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	Sean King	Liam O'Connor	Ethan Langley	Gavin Gautier	Aujri Harris	Thomas Bean
School	John Curtis	De la Salle	Basile	Hannan	Brusly	Evangel
Seed	2	1	5	4	3	6
Class	12	11	12	12	11	12
Final Record*	37-10	20-6	8-3	29-11	23-13	30-10

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

John Curtis senior Sean King Did not wrestle Liam O'Connor of De la Salle this season.  King started the season at 152 lbs. and moved down to 145 lbs. in January.  O'Connor started at 145 lbs. but moved down to 138 lbs., until February 2nd.  Some thought the move might have been made due to a loss in the Brusly Invitational to Basile's Luc Johnson.  Odds are, though, it is because the move just made sense.  O'Connor was very familiar with King.  In the 2020-21 season the Cavalier owned a 2-1 edge over the Patriot, and won their last two matches.  O'Connor was on a roll against King.  This time, though, "snake eyes" resulted.

Seeding Synopsis

De la Salle’s Liam O’Connor, a junior, started the season at 145 lbs., dropped to 138 lbs. for the month of January, and went back to 145 lbs. on February 2nd.  His five losses, to East Ascension’s Gregory Walker, Brother Martin’s Nick Cusimano, Brandt Babineaux of Teurlings Catholic (D2 2nd), Jacob Houser of St. Paul (D1 1st) and Luc Johnson of Basile (D3 1st), indicated he had a really good season.  He defeated Brother Martin's Rory Horvath at the Trey Culotta, Rummel's Cameron Gandolfi (D2 5th), David Massicot of John Curtis (D3 5th), and Catholic's Happy Butler (D1 6th in 2021)   He placed third at the Trey Culotta, avenging his earlier loss to Walker.  He placed second in the Brusly invitational, falling to Johnson 4-0.  (O’Connor was seeded first as Johnson placed sixth at the Trey Culotta.)  He won the Titan Invitational at Lakeshore High School. 

John Curtis senior Sean King started the season at 152 lbs. with moderate success.  He placed T-5th at the Lakeshore Open, third at the Bulldog Brawl and second at the George Trygg Memorial.  After the Trygg, he ran-off 18 straight wins, including two wins over Gautier of Hannan twice and defeating D3 runner-up Michael Gilreath of Evangel (2020 D3 1st), Chris Miller of Brusly (D3 2nd), Ethan Langley of Basile (D3 3rd) and Holy Cross' random giant-killer Gunner Guidry (D1 6th) before he fell to Brother Martin’s Kent Burandt (D1 2nd) in the Louisiana Classic quarterfinals.  King won the Brusly Invitational (over Langley) and placed second in the Ken Cole Memorial. 

This was perhaps the hardest weight class in Division III.  Seeded third was Hannan's Gavin Gautier, a senior who placed second at the 2021 state tournament.  Gautier fell to King 9-5 in the Brusly Invitational, won the St. Tammany Parish Championships, placed fourth at the Lakeshore Open and seventh at the Trey Culotta.  Brusly’s Aujyri Harris was fourth and Basile’s Ethan Langley was fifth.  Langley did not start the season until January yet placed fourth at the Brusly Invitational (he was injured in a match vs. Harris) and in the 2020-21 season only competed in eight matches prior to a season-ending injury.  At the 2020 and 2019 state championships Langley placed fifth.

O’Connor and King were the favorites, but neither Gautier, Langley nor Harris, who had defeated Catholic’s Elijah Gilmore and gave Zachary’s Voltaire Sanders a very hard time (a 4-1 loss at the GBRs), could be taken lightly. 

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Quarterfinals

Langley avenged his Brusly Invitational loss to #4 Harris, but just barely, by scoring a go-ahead takedown with three seconds remaining.

(1) Liam O'Connor (DLS) pinned Christian Martin (StM) in 3:05

(5) Ethan Langley (BAS) defeated (4) Aujri Harris 4-3

(3) Gavin Gautier (HAN) defeated (6) Thomas Bean (EVA) 16-0 TF

(2) Sean King (JC) pinned (7) Nolan McMichael (StL) in 1:32

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Semifinals

O’Connor had an easier time than many expected in getting past Langley 9-2.  Tied 1-1 on the season, King prevailed over Gautier in their tie-breaking match.

(1) Liam O'Connor (DLS) defeated (5) Ethan Langley (BAS) 9-2

(2) Sean King (JC) pinned (3) Gavin Gautier (HAN) in 4:31

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Championship Consolation Rounds

Langley and Gautier had met three times before their consolation finals match.  In 2020 Langley recorded falls in 2:51 and 2:04 at the Ken Cole and the state championships.  In 2021 Langley won the Brusly Invitation with a fall in 3:10.  This match would not end differently.

Harris defeated Evangel senior Thomas Bean, seeded sixth, via a 15-5 MD in the Brusly Invitational.  This match went into the third period and ended in 4:13.

(5) Ethan Langley (BAS) pinned (3) Gavin Gautier (HAN) in 1:57 to place 3rd

(4) Aujri Harris (BRU) pinned (6) Thomas Bean (EVA) in 4:13 to place 5th

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Finals

Prior to this match, O’Connor and King had wrestled three matches in the 2020-21 season.  King defeated O’Connor 6-4 in the consolation finals of the 2021 Brusly Invitational.  Six days later, in the second round of the Louisiana Classic, O’Connor prevailed 5-0.  In their last match of the season, O’Connor won the tie-breaking match 4-3 to place third in the Division III 132 lbs. state championships.

They had not met in the 2021-22 season until the Division III 145 lbs. finals match.  The match was close and O’Connor led 4-2 after two periods.  He increased his lead with a takedown, but King came back.  The Patriot senior escaped, took O’Connor down, and let him escape again with 16 seconds remaining, down 7-5.  King scored a takedown in the waning seconds to send the match to a Sudden Victory period.  After 25 seconds elapsed it was King who scored the first takedown, giving him a 9-7 win.

(2) Sean King (JC) defeated Liam O'Connor (DLS) 9-7 SV

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