2022 LHSAA State Wrestling Championships February 11th-12th 2022 Raising Cane's River Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Brother Martin Crusaders, behind the strength of three state champions, two runners-up and two third-place winners, regained the Division I team championship they lost to St. Paul in 2021.  The Crusaders won the event before the finals started by accumulating 261.5 points.  The Jesuit Blue Jays, who had to rely on their last finalists in the last two matches of the evening, placed second, breaking a tie with Catholic in the last Division I match of the season.  The Bears placed third with 216.5 points, four points behind Jesuit's 220.5.  The defending champion Wolves of St. Paul placed fourth, followed by East Ascension.

Brother Martin won their 14th Division I state championship since 2000, and their 21st since 1975 when teams were separated into two divisions, behind state championship performances by freshman Richie Clementi (113 lbs.) and seniors Mason Elsensohn (132 lbs.) and Rocco Horvath (170 lbs.)  Juniors Ty Duncan (126 lbs.) and Kent Burandt (145 lbs.) were runners-up, while sophomore Jacob Elsensohn (120 lbs.) and senior Luke Ohler (195 lbs.) placed third.  Senior Ryan Corca placed fourth and senior Samuel Riles placed sixth.  The title was the second one for head coach Andrew Nicola in his three years at the helm for the Crusaders.  During the season, the Crusaders won their eighth-consecutive Louisiana Classic title, the Gulf Coast Clash in Alabama, the Cinco Ranch Big 12 in Texas and the Stewart Schay Black Horse in Tennessee.

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Jesuit placed second via a pretty hairy scenario.  They started the finals two points ahead of Catholic.  The Blue Jays had an advantage over the Bears, though, as they had five finalists to only two for Catholic.  Their first one, freshman Bodi Harris at 106 lbs., however, was not expected to win, and that is how things worked out.  Their second finalist, Grant Herbert at 132 lbs., was not supposed to be on the mats at all.  He was supposed to be in the stands cheering on the other Blue Jays.  Junior Jon Michael Bourgeois, the second-seed at 113 lbs., did have have the weekend he wanted, so Herbert decided to "step up."  In doing so he beat the #3, #6 and #7 seeds to make the finals.  That, however, meant undefeated Crusader Mason Elsensohn, and Herbert had done more than enough for the Blue Jays just to get there.  Just before that match, the Bears won their first finals match and took a two-point lead for the runner-up spot.  At 182 lbs. Jesuit's Winn McConnell was expected to defeat #3 seed Thomas Domangue.  He had done so twice before, but not this time.  Domangue won, giving the Bears four points and a two-point lead.  By this time, the Jays had competed in three finals matches but netted zero points.  The Bears were two-for-two in the finals and had added eight points, giving them a six-point lead.  Now, however, all the Bears could do was watch.

The Blue Jays had to win both matches to gain sole possession of second place.  That meant senior Dennis Dougherty had to do something he had not done in two tries, nor anyone else all season - beat Holy Cross senior Cole Baiamonte.  He would have to score more than just one point, as he did in both of their previous matches.  He did not, though, and only scored an escape in regulation time.  Yet he also held Baiamonte to a sole escape point in the first six minutes (they both received a penalty point apiece).  A tie-breaker looked inevitable until the very end of the sudden victory period, when Baiamonte missed a lateral drop.  Dougherty pounced on the Tiger and scored a fall with five seconds remaining.  That meant four Blue Jay points for the win and two bonus points for the fall.  That tied the Blue Jays and took a lot of pressure off of sophomore Spencer Lanosga, who won his third match over Zachary's Ashton Freeman to give the Blue Jays sole possession of second place by four points.

Dougherty and Lanosga won championships for the Blue Jays, and Harris, Herbert and McConnell placed second.  Additional Jesuit placers were senior Ian Bohn, who took fourth, and junior Jackson Ballay, who took fifth.

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Division I Brackets in PDF

Final Team Scores

Catholic's success at the tournament should not have been a surprise.  They placed fourth at the Louisiana Classic.  That was over 100 points behind the Crusader, but only11 points behind Jesuit.  Division II's Teurlings Catholic placed second, and the Rebels, as well as a very strong Shaw team, which placed fifth, took away a lot of opportunities from the Bears.  The Bears state champions were second-seeded Watts Goodson at 126 lbs. and third-seeded Thomas Domange at 182 lbs.  Placing third were Grant Grizzaffi and Richard Carroll.  Michael Price, Jermaine Vessell and Christian Worley placed fourth.  David Russell placed fifth and Elijah Gilmore and Nicholas Migliacio placed sixth.  Second-seeded senior Jon-Michael Cuba was one match away from placing, and only he, Price, Carroll and Vessell are graduating in 2022, leaving a very strong Bears team returning next season.

The defending Division I champion St. Paul Wolves placed fourth via a variety of circumstances.  Senior Jacob Houser won his second title against unexpected #6 seed Andrew Lusby of Live Oak.  Nastasi was expected to meet the winner of the semifinals match between Holy Cross freshman Nick DiGeralamo and junior Jensen Bergeron of Lafayette.  He did everything he was expected to do to reach the finals as the #1 seed.  He just did not have an opponent.  While Nastasi was getting past fourth-seeded Ryan Corca of Brother Martin, confusion reigned on the other Division I semifinals match.  The second seed from Holy Cross, freshman Nicholas DiGeralamo, unintentially slammed Lafayette junior Jensen Bergeron, resulting in Bergeron being knocked unconscious.  DiGeralamo was disqualified, but the DQ only resulted in losing the match, and he went on to place third.  Bergeron, however, was not allowed to compete again, so Nastasi had nobody to wrestle in the finals.  In the next match Landry Barker pulled the biggest upset of the evening by defeating East Ascension's Santo Ramos.  Third-seeded sophomore Conlan Enk placed second.  The other Wolves placers were seniors Trey Faherty (6th @ 120 lbs.), Ethan Viator (3rd @ 145 lbs.) and Ian Lyons (6th @ 220 lbs.).

Sulphur junior Corey Hyatt was voted the Division I Outstanding Wrestler. Hyatt capped off his second undefeated season with his second state championship.  After a Round One bye, Hyatt pinned Sam Gros of St. Paul in 2:49, defeated Chalmette's Aram Albach, the eighth-seed, via a 14-4 MD, defeated fourth-seeded Brother Martin senior Luke Ohler by an 11-6 decision and then defeated, for the second time, second-seeded Dutchtown senior Hayden Harms 7-1 in the finals.  During the season Hyatt won the Ronnie Suarez SPOT District Tournament, The Jacob McMillan Memorial, the Lone Survivor, the Cy-Fair ISD, the Louisiana Classic and the Ken Cole Memorial.  Hyatt finished the season with a 31-0 record.

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The East Ascension Spartans, who were not expected to repeat their 3rd-place finish from 2021, fared better than most expected, even though its two highest seeds placed lower than they would have preferred.  Top-seeded and undefeated Santos Ramos was upset in the finals and second-seeded Corey Holmes placed third.  The Spartans were carried by underdogs.  Seventh-seeded freshman Aiden Krass placed fifth, as did sixth-seeded sophomore Jesse Maneckshaw.  Unseeded Jacobi Clement, also a sophomore, placed sixth and junior Jacob Schexnaydre, seeded fifth, placed fourth.  Unfortunately, fifth-seeded sophomore Lucas Maneckshaw was injured in his quarterfinal match and was forced to withdraw from the tournament.  The Spartans were not going to catch St. Paul or Catholic this year, but their future looks very good.

The other Division I state champions were sophomore Tyson Roach of Sam Houston (106 lbs.), pictured with freshman teammate Caleb Lavine, a 4th-place winner.  Junior Ernie Perry of Airline (113 lbs.) won his third title, and Corey Hyatt of Sulphur won his second.  Live Oak senior Rayden Ingram (145 lbs.) made up for a nightmarish 2021 state tournament with aplomb, winning his matches as follows: 0:38, 0:47, 4:17, 17-0 TF and 0:57.

Parkway finished fifth behind third-place finishes by Christopher Bacot (132 lbs.), David Viers (138 lbs.), Kristofer Mesloh (220 lbs.) and a sixth-place finish by Peyton Plunkett (126 lbs.).  Holy Cross had five placers and only Baiamonte will graduate from the team they entered.  DiGeralamo (3rd @152 lbs.), Landon Smith (6th @ 106 lbs.) and Gunner Guidry (6th @ 145 lbs.) are freshmen.  Nick Sauerwin (4th @ 132 lbs.) is a sophomore, and they should have Dominick Durham as a freshman next season.  Dutchtown will return junior Cole Mire, who was a runner-up to Perry at 120 lbs.  Lafayette's Bergeron will return for the Lions.

Random Photos

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