Fini

Basile's Christ caps off his second undefeated season with his fourth Division III state championship

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Gavin Christ	Michael Gordy	Matthew Anderson	John Patrick Broussard	Braxton Hebert	Evan Brouillette
School	Basile	Ouachita Christian	Brusly	St. Louis	North Vermillion	Hannan
Seed	1	2	Not Seeded	3	4	5
Class	Senior	Senior	Junior	Junior	Senior	Senior
Final Record*	40-0	21-7	3-2	24-12	30-15	20-9

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

Weight Class Synopsis

Gavin Christ joined Carmen Cortez as a four-time state champion for the Bearcats.  Only Jimmy Vidrine has more, with five from 1960-1964.

It could have been at 132 lbs. or 138 lbs., but ended up being 145 lbs.  "It" being the weight class in which Basile's Gavin Christ would compete to attempt to win his fourth consecutive Division III state championship.  In the tournaments in which he really wanted to face his highest caliber opponents, the Spartan Invitational, the Trey Culotta Invitational, the Ken Cole and the Louisiana Classic, Christ competed at 132 lbs.  For every other event he competed at 138 lbs.  The results were the same in either weight class - Christ won his matches - all of them.  He had one close call at 138 lbs. in the finals of the Jacob McMillan Memorial, in which he faced his friend, two-time Division I runner-up Dyllon Bernard of Comeaux.  Christ only beat Bernard by a 7-6 score and was one of only two wrestlers to defeat Bernard all season.  Prior to the state championships Christ won six tournaments: the Spartan Invitational, the Jacob McMillan Memorial, The Trey Culotta Invitational, the Brusly Invitational, the Ken Cole Invitational and the Louisiana Classic.  Twice he defeated two-time defending Division I state champion Daniel Croy of Brother Martin.  During the season he defeated wrestlers who would place first or second at the state championships a combined nine times.  One of those, however, was Mikey Gordy, a defending state champion from Ouachita Christian.  In the Brusly Invitational finals Christ scored a 15-0 technical fall over Gordy.

In Division III, however, Christ believed he could compete at 145 lbs. and in doing so he would better serve his team as a whole.  Both worked just fine, although 145 lbs. had some quality wrestlers.

Gordy had another successful season.  H won the Eagle Invitational and Rayne Invitational, placed third at the Mandeville Open and fourth at the Jacob McMillan.  He beat some good wrestlers along the way, including Dutchtown's Austin Martina, Brusly's Andrew Trahan and Live Oak's Jordan Griffin.

St. Louis' John Patrick Broussard was a runner-up to Christ in 2018.  This season he won the Brusly Invitational, placed second at the Live Oak 8and went 3-2 at the Ken Cole.

But this weight class was all about the two defending state champions.

Christ pinned his first-round opponent in 48 seconds, and his quarterfinals opponent in 1:24.  North Vermillion senior Braxton Hebert lasted with Christ until the third period of their semifinals when Christ scored a 17-1 technical fall.

Gordy's path to a rematch versus Christ was very efficient.  After a first-round bye he pinned his quarterfinals opponent in 1:44.  Against Broussard in the semifinals he recorded a fall in 1:07.

Early Championship Rounds

R1: (1) Gavin Christ (BAS) pinned William Guffey (EPI) in 0:48; R1: John Green (DUN) pinned Dasani Thomas (SPL) in 3:24

Back to Top

Quarterfinals

(1) Gavin Christ (BAS) pinned Nathan Willis (LKS) in 1:24

(4) Braxton Hebert (NV) defeated (5) Evan Brouillette (HAN) 16-3 MD

(3) John Patrick Broussard (StL) pinned (6) Matthew Anderson (BRU) in 3:39

(2) Michael Gordy (OC) pinned (John Green (DUN) in 1:44

Back to Top

Semifinals

(1) Gavin Christ (BAS) defeated (4) Braxton Hebert 17-1 TF

(2) Michael Gordy (OC) pinned (3) John Patrick Broussard (StL) in 1:07

Back to Top

Championship Consolation Rounds

Back to Top

Finals

(1) Gavin Christ of Basile pinned (2) Michael Gordy of Ouachita Christian in 3:48

Christ scored first with a single-to-a-double-leg takedown in the first 35 seconds.  With 40 seconds remaining Christ rode Gordy a little high, and Gordy backed-up behind Christ, which normally would result in a reversal, but Christ slipped away from Gordy fast enough for Gordy to only earn one escape point.  A few seconds later Christ got in deep on another single-leg shot, but Gordy fended him off well.  The first period ended with Christ ahead 2-1, and it appeared the match might not be as one-sided as their previous meeting.  But the second period would prove vastly different from the first.  Gordy won the toss and deferred to Christ, who chose the bottom position.  After about 10 seconds Gordy let Christ get away, which 10 seconds later proved to be a mistake.  Christ got ahold of another single-leg and switched to a double-leg exactly as he did in the first period to increase his lead to 5-1.  With 1:14 remaining Gordy scored his last point via an escape.  With 50 seconds remaining Gordy shot on Christ, but the Basile wrestler quickly spun behind Gordy for another two points and a 7-2 lead.  Christ pried Gordy's head to the mat with a bar-arm and a half-nelson, and when Christ rode a little high and it appeared Gordy might get out of his predicament.  But Christ had one leg in on Gordy, and Gordy had a hold on it on top of Christ's knee, rather than behind it.  Christ the forced a nelson on the far side of Gordy's head which flipped Gordy over on his back with Christ holding one should down with his arm and the other with his leg.  He was rewarded with a fall in 3:48 to win his fourth consecutive Division III championship.

Back to Top