Fini

Brother Martin senior Patrick Evans, despite an injury that kept him out of competition from late December until this tournament, showed he lost nothing during that time, dominating the 145 lbs. weight class to win his second Division I state championship.

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Patrick Evans	Ben Davidson	Tucker Almond	Colby Queyrouze	Hunter Gustin	Jake Romig
School	Brother Martin	St. Paul's	Airline	Jesuit	Sulphur	Holy Cross
Seed	1	3	7	2	5	Not Seeded
Class	Senior	Junior	Senior	Senior	Junior	Sophomore
Final Record*	14-0	23-8	23-5	28-8	25-7	3-4

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

Weight Class Synopsis

The 2018-19 season started as everyone expected at 145 lbs. - Patrick Robinson winning everything.  He won the Cinco Ranch Big 12 in Texas.  Against Trent Mahoney, the defending state champion junior from East Ascension, Evans prevailed 6-5 despite moving up to 152 lbs.  He had little problem with his main competition from Holy Cross, Brady Butler, in an 11-6 dual meet match, and recorded a fall over soon-to-be Division III finalist Noah Berryhill of St. Louis.  Evans only wrestled one match when the Crusaders went to New Jersey, but he looked fine at the Trey Culotta Invitational, winning all of his Friday pool matches and defeating defending Division II state champion Morgan Manuel of Rayne 10-6.  But his season was interrupted as in that match, even though he finished it, he was unable to continue due to a knee injury.  That was on December 22nd, 2018.  Evans did not compete again until six weeks later when the state championships started.

Evidently the Crusaders' coaching staff and Evan's parents kept him out of any rain or cold weather during those six weeks, as Evans shown no signs of rust in Bossier City (the editor rubbed a finger across Evans' shoulder after his first match, and there was no evidence of rust at all).  He cruised to the finals via a first-round fall in 1:36, a 17-2 technical fall in round two and a 15-0 technical fall in the quarterfinals.  In the semifinals he faced a tough Sulphur junior in fifth-seeded Hunter Gustin, but ended that match win a fall in 5:27.

Like 132 lbs., this was another weight class many people preferred to stay out of, just because of the possibility that Evans would compete.  While no wrestler should be happy another is injured, the vacuum at 145 lbs. in Division I was evidenced by three of the four Ken Cole and Louisiana Classic coming from Division II.  (Gustin was the only Division I wrestler of the four, and he placed second to St. Michael's Lance Robinson, who also won the Louisiana Classic.

Evans had defeated St. Paul's Ben Davidson 7-1 at the Culotta, and Manuel had defeated second-seed Colby Queyrouze three times during the season, giving Evans the edge in a potential match against the Blue Jay senior.  A quarterfinal upset in the bottom half of the bracket sent third-seeded St. Paul's junior Ben Davidson to the finals.  Queyrouze lost to seventh-seeded Tucker Almond (barely a month removed from putting a knife through his palm) in a 9-3 match, and Davidson defeated Almond 8-4 to reach the finals.  Earlier, Davidson, after a first-round bye, recorded a second-round fall in 0:21 and got past Catholic's Canon Hunt 7-2 in the quarterfinals.

Early Championship Rounds

R1: (8) Alex Simoneaux (StA) pinned Jeremiah Davis (CEN) in 1:18; R1: Michael Ratliff (DES) pinned Zachary Robin (LAF) in 3:18

R1: Gage Fleming (HNV) pinned Gireesh Daggupati (GK) in 0:52

R1: Jacob Wallis (ZAC) defeated (4) Brennan Sturm (COM) 1-0

R1: Lee Bledsoe (BYR) defeated Tukker Benoit (ACA) 10-3

R1: (2) Colby Queyrouze (JES) pinned Kade Moran (BR) in 2:57

R2: (1) Patrick Evans (BM) defeated Jareth Wheeler (COV) 17-2 MD

R2: (8) Alex Simoneaux (StA) pinned Dalton Sances (FNT) in 1:08

R2: Jacob Wallis (ZAC) pinned Elijah Lanigan (JE) in 4:39

R2: (6) Canon Hunt (CAT) pinned Michael Ratliff (DST) in 1:23

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Quarterfinals

(1) Patrick Evans (BM) defeated (8) Alex Simoneaux (StA) 15-0 TF

(5) Hunter Gustin (SUL) pinned Jacob Wallis (ZAC) in 5:01

(3) Ben Davidson (StP) defeated (6) Canon Hunt (CAT) 7-2

(7) Tucker Almond (AIR) defeated (2) Colby Queyrouze (JES) 9-3

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Semifinals

(1) Patrick Evans (BM) pinned (5) Hunter Gustin (SUL) in 5:27

(3) Ben Davidson (StP) defeated (7) Tucker Almond (AIR) 8-4

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Consolation Rounds

C1: David Pellerin (EA) pinned Gireesh Daggupati (GK) in 2:13

C2: Jake Romig (HC) pinned Jeremiah Davis (CEN) in 0:54; C2: Maxwell Canko (CHL) pinned Dalton Sances (FNT) in 0:57

C2: David Pellerin (EA) pinned Michael Ratliff (DES) in 1:48

(4) Brennan Sturm (COM) pinned Leo Bledsoe (BYR) in 2:38

C2: Elijah Lanigan (JE) defeated Tukker Benoit (ACA) 4-2 SV

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Championship Consolation Rounds

(7) Tucker Almond (AIR) defeated (2) Colby Queyrouze (JES) to place 3rd

(5) Hunter Gustin (SUL) defeated Jake Romig (HC) 9-0 MD to place 5th

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Finals

(1) Patrick Evans of Brother Martin defeated Ben Davison of St. Paul's 7-1

Evans scored the only points of the first period with a single-leg lift after 1:15 had elapsed to take a 2-0 lead.  Choosing bottom to start the second period, Davidson avoided being tipped by Evans long enough to give-up nearfall points and stood up and escaped after about 45 seconds.  Evans took him down again, though, with another single-leg shot, increasing his lead to 4-1 entering the third period.  Starting on bottom, Evans escaped after 10 seconds and took Davidson down a minute later with an underarm throw which nearly put Davidson on his back.   Evans kept control of Davidson until the match ended in a 7-1 Evans victory, giving the Crusader two consecutive Division I championships.  Despite a shortened season and missing out on a lot of events, Evans showed the character and class he has done since his first finals appearance in 2017.

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