Division I 170 Lbs.

Fini

Turner competes "Three-peat," down's Hamrick in last of three tries this season

LHSAA State Wrestling Tournament

Division III, 170 Pounds

May 30th, 2018 | Written by: Editor

Weight Class Synopsis

Early Championship Rounds

3rd and 5th

Having lost to De la Salle's Ryan Hamrick twice this season, South Plaquemines' Brandon Turner had no intention of losing again, particularly with his third state championship on the line.

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Name	Brandon Turner	Ryan Hamrick	Griffin Dynes	William Gage	Joha Anderson	Chase Spooner
School	South Plaquemines	De la Salle	Episcopal	St. Louis	John Curtis	South Beauregard
Seed	2	1	6	3	4	5
Class	Senior	Senior	Senior	Junior	Junior	Sophomore

Weight Class Synopsis

Ryan Hamrick of De la Salle had some quality wins and quality losses in his 35-7 record. He had pinned Basile's Logan David in 4:22. He beat William Gage of St. Louis, the 170 Lbs. third seed in Division III, 11-2 and 10-3. His losses were also impressive. He held Shaw's 170 lbs. Division II state champion Eduardo Garcia to a 5-4 match. He split with Division II's Carson Sanders of Parkway. Jacob Fereday of Catholic only allowed two Louisiana opponents to get within four points of him during his undefeated season. One of those was Hamrick, who lost to Fereday 6-2 in the Trey Culotta Invitational. His most impressive matches, however, were his two against two-time Division III state champion Brandon Turner of South Plaquemines. Hamrick pinned Turner to place fifth at the Louisiana Classic, and then beat him 8-6 in the Bruin Invitational. In this event he used two pins in just over three minutes and a 12-0 major decision to reach his third consecutive Division III 170 lbs. finals match.

Turner only had five losses to go with his 21 victories, but the two losses to Hamrick set him firmly as the #2 seed. He lost to Garcia by a mere point in a 6-5 Jefferson Invitational finals match and lost to Fereday in the Louisiana Classic. Also, in the Louisiana Classic he lost a 10-9 TB-1 match against Acadiana's Jeremiah Brooks. Turner had some good wins over Division I opponents Cole Ulfers of St. Paul's, Division I finalist Mason Massicot of Brother Martin and Fontainebleau's Tanner Melendez, but with the two losses to Hamrick, it looked as if Turner was due for his first state championship finals loss while Hamrick was due for his first state championship. Turner's first two rounds were relatively easy as he recorded a fall in 3:52 and an 11-3 major decision. He had a harder time in semifinals match against Gage, whom he had not met before, but persevered 6-2 to join Hamrick in the finals.

Unfortunately for Hamrick, defending state champions do not like to give away their titles without a fight. Two-time state champion seniors are even more testy about losing their last state tournaments. It is a very rare event, although it did happen this year in the Division I 138 lbs. weight class, when Jesuit's Adam Larriviere upset Cole Houser of St. Paul's in the semifinals. Prior to that one must go back to 2013 when Catholic's Brennan Taylor upset Rummel's Matt Calcote, also in the semifinals. Houser and Calcote each placed third with class, and Larriviere and Taylor each went on to win a titles.

In the finals Turner was awarded the first point when Hamrick was cited for an illegal hold. Later in the round Turner attempted a double-leg shot, which Hamrick tried to counter with an overhook-underhook throw, but Turner rolled through it and ended up behind Hamrick for the first offensive score of the match. Turner entered the second period with a 3-0 lead. Hamrick started the second period on the bottom, but Turner stuck to him like glue, and managed a tilt to score two nearfall points. As the third round started, Turner was ahead 5-0 and had the advantage of starting on the bottom. Hamrick let him go, though, thinking he had better chances to score on his feet. And score on his feet he did, with what might have been the greatest takedown in Division III history. However, as it was not caught on the TrackWrestling video and the editor did not see it in person, it cannot be described here. Nevertheless, Hamrick cut the lead to 6-2 and let Turner go again. Hamrick tried another takedown, but Turner was able to scramble out of the Cavalier's hold, and the match, as well as two great wrestling careers, ended in a 7-2 decision for Turner.

The junior Gage faced another tough match in the consolation semifinals against South Beauregard sophomore Chase Spooner, escaping 8-5. In the match for third he found Episcopal senior Griffin Dynes. Seeded sixth and losing to Gage 8-1 in the quarterfinals, Dynes pinned his way to the consolation semifinals and scored a major decision over Joha Anderson of John Curtis in that match. In their rematch, the senior avenged his quarterfinals loss via a 9-1 major decision, ending his career with a win and a third-place medal. Anderson, who had defeated Spooner 8-0 in the quarterfinals, scored another major decision over the sophomore 14-5 to place fifth.

Early Championship Rounds