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Introduction

During the season it looked as though Teurlings Catholic would break the 2018 Division II team championship tie with Parkway and win it by themselves for the sixth time, although it would be close.  In every tournament in which the two competed, Teurlings Catholic finished first to Parkway's second.  In the Jacob McMillan Memorial, the Rebels beat the Panthers by one-half of a point.  At the Lone Survivor, Teurlings Catholic beat Parkway by seven points, and in the Ken Cole the Rebels outscored the Panthers by 24.5 points.  If anything, it appeared Teurlings was getting stronger as the season wore on.

Spurring the Panthers to excel may have been sacrifices by senior captain Trey Fontenot.  A state champion as a sophomore at 126 lbs., and a disappointing fourth-place finisher in 2018 at 132 lbs., Fontenot started the season at 132 lbs., wrestler one match at 126 lbs. before going back to 132 lbs., but come December 28th and the Lone Survivor tournament, Fontenot cut to 120 lbs. and remained there for the rest of the season.  Fontenot won his second state championship and was immediately followed by another Panther state championship by Darryl Nicholas at 126 lbs.  Later, at 220 lbs., Connor Cloinger capped off the Panthers' evening with a championship at 220 lbs.

Whatever they did, it worked out well for the Panthers.  They had 13 wrestlers who made it to the top-six podium, while Teurlings Catholic only had nine.  Granted, Teurlings Catholic did not have the services of Matthew Carrier at 113, but he had split matches with Shaw's second-seeded Raheem Bonnet, so there was no guarantee he would have made the finals.  If he had, he would have faced a very tough #1 seed in North Desoto's Joshua Sarpy who had already defeated Carrier.  That might have allowed Colten Sonnier to compete at 126, but a finals appearance would have meant getting past Live Oak's Clayton Hill, who had previously defeated Sonnier, and if so, he would face Fontenot, who also defeated Sonnier earlier in the season.  Sonnier did better than anyone expected in reaching the finals at 126 lbs. and he came very close to winning it, losing in a Sudden Victory round.  Whether they exist or not, one can bet that the Teurlings Rebels wrestlers and coaches do not consider such excuses, and that Parkway simply beat them this year.

The Parkway Panthers, who tied Teurlings Catholic for the state championship in 2018, decided that would not happen again in 2019.

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1) Parkway runners-up Kaleb Garcia and Josh Keeler with third-place finisher Jacob Chittom, each of whom will return next season.  2) Parkway state champions and one runner-up with coaches. 3) Joshua Keeler checking the validity of his runner-up medal. 4) Parkway seniors Darryl Nicholas, Carson Sanders, Connor Cloinger and Trey Fontenot with the Brother Melchior trophy..

If anyone recalls seeing a frog outline on the Parkway singlets, there is a very good reason behind that.  Each year each Parkway wrestler picks a U.S. Navy Seal who gave his life in the line of duty.  The wrestlers try to learn everything they can about the Seal they chose, and the frog on their singlets is simply a way to honor those fallen heroes.

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Teurlings Catholic had five finalists but only David Bernard at 195 lbs. and Miles Santiago at 285 lbs. made it to the very top of the podium.  North Desoto placed third behind Joshua Sarpy's state championship at 113 lbs.  Live Oak placed fourth and had a champion in sophomore Anthony Dodson.  Rummel placed fifth but did not win a weight class.  For sixth-place Carencro, senior Taylor Clay won his second state title and sophomore Kendrell Williams won his first.  Morgan Manuel did the same for Rayne which placed seventh.  Eighth-place Sam Houston won two titles.  Second-seeded Christian Satchell defeated top-seeded Chris Montalbano to win at 132 lbs. and top-seeded Mataius Laving defeated Rayne's Dustin Doucet at 182 lbs.  Behind Rayne in ninth-place Shaw freshman Glenn Price won a championship for the Eagles, Lance Robinson completed a great season for St. Michael with a state championship at 152 lbs.

Team runner-up Teurlings Catholic had two state champions and three runners-up	Fourth place Live Oak had one state champion and one runner-up	Seventh.-place Rayne also had one state champion and one runner-up

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Outstanding Wrestler

Morgan Manuel - Rayne 145 pounds   Rayne's Morgan Manuel was seeded first at the 2017 state championships.  He placed third.  But in 2018 and 2019 he was seeded second, and that seemed to work-out just fine for him.  He won the 132 Division II state championship over a first-seeded opponent from Teurlings Catholic in 2018, and he did the same thing in this state championship at 145 lbs., again defeating a #1 seed from Teurlings Catholic. Manuel received a forfeit in round-one, and pinned his quarterfinals opponent, Mark Donegan of Rummel in 0:45.  Third-seeded Gavin Gauthreaux was upset by sixth-seeded Hayden Wood of Parkway in the quarterfinals, so it was Woods' pleasure to meet Manuel in the semifinals.  Perhaps "pleasure" is not the correct word as Manuel pinned him in 2:59. In the finals he faced top-seeded junior Charles Travasos of Teurlings Catholic.  Travasos owned a 2-1 record over Manuel during the season, winning decisions of 5-3 and 6-2.  Between those losses Manuel defeated Travasos 7-1.  The two were tied at 3-3 after the first period.  But Morgan won the second period 3-2 and the third period 2-1, giving him an 8-6 win over Travasos and another state championship.

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Final Team Scores

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