Fini

After a neck X-ray and two CAT scans cleared him of serious head and neck trauma, and down 4-0 entering the third period, East Ascension's Trent Mahoney locked-up Brother Martin's Seth Alfonso in his trademark cross-face cradle, scoring a fall in 4:39 to win his second state championship

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Trent Mahoney	Seth Alfonso	Brady Butler	Dylan Ames	A. J. Sabine	Joseph Elbert
School	East Ascension	Brother Martin	Holy Cross	Comeaux	Catholic	Zachary
Seed	1	3	2	4	5	6
Class	Junior	Senior	Senior	Senior	Senior	Senior
Final Record*	57-2	25-4	24-3	25-4	27-6	36-15

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

Weight Class Synopsis

The 152 lbs. weight class was nothing if not interesting during the season, although it would become even more interesting in Bossier City.  The favorite, defending state champion Trent Mahoney of East Ascension, won the Warrior Open, the Mandeville Open, the Griffin Open and the Spartan Open, scoring an 18-3 technical fall against Comeaux's Dylan Ames, prior to suffering a dual meet loss 6-5 to Brother Martin's returning state champion Patrick Evans.  Later he placed second at the South Walton Border Wars and won the Zachary Big Horse.  In his second match at the Trey Culotta Invitation, he defeated Alex Simoneaux of St. Amant 11-4, but in the process broke a bone in his left hand, forcing him to withdraw from the event.  A week later he went 6-1 at the Deep South Bayou Duals, losing only 6-4 in a tie-breaker round.  four wins later he entered the Ken Cole Invitational but was manhandled in the finals 14-3 by Ames.  A week later Mahoney won the Louisiana Classic for the second time (his first time being in his freshman year) over Brother Martin's Seth Alfonso 4-0 (he had previously defeated Alfonso 10-3 in the finals of the Mandeville Open).  He then used four falls to win his second Greater Baton Rouge Championships title.

Second-seeded Brady Butler had only two losses on the season.  One was to Brother Martin's Patrick Evans, but the other was to Mahoney at the Louisiana Classic.  He won the Dale Ketelsen Memorial, placed third at the South Walton Border Wars and the Louisiana Classic and won the Catholic League District Tournament over Alfonso.

Brother Martin senior Seth Alfonso, seeded third, placed second at the Mandeville Open and the Cinco Ranch Big 12, won the Trygg Memorial and place second at the Trey Culotta, the Louisiana Classic and the Catholic League District Championship.

Ames was the fourth seed and won the Brusly 8 placed second at the Spartan Invitational and the Ronnie Suarez SPOT District tournaments, won the Ken Cole, and had to withdraw from the Louisiana Classic after a semifinals loss to Alfonso.

The bottom half of the bracket at 152 lbs. went as seeded.  Butler scored three falls in less than nine minutes to advance to the semifinals.  After a first-round bye and a second-round 17-2 technical fall, he scored a tough 6-5 quarterfinals win over Zachary's sixth-seeded Joseph Elbert.  That setup a rematch with Butler, which Alfonso won 6-4 to reach his first state championship finals match.

The top of the bracket was another story, if only due to one match.  Mahoney reached the semifinals with three falls.  After a first-round bye, Ames scored a quick pin and a 16-1 technical fall in the quarterfinals to setup a third meeting with Mahoney.  The two grappled on their feet for the first 90 seconds when Mahoney tried an unsuccessful lateral drop.  If missing such a move does include being pinned, as it commonly does when desperately attempted in third periods by wrestlers who are losing significantly, it at least leads to a five-point move, which is how it was scored for Ames.  But Mahoney gets scored on a lot, so that five points was not a match-ending event.  The match-ending event occurred ten seconds later after Mahoney stood up on Ames and Ames, in taking Mahoney back to the mat, slammed Mahoney onto his neck and shoulders.  Ames was rightly disqualified, as a wrestler who takes a wrestler off of the mat is responsible for safely returning that wrestler to the mat.  If he does not, a penalty point is awarded, and if the other wrestler cannot continue, the instigator is disqualified.

None of that mattered to Coach Pat Mahoney or his assistants, the officials, the trainers or anyone else who saw it.  Mahoney was flat on the mat for about 15 minutes before he was able to move his legs and was helped off of the mat and taken straight to a nearby hospital.  Copied from the TrackWrestling video were the following two frames of the slam, which clearly shows Ames coming down on top of Mahoney as Mahoney's neck and shoulder hit the mat at the same time.  One can assume Ames did not mean to hurt Mahoney, but that he simply made a very unfortunate mistake in a heated match.

Nobody knew what would happen come the 152 lbs. finals several hours later.  It is very doubtful Alfonso, who has seemed polite, funny and sincere for the three years the editor has watched him, wanted to win a state championship via a forfeit, but that was a definite probability.  But as wrestlers were reentering the CenturyLink Center for the finals - Mahoney was spotted walking around the floor drinking a Gatorade and looking, well, normal.  The editor later learned Mahoney's neck was x-rayed and nothing appeared to be wrong.  Then they did a CAT scan which the doctors felt was inconclusive, so they did another one from a different angle, which showed no ill effects.  Hence, Mahoney was able to defend his 2018 state championship after all.

Early Championship Rounds

R1: (1) Trent Mahoney (EA) pinned Deonte Jackson (ACA) in 2:24

R1: Jaden Snyder (StA) pinned Preston Barze (JE) in 4:26

R2: (3) Seth Alfonso (BM) defeated Jaden Snyder (StA) 17-1 TF

(6) Joseph Elbert (ZAC) pinned Kristian McHugh (StP) in 4:47

(7) Roman Davis (MND) defeated Calvin Niemann (AIR) 17-0 TF

(2) Brady Butler (HC) pinned Charlie Cyrus (JES) in 3:37

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Quarterfinals

(1) Trent Mahoney (EA) pinned (8) Austin Firmin (COV) in 0:55

(4) Dylan Ames (COM) defeated (5) A. J. Sabine (CAT) 16-1 TF

(3) Seth Alfonso (BM) defeated (6) Joseph Elbert (ZAC) 6-5

(2) Brady Butler (HC) pinned (7) Roman Davis (MND) in 2:00

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Semifinals

(1) Trent Mahoney (EA) defeated (4) Dylan Ames (COM) via disqualification

(3) Seth Alfonso (BM) defeated (2) Brady Butler (HC) 6-4

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Consolation Rounds

C2: Charlie Cyrus (JES) pinned Deonte Jackson (ACA) in 3:28

C2: Jaden Snyder (StA) pinned Alan Cortez (LAF) in 3:58

C2: Hugo Perez (SUL) pinned Cameron Vaughn (BYR) in 2:33

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Championship Consolation Rounds

(2) Brady Butler (HC) received a forfeit from (4) Dylan Ames (COM) to place 3rd

(5) A.J. Sabine (CAT) defeated (6) Joseph Elbert (ZAC) 6-0  to place 5th

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Finals

(1) Trent Mahoney (of East Ascension pinned (3) Seth Alfonso of Brother Martin in 4:39

After the first two rounds of the finals match the editor thought maybe the doctors had erred in their diagnosis.  With two seconds remaining Alfonso shot a great double-leg, fully getting under Mahoney, lifted him off of the mat and then, compared to his semifinals match, gently putting Mahoney back onto the mat for a takedown.  Two seconds from a 0-0 score, Mahoney was now down 2-0.  Alfonso started the second period on the bottom and Mahoney rode him with his funky leg control for almost the entire period.  Near the end of the round Alfonso was able to turn into Mahoney's crab-ride and put himself on top of Mahoney for two reversal points, again with only two seconds remaining.  With two mistakes taking at the most a combined six seconds to make, instead of Mahoney starting on the bottom with the advantage in a 0-0 match, he ended up starting the third period down 4-0.  Mahoney started the third period on the bottom, as Alfonso did not have time to subject Mahoney to any riding yet during the match.  In 20 seconds Mahoney reversed Alfonso with a switch.  Then he went to work on the top again and within 10 seconds wrapped-up Alfonso with his trademark cradle, rolled over his back to put Alfonso on his back, and scored a fall in 4:29.  Ever gracious in victory or defeat, or perhaps not quite knowing what he just pulled off, Mahoney showed no signs of "showboating" even in the post-awards ceremonies.  As such, the editor awarded Mahoney a brand-new Louisiana Wrestling News t-shirt, which he will most assuredly frame and put on the wall behind his trophies.

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