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

*    Records include all wins but only losses to Louisiana wrestlers.  Forfeits and defaults are not counted.

Schmeling-Sharkey III?  It never happened.  German Max Schmeling won a vacant heavyweight title by defeating American Jack Sharkey in 1930.  In 1932, Sharkey won the title from Schmeling. But there was not a rematch.  (Sharkey lost his title in his next bout against Primo Carnera, who lost a couple of fights later to Max Baer, which is when the Russell Crowe Cinderella Man story started.)

I mention this as everyone expected a third match between St. Paul defending state champion Grant Nastasi and Holy Cross freshman Nick DiGeralamo.

Grant Nastasi was the top seed.  The senior had one Louisiana loss on his record.  DiGeralamo defeated Nastasi 3-1 in a December 1st dual meet.  Three days later, at the South Walton Border Wars, Nastasi returned the favor with a 7-6 win over DiGeralamo in the quarterfinals of the pool-seeded event.  In the ensuing match, Nastasi was injured.  DiGeralamo placed fifth.  By virtue of the pool-seeding format, having made the semifinals, Nastasi was guaranteed fourth.

Nastasi did not return to the mats until the state tournament.  As expected he made it to the finals.  DiGeralamo was favored to meet Nastasi for that match, their third of the season.  But there was a problem in DiGeralamo's semifinals match against #6 Jensen Bergeron of Lafayette.  A first-period takedown was interpreted as a slam and, as Bergeron was “knocked cold,” after a little discussion DiGeralamo was disqualified and Bergeron advanced to the finals.  As he was unconscious after the slam, he was not allowed to compete again but was awarded the match, which meant the #2 spot on the podium.

Seeding Synopsis

Despite not competing for over two-months, Nastasi was still seeded first.  He and DiGeralamo were both at the Border Wars event and Nastasi placed higher (fourth vs. sixth).  Nastasi's win was in a tournament rather than a dual meet, and he and lost to nobody else in Louisiana aside from DiGeralamo.

DiGeralamo’s win over Nastasi may have been fueled in part by a loss in his last match.  That was in the Spartan Invitational finals when Dutchtown’s Foster Shank rerolled a DiGeralamo throw to a first-period fall.  After the Border Wars, he lost a third-period lead as the match was winding down to Live Oak’s Rayden Ingram in the Big Horse finals.  There was a lot of speculation as to which of the three – DiGeralamo, Nastasi or Ingram – might drop to 145 lbs.  Nastasi was nowhere to be found and recuperation is not a viable weight loss technique.  The loss to Ingram was not enough to move DiGeralamo, and Ingram settled the matter by dropping in January.  After the Big Horse, DiGeralamo placed third in the Vegas Holiday Classic and then won the Louisiana Classic.  He had two wins over Brother Martin’s Ryan Corca (D1 4th), who had a win over Gabriel Bonin of East Ascension, giving DiGeralamo the second spot in the seeding.

East Ascension’s Bonin was the third seed by virtue of a 2-1 record against Corca.  Bonin placed second at the Griffin Open, the Spartan Invitational and the Big Horse, third at the Lakeshore Open and the Trey Culotta, and fifth at the LACL.  Corca was the fourth seed.  He had a good season via placing second at the Raider 8 to John Paul Travasos (D2 1^st x2) of Teurlings Catholic, fifth at the Gulf Coast Clash, fourth at the Trey Culotta and the Black Horse.  He got past Bonin to make the LACL finals and then won the District 9-5A championship over Shaw’s Todd Ritter (D2 2^nd).

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Early Championship Rounds

The best match in the early rounds was between #8 Donnie Middleton, a senior from Baton Rouge, and unseeded Aiden Guy, a senior from Fontainebleau.  After three minutes, Middleton's 7-2 lead vanished as Guy came back with seven unanswered points in the last minute of the period to take a 9-7 lead into the third.  Middleton was able to tie the match, but Guy escaped with two seconds remaining, to pull off an 11-10 win.

R1: (8) Donnie Middleton (BR) defeated Matthew Aucoin* (SH) 12-4 MD, R1: (6) Jenson Bergeron (LAF) pinned Gabe Cuba (CAT) in 3:56, R1: Brayden DeWitt (LO) pinned Leyton Breaux (HNV) in 3:39, R1: (1) Nick DiGeralamo (HC) pinned Anthony Hernandez (COV) in 3:21

R2: (1) Grant Nastasi (StP) pinned Clarence Pesnell (CHL) in 5:04

R2: Aiden Guy (FNT) defeated (8) Donnie Middleton (BR) 11-10

R2: (5) Trent Trouth (SUL) pinned Caleb Bernard GK) in 0:10

R2: (3) Gabriel Bonin (EA) pinned William Miller (SS) in 1:56, R2: (6) Jensen Bergeron (LAF) pinned Ashten Dean (PKY) in 3:37

R2: (2) Nick DiGeralamo (HC) defeated Chase Rose (ZAC) 8-2

* Matthew happens to be the younger brother of Sam Houston's 2016, and first, Division II state champion and 3x runner-up, Andrew Aucoin.

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Quarterfinals

Lafayette junior Jensen Bergeron was sidelined twice this season, for a month each time, due to concussions.  Before his first one (in his first event) he defeated Zachary’s Voltaire Sanders, and Sanders would not lose again until the LACL.  After his second injury he came back for the LACL, and that is a tough “road to recovery” event, where Corca and Bonin placed better.  He came back with a third-place finish at the Ken Cole, defeating Shank in the quarterfinals.  At the Jacob McMillan, in which he was injured the second time, Sulphur’s Trent Trouth placed higher than he did.  Without the injuries he may have been a third or fourth seed at this event.

Does anyone think Bergeron cared?  In the quarterfinals he outscored Bonin, by period, 4-1, 6-3 and 4-1, for a 15-5 major decision.  He scored five takedowns and two reversals to Bonin’s one reversal and three escapes. 

Due to his shortened season, Nastasi deserved a little luck, and he got some early.  His first two matches of the season were against Mandeville’s Miles Edwards (19-3 TF) and Fontainebleau’s Aiden Guy (17-5 MD).  His second-round and quarterfinal matches were against Mandeville’s Miles Edwards (11-4) and Aiden Guy (10-1 MD).  After that luck was no longer a factor. 

(1) Grant Nastasi (StP) defeated Aiden Guy (FNT) 10-1 MD

(4) Ryan Corca (BM) pinned (5) Trent Trouth (SUL) in 3:18

(6) Jensen Bergeron (LAF) defeated (3) Gabriel Bonin (EA) 14-5

(2) Nicholas DiGeralamo (HC) defeated (7) Foster Shank (DUT) 6-0

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Semifinals

There was no luck in Nastasi’s 5-1 semifinals win over #4 Ryan Corca.  The defending state champion scored two takedowns and an escape while shutting out the Crusader, whose point was scored via a misconduct call.

Nobody was happy with the disqualification of DiGeralamo.   A few things can be verified, though.  When one wrestler picks another wrestler off of the mat, that wrestler is responsible for the safe return of the other back onto the mat.  Forget that Bergeron lost consciousness - just the noise indicated something was amiss.  This does not happen in Iowa or Pennsylvania, I have been told.  (Are smelling salts used as diagnostic tools in those states?)  At least the foul only disqualified DiGeralamo from that particular match and not the entire tournament. 

(1) Grant Nastasi (StP) defeated (4) Ryan Corca (BM) 5-1

(6) Jensen Bergeron (LAF) defeated (2) Nicholas DiGeralamo (HC) via an injury disqualification

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Consolation Rounds

The fifth-seeded Trouth and #3 Bonin were ousted by Zachary’s Chase Rose and #8 Middleton, respectively. 

C2: Ashten Dean (PKY) pinned Caleb Bernard (GK) in 4:53

C3: Chase Rose (ZAC) pinned Brayden DeWitt (LO) in 5:00

C3: (8) Donnie Middleton (BR) defeated Miles Edwards (MND) 13-10

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Aiden Guy defeated Rose 9-8 via a reversal with 13 second remaining.  DiGeralamo defeated Guy to reach the consolation finals.  Corca defeated Middleton to set-up a third match with DiGeralamo.

Championship Consolation Rounds

DiGeralamo had defeated the Brother Martin senior twice before.  Once was via a fall in 0:47 in an early January dual meet.  The second time was a 9-2 win in the LACL finals.  In this match, DiGeralamo had a 5-0 lead before he let Corca score a couple of nearfall points in the third period.  The freshman added an escape and a takedown before the match ended with a final score of 8-2. 

Ahead 4-2 after two periods, Middleton was not about to let Guy beat him again with any last second heroics.  The Bulldog senior (OK – they are both Bulldogs and seniors, but this reference refers to the Baton Rouge one) scored a reversal and two nearfall points, and shut out the Fontainebleau senior, to win 8-4.

(2) Nick DiGeralamo (HC) defeated (4) Ryan Corca (BM) 8-2 to place 3rd

(8) Donnie Middleton (NR) defeated Aiden Guy (FNT) 5-2 to place 5th

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Finals

Nastasi was made to wait until the Division II and Division III finals were over before he was allowed to receive his forfeit and have his hand raised.  His time could have been better spent elsewhere, if only to inspire a teammate.  Technically, his match was over before the Division II and III starting whistles blew.  Instead, he just paced back and forth on the Division I mat.

Make no mistake, though, Nastasi was not lucky to win his second title.  He did everything asked of him to make it to the finals.  He beat the guy who beat the #8 seed and he soundly defeated the #4 seed.  Prior to that he defeated DiGeralamo in their last of two matches.  No doubt he would have preferred to win his second title on the mat, but he cannot be faulted for that not being possible. 

(1) Grant Nastasi won via a forfeit from (6) Jensen Bergeron (LAF)

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