Untitled 1

Fini

Brother Martin's 33-25 win over Holy Cross not quite a death knell regarding the state championships

December 13th, 2018 | Written by: Editor


33	25

For those who thought they saw a chink in Brother Martin's armor after the Crusaders defeated the Holy Cross Tiger 33-25 in a dual meet on December 5 at Holy Cross, they should know that under that armor is a shiny coat of mithril*. The Crusaders won eight of the 14 matches, including two via falls, one via a technical fall and one via a major decision. The Tigers scored one fall, a technical fall and two major decisions.

Several Holy Cross spectators said they were happily surprised to have come within eight points of the defending Division I state champions. But the current champs remain the team to beat.

A meeting between the top-two GNO powerhouses this early in the season can be viewed as not meaning anything or can be used as a window to one possibility - are the Crusaders vulnerable come February 8th and 9th in Bossier City.

Most people do not think dual meet results say much about how teams will fare in tournaments. Each match has a winner and a loser, and each winner is limited to how many points his team gets for a win, three, four, five or six. Extrapolating dual meet results to tournament results, however, involves much more. Despite losing in a dual meet, how far might a wrestler advance in a tournament before losing again, or losing twice? If the two top wrestlers in the state wrestle a 2-1 match in a dual meet, the winner gets three points and the loser gets none. In a tournament, depending on the draw, the second-seed wrestler may score more points en route to the finals via falls or other decisions which tack-on additional team points. It is not uncommon for a wrestler upset in the first round to score more points going through consolation rounds than another who reaches the finals.

Brother Martin has a line-up quandary which may be seen as either risky or beneficial to the Crusaders' chances to win another state championship. It revolves around defending state champion Patrick Evans. Evans has competed at 145 lbs. already this year, so he will obviously be eligible for that weight later in the season. If so, that might put senior Seth Alfonso, a veteran of the 2018 state championships (in which he placed 4th) at 152 lbs. If Evans remains at 152 lbs., junior Riley Horvath can fill the 145 lbs. spot, and Alfonso may be left out unless he can take 2018's runner-up Mason Massicot's spot. That option also involves a risk re East Ascension's Trent Mahoney, whom Evans only defeated by one point on November 27th.

The above observations pale to what really is needed for the Tigers to put forth a formidable challenge to the Crusaders. At least one of the dual meet matches must be reversed in Holy Cross' favor. It can happen, and it did between these two teams last season. Eighth-grade Tiger Jacob Frost won his first match against Crusader sophomore Connor Hoffman 6-3. Hoffman, however, won their next three meetings, including an 11-4 win in the state finals.

Hence, the state championships might not be the Crusader "blow-out" a lot of people thought it might earlier this season. They are still, of course, heavy favorites to defend their 2018 team championship, but line-up questions may play a role, and those will only be known come February. And the Crusaders have a few events left to make any changes they feel are necessary.

Matches