WE ARE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

Fini

Screenshot of my memory Cielle dealt cards

For those unfamiliar with the “Just Ask CAT!” philosophy, there comes a time, for some of us, when it just does not work.  I reached that time long ago, and hence was troubled trying to find an order in which to recap the area-based tournaments of last weekend.  Should I do it by the best teams that won?  (Just leave the potentialities of such a stupid statement alone).  Perhaps alphabetically by the name of the event, or geographically, which, for one with a B.A. in geography, can lead to so many possibilities?  What about by the number of entries or the number of teams in each event?  I needed some kind of order, and naturally I chose a random one.  I listed the seven events by memory (that just adds to the randomness), numbered them two through eight and found playing cards numbered two through eight (I thought an ace to be biased, somehow, and did not wish to contemplate the one or 11 aspect even though 11 did not apply).  Then I had my sister mix up the cards and deal them out.  It obviously worked, for the first event is one for which I have no photographs.  (She is my CAT – why can I not ask her?!)

Jesse James Southwest Shootout

Sulphur won the Jesse James Southwest Shootout with 142 points, outdistancing St. Louis by 11 points.  Sam Houston came in third.  Five members of the Golden Tornadoes won titles while five others took runner-up spots.  The event was held at Sulphur High School.

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Greater Baton Rouge Championships

Catholic had five champions and five runners-up in taking their sixth consecutive Greater Baton Rouge Championships titles and 17^th in 18 events (the 2021 tournament was cancelled).  Four Bears won titles while four others won runner-up spots at the event, which was hosted by Catholic. 

Catholic’s finalists may not have any top seeds at the state championships, but the Bears will be represented well in the 2-4 spots in Division I.  Grant Grizzaffi at 113 lbs., Christian Worley at 120 lbs., Watts Goodson at 126 lbs. and Jon Michael Cuba @ 132 lbs. should be in the top four seeding spots.  Dutchtown’s Cole Mire will be a #3 Division I seed at 120 lbs. after a 5-4 win over Worley.   Another Griffin, freshman Cole Gros, continued his comeback tour and placed second, which should earn him a #3 spot at 132 lbs.  Dutchtown’s Hayden Harms should be a #2 seed at 220 lbs. and Griffin senior Tyler Addison should be fourth at 170 lbs.

Live Oak’s Rayden Ingram cemented his spot as the #1 seed in Division I at 145 lbs. with a fall in 2:37 over Zachary’s Voltaire Sanders.  Zachary’s Ashton Freeman will be second-seeded at 285 lbs.

East Ascension’s Santos Ramos completed an undefeated season vs. Louisiana opponents and will be top-seeded for the Spartans at 160 lbs.  Corey Holmes (2^nd at 182 lbs.) and Jason Schexnaydre (3^rd at 195 lbs.) look to be locks.

Baton Rouge’s Kade Moran looks to be a third seed at 170 lbs.  Moran defeated Catholic’s Richard Carroll in this event, but Carroll has two previous wins over Moran and should be seeded second.  Dutchtown’s Tyler Addison, whom Moran beet in the finals, should be seeded fourth.

2022 GBR Individual Champions	2022 GBR Runner-up East Ascension

Walker's Kye Karcher (3rd @ 113 lbs.) and Live Oak's Kolten West (5th @ 120 lbs.)

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St. Tammany Parish Championships

Lakeshore High School hosted the St. Tammany Parish Championships at which St. Paul had seven champions, three runners-up, and triumphed for the umpteenth time.  The Wolves scored 242.5 points, 81.5 more than runner-up Fontainebleau (161 points).  Hannan, the only other team to break three digits with 130 points, placed third.

Champions preserving a top-four seed at the state championships were Conlan Enk, Jacob Houser, Landry Barker and Ian Lyons of St. Paul, Raymond Favaza of Fontainebleau and Gavin and Preston Gautier of Hannan.

St. Tammany Parish Championships Champions - St. Paul Wolves	St. Tammany Parish Championships Runner-up - Fontainebleau Bulldogs

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District 7-8 5A Championships

The Chalmette Owls, with seven champions and four runners-up, demolished the competition in the 2022 District 7-8 5A championships, held at Chalmette.  The Owls scored 250 points, over 100 points more than runner-up Destrehan (144 points) and third place finisher Hahnville (116.5 points).

While District 7-8 5A may not have the powerhouse teams like District 9-5A (Brother Martin, Jesuit, Shaw) they will have their share of top-eight seeds at the River Center next weekend.

Destrehan senior Colton Owens is one of them.  Owens, while he has not faced the likes of Southside’s Landon Reaux or Sam Houston’s Tyson Roach, has only lost, twice apiece, to De la Salle’s Dylan Duvernay and Fontainebleau’s Samuel Favaza.

Other champions to look for in the top eight are Chalmette’s Anthony Perez, Mohammed Gaber, Aram Albach and Bryant Breska, Brennan Chiasson and Jevon Gray of Hahnville and Destrehan’s Donovan Kimble.

District 7-8 5A Championships Champions - Chalmette Owls

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District 9-5A Championships

It should be no surprise that Brother Martin ran away with the District 9-5A Tournament at Rummel.  The Crusaders put 13 wrestlers in the finals and won 11 titles, including nine in-a-row from 113 lbs. to 170 lbs.  A few teams did not enter their best, but it really would not have mattered in the grand scheme.

There were a few matches worth noting, albeit none will have any seeding implications for next weekend’s state championships. 

At 145 lbs. Holy Cross’ Gunner Guidry upset Sean King of John Curtis via a fall in 6:00 and followed that with a 9-8 victory over Jesuit’s Jackson Ballay.  King defeated Guidry 6-3 in the Louisiana Classic and Ballay had defeated him in three of their previous four meetings.  A sixth match between the senior Ballay and the freshman Guidry might be interesting.  Ballay will be the higher seed at the state tournament and, barring some catastrophic upsets, the two should not meet in the championship bracket, but a rematch in the consolation rounds is possible. 

The Louisiana Classic may have shown Brother Martin senior Ryan Corca that finals matches are fine, but winning one is much infinitely better.  Having fallen to Nick DiGeralamo in the LACL finals 9-2, he did not wait long for his second finals appearance to pay-off on a winning note.  He waited all of 1:14, actually, as that is how long he took to defeat top-seeded Todd Ritter of Shaw.  Ritter did not meet Corca at the LACL and it is worth noting that he came back to place third at the LACL and a week later he won the Ken Cole.  He will be seeded first at 152 lbs. in Division II.  Corca will probably merit the fourth spot.

District 9-5A Champion Brother Martin

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Northwest Louisiana Regional Championships

North Desoto took the honors at the Northwest Louisiana Regionals over Parkway, Airline and six other teams at North Desoto High School.  The Griffins scored 198.5 points, followed by Parkway with 145 and Airline with 95.

Griffens took home championships in six weight classes and runner-up medals in three others.  Panther wrestlers garnered three championships, while Airline had two.  The remaining three individual championships went to Evangel, Calvary Baptist and Caddo Magnate wrestlers.

Oddly, only one of the finals matches had any state championships seeding implications.   Only two of the matches were contested by opponents in the same divisions.  One was at 220 lbs., in which Parkway’s Kristofer Mesloh defeated Parkway’s Kenneth Flores.  The other match was between the expected top two seeds in Division II at 170 lbs.  North Desoto’s Hunter Hanson defeated Haughton’s Charlie Yocom 5-1 at the LACL, but a Yocum win in this match would have left the seeding up to criteria other than head-to-head match records.  Hanson negated that potential dilemma with a 6-3 win.

Airline's Tayvon Patterson was voted the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler of the heavier weight classes.

2022 NW LA Regionals Champions	Third-place winner Airline High School

170 lbs. champion Christian Otzenberger of Calvary Baptist	Airline champons Logan Olden and Tayvon Patterson (OW - HW)	Airline placers [Bottom L-R] Kyle Manuel and Danon Walker  [Top L-R] Waylon Carter, Kyle Manuel and Joey Juneau

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Lafayette Metro Championships

Teurlings Catholic won the Lafayette Metro tournament.  But this wasn’t your father’s Teurlings Catholic.  Enough of it was, however, for the Rebels to outscore the Rayne Wolves by 20 points, 223.5 to 203.5 and repeat as champions (TC won in 2020; the 2021 event was COVelled).  Host Basile placed third, followed by Southside and North Vermillion.

If any upsets were had they could include host Basile’s #3 Jayden Guillory over #1 Daylon Dugas of Rayne at 120 lbs.  More surprising was fourth-seeded Acadiana sophomore Jackson Howard’s semifinal 5-2 win over Rayne senior Tre`Von Williams at 285 lbs.

Most surprising, though, was John Paul Travasos being seeded fourth at 170 lbs.  Some might have thought it a seeding “convenience” to get Travasos in the finals against TyQuan Scott of Rayne, who defeated Travasos in the Ken Cole.  Scott, though, would have to get past TC’s Kyle Stephens, who was a legitimate second seed as he defeated Scott at the Rayne Invitational.  Comeaux’s John Lambousy, the top seed, also had a win over Scott.  Hence, in a way, Travasos was a correct fourth seed.  Yet his second-seeded teammate was not a TC team scorer at the event.  What gives?

What gave?  Who cares?  Travasos took care of any doubts with a quarterfinals pin in 1:45, a semifinals pin over Lambousy in 3:16 and a finals pin in 3:19 over Scott, who got past a tough Stephens 9-4.  That should take care of any of that rampant speculation that the defending TC state champion might be seeded second at 170 lbs. next weekend. 

Travasos put an exclamation point over such speculation, which was already cowering, by being selected as the tournaments Outstanding Wrestler.

Nobody out there is dumb enough to doubt how dangerous Acadiana’s Luke Lafleur can be at 138 lbs., are they?

2022 Lafayette Metro Champs Teurlings Catholic	Outstanding Wrestler Charles Travasos

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More Random Than Cards

Donny Burton Duals

The North Desoto Wrestling Academy Red Team won the 2022 Donny Burton Memorial Duals.  The NDWA Blue Team placed fifth.

1st - NDWA Red	2nd - NDWA Blue

Saints Invitational

[From the Brother Martin Wrestling Facebook page]

Our 2nd team traveled to Mississippi today to compete at the Saints Invitational. They battled hard and earned a Team Runner-Up finish against an Alabama State Champion team. Awesome work done by all today, especially Hunter Chabert who earned Most Outstanding Wrestler while going 4-0 with four 1st period falls.

2022 Saint Invitational Runner-up Brother Martin	Outstanding Wrestler Hunter Chabert

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