WE ARE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

Fini

Brother Martin and Teurlings Catholic were expected to lead wire-to-wire in Divisions I and II at the 2022 Louisiana state championships.  And they are.  The Crusaders have a 14 point lead over second place Catholic.  The Crusaders have eight semifinalists going into Saturday while the Bears have seven, but only one of the Bears is expected to win his semifinals match, based on seeding.  Five, in fact, are fourth seeds facing #1 seeds.  The Crusaders are expected to advance five into the finals.  Jesuit could make a run at the Bears, though.  The Blue Jays have five semifinalists and four should advance.

Teurlings Catholic and Shaw performed as expected in Division II.  TC has a17 point lead over the Eagles and, also as expected, they have them outmatched in the semifinals. The Rebels have 11 semifinalists, and all but one are seeded higher than their opponents.  The Eagles have nine semifinalists but only five are expected to reach Saturday evening's finals.  The "story" in Division II, though, might be the Rayne Wolves.  Rayne is only a half point behind the Eagles for second place.  The Wolves, however, have only four semifinalists and only one is expected to win.

But in Division III, Basile and De la Salle were expected to vie for the top spot, not, despite their 12 Division III team championships from 2000 to 2015.  Yet after Friday's competition was over it was the Panthers at the top of the Division III team scores.  Granted, Basile was one point behind, but De la Salle may have taken themselves out of contention, trailing by 20 points.  The Bearcats have 11 semifinalists and are expected to have six advance to the last match.  The Panthers have eight semifinalists but only two are expected to win.  The Cavaliers have eight semifinalists including three top seeds and three second seeds, but they cannot afford any setbacks.  Two of the remaining three Bearcats are awaiting semifinals losers.  Expect Basile to surpass and start pulling away from Brusly and the rest of the Division III field during the semifinals.

Yet the the state wrestling championships owe nothing to anybody.  Particularly on Saturday.  Anything can happen, so, feel free to disregard eveything you just read. 

Team Scores and Semifinals Pairing after Friday's Competition

Items highlighted in yellow reflect upsets

Division I

Brother Martin Catholic  162.5 Points 148.5 Points

Division I

Place Team Points 3 Jesuit 137.5 4 St. Paul 118.5 5 East Ascension 111 6 Parkway 101 T-7 Holy Cross 94 T-7 Zachary 94 9 Dutchtown 87 10 Chalmette 86

Division I News

The biggest story of the day was known early, before and Louisiana Wrestling News photographers left the hotel.  Top-seed and defending 106 lbs., state champion Landon Reaux did not make weight - he was two ounces over on his last attempt.  The Southside junior did not blame anyone but himself though, so any speculation of faults of the LHSAA, the officials or anyone else associated with the weigh-in is just that, speculation, along the lines of the "dot.com" fiascos.

As disappointing as that was to Master Reaux, one might also consider that he spent the last two weeks killing himself and his practice partners as wrestlers do in the off weeks prior to the state championships. He did not do that just for himself, but also for his teammates.  And it may have proved a boon for one who Landon knocked-up to 113 lbs. when he dropped to 106. At 113 lbs. cousin Kael Reaux put up a very respectable 11-6 record, but he did not place at the Louisiana Classic.  He placed only fifth at the Ken Cole and, while he placed second at the Lafayette Metro Tournament, there were only four entrants in the weight class.

Yet the freshman is going to be on the Division I 113 lbs. podium when all is said and done on Saturday evening.  The seventh-seeded Reaux pulled-off the upset of the day on Friday when he defeated second-seeded John Michael Bourgeois of Jesuit 9-6 in the quarterfinals.  That would be the same John Michael Bourgeois who pinned Reaux in 0:15 in the LACL quarterfinals.  Having a cousin/workout partner like his cousin must have its benefits.  Next up for Reaux is the third seed, sophomore Conlan Enk of St, Paul. 

(The second biggest story of the day was that Vince Cacioppo of the LHSAA allowed the LWN three media credentials, all of which included photography permission.  Hence, there will be an LWN photographer for each of the three mats during the finals.)

Division II News

Teurlings Catholic Shaw 148 Points 131.5 Points

Division II

Place Team Points 3 Rayne 130 4 Rummel 118 5 North Desoto 93.5 6 Lakeshore 63 7 North Vermillion 58 8 Benton 55.5 9 Carencro 55 10 Caddo Magnate 48

Division II News

One Division II second seed was also defeated in the quarterfinals, and again by a seventh seed.  Hayden Comeaux of Benton defeated Shaw's Hayden Tassin in 0:34 after was Tassin admitted was a mental "slip" on his part, of which Comeaux took full advantage.  The Tiger sophomore had a 15-15 record entering the state championships.  He may leave with a winning record for the season.  Regardless, he will be on the podium Saturday night.

Division III

Brusly Basile 107 Points 106 Points

Division III

Place Team Points 3 De la Salle 87 4 John Curtis 87 5 St. Louis 74 6 Hannan 69.5 7 St. Michael 58.5 8 Evangel 54 9 Thomas Jefferson 31 10 Kaplan 20

Division III News

Brusly’s seventh seed Braylin Poston defeated DeQuincy's #2 Landon Royer in 1:46.  It should be noted that Poston, a freshman, opened his season against Logan Dacuyan, Bodi Harris, Dominic Durham, Kaden Triste, Daniel Daspit and Tayshawn Lewis.  Those were his first matches of the season.  Add Jonny Laris, Cole Comeaux, Grant Grizzaffi, Lathan Hirschey.  Yet he put together a 20-16 season and earned his seventh-deeding spot.  Unfortunately for Royer this was his first match against Poston.  He will face third-seeded freshman Pierson Comeaux in the semifinals.  Regardless, the made the semifinals and a spot is reserved for him on the podium.

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.