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One of Daniel Croy's toughest matches last
season was in the finals of the Louisiana Classic against South Walton's
Ethan Pickren. Croy won 3-2 in a match in which Pickren came close
to match-winning takedowns twice but did not get the nod of the
officials. In this event Pickren, who never backs down from a
challenge, wanted a rematch with Croy or a match with Christ, but he was
not sure of which weight classes those two would compete, and he
opted to compete in the 138-pounds class. Pickren was 13-0 and had
won the South Walton Border Wars over St. Paul's Peyton Ward and
followed that with a win in Tallahassee's Capital City Classic.
Pickren pinned his four pool opponents on Friday and eased into the
finals with a quarterfinal 13-2 major decision over Cody Comeaux of St.
Amant and a fall in 3:35 over Byrd's Jacob Yawn.
Missing the opportunity to meet Croy or Christ was not needed, as
Crusader junior Alex Duncan proved to be a formidable opponent.
Duncan was 8-0 with wins over East Ascension's Brad Mahoney, St. Amant's
Cody Comeaux and Division III
state champion Michael Gordy of Ouachita Christian. Duncan recorded four falls and a 7-2
decision to go undefeated in his Friday pool. To advance to the
finals he received a forfeit from Peyton Ward in the quarterfinals, and
then when he only required a point in an overtime rounds to extend his
match against Comeaux's Dyllon Bernard, he managed a reversal in the
final 10 seconds to win at the end of that round.
Duncan scored the only points in the first period of the finals with a takedown.
In the second period Duncan added an escape and another takedown for a
5-0 lead after four minutes had elapsed. In the third period,
however, with Pickren starting on bottom, the South Walton wrestler
managed to reverse Duncan to his back to score five points and tie the
match. Duncan escaped for a 6-5 lead but Pickren was able to get
behind Duncan, with both wrestlers on their feet, and secure enough
control to be award a takedown and a 7-6 win. |
