Division I 182 Lbs.

Fini

Evans' lateral-drop abruptly ends the 182 lbs. championship match

LHSAA State Wrestling Tournament

Division I, 182 Pounds

May 30th, 2018 | Written by: Editor

Weight Class Synopsis

Early Championship Rounds

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

3rd and 5th

Finals

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