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	Nigel Whitehead	Eric Levert	Lucian Paternostro	Sean Dorsett	Caden Robison	Bennett Whitfield
School	Shaw	Teurlings Catholic	Rummel	Rayne	North Desoto	Pearl River
Seed	2	1	NS	4	5	3
Class	12	12	11	12	10	12
Final Record*	26-6	19-5	4-1	26-16	20-8	20-8

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

Weight classes are funny sometimes.  On December 29th Shaw senior Nigel Whitehead teched Teurlings Catholic defending state champion Joel Lanclos at 220 lbs., 15-0.  A little over 20 days later, in the Ken Cole quarterfinals at 195 lbs., the Rebels' third-place winner, Eric Levert, pinned Whitehead in 5:22.   That was Whitehead's only loss to a Division II wrestler.  He would not let that happen again.

Seeding Synopsis

Eric Levert placed second at the Ken Cole, third at the Louisiana Classic and fifth at the Black Horse.  He won eight other matches to enter the state championships with 17 wins.  He defeated some good opposition: Jackson Calderano of Jesuit (x2), Dominic Loguidice of Jesuit, Jacob Schexnaydre of East Ascension (D1 4^th), Wade Rist of Hannan (D3 4^th) and Luke Ohler of Brother Martin (D1 3^rd).  After an early loss to Christopher Sulli of Brother Martin, he limited his losses to defending state champions – one to Jude Monaco of Shaw and two to Corey Hyatt of Sulphur.  His most important match, however, was in the Ken Cole quarterfinals when he knocked off Shaw’s Nigel Whitehead in 5:22.  He also beat Whitehead in the quarterfinals of the 2021 state championships.  This win, though, guaranteed the Rebel senior a #1 seed at 195 lbs. in Division II.

Whitehead had 23 wins over the season, but in addition to the loss to Levert, also lost to Schexnaydre (x2) and Calderano, whom Levert defeated.  He also lost to Zachary’s Cameron Walker (D1 5^th) and Chalmette’s Aram Albach.  He did not place in the LACL or the Ken Cole but took 3^rd at the District 9-5A Championships.  No matter, he did enough to earn the number two seeding spot.

Pearl River’s Bennett Whitfield was seeded third.  Whitehead had not met Whitfield before, but the Rebel junior lost to Loguidice, whom Whitehead defeated.  Neither Whitfield or Whitehead had wrestled the fourth seed, Rayne senior Sean Dorsett, but both lasted farther through the Ken Cole than Dorsett, and Whitfield simply had a much better overall record.

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Quarterfinals

North Desoto’s Caden Robison, the fifth-seed, knocked Dorsett to the consolation round via a fall in 2:42.  Levert, Whitfield and Whitehead won their quarterfinals matches in a combined 2:19.

(1) Eric Levert (TC) pinned Nicholas Ihde (HAU) in 0:52

(5) Caden Robison (ND) pinned (4) Sean Dorsett (RAY) in 2:42

(3) Bennett Whitfield (PR) pinned (6) Cameron Lejeune (NV) in 0:58

(2) Nigel Whitehead (SHW) pinned (7) David Ransom (BC) in 0:21

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Semifinals

Levert needed only 41 seconds to reach the finals.  Whitehead took his match with Whitfield 50 seconds into the second period.

(1) Eric Levert (TC) pinned (5) Caden Robison (ND) in 0:41

(2) Nigel Whitehead (SHW) pinned (3) Bennett Whitfield (PR) in 2:50

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Championship Consolation Rounds

Lucian Paternostro?  Much like Daniel Simpson Day of Animal House who, according to Dean Wormer, “has no grade point average,” Lucien Paternostro had no TrackWrestling record upon entering the state championships.  Thus, the Rummel junior was not seeded and faced the #5 Robison in the first round.  Nobody expected him to win that match, so nobody took real notice after he lost in 0:52. 

Upon entering the consolation rounds, Paternostro was unstoppable.  He took third place in a mere 3:59.  Not 3:59 in the consolation finals match alone, mind you – that time includes all four of his consolation round matches.  He scored falls in 1:25, 0:42, 0:32 (the 32-second one was particularly meaningful as that was against Robison) and 1:22 over Dorsett in the match for third. 

Lucian Paternostro (RUM) pinned (4) Sean Dorsett (RAY) in 1:22 to place 3rd

(5) Caden Robison (ND) pinned (3) Bennett Whitfield (PR) in 2:15 to place 5th

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Finals

Going back to the 2021 state championships, Shaw’s Nigel Whitehead was 0-2 against Teurlings Catholic’s Eric Levert.  Levert pinned him in 5:17 in the state quarterfinals and this season Levert pinned him again in 5:22 in the Ken Cole quarterfinals.  Whitehead did not seem to care about any past matches.  He scored a takedown after 50 seconds but lost no resolve when he was reversed with about 33 seconds remaining.  The first period ended in a 2-2 tie.  On top to start the second period, Whitehead turned Levert over and scored a fall 38 second later.  Levert did not seem to agree with the call that ended the match, but he took the result as one would expect from a Teurlings Catholic wrestler.  Whitehead won the third title of the evening for the Eagles.

(2) Nigel Whitehead (SHW) pinned (1) Eric Levert (TC) in 1:38

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