Fini

Defending state champion Mile Santiago ended the evening with his second title of his career and Teurlings Catholic's second of the evening.

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Miles Santiago	Dezrel Eloph	Zachary Bernard	Jordon Williams	Preston Fisher	Trenton Jolivette
School	Teurlings Catholic	Parkway	Lakeshore	Rummel	Benton	Carencro
Seed	1	2	4	3	6	5
Class	Senior	Junior	Junior	Junior	Junior	Sophomore
Final Record*	42-3	27-11	26-15	9-7	9-7	14-8

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

Weight Class Synopsis

There were three 285 lbs. wrestlers nobody wanted to meet during most of the season.  Two, Perry Ganci of Jesuit and Mack Brown of Brother Martin, were both returning Division I champions (actually, Ganci had won the title twice).  The other was Mile Santiago, a defending champion from Teurlings Catholic.  Of his 42 wins over the entire season, only five went the full six minutes.  Once was a loss to Brown, 9-3, in a dual meet against Brother Martin.  Santiago would avenge that loss with a deafening head throw to pin Brown in 1:57 in the Louisiana Classic.  Another was a 3-2 loss to Ganci in the Trey Culotta Invitational.  The other three were a 3-0 decision over Division III state champion Dwight Johnson of Iowa and 11-9 and 2-0 decisions over Lafayette's Jackson Carter.  He did not wrestle Johnson again, but he pinned Carter in the last of their three matches.  As for his third loss, that came from Ganci in the Louisiana Classic finals via a fall.  He scored falls in his other 40 matches.  He did not compete against any of the top-six seeds at 285 lbs., but he really did not need that experience.  Santiago won the Dale Ketelsen Memorial, The Jacob McMillan Memorial, the Lone Survivor and the Ken Cole Invitational.  He finished second at the Louisiana Classic and third at the Trey Culotta.  He injured himself after a 2:35 pin in the quarterfinals of the Lafayette Metro and as the state tournament was only two weeks away it was decided he should not risk further injury by remaining in the tournament.  Santiago pinned his first-round opponent in 2:42 and his quarterfinals one in 0:30.  Against Lakeshore's fourth-seeded Zachary Bernard he recorded a fall in 3:56.

Unfortunately, there were 14 other individuals in the Division II 285 lbs. bracket, and the one who stood-out was Parkway junior Dezrel Eloph who, prior to the state tournament, was 24-10.  But his 10 losses came from some strong competition, including Ganci, Brown, Division I third-place finisher Connor Finucane of Catholic, defending Division III state champion D.J. Harvey of Lakeside, Tony Gibson of Church Point and Bobby Simpson of Byrd (a match he would later avenge).  While Eloph did not win any tournaments during the season, he placed second at the Riot on the Red, fifth in the Ken Cole and eighth in the Trey Culotta.  Eloph pinned his first-round opponent in 0:53, used 2:46 to pin his quarterfinals opponent and scored a 19-3 technical fall in the semifinals vs. Rummel's third-seeded Jordon Williams. 

Early Championship Rounds

R1: (8) Jon Tavius Thomas (ND) pinned Justin Kepp (HAU) in 4:31

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Quarterfinals

(1) Miles Santiago (TC) pinned (8) Jon Tavius Thomas (ND) in 0:30

(4) Zachary Bernard (LAK) defeated (5) Trenton Jolivette (CAR) 13-6

(3) Jordan Williams (RUM) pinned (6) Preston Fisher(BNT) in 0:52

(2) Dezrel Eloph (PKY) pinned (7) Jordan White (BOS) in 2:40

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Semifinals

(1) Miles Santiago (TC) pinned (4) Zachary Bernard (LAK) in 3:56

(2) Dezrel Eloph (PKY) defeated (7) Jordan White (BOS) 19-3 TF

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Championship Consolation Rounds

(4) Zachary Bernard (LAK) pinned (3) Jordan Williams in 4:15 to place 3rd;  (6) Preston Fisher (6) defeated (5) Trenton Joviette (CAR) 3-2 to place 5th (last photo)

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Finals

(1) Miles Santiago of Teurlings Catholic pinned (2) Dezrel Eloph of Parkway in 2:23

Santiago and Eloph spent the first 30 seconds locking-up with each other.  Then Eloph tried a lateral drop, but Santiago did not go to his back while Eloph did.  Eloph had to roll off of his back and that allowed Santiago to get on top of him for the match's first takedown.  Santiago tried several moves designed to turn Eloph over, but the Parkway wrestler would not submit.  The first period ended with Santiago holding a 2-0 lead. Eloph won the toss and elected to start in the standing position.  The two "lock-up" again but somehow Santiago caught Eloph off of his balance and just pulled Eloph's head down with one hand, causing Eloph to fall to the mat.  Santiago pounced on top of him for another takedown and a 4-0 lead.  Santiago used a head-in-the-shoulder to straighten Eloph's arm up, leading to a half-nelson which turned Eloph halfway to him back.  With his "non-nelson" arm Santiago reached under Eloph for Eloph's other arm and ended-up with a barb-wire hold to flatten Eloph completely.  Santiago was awarded the fall, and his second state championship, in 3:33.

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