WE ARE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

Fini

Tournaments in Baton Rouge, Metairie and Pearl River started off the 2021-22 season quite well. 

St. Michael Warrior Open

The St. Michael the Archangel Warrior Open pitted 18 teams against each other, albeit no team points were kept.  Wrestlers came from Northwest Louisiana, the Lake Charles, Lafayette ,New Orleans and North Shore areas as well as the Baton Rouge area to compete.   If team points were tallied it is likely Sam Houston would have won the team championship.  The Broncos had three champions, two runners-up, a third-place finisher and a fourth-place finisher.  Shaw was the only other team to win more than one title.  The remaining nine were won by Airline, Baton Rouge, Catholic, Central, Dutchtown, Live Oak, St. Michael, Walker and Zachary.

There were some great matches which likely will be repeated this season.  At 126 lbs., Catholic's Jon Michael Cuba rode Dutchtown junior Cole Mire the entire third period to preserve a 4-3 semifinals score.  It the finals, however, it was Sam Houston freshman Caleb Lavine who rode Cuba for the entire second period before outscoring the Catholic senior 5-1 in the third period to post a 7-5 victory.  Lafayette junior Jenson Bergeron had a tough semifinals match with Zachary senior Voltaire Sanders.  Down 3-0 to start the third period, Bergeron scored all six of his points in the third period in a 6-4 win.

Picking a photo of all of the champions was difficult.  I have never been able to take good "still" photos.  Perhaps it is due to exhaustion, as it seems like the awards ceremonies are always held at the end of events.  Perhaps it is because I have never read the books that came with the cameras, nor the other books I bought specifically detailing how to use each camera. I do not seem to have that problem as much re action photos.  Perhaps "I'm better when [they] move."

The situation reminds me of a scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: I'm better when I move.

I had six photos of the Warrior champions from which to choose.  The first one was the best, and I will use that later.  Yet when scanning the others I saw something I did not expect in the third one, which photography-wise I found to be the worst one.  Yet Dorian Wilkinson was smiling!  Thinking I was wasting my time I looked at the next one and, lo and behold, not only was Mr. Wilkinson still smiling, but so was, right next to him, Andrew Lusby.

Back to Top

106	113	120	126	132	138	145
Tyson Roach Sam Houston	Kyle Karcher Walker	Pollex Coleman Sam Houston	Caleb Lavine Sam Houston	Cole Gross Dutchtown	Dorian Wilkinson St. Michael	Andrew Lusby Live Oak

152	160	170	182	195	220	285
Ty Parker Airline	Todd Ritter Shaw	Kade Moran Baton Rouge	Evan Kelley Central	Jacob O'Dell Zachary	Nicholas Migliacio Catholic	Bryce Harley Shaw

Sam Houston's Caleb Lavine (left) won the Outstanding Wrestler award in the lighter weight classes.    At 126 lbs. the Bronco freshman won his first two matches via falls in 0:40 and 2:46.  He scored a 17-4 major decision in the semifinals before his 7-5 finals win. Baton Rouge's Kade Moran (right) won the Outstanding Wrestler award in the heavier weight classes.  Moran breezed through his competition, pinning his opponents in 0:27, 1:03, 0:32 and 0:39.

Some place winners were kind enough to pose for photos.  The first two are Baton Rouge's Berend Grandt, who placed third at 132 lbs., and McKinley's Kyren Pierce, the runner-up at 138 lbs.  Lafayette's Jensen Bergeron received a concussion in the 152 lbs. finals and was kind enough to let everybody see it.

After waiting for Coach Pat Mahoney to recite "The Ballad of Why 19 East Ascension Wrestlers Are Not Here" to Coach Bill Bofinger, Coach Mark Harter intervened to setup a photograph (oddly not a bad one).  I could not resist De la Salle's Jason Schexnaidre's little sister, whose shirt reads "MY BROTHER JUST PINNED YOUR BROTHER."  The shirt was correct twice.

Back to Top

Pearl River Rumble on the River

Fontainebleau won five individual championships as well as the team title at the first Rumble on the River, hosted by Pearl River High School.  Brother Martin, the team runner-up, had three champions, while Chalmette had two.  Wrestlers from Covington, Belle Chasse and Pearl River also won titles. Fontainebleau senior Raymond Favaza, who won the 170 lbs. weight class, was voted the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.  Favaza won his three matches via first period falls in 0:50, 0:47 and 1:38.  Kudos go the North Pontotoc Vikings, or, rather, Viking, of Ecru, Mississippi, who travelled over 300 miles (about five hours) to participate in the event.  Sophomore Landon Ward, the sole member of the Vikings wrestling team, went 4-1 to place third at 152 lbs.  (Yes, I had to research why the city is named Ecru, which to me is just a hosiery shade in crossword puzzles.  It was named after the color of the town's first railroad depot.)

Fontainebleau Champions: Favaza the Elder, Guy, Lewis, Fontenot and Favaza the Younger	195 lbs. Champion Bennett Whitfield	North Pontotoc's Landon Ward, who placed 3rd at 152 lbs.	15 lbs. Champion Tanner Bourgeois (and trainer)

Rumble on the River Champions

(A full list of placers and brackets may be found on the Louisiana High School Wrestling Archives website.)

Back to Top

Rummel 8

Brother Martin, Holy Cross, Jesuit, Rummel, Teurlings Catholic, St. Paul - all of these teams together in their first tournament of the season?  To good to be true?  Well, yes and no.  They were all represented, as was Riverdale.  But none of the teams threw out their entire first strings lineups.  The Crusaders did dominate the event with seven champions, followed by Jesuit with four and Teurlings Catholic with three, but it was too early to expect a match between heavyweights Spencer Lanosga of Jesuit and Cole Baimonte of Holy Cross.  But there were a few matches that may prove very significant re Louisiana Classic and State seeding.  Two were in the 132 lbs. weight class, both involving, in a good way for him, Brother Martin's Mason Elsensohn.  The 2021 113 lbs. Division I runner-up met Teurlings Catholic's 2021 Division II state champion Ethan Boudreaux in the semifinals.  Last season Elsensohn defeated Boudreaux 13-6 in a December 30th dual meet, but Boudreaux avenged that loss with a 4-3 semifinals win over Elsensohn in the Louisiana Classic.  Things did not get easier in the finals against 2021 Division II runner-up Carter Bourgeois of Rummel.  Elsensohn won that match by a 3-0 score also.

Rummel 8 Champions

(A full list of placers and brackets may be found on the Louisiana High School Wrestling Archives website.)

Back to Top

©  2021-22 by Louisiana Wrestling News

You may not make electronic copies of these copyrighted materials nor redistribute them to 3rd parties in any form without written permission.