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There were no vast surprises last Saturday that would change how I would seed the Louisiana Classic, based on what I could glean from TrackWrestling, RankWrestling and some personal observances.  Some things, though, are worth mentioning.

Parkway Big Cat Brawl

170 lbs. champion Christian Otzenberger of Calvary Baptist

Parkway won the Big Cat Brawl by 10 points over North Desoto, scoring 215.5 points to the Griffins' 210.5.  Way back was third-place Benton with 83.5. points.  Parkway's winners included Matthew Gallman and Peyton Plunket.  But heck, I have time, so I will add David Viers, Kristopher Mesloh and Jake Morton to complete the list of Panther champions, so that all are included.  The Griffins had more, seven in fact, with Collin Bell, Daniel Olivier, Lance Ferguson, Hunter Addison, Hunter Hanson, Jacob Freeman and Caden Robinson.  Colten Stratton of Benton and Calvary Baptist's Christian Otzenberger won the other two available titles.  I included the photo of Otzenberger because, well, his mother sent it to me.  Plus, the young man is 17-1 with two Louisiana tournament titles, and he has runner-up finishes in Texas and Arkansas.  His only loss was in the Cinco Ranch Big 12, where he placed third.  The loss came from Brother Martin's Rocco Horvath.  The third-place match was won against 2021 Division II runner-up Hunter Hanson.  In fact, of the 26 falls Horvath has scored this season, Otzenberger lasted the longest, well into the second period.  Otzenberger is the only member of the Cavalier wrestling...not squad, not team...entity?  After a 2021 state championship podium fiasco, the young man deserves to have his photo published.

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Brusly Invitaional

Basile's 13 wrestlers outscored De la Salle's 14 190.5 points to 172 to win the Brusly Division III Invitational.  Hannan placed third with 125.5 points, followed by John Curtis (113) and Brusly (110). 

Something about those scores looks familiar - I am thinking from perhaps August 7th, 2021:

Bearcat champions were Bryce Fontenot, Andre Johnson, Luc Johnson and Anphrony Guillory.  The Cavaliers also had four winners in Dylan Duvernay, Collin Veron, Luke Robertson and Jason Krail.  Preston Gautier, Grayson Pennison and Wade Rist won for the Falcons and Luke Caballero, the only defending Division 3 state champion on the list, and Henry Milligan won for St. Louis.  Sean King of John Curtis was the other champion.  All winners but Veron, Luc Johnson, Gautier and Krail, who were seeded second, were #1 seeds in their weight classes.

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Battle of New Orleans

Walker's Kye Karcher (3rd) with Live Oak's Rayden Ingram (1st), Andrew Lusby (2nd) and Lathan Hirschey (3rd). [Photo "jacked" from the Livingston Parish News, despite their anti-downloading software.]

Rummel won the Battle of New Orleans at Chalmette High School behind championship performances by Carter Burgess and Cole Curry.  The Raiders scored 182 points.  Runner-up St. Paul had 171 points but three champions: Conlan Enk, Jacob Houser and Jackson Peak.  Jesuit placed third and also had three champions.  Dominic Logiudice won at 195 lbs., as did Patrick Matthews (170 lbs.) and Griffin Ellis (220 lbs.).  Rummel, St. Paul and Jesuit were all short-handed, entering only 11 wrestlers.  Fontainebleau was even more short-handed, with only seven wrestlers, but the Bulldogs placed fourth, 11 points behind the Blue Jays, behind champion performances by Aiden Guy and Raymond Favaza.  Pearl River's Gabriel Whittingham remained undefeated going into the Louisiana Classic this Friday.  Destrehan's Colton Owens added a Battle of New Orleans championship to his Duplessis Invitational and Ketelsen Christmas Classic ones, increasing his seeding possibilities on Friday.  The host team was not left out as Anthony Perez won at 120 lbs.  Several interesting things happened at this event.  One was that Rayden Ingram, along with several other Live Oak wrestlers, dropped a weight class.  Ingram dropped to 145 lbs. from 152 lbs. where he was undefeated.  He won easily with falls in 0:26, 3:08 and 0:42. At 160 lbs. Fontainebleau's Raymond Favaza started a little "iffy" but switched gears and pinned Landry Barker of St. Paul, giving Barker his first loss of the season.  The win also earned Favaza an LWN thanks as, not knowing the two would meet on Saturday, the LWN had Favaza seeded second for the LACL weeks before.  (I am not kidding myself, though, nor should Favaza.  Landry is good.)  Colton Landry of Destrehan and Kaiden Triche should have sealed top-eight spots at the LACL in what a very tough 106 lbs. weight class.

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Scott Rohrer Hoover Invitational

Catholic placed six at the Scott Rohrer Memorial/Hoover Invitational, held in Hoover, Alabama on Friday and Saturday.  The Bears were led by champion Watts Goodson at 126 lbs., runner-up Grant Grizzaffi at 113 lbs. and third place finishers Michael Price and Richard Carroll, at 160 lbs. and 170 lbs. respectively.

St. Amant Duals

The Brother Martin Crusaders, well, just slaughtered their way through the pool rounds at the St. Amant Duals, defeating Dutchtown 70-0, Central 78-5, Zachary 60-21and St. Amant 75-6 in the pool rounds.  They had to work harder against the East Ascension Spartans, though, than they might have expected.  On November 27th, the Crusaders beat East Ascension 59-12.  This time the score was 48-33, with the Crusaders winning six of the 11 matches and having a forfeit advantage.  Wins to note for the Spartans were Aiden Krass over Trey Trainer at 106 lbs. (1:22), Lucas Maneckshaw over Hunter Chabert at 126 lbs. (5-0) and Gabriel Bonin over Ryan Corca at 152 lbs. (0:53).  Wins to note for the Crusaders were, well, there really are not any.  Eyes just do not open wide when Brother Martin wrestlers win matches. 

Greg Lavergne Lafayette Parish Duals

On the other side of the river from Brother Martin (meaning the Atchafalaya River, albeit the Mississippi River counts as well) the Teurlings Catholic Rebels destroyed every other team in Lafayette Parish at the Greg Lavergne Duals.  In the pols they defeated Acadiana 72-6 and Carencro 64-15.  In the bracket competition they defeated Comeaux 66-15 and Southside 56-16.  Of the other teams, Lafayette and Teurlings Catholic-B might be the "big winners" as they did not have to face the top Rebel squad.  (OK, that probably does not make the TC-B feel any better as they face those guys every day at practice.)  Second-place Southside defeated TC-B 66-12, Lafayette 54-12 and Carencro 30-24.  The Bears placed third in a 36-36 tie with Comeaux, winning by criteria, in that only five matches were contested and the Bears won four of them.

Big Sam Duals

Brother Martin did not win the Big Sam Duals at Sam Houston High School in Lake Charles on Saturday, but they did place second.  Someone invited Houston Strake Jesuit and they made a mess of things for Louisiana teams, defeating the Crusaders' second-team 48-30, Rayne 53-30Sulphure 59-23 and host Sam Houston 72-12.  Rayne placed third, followed by Sulphur and then the Broncos.

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