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

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Carter Burgess	Coen Begnaud	Hayden Tassin	Chris Milburn	Jakarion Fontenot	Hayden Comeaux
School	Rummel	Teurlings Catholic	Shaw	Carencro	Rayne	Benton
Seed	1	3	2	8	5	7
Class	12	12	11	12	12	10
Final Record*	47-8	34-10	30-11	9-13	32-17	16-13

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

In the 2019 state championships Carter Burgess went 1-2.  He was a freshman then, but got better – he made it to the finals as a sophomore and junior in 2020 and 2021.  He lost, though, respectively, to North Desoto’s Joshua Sarpy and Shaw’s Glenn Price.  This year, with the exception of Dutchtown’s Cole Gros, beating Burgess guaranteed a state championship.  His other seven losses were to Brother Martin’s Mason Elsensohn (D1- twice), Ethan Boudreaux of Teurlings Catholic (D2 – twice),Watts Goodson of Catholic (D1), Daniel Olivier of North Desoto (D2) and Jacob Houser of St. Paul (D1).  In a 3-1 match Burgess gave Elsensohn his closest match of the season – Burgess’ first match against the Crusader was 3-0.  The kid got game.  It was no secret that Burgess could compete at 126 lbs.  He did that for seven matches just past Christmas, 2022, and then at the state championships.  What was he thinking, though?  Sure, it was his last chance to make the state finals.  Going 0-2 against Boudreaux during the year might make one want to drop a weight.  But would not that mean another finals match against Price?  The devil one doesn't know this year, perhaps?  The tournament worked for all three when it was over.

Seeding Synopsis

Rummel senior Carter Burgess placed seventh at the Gulf Coast Clash, fourth at the Louisiana Classic, third at the Ken Cole and second at the District 9-5A Championships and the Raider 8.  Brother Martin’s Nicholas Cusimano (D1 4^th seed) fell prey to Burgess, as did Hahnville’s Brennan Chiasson (D1 5^th),  Chalmette’s Mohammed Gaber (D1 6^th), Nick Sauerwin of Holy Cross (D1 4^th) and Grant Herbert of Jesuit (D1 2^nd).  He won the Trygg Memorial over Shane Barbarin of De la Salle (DIII 1^st) and upset 4^th-seeded Collin Veron of De la Salle (D1 1^st) in the Louisiana Classic – so he also defeated a couple of state champions.  And all of those matches, save one, were at 132 lbs.  (The “save one” was at 138 lbs.)  At 44-8, against the competition he faced all season - he was an obvious first seed.

Second-seeded Hayden Tassin of Shaw ventured up to 145 lbs. a couple of time, but spent most of the season, until the state championships, at 138 and 132 lbs.  His 26-10 record included losses to some rough competition including Elsensohn (D1 1st), Veron (D3 1st), Herbert (D1 2nd) and Basile’s Luc Johnson (D3 1st), but his most telling loss came to Burgess in the District 9-5A Championships.  He also had a win over Barbarin (D3 1st), and one’s over Belle Chasse’s Caleb Andrews (D2 4^th), Dutchtown’s Gros and Jon Michael Cuba of Catholic (D1 2^nd-seed).  He placed third at the Warrior Open and the Ken Cole.

Teurlings Catholic senior Coen Begnaud competed at 126 lbs. all year so he never met Burgess or Tassin during the season.  He had a very good year, though, so his third-spot in the seeding may have been because he was unable to participate in, due to an injury suffered in December of 2020, the 2021 state championships.  Begnaud placed second at the Rummel 8, won the Griffin Open, placed fourth at the Black Horse, was the runner-up at the Jacob McMillan and placed third at the Ken Cole.  In the fourth spot was Haughton’s Louis Lindsey.  Lindsey only had one loss to a Division II opponent.  That was to Rayne’s Jakarion Fontenot, who was seeded fifth, in the second round of the Lone Survivor.  Lindsey avenged that match the following dayto place third and merit the higher seeding spot. 

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Quarterfinals

Fontenot won the season tie-breaking third match over Lindsey in 2:34, but the "wrestler of the quarterfinals" was seventh-seeded Hayden Comeaux of Benton.  The sophomore was being manhandled by the second-seeded Tassin early, but caught the Eagle riding high on him.  Comeaux backed-out from underneath Tassin and caught THE INEVITABLE HALF-NELSON THAT IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE AFTER NON-ESCAPE SCORE CHANGES, to which he also added a leg for a nearside cradle.  Comeaux secured a fall in 0:34 before the cameras could catch what was happening.

(1) Carter Burgess (RUM) pinned (8) Christian Milburn (CAR) in 3:15

(5) Jakarion Fontenot (RAY) pinned (4) Louis Lindsey (HAU) in 2:34

(3) Coen Begnaud (TC) pinned (6) Nathan Adams (ND) in 1:25

(7) Hayden Comeaux (BNT) pinned (2) Hayden Tassin (SHW) in 0:34

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Semifinals

Burgess had little trouble with Fontenot and Begnaud showed something a few others probably knew – that the Benton junior was nobody against whom to make mistakes.  Ten weeks earlier at the Black Horse in Tennessee, Comeaux popped a 5-0 lead over Begnaud at the beginning of the first period.  Begnaud regained any lost composure and scored six points to end the period, and then recorded a fall in the second period, but he had experience that Tassin learned in a much harder fashion.  He ended the Benton Tiger's run quickly.

(1) Carter Burgess (RUM) pinned (5) Jakarion Fontenot (RAY) in 1:54

(3) Coen Begnaud (TC) pinned (7) Hayden Comeaux (BEN) in 0:37

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Consolation Rounds

CSF: (2) Hayden Tassin (SHW) pinned (5) Jakarion Fontenot (RAY) in 4:37

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Championship Consolation Rounds

The extra two matches in the consolation bracket did not faze Tassin.  He spent all of 1:24 to make the match for third place.  On the other side, while Comeaux was guaranteed a medal, Carencro’s eighth-seed Chris Milburn was not.  He lost to Burgess in the quarterfinals and had to get through three more opponents, including #4 Lindsey and #7 Comeaux, to face Tassin for third place.  Unfortunately, Milburn lifted and dropped Tassin hard, injuring Tassin’s arm, and was DQ'd,  Tassin was awarded third place. 

The senior from Rayne went out on a winning note with a fall over Comeaux to place fifth.

(2) Hayden Tassin (SHW) defeated (8) Chris Milburn (CAR) via an injury default 0:38 to place 3rd

(5) Jakarion Fontenot (RAY) pinned (7) Hayden Comeaux (BNT) in 2:27 to place 5th

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Finals

            During the first period the match looked to be a battle as it took 1:45 for Burgess to score the first points.  On top in the second, though, Burgess needed just 28 seconds to turn Begnaud to his back and record a fall.  Looking back, from not being able to participate a year earlier, earning runner-up finish to a two-time runner-up, Begnaud should be very pleased with his season. 

(1) Carter Burgess (RUM) pinned (3) Coen Begnaud (TC) in 2:28

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