Division I 220 Lbs.

Fini

Lakeside's Sparks upends defending Cavaliers champion Eric Hamrick

LHSAA State Wrestling Tournament

Division III, 220 Pounds

May 30th, 2018 | Written by: Editor

Weight Class Synopsis

Early Championship Rounds

3rd and 5th

Left: Mason Sparks won Lakeside's first title of the night. Right: Sparks (right) with teammate D.J. Harvey, the 285 lbs. winner.

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Name	Mason Sparks	Eric Hamrick	John Drake	Derenion Gobert	Kyle Guidry	Skylar Jarvis
School	Lakeside	De la Salle	John Curtis	Church Point	St. Louis	Evangel
Seed	2	1	3	7	5	4
Class	Senior	Senior	Freshman	Junior	Junior	Sophomore

Weight Class Synopsis

Eric Hamrick of De la Salle was a state champion last season. He was seeded in the second spot but upended top-seed Brandon Young of Brusly via a fall in 3:04. This year Hamrick was the #1 seed who brought a 14-3 record to Bossier City. His losses were to Robert Rabel of Dunham in a 3-1 match, Wesley Brady of Zachary via a fall in 3:22, and to East Ascension's Darren Clark, with whom he split matches at the Louisiana Classic, in which Hamrick placed fourth. In his 14 wins, 10 were by falls and two by major decisions. The win over Clark was a 4-3 decision, and he had a 7-5 SV win over Evangel's Skylar Jarvis. Hamrick also had two win (via a fall and a forfeit) over Brother Martin semifinalist and fourth-place finisher Kyle West. Hamrick recorded falls in 1:47 and 0:32 to possibly set-up a rematch with Jarvis in the semifinals. St. Louis' Kyle Guidry denied Hamrick and Jarvis that chance, though, by eking past Jarvis in the quarterfinals 1-0. Hamrick only required 52 seconds with Guidry to advance to his second Division III state finals match.

Placing fifth as the sixth-seed at 182 lbs. last year, Lakeside's Mason Sparks' stock rose considerably, making him the second-seed in these championships. His record was only 15-7, but it did include three wins over Parkway's Connor Cloinger who placed third in Division two this season. His other losses were to some very good competition, including Haughton's D.J. Monroe (twice), Airline's Matt Salinas, Brandon Young of Brusly and Alex Ormond of De la Salle. Sparks did not get the falls as Hamrick did in the top of the bracket. In his first match the Indians senior won 8-6 over sophomore Kristopher Breaux of North Vermillion. Junior Darenion Gobert of Church Point was next, and Sparks had a little easier time, winning 9-4. In the semifinals he had the toughest match of the tournament - and it was against a freshman from John Curtis. The freshman, however, was John Drake, the son of Norman Drake, who won a Division II state championship for the Patriots in 1985 and a Division I title in 1987. Drake took Sparks through six minutes of regulation and one minute of Sudden Victory before Sparks was able to get a 3-2 win after the Tie-breaker-1 round. If those three matches were not hard enough, now he had to face the defending state champion in the 220 lbs. weight class.

Hamrick scored the first points of the match when he countered a head-and-arm attempt by Sparks, slipping under Sparks' arm and getting behind the Lakeside wrestler to take him down to the mat. Sparks cut Hamrick's lead in half with an escape, making the score 2-1. Next, on a Hamrick single-leg shot, Sparks countered with his hips and arms and just pushed Hamrick backwards. The Cavalier fell onto his back with Sparks on top of him, netting Sparks two points for the takedown and another three nearfall points. Hamrick got out of that predicament and escaped with 0:23 remaining. The first round ended with Sparks unexpectedly ahead 6-3. Hamrick started the second round on the bottom and escaped in the first 10 seconds, making the score 6-4. The two did not attempt much for the rest of the period. With 15 seconds remaining, Sparks executed what looked to be a very good lateral drop, but Hamrick was able to extricate himself from Sparks' hold and no points were scored. In the third period Hamrick, now on top, tried to put Sparks in a nearside cradle. Hamrick locked it up, but before he could turn Sparks, the Lakeside wrestler kicked out of the cradle and escaped to make the match 7-4 in Sparks' favor. The two again tangled with each other on their feet, and with 20 seconds remaining Sparks was warned for stalling, but neither wrestler would score again. Sparks had a 7-4 state championship, and the Indians had one more match left.

Drake reached the consolation finals with a consolations semifinal fall over Jarvis in 4:21. There he met Gobert who had wins via a fall in 1:47, a decision of 7-2 and a 9-7 consolation semifinal win over Guidry. Drake pinned Gobert in 0:50 at the Ken Cole Memorial, but this time the Church Point junior gave him a much harder time. Drake won, though, 4-0 to place third. The quarterfinals rematch between Guidry and Jarvis was a score-fest compared to the earlier 1-0 match. In this one Guidry took fifth place by a 3-2 decision.

Early Championship Rounds