Jesuit's Thomas Arseneaux 8-4 in the Louisiana Classic
semifinals. Evans had two wins over Brother Martin's Michael Clapp but had
not competed against Spencer Rayes of Holy Cross.
The records of the top-four seeds seem to say the following: Evans lost to
Arseneaux but beat Clapp twice; Arseneaux lost to Clapp; Rayes defeated Clapp
but did not lose to any of the other three. Evans, Clapp and Arseneaux
looked to be almost "Mobius-looped" except that Evans defeated Clapp twice.
If Evans over Clapp #1, Clapp over Arseneaux and Arseneaux over Evans cancel
each other out, then perhaps Evans over Clapp #2 gave Evans the nod over Clapp,
and then one can count Clapp's win over Arseneaux to merit Clapp a higher seed.
Rayes, however, only had seven matches against Louisiana opponents prior to the
state tournament, and one was a loss to Brother Martin's Mason Massicot in the
Catholic League Championships. That was Rayes' first match in more than a
month after suffering an injury in the Prep Slam and he came back to place
third. Massicot was not a factor as he competed at 170 lbs. for the state
championships.
If only having eight wins in nine matches against Louisiana competition did
not qualify Rayes for the #1 seed, how did he get seeded at all? If anyone
desires to enlighten the editor on the seeding of this weight class, the editor
will add a paragraph to explain it. The editor heard rumors that seeding
criteria had changed for the state championships, and if they did, he is happy
he did not review them as they seem to not make a lot of sense (see Division I
160 lbs.). Make no mistake, had Rayes wrestled a complete or near complete
season, he very easily could have been a #1 or #2 seed. The low number of
matches is what makes this seeding a little odd.
Evans got his first match via an 18-3 technical fall. He pinned his
next two opponents in 2:47 and 1:37 respectively. He had a rough time with
#4 Arseneaux though. Evans won the match 8-7 after the first tie-breaker
round.
Rayes went 8-1, losing only to Massicot when Rayes went down to 170 lbs. for
the Catholic League Championships. He had defeated the third-seed Clapp
11-5 in the December 15th dual meet between the Tigers and the Crusaders.
Before his injury at the Prep Slam, Rayes looked very formidable in taking the
runner-up spot at the South Walton Border Wars. Rayes scored fall in 0:17
and 2:50 before he blanked Capp in the semifinals with an 11-0 major decision.
In the first round Rayes attempted to stand Evans up with underhooks and
throw him twice, which only resulted in giving Evans a bloody nose and some
injury time. On Rayes' second attempt, Evans tried to counter by turning
into Rayes and trying a head-and-arm toss. But Evans slipped over Rayes'
head, allowing the Tiger wrestler to get behind him and take him down to the mat
for two points before they went out of bounds. Rayes rode Evans with crab
rides and Evans had another time-out for more blood. When the match
resumed and only 25 seconds remained in the first period, Evans stood up, Rayes
stood up with him and tried lifting Evans off the mat to put him back down, but
while in the air Evans started a switch, which he completed as they fell to the
mat. The 2-2 score, however, did not last long as Rayes stood up and
turned into Evans, who was on all-fours, and was able to push Evans down farther
and spin around for a reversal as time ran out. Going into the second
period Rayes was ahead 4-2 and had the momentum. Evans chose to start the second period standing, and at the edge of the mat
lateral-dropped the Tiger, but they went out of bounds before any points were
scored. The two locked-up for about thirty seconds and off of a missed
double-leg shot by Rayes, Evans lateral-dropped Rayes again, this time in bounds
and just like that, the match was over in 3:16.
Sixth-seeded Kenyon Martin of Zachary had an easy time in the wrestle-backs
with St. Amant's Alex Newman, but then went through a Sudden Victory match with
East Ascension's Tyler Irvin, winning 11-9 to reach the consolation semifinals. That did not adversely affect
the Bronco wrestler as he defeated Clapp 9-3 to advance to the consolation
finals. Arseneaux had a tougher time in the consolation semifinals, eking
out a
2-1 win over St. Paul's Cole Ulfers. In a rematch of their quarterfinals
match, won by Arseneaux 5-3, this time Martin prevailed 3-1 to place third.
Clapp had to work hard to place fifth against Ulfers in a 3-2 match, which was
the same score when Clapp defeated Ulfers in the quarterfinals.
Early Championship Rounds
|
R1: (3) Michael Clapp (BM) over Ben Bordelon (CHL) 3-2 |
|
R1: Zachary West (BR) over Aaron Hotard (COV)
12-10 SV |
|
R2: Cole Ulfers (STP) over Tyler Irvin (EA) 8-3 |
|
R2: (3) Michael Clapp (BM) over Samuel Rowan (MND) 15-6 MD |
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R2: (7) Adam Lampo (FNT) over Gabriel Berard (COM) in 1:06 |
Back to Top
Quarterfinals
|
(1)
D.J. Evans (AIR) over (8) Brandon Revere (LAF) in 1:37 |
|
(4)
Thomas Arseneaux (JES) over (5) Kenyon Martin (ZAC) 5-3 |
|
(3) Michael Clapp (BM) over Cole Ulfers (STP) 3-2 |
|
(2)
Spencer Rayes (HC) over (7) Adam Lampo (FNT) in 2:50 |
Back to Top
Semifinals
|
(1)
D.J. Evans (AIR) over (4) Thomas Arseneaux (JES) 8-7 TB-1 |
|
(2) Spencer Rayes (HC) over (3) Michael Clapp (BM) 11-0
MD |
Back to Top
Championship Consolation Rounds
|
(5)
Kenyon Martin (ZAC) defeated (4) Thomas Arseneaux (JES) 3-1
to place 3rd |
|
(3) Michael Clapp (BM) defeated Cole Ulfers (STP)
3-2 to place 5th |
Back to Top
Finals
(1) D.J. Evans of Airline pinned (2) Spencer Rayes of
Holy Cross in 3:17 |
|
Back to Top
© 2017-18 by Louisiana Wrestling News
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