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The Brother Martin Crusaders gave their new coach something to be extremely proud of - their sixth consecutive Louisiana Classic team title. The last time the Crusaders did not win the event was in 2014, but that was due to the fact that they were basically a walking pestilence and pretty much quarantined themselves for two weeks. So, if one skips that year, then this is the seventh consecutive championship they have won in which they participated. A few weeks later they won the Division I state team championship by 35.5 points over Jesuit.

This time they were missing defending Division I state champion Mason Massicot and may still be seeing how they want to replace Logan Bertot at 120 lbs. The two replacements did, however, score 10 of the Crusaders' points total.

Two Crusaders, Ethan Castex, Alex Duncan, won championships for Brother Martin, and Mason Elsensohn was a runner-up. Kent Burandt (113 lbs.) and Connor Hoffman (138 lbs.) place third for the Crusaders.

Surprising many onlookers it was Holy Cross, not St. Paul, that placed second by 15 points over the Wolves. Evan and Jacob Frost did that thing that they do when they win weight classes, but they received a lot of help by wrestlers faring better than they were expected to do. Seventh-seeded Dylan Lauriano placed fifth; sixth-seeded Charles Sauerwin, III continued a run of very good wrestling by placing third; fourth-seeded Cameron Doyle placed third; unseeded Hayden Brodnax placed fourth; sixth-seeded Caruso Signorelli placed fourth, and the Tigers did not have their starting wrestlers at 220 lbs. or 285 lbs., and entered nobody in those weight classes.

St. Paul, to be fair, was also missing starters Trey Faherty and Evan Ulfers. They found a replacement for Faherty at 113 lbs. in Bryson Dupre, who went 2-2 and scored seven points for the Wolves. but not for Ulfers at 195 lbs.

Twenty-three wrestlers entered the tournament with no losses against Louisiana opponents. Only the following 11 left that way: Ernie Perry, III; Evan Frost; Jacob Frost; Alex Yokubaitis; Ethan Castex; Alex Duncan; Richard Mack, III, Trent Mahoney; Chase Spooner; Cole Ulfers; Donald Paul.

Speaking of sportsmanship there were a few examples by Louisiana wrestlers on how not to win or lose graciously. One may be upset that one lost a match, but that is not the fault of the other wrestler for doing his job. The same can be said for winning. There were a few times when a less than gracious attitude was displayed by the winners. Coaches should notice this as well and try to curb such actions by the young men they are grooming for adult life. A Hahnville wrestler was once less than gracious and I still cannot fathom how fast Dan Erwin ran to the center of the mat to stop his wrestlers antic. Wrestlers shake hands before and after every match - that allows us to leave the part between the whistles on the mat and resume the caliber of person every wrestler should strive to be,

106 lbs.	113 lbs.	120 lbs.	126 lbs.	132 lbs.	138 lbs.	145 lbs.

Ernie Perry, III Airline	Evan Frost Holy Cross	Jacob Frost Holy Cross	Ethan Castex Brother Martin	Peter Kelly Catholic	Jacob Ramirez Rummel	Alex Duncan Brother Martin

152 lbs.	160 lbs.	170 lbs.	182 lbs.	195 lbs.	220 lbs.	285 lbs.

Richard Mack, III North Desoto	Ben Davidson St. Paul	Trent Mahoney East Ascension	Jarin Meyer Baton Rouge	Chase Spooner South Beauregard	Cole Ulfers St. Paul	Donald Paul Comeaux

106	Some idiot said "Houser and Elsensohn have better resumes" than Perry and that one of them should have been seeded first. Well, that guy has been sacked and replaced by someone probably more stupid. The Airline freshman is the real deal - if that was an Airline freshman under that mask - did anyone check?
113	Evan Frost is nothing if not consistent. Glenn Price did as well as any other Louisiana against the Tiger sophomore, losing by a 15-0 technical fall. Frost now has 17 wins via technical falls.
120	Jacob Frost was a part of the toughest weight class in the event. It had one Division I state champion (Frost), one Division II state champion (Joshua Sarpy of North Desoto), one three-time Division III state champion (St. Louis' Alex Yokubaitis), a Division II runner-up (Josh Keeler of Parkway), and a recent Trey Culotta champion (Carter Duet of St. Paul). It also had some kid from Houston Westside who I surmise is very good, but I do not want to waste any more time looking up his records - nor see or hear about him ever again. Frost had another tough match with Sarpy as he did in last year's finals. Then Frost won 2-0. This time he beat Sarpy in the semifinals 4-3. Frost had a tough finals match, which he won 6-5, but he should get bonus points for putting up with his opponent and the Houston Westside coaches, who on the third time the match was stopped due to blood coming from his head to his face, decided to wrap the kids whole forehead in gauze.
126	Ethan Castex was undefeated in Louisiana, as was Matthew Carrier, the first-seed. But Castex seemed to by far have more quality wins than Carrier, and Castex was seeded fourth. No matter - Castex got past Carrier via a 13-4 major decision and defeated Live Oak's Clayton Hill in the finals 14-8. This seems to be the Castex everyone was talking about early in the 2017-18 season.
132	Ashton Surrency of Shaw was my top-seed and he made it to the finals much more easily than did Catholic's Peter Kelly. It looked like Surrency would continue his run as he took Kelly down very early, but Kelly found that when he got on top of Surrency the Shaw wrestler could not escape from or reverse him.
138	The first Division II champion was Rummel's Jacob Ramirez, who held on for a 6-4 decision over Corey Brownell of St. Amant.
145	Alejandro Duncan had more trouble than he might have expected by Jesuit's Luke Battaglia, but it is getting down to "crunch time." (No one really believed me when I wrote the Blue Jays might finish as low as 13th, did they?)
152	The second Division II champion was North Desoto's Richard Mack, III. To many in the bleachers it appeared that St. Paul's Peyton Ward had scored a last second takedown on the edge of the mat. Fans will do that, but an official was right on top of it and did not award the points to the St. Paul wrestler, who lost a 4-3 match. Additionally, in this weight class, fifth-seeded Brad Mahoney of East Ascension beat fourth-seeded Charles Travasos twice, despite that Travasos had defeated Mahoney in a dual meet on Thursday night. Mahoney then beat second-seeded Riley Horvath of Brother Martin 12-5 to place third. From here, people should realize they are competing against Brad Mahoney, and not "Trent's little brother."
160	With the exception of an 8-7 semifinals win over Parkway's Jason Chittom, who placed fourth, Ben Davidson of St. Paul had little trouble making it to the finals. Against Catholic's Ian Wyble the match started off close, but then Davidson switched to a higher gear to win a 12-6 championship.
170	With a record around 61-0, how does one get mad when Trent Mahoney beats someone, particularly by a 17-1 technical fall as he did against Teurlings Catholic's Vaughn Romero. Mahoney had already pinned Romero, but feasibly Romero was upset about his performance or was frustrated trying to score against the now three-time Louisiana Classic champion. Either way, he looked more disappointed than bratty and whiny like a certain kid I need not describe again (in the 120 lbs. weight class).
182	Jarin Meyer won the first Louisiana Classic championship in Coach in Bofinger's Baton Rouge High School era. He got through a very tough semifinals match against Josh Sabadie of St. Paul 4-3, and had another difficult match against Parkway's Peyton Miller in the semifinals, which Davidson won 6-0. Against Catholic's Macullen Mire, Meyer didn't just rack-up points as he please, but just enough to stay ahead until an opportunity for a pin emerged.
195	This was a fun3:30 match between second-seeded Chase Spooner of South Beauregard and top-seed Christopher Allen of Covington. Allen was 30-0 entering the finals; Spooner was 12-0. Spooner scored a takedown quickly but then it looked like Allen just exploded out from under Spooner and landed on top of him for a reversal. In a match like this it is the one who makes the fewest mistakes that generally wins. Allen got out of position during the second period and Spooner jumped on it to put Allen in a cradle which eventually yielded a pin. This would be a fun match to see again, so hopefully both will be at next week's Ken Cole.
220	A fall in 3:53 and then in 3:20, followed by an 11-5 semifinals win and a fall in 3:49 in the finals. That is some unfortunate few being "Cole Ulfered."
285	Comeaux's Donald Paul was 26-0 entering the finals against East Ascension's Gavin Soniat. In the Trey Culotta semifinals Paul won 9-2 against Soniat. This time he merited a fall in 3:19.


1st - Brother Martin Crusaders	2nd - Holy Cross Tigers	OW - Jacob Frost (HC)