Defending state champions:

Evan Frost Holy Cross	Jacob Frost Holy Cross	Clayton Hill - 2nd Live Oak (2018 state champion)	Logan Bertot Brother Martin	Connor Hoffman - 5th Brother Martin (2018 State Champion)

Alex Duncan Brother Martin	Anthony Dodson Live Oak Division II	Trent Mahoney East Ascension	Mason Massicot Brother Martin	Cole Ulfers St. Paul's

NOTES:  

The Frost twins are good and will be tough to beat.  And that's all I will say about them now, as I have three more seasons left with them and I am not sure I can come-up with a lot of new material.

Live Oak's Clayton Hill probably has the best chance of taking home the first Division I title for the Eagles.  He defeated Brother Martin's Logan Bertot in the 2019 Louisiana Classic semifinals and went on to win over St. Paul senior Brandon Stein.  However, Connor Hoffman of the Crusaders defeated Hill 7-1 in the 2018 Trey Culotta finals, prior to Hoffman's injury at the Louisiana Classic.  St. Amant's Corey Brownell should prove a problem for Hill, Bertot and anyone else around his weight class.  Keep in mind that Hill and Brownell went 4-4 last season.

Alex Duncan may find defense of his title difficult.  Anthony Dodson has not lost to anyone but Comeaux's Dyllon Bernard, who has since graduated, since December 22nd, 2018.  If they are again in the same weight class, one of his challenges will be Brad Mahoney of East Ascension.  In six matches last season, Dodson won four, including the last three: one in a sudden victory period, one by one point, one by seven points and one by 10 points.  Mahoney's wins were via 10-8 and 14-9 scores.

Trent Mahoney of East Ascension will be vying for his third consecutive state championship with, like all defending state champions, a target on his back.  He has already proved he can defeat the once, but he is too well coached to think that matters in the new season.  Last year he was down two points with six seconds remaining in his quarterfinals match when he started scoring near-fall points, getting the three he needed with one second remaining.  After a semifinals slam that would have put many others in traction, he found himself trailing 4-0 entering the third period, but then put a wicked cross-face cradle on his opponent from which he scored a fall.  He's not going to quit, and neither should someone up to the task of challenging him.

Mason Massicot was undefeated against Louisiana competition last season, and it will be hard to stop him from doing that again.  His weight class, as well as Mahoney's, may be ones a lot of people will want to stay out of for most of the season.  Or not.  One gets better by getting beat.  That can happen in the practice room or "in the spotlight" of a dual meet or tournament.  As an example, Cameron Frost of Holy Cross lost his first three matches against St. Amant's Hunter Hawkins.  He won his fourth, which happened to be in the Division I finals.

Cole Ulfers was not supposed to win a state championship in 2019, yet he did so decisively.  Nothing looked remotely flukish at all as he advanced from round to round.  If he brings that confidence to the 2019-20 season, he will be tough to beat.

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Good bets:

Sergio Maldonado - 3rd Bonnabel	Ethan Castex - 2nd Brother Martin	Eric Devenport Brother Martin	Corey Brownell - 3rd St. Amant	Demetri Teddie - 5th C.E. Byrd

Peyton Ward - 2nd St. Paul's	Caruso Signorelli - 3rd Holy Cross	Ben Davidson - 2nd St. Paul's	Christopher Allen - 3rd Covington	Tanner Melendrez - 4th Fontainebleau

DaiJon Bibbs - 4th Chalmette	Kyle West - 2nd Brother Martin	Ryan Doody - 3rd Holy Cross	Connor Finucane - 3rd Catholic	Patrick Jenkins - 4th John Ehret

NOTES:

Maldonado is very strong and also has being a senior in his corner.  The last Bruin to make a Division I finals match was in 2002.  Castex is skilled, seasoned and has finals experience.  Both may be subject to one of the Frost twins, but do not expect either of them to "go placidly."  (Fifty pushups and a free soda to whomever first tells me where "go placidly" comes from.)

Eric Devenport of Brother Martin is healthy again.  Devenport was 9-1 against Louisiana prior to being sidelined for the season while the Crusaders were in New Jersey in Mid-December.  His only loss was to Evan Frost, but he defeated Shaw's Glenn Price by a point twice.

Logan Bertot defeated Corey Brownell twice last season by one-point margins.  Clayton Hill decisively defeated Bertot in the Louisiana Classic, and Brownell split eight matches with Hill.  If any of them are in the same weight class, well, flip the four-sided coin described in the Division III teams page.

With a little more "seasoning" to add to his already "Lundin-like" speed, Demetri Teddie of Byrd should surprise a lot of opponents.

Caruso Signorelli was about two seconds away from winning a state championship in 2018.  In the 2018-19 season he placed third, but everyone he lost to has graduated, save Catholic's Peter Kelly, with whom Signorelli went 1-1 against.  However, Signorelli won their last match at the state championships.  I do not foresee anyone working harder this season than Signorelli.

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 Dark horses:

Jacob Yawn - 4th C.E. Byrd	Peter Kelly - 5th Catholic	Gage Sonnier - 4th John Ehret	Brad Mahoney - 6th East Ascension	Hunter Gustin - 5th Sulphur

Jordan Griffin - 3rd Live Oak Division II	Nawab Singh - 3rd Live Oak Division II	Jarin Meyer - 4th Baton Rouge	Evan Ulfers - 6th St. Paul's	Jeremiah Brooks - 5th Acadiana

Austin Cook - 3rd Live Oak Division II	Alex Newman - 5th St. Amant	Christian Mannino - 4th Catholic	Jace DuFresne - 5th Sulphur	Logan Ahlborn - 6th Fontainebleau

NOTES:

Brothers may make a big difference to two of these "dark horses."  Brad Mahoney has his older brother Trent to work with, and Evan Ulfers will have his twin Cole, who surprised everyone by winning the 195 lbs. title last year as a sixth-seed. 

The younger Mahoney looked very good at the Jazz Town Duals.  Trent should make him look great come the start of the season.

Twins are weird.  Eli Larriviere won a state title in 2016 when his twin Adam was seeded first.  Two years later Adam won his championship while Eli, seeded fifth due to his body being held together with Velcro all season, still placed third.  Last season Cameron Frost had to win lest his twin little brothers taunt him for eternity as they both won as freshmen.  Evans Ulfers' confidence this season should be contagious and should affect all of his Wolves teammates.  His twin brother Cole, however, having to live under the same roof with Evan, is the most likely to "catch" that confidence.

Parkway Contenders (all Division II from last season):

Jacob Keeler - 2nd Parkway	Kalb Garcia - 2nd Parkway	Jacob Chittom - 3rd Parkway	Dezrel Eloph - 2nd Parkway	Brandon Turner - 6th Parkway	Steven Driggers - 5th Parkway	Terrence Murray - 4th Parkway

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