Fini

Fifth-seeded Blake Menier of Basile kept pace with brother Alex, and the Holy Cross Frost twins, by becoming the second set of brothers to win championships this year.  Menier fended off the fourth, first and second seeds to win Basile's second title of the night.

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Blake Menier	Jamar Brown	James Geiger	Colton Kendrick	Marc Martinez	Mitchell Colgin
School	Basile	De la Salle	Hannan	John Curtis	Brusly	Calvary Baptist
Seed	5	2	1	4	3	Not Seeded
Class	Junior	Senior	Senior	Junior	Sophomore	Eighth-Grader
Final Record*	29-12	27-13	33-14	36-21	25-13	23-11

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

Weight Class Synopsis

The seeding was just fine in this weight class, but evidently Basile junior Blake Menier thought otherwise.

Top-seeded Jacob Geiger of Hannan won the Bulldog Brawl and the St. Tammany Parish Championships, placed third in the Brusly Invitational, fourth in the Jacob McMillan and sixth at the Ken Cole.  He had defeated second-seeded Jamar Brown of De la Salle, third seeded Marc Martinez of Brusly, fourth-seeded Colton Kendrick of John Curtis and sixth-place finisher Mitchell Colgin of Calvary Baptist.  The lone seeded wrestler he did not face during the season was fifth-seeded Blake Menier of Basile. 

Brown won the Jesuit Invitational and the Brusly Invitational, was the runner-up at the George Trygg Memorial, placed third in the Zachary Big Horse and the Bruin Invitational and placed fourth at the Dale Ketelsen Memorial.  He had defeated Martinez, Kendrick and Colgin.  He also pinned Menier in four minutes at the Brusly Invitational.

Martinez won the Raider 8, placed second at the Brusly 8, fourth at the Greater Baton Rouge Championships and sixth at the Zachary Big Horse.  He had defeated Kendrick in the Ken Cole.

Kendrick did not win a tournament this season, but he placed second at the Live Oak 8, placed third at the Mandeville Open, the George Trygg Memorial, the Billy Duplessis Invitational and fourth at the Warrior Open.  He also had a fall over Menier in 2:28.

Menier won the Rayne Invitational, placed fourth in the Spartan Invitational and seventh at the Trey Culotta.

The lesson learned here is that one should not pin Blake Menier during the regular season.  After a first-round bye Menier scored a 17-1 Technical Fall in the second period over Kendrick.  In the semifinals, he upset Geiger 16-10.

Brown won his first-round match in 2:45, his quarterfinal match in 1:14 and got past Martinez 4-1 in the semifinals.  And Brown was another one who had pinned Menier earlier in the season.

Early Championship Rounds

R1: Alexzander Zaunbrecher (KAP) pinned Cole Bladsacker (TJ) in 2:23

Back to Top

Quarterfinals

(1) Jacob Gieger (HAN) pinned Alexzander Zaunbrecher (KAP) in 0:29; (2) Jamar Brown (DLS) pinned Mitchell Colgin (CAL) in 1:14

(5) Blake Menier (BAS) defeated (4) Colton Kendrick (JC) 17-1 TF

(3) Marc Martinez (BRU) defeated (6) Keyshawn Jones (StL) 4-2

Back to Top

Semifinals

(5) Blake Menier (BAS) defeated (1) Jacob Geiger (HAN) 16-10

(2) Jamar Brown (DLS) defeated (3) Marc Martinez (BRU) 4-1

Back to Top

Consolation Rounds

C2: Alexzander Zaunbrecher (KAP) defeated Gerrett Davis (DUN) 6-3

C3: Dallin Sylve (SPL) defeated (6) Keyshawn Jones (StL) 4-3

CSF: (1) Jacob Geiger (HAN) pinned Mitchell Colgin (CAL) in 1:40

Back to Top

Championship Consolation Rounds

(1) Jacob Geiger (HAN) defeated (4) Colton Kendrick (JC) 4-1 to place 3rd

(3) Marc Martinez (BRU) pinned Mitchell Colgin (CAL) in 1:41 to place 5th

Back to Top

Finals

(5) Blake Menier of Basile defeated (2) Jamar Brown of De la Salle 3-1

In the first period Menier and Brown both took good single-leg shots but neither could convert them.  With 45 seconds remaining Brown shot a double-leg and appeared to have brought Menier to the mat with a takedown, and he was awarded the points initially.  Brown let Menier go near the edge of the mat, giving the Basile wrestler an escape point.  At the end of the period the officials concluded that Brown had not scored a takedown, and hence Menier's escape was not possible, and the round ended with the score at 0-0.  Menier won the toss and chose to start on the bottom.  Brown controlled Menier for the first minute-and-a-half until Menier finally stood-up successfully and scored an escape as time ran out for a 1-0 lead.    Brown decided to start the third period on the bottom, but Menier decided he wanted to start standing, so he gave Brown an escape point, tying the match at 1-1 before the third period started.  After 30 seconds Brown got very deep on a double-leg shot but Menier would not give up a takedown and a stalemate was called.  With a little over a minute remaining Menier shot at an ankle and lifted it high enough for Brown to have to spin onto his stomach and try to go out of bounds.  But Menier wisely made sure both of his feet were in-bounds, and he was awarded the two-point takedown, gaining a 3-1 lead.  With constant pressure on Brown's head and arms, Menier was able to ride-out the remaining 50 seconds and win the title.

Back to Top