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

NO PODIUM PHOTO AVAILABLE

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Brenan Romero	Kaiden Triche	Blake Andre	Colin Romero	Ayden Broussard	Bryce Latino
School	Teurlings Catholic	Rummel	Shaw	St. Thomas More	Rayne	Lakeshore
Seed	2	1	3	7	4	5
Class	9	9	9	10	9	9
Final Record*	31-7	38-12	21-16	13-9	25-12	22-20

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

It was a battle of freshmen.  (In what other grades can athletes weigh 106 lbs.?  OK, so Tyson Roach is a sophomore, as is Dylan Duvernay, and, well, Landon Reaux is a jun...wait...best not go there!)  Top-seeded Kaiden Triche of Rummel defeated second-seeded Brennan Romero of Teurlings Catholic 4-2 (I so miss macros - "@TC" would be nice during this and the next 13 webpages).  Romero scored his two points in the first period and Triche had to come back for the win.  In this match things seemed reversed.  Triche led 4-0 after the first period.  Then, Romero showed why the Rebels had already won their ninth Division II title (and third in a row) in the last 12 years, when he stormed back for a second period lead and never looked back.   The Rebels had already won by 20 points and Romero led the way to 16 more.

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Seeding Synopsis

Rummel freshman Kaiden Triche’s season started off really well.  In his first three matches he pinned a Division II opponent, scored a 12-3 MD over early Brother Martin starter Logan Dacuyan and a 6-3 win over one of the Division I favorites, Jesuit’s Bodi Harris (D1 2^nd).  But shortly after the win over Harris he fell to a Holy Cross seventh grader, Dominic Durham, 5-4.  Durham is a very good wrestler, but a high school kid does not want to lose to a seventh grader.  After that loss, only five people beat him, and they were all in other Divisions.  Two losses came from Harris, three from Sam Houston’s Tyson Roach (D1 1^st) and three came from Dylan Duvernay of De la Salle (D3 1^st).  His other losses came from Destrehan senior Colton Owens, who was one win away from placing in Division I, and Parkway’s Matthew Gallman.  During the season he would beat Dacuyan again, as well as Catholic’s Matthew Sanders, Live Oak’s Latham Hirschey (D1 3^rd), Shaw’s Blake Andre (D2 3^rd), Airline’s Logan Olsen (D1 4^th) and Brother Martin state starter Trey Trainor.  The most important match he won, though, was the 4-2 victory over Teurlings Catholic freshman Brennan Romero to place fifth at the Louisiana Classic.  A perfect record against Division II opponents vaulted him to the top seed spot.  Triche placed second at the Raider 8, the Trygg Memorial and the Battle of New Orleans.  He was fifth at the LACL and Ken Cole.  He won the District 9-5A District championship.

Rebel freshman Brennan Romero had a great start to the season.  He was undefeated against Louisiana competition until he ran into Harris on December 29^th, losing a 7-4 match.  He lost his next match, seven days later, also to Harris, although this time by a fall.  Reality really kicked-in with a loss to Southside’s 2021 D1 state champion and OW Landon Reaux in a dual meet, and then at the LACL when he fell to Roach, Hirschey and Triche.  At the Ken Cole he fell to Reaux again.  He might have taken some solace in beating Gallman to place third at that event.  During the season he defeated Luke Caballero of St. Louis (D3 2^nd, 2021 D3 1^st), Basile’s Pierson Comeaux (D3 2^nd), Blake Andre of Shaw (D3 3^rd), Duvernay (D3 1^st) and Olsen (D1 4th).  His wins over Duvernay and Gallman would have put him in the top spot if it were not for the two-point loss to Triche.  Romero won the Griffin Open, placed fifth at the Black Horse, won the Jacob McMillan JV, was fifth at the LACL and 3^rd at the Ken Cole.

Shaw freshman Blake Andre was seeded third.  He tied for fifth at the Warrior Open, sixth at the Ken Cole, third at the District 9-5A and won the JV State Championships.  His 17-15 record only included two losses to Division II opponents, and those were to the two seeded ahead of him, Triche and Romero.  Rayne freshman Ayden Broussard was the fourth seed.  Broussard tied for fifth at the Jacob McMillan, placed third at the Lone Survivor and placed second at the Rayne Invitational.  He did not place at the Ken Cole, though, which placed him behind Andre.

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Quarterfinals

The all-freshmen top-four seeds soundly defeated two other freshmen and two sophomores in the quarterfinals.

Semifinals

Triche and Romero defeated the fourth and third seeds, respectively, but with little respect between the whistles, as each won by 10 points.

(1) Kaiden Triche (RUM) defeated (4) Ayden Broussard (RAY) 10-0 MD

(2) Brennan Romero (TC) defeated (3) Blake Andre (SHW) 11-1 MD

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Consolation Rounds

Sixth seed Colin Romero of St. Thomas More, a sophomore, lost to Andre in the quarterfinals via a 20-5 TF.  In the consolation rounds he won matches via 5-2 and 14-8 scores until the CSF, in which he upset #4 Broussard in 1:53.  

CSF: (6) Colin Romero (StTM) pinned (4) Ayden Broussard (RAY) in 1:53

CSF: (3) Blake Andre (SHW) defeated (5) Bryce Latino (LKS) 14-5 MD

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Championship Consolation Rounds

The St. Thomas More Romero got a second shot against Andre and he made the most of it.  He took the Shaw freshman down, and scored two nearfall points, to lead 4-0 after the first period.  He let Andre back in, though, two points per round, which knotted the score at 4-4 and sent the two to a Sudden Victory period.  In the last minute it was Andre who scored a takedown after 20 second had elapsed, and he put Romero on his back.  After scoring three nearfall points Andre ended the match by letting Romero go.

(3) Blake Andre (SHW) defeated (6) Colin Romero (StTM) 9-4 SV to place 3rd*

(4) Aiden Broussard (RAY) pinned (5) Bryce Latino (LKS) in 0:30 to place 5th

If ye be confused by the score, in SV and UTB rounds, if a scoring move lands an opponent on his back, the scoring wrestler is allowed the chance to pin his opponent and gain more team points until the opponent gets off of his back or the period ends.  In this case, the Sudden Victory period, only a fall earns extra team points.  After the initial two takedown points, an addition six points is not available via nearfall points to score a major decision.

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Finals

In the LACL fifth-place match, Romero scored the first two points in the first period and Triche came back with three nearfall points in the second period and an escape in the third to win 4-2.  This time it was Triche who opened with a takedown and two nearfall points to take a 4-0 lead after two minutes.  Romero, however, owned the next four minutes.  In the second period, after he chose a neutral start, he used a takedown and two nearfall points to surge ahead 6-4.  In the final period, Triche chose to start neutral, as a takedown would tie the match for Triche.  Romero scored the first two points, though.  Triche managed an escape but Romero took him down again with one second remaining, to seal a 10-4 title.

(2) Brennan Romero (TC) defeated (1) Kaiden Triche (RUM) 10-5

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