Fini

Brother Martin junior Alex Duncan holds onto Comeaux's Dyllon Bernard in the 138 lbs. finals match.  Duncan prevailed 6-4 in the third match between the two, breaking a 1-1 season tie.  Bernard should be proud as he has finished as the runner-up twice, and that is not easy to do.

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Alex Duncan	Dyllon Bernard	Logan LaCoste	Gage Sonnier	Cody Comeaux	Brad Mahoney
School	Brother Martin	Comeaux	Holy Cross	John Ehret	St. Amant	East Ascension
Seed	2	1	7	3	4	5
Class	Junior	Senior	Senior	Junior	Senior	Sophomore
Final Record*	26-1	42-3	24-13	27-8	47-12	49-19

*    Louisiana opponents only, not including any types of forfeits, byes or junior varsity events.

Weight Class Synopsis

This weight class really was dominated by just two wrestlers, Senior Dyllon Bernard of Comeaux and Junior Alex Duncan of Brother Martin.  Bernard was a runner-up to Adam Larriviere at 138 lbs.  in 2018 via a 5-4 score.  The then sophomore Duncan placed fourth in the same weight class.

Bernard and Duncan were seeded #1 and #2 respectively, based on two previous meeting that they split.  Duncan defeated Bernard in the Trey Culotta semifinals by a 5-4 score after the first round of the first the-breaker round.  It was an unfortunate loss for Bernard as, while on top of Duncan in the second 30 seconds of the tie-breaker round, he was ahead 5-4. If he felt he was losing control of Duncan he could just give-up an escape and the finals tie-breaker round would be used.  Yet Bernard held on to Duncan a little longer than he should have, allowing the Crusader wrestler to score two-point switch to win 5-4.  The two had a close match in the Louisiana Classic as well, with Bernard prevailing 4-3 and thus gaining the #1 seed for the state championships.  Bernard had one other loss, 7-6. in the finals of the Jacob McMillan Memorial, but that was to Basile's Gavin Christ who had not yet dropped to 132 lbs.  Plus, losing to Christ this season really should not count as a loss.  It should count like an ACT exam, a measuring stick, if you will.  Giving Christ his toughest match of the season by losing by only one point, suffice to say Bernard did very well on that scale.

Bernard won Spartan Invitational, the Ronnie Suarez SPOT District Tournament, the Ken Cole Invitational and the Louisiana Classic to go with his runner-up finish at the McMillan and third-place finish at the Culotta.   He had already defeated Logan LaCoste of Holy Cross, Cody Comeaux of St. Amant and Brad Mahoney of East Ascension by significant margins, so Duncan was his main test.  His path to the finals included first-round, second-round and quarterfinals falls before winning by a mere 12-2 major decision over East Ascension's Brad Mahoney in the semi-finals.

Duncan won the Mandeville Open, the Cinco Ranch Big 12, and the Catholic League District Championships, and he placed second at the Trey Culotta (losing to South Walton's Ethan Pickren, who later noted that Duncan had the strongest "claw" right he had ever felt), the Prep Slam and the Louisiana Classic.  He had also defeated LaCoste, Comeaux and Mahoney.  Third-seeded Gage Sonnier of John Ehret was the only top-six seeded wrestler he had not faced (nor had Bernard, for that matter).  After a first-round bye Duncan pinned Luke Battaglia of Jesuit before beating LaCoste 9-1 in the quarterfinals.  He faced Sonnier in the semifinals and handily won via an 11-3 major decision to reach the finals.

Early Championship Rounds

R1: (4) Cody Comeaux (StA) defeated Ethan Rivera (DUT) 6-0

R1: (3) Gage Sonnier (JE) defeated Daniel Burton (SUL) 16-1 TF

R1: Luke Battaglia (JES) defeated Tyler Toussant (CAT) 8-0 MD

R2: (1) Dyllon Bernard (COM) pinned Dylan Inguagiato (DST) in 1:53

R2: (3) Gage Sonnier (JE) pinned Charles Dalton (MND) in 1:38

Back to Top

Quarterfinals

(1) Dyllon Bernard (COM) pinned (8) Chance Johnson (ZAC) in 3:48

(5) Brad Mahoney (EA) defeated (4) Cody Comeaux (StA) 10-7

(3) Gage Sonnier (JE) defeated Cody Campbell (StP) 15-7 MD

(2) Alex Duncan (BM) defeated (7) Logan LaCoste (HC) 9-1 MD

Back to Top

Semifinals

(1) Dyllon Bernard (com) defeated (5) Brad Mahoney (EA) 12-2 MD

(2) Alex Duncan (BM) defeated (3) Gage Sonnier (JE) 11-3 MD

Back to Top

Consolation Rounds

C2: Luke Battaglia (JES) defeated DeAnthony Taylor (BYR) 18-2 TF

C2: Donald Turner (HNV) defeated Derrick Barker (ACA) 12-7

C2: Joshua Franklin (AIR) pinned Daniel Burton (SUL) in 4:48

C2: Santana Pinkley (BRB) defeated Donnie Middleton (BR) 5-2

C2: James Stapleton (FNT) defeated D'Quincy Prejean (LAF) 10-6

C2: Tyler Toussant (CAT) pinned Dylan Inguagiato (DST) in 2:19

C3: Hunter Verret (COV) pinned Ethan Rivera (DUT) in 0:46

Back to Top

Championship Consolation Rounds

(7) Logan LaCoste (HC) defeated (3) Gage Sonnier (JE) to place 3rd

(4) Cody Comeaux (StA) won the season series 2-1, including a quarterfinals loss, when he defeated (5) Brad Mahoney (EA) 9-4 to place 5th

Back to Top

Finals

(2) Alex Duncan of Brother Martin defeated (2) Dyllon Bernard of Comeaux 6-4

"Bernard-Duncan III" was everything everyone expected in a state finals match from these two wrestlers.  Bernard jumped to an early 2-0 lead using an ankle-dive and forward momentum, but shortly after Duncan stood-up and escaped.  With about 50 seconds remaining Bernard shot a wide double-leg attempt, but Duncan sprawled hard on Bernard, flattened Bernard on the mat, and spun around for the Crusader's first takedown.  The first period ended 3-2 in Duncan's favor.  Starting the second period on the bottom, Duncan scored an escape after about 50 seconds and then took Bernard down again by sprawling on a Bernard shot and spinning behind the Comeaux wrestler again at the 1:02 mark.  Bernard managed an escape via a Granby roll and the two remained on their feet for 45 second until the round ended.  Behind 6-3 Bernard started the third period on the bottom, but it took longer than he wanted, more than a minute, to elude Duncan's grasp and score an escape point, cutting Duncan's lead to 6-4.  But Bernard could not find an opening to utilize in the last minute to take Duncan down to tie the score, and the match ended 6-4 in Duncan's favor.

Back to Top