Twenty-five teams from Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and
Texas went to battle on the mats Friday at the 15th annual Trey Culotta
Invitational held at the Brother Martin Conlin Gymnasium in New Orleans this
weekend. Friday's wrestling will consist of "pool rounds" which will
determine one's place in the championships brackets held on Saturday.
After Friday's bouts the Crusaders are leading with 107 points after Friday's
pool rounds. Battling for second place are Vestavia Hills, Alabama with
98.5 points, Woodward Academy of Georgia with 93 points, St. Paul with 93 points
and East Ascension with 85 points.
Pools are generally seeded to keep the best wrestlers
apart on Saturday and place them in the 1st-4th seeding positions on Saturday.
Some wrestlers, however, never get that memo or choose to blatantly ignore it.
Generally anyone in the 1st-4th seeding position can be considered on "equal
footing" with the others. Brother Martin had eight "scoring" wrestlers in
the top-four places on Saturday. Woodward Academy has six, St. Paul has
five and Vestavia Hills has four. If the Saturday seeding works as
expected, then in the semifinals #1 will face #4, and #2 will face #3, just like
in most other bracketed tournaments.
The championship matches are scheduled to begin around
9:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Below are those who made the top-four seeding spots for
Saturday's championship brackets.
|
106 |
| 1 |
Jacob Houser - St. Paul |
| 2 |
Mason Elsensohn - Brother Martin |
| 3 |
David Bourgeois - East Ascension |
| 4 |
Colby McBride - Woodward Academy |
|
On December 13th Houser
defeated Elsensohn 3-0 in a St. Paul dual meet win over the Crusaders.
This may be the first of three more times these two may meet before
STATE. |
152 |
| 1 |
Jacob Yawn - C.E. Byrd |
| 2 |
Peyton Ward - St. Paul |
| 3 |
Parker Anderson - Jesuit |
| 4 |
Brad Mahoney - East Ascension |
|
Byrd's Jacob Yawn is 21-0
but his closest match was a 4-3 win over East Ascension's Brad Mahoney
at the St. Michael Warrior open. A week later Yawn prevailed 9-2 over
Mahoney. Should he get to and then past Mahoney he might be paired
with Peyton Ward of St. Paul, who is also undefeated. Ward,
however, will have to get past Brother Martin's Riley Horvath who gave
Ward all he wanted in a 7-6 TB-1 win on December 13th. |
|
113 |
| 1 |
Art Martinez - St. Thomas |
| 2 |
Chase O'Con - Comeaux |
| 3 |
Max Holmes - Jesuit |
| 4 |
Kent Burandt - Brother Martin |
|
This weight class was
affected by something that happened in Pool B in which each wrestler
went 1-1. O'Con got the top spot probably because his win was via
a fall in 5:01 |
160 |
| 1 |
Matthew Singleton - Woodward Academy |
| 2 |
Mason Massicot - Brother Martin |
| 3 |
John Edwards - Vestavia Hills |
| 4 |
Santos Ramos - East Ascension |
|
In the dual meet between
Brother Martin and St. Paul, the wolves' Ben Davidson showed he could
stand up to defending state champion Mason Massicot of Brother Martin,
who won by a 5-3 margin. The way the pools were set-up though, a
rematch did not seem likely as Davidson, who was in "Pool E'" would have
been in the top half of the bracket. Awaiting on top of the
bracket is Woodward's Matthew Singleton, a defending Georgia 4A state
champion from Woodward Academy. Singleton and Massicot met in the
finals of the Gulf Coast Clash, and at least Massicot could say that the
guy who "teched" him 17-2 at least won an Outstanding Wrestler award.
Davidson, however, had a bad day on Friday, unexpectedly losing to
Jesuit's Charlie Cyrus and Parkway's Jacob Chittom. Hence,
Davidson and Massicot will have a rematch, and it will be in the first
round of Saturday's championship brackets. |
|
120 |
| 1 |
Carter Duet - St. Paul |
| 2 |
Alex Menier - Basile |
| 3 |
Chris Charles - Jesuit |
| 4 |
Luke Lafleur - Acadiana |
|
Carter Duet got the memo and
complied, as did Acadiana's Luke Lafleur. Two-time defending
Division III state champion Alex Menier, Jesuit's Chris Charles and
Comeaux's Treyven Gaspard sent the memo back with a red "rejected" stamp
on it. |
170 |
| 1 |
Trent Mahoney - East Ascension |
| 2 |
Malachi Wiley - Woodward Academy |
| 3 |
Sam Willoughby - Vestavia Hills |
| 4 |
Eli Hope - Brother Martin |
|
This will be the toughest
test for two-time defending Division I champion Trent Mahoney of East
Ascension. He has already set the all-time Louisiana records for
pins and wins this season, but he does not have a Trey Culotta title to
his name, placing second in 2017 and placing "I broke my hand on Friday"
in 2018. Should Mahoney and Woodward's Malachai Wiley reach the
finals, Mahoney will have an opponent similar in stature, which could
prove interesting. |
|
126 |
| 1 |
Clayton Hill - Live Oak |
| 2 |
Bryant Segars - Vestavia Hills |
| 3 |
Brandon Turner - Parkway |
| 4 |
Joshua Keeler - Parkway |
|
This weight class may give
viewers a preview of the Division I state championships at 126 lbs.
If Clayton Hill wins his match in the quarterfinals (after a round-one
bye) and Parkway's Joshua Keeler wins his first two matches, those two
will meet in the semifinals. |
182 |
| 1 |
Harrison Heard - St. Thomas |
| 2 |
Kaleb Garcia - Parkway |
| 3 |
Christian Moore - Chalmette |
| 4 |
Isaac Cortez - Basile |
|
Basile's Isaac Cortez is a
two-time defending Division III state champion and a defending Trey
Culotta champion - even if this is his first event of the season, one
should place him as one to beat in the top-four pools on Friday.
If he is wearing an eye-patch and using a crutch to walk - one should
place him as one to beat in the top-four pools on Friday. If he
spends his time off of the mat on a rolling hospital gurney and attached
to life support equipment - one should place him as one to beat in the
top-four pools on Friday. |
|
132 |
| 1 |
Nick Masters - Woodward Academy |
| 2 |
Jake Swink - Holy Innocents |
| 3 |
Ethan Castex - Brother Martin |
| 4 |
Quinn Williams - Brother Martin |
|
Swink is a defending Georgia
1A state champion while Masters is a defending Georgia 4A state
champion. The Louisiana wrestlers may have a tough time reaching
the finals, but if any has the experience to do so, it is Ethan Castex
of Brother Martin. |
195 |
| 1 |
Chase Spooner - South Beauregard |
| 2 |
DaiJon Bibbs - Chalmette |
| 3 |
Evan Ulfers - St. Paul |
| 4 |
Trey Saunders - Vestavia Hills |
|
Someone has been putting
some extra time in on the mats in Longville, Louisiana. South
Beauregard's Chase Spooner dominated his pool with falls in 0:17, 0:42
and a 14-3 major decision over Brother Martin Cameron Frederick.
His half of the bracket is no "piece of cake," but the bottom half, with
DaiJon Bibbs of Chalmette, Frederick and Evan Ulfers of St. Paul's will
a tough one to survive. |
|
138 |
| 1 |
Michael Kilic - Woodward Academy |
| 2 |
Connor Hoffman - Brother Martin |
| 3 |
Demetri Teddie - C.E. Byrd |
| 4 |
Jacob Ramirez - Rummel |
|
This weight class could give
viewers another preview of a potential Division I state finals match if
Brother Martin's Connor Hoffman and C.E. Byrd's Demetri Teddie make it
to the semifinals. And the prize that awaits the winner is
defending Georgia 4A state champion Michael Kilic of Woodward Academy or
someone wrestling well enough to beat Kilic. |
220 |
| 1 |
Cole Ulfers - St. Paul |
| 2 |
Peyton Miller - Parkway |
| 3 |
Kyle West - Brother Martin |
| 4 |
Jackson Phillips - St. Thomas |
|
Cole Ulfers of St. Paul
should find his way to the finals from the top of the bracket, but the
bottom half will be more interesting. Parkway's Peyton Miller,
Brother Martin's Kyle West and Basile's Gabe Duplechin should not make
it easy for anyone to get past them. |
|
145 |
| 1 |
Vincent Manella - Woodward Academy |
| 2 |
Alex Duncan - Brother Martin |
| 3 |
Braedon Csaszar - Acadiana |
| 4 |
Caden Gaudet - John Curtis |
|
In the Gulf Coast Clash it
was Kilic who defeated Crusader Alex Duncan in the finals. Another
one may await Duncan in the finals of this weight class. Vincent
Manella is 9-1 on the season, but Duncan should have a good opportunity
to add a Trey Culotta title to his resume. |
285 |
| 1 |
Dezrel Eloph - Parkway |
| 2 |
Donald Paul - Comeaux |
| 3 |
Gavin Soniat - East Ascension |
| 4 |
Jaden Ben - Chalmette |
|
This one is tough.
First, it is the 285 lbs. weight class so minor errors can be greatly
magnified into horrendous results. Donald Paul and Jaden Ben seem
to have the most experience, but this early a favorite is hard to pick. |
