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	Christian Johnson	James Baldwin	Ethan Bazinet	Wade Rist	Anthony Smith	Silas Robichaux
School	Bossier	Dunham	Basile	Hannan	John Curtis	Brusly
Seed	1	2	6	3	4	5
Class	11	11	12	11	9	11
Final Record*	19-1	13-5	3-1	30-11	12-8	8-8

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

Bossier High School had not won a state championship since 2014 when Jason Oliver won his second title.  They had not even had a finalist since then.  Junior Christian Johnson put the Bearkats back on the map, although not as easily as he may have liked.

Seeding Synopsis

Bossier junior Christian Johnson was 16-1 entering the state championships.  All of his matches ended with falls, and only three of them lasted longer than the first period.  Johnson lost one match all season, albeit it might have been a costly one.  It was to De la Salle’s Jason Krail in the 182 lbs. finals of the Brusly Invitational, and the Bearkat did not compete again for over a month – at the state championships.  Prior to that match he had won the Riot on the Red and the David Beeson Memorial, as well as seven matches in dual meets. 

Junior James Baldwin of Dunham had something of a similar season.  After taking fourth-place at the Zachary Big Horse on December 11^th he did not compete again until January 21^st, well over a month’s time.  He came back well, though, placing third at the Ken Cole and at the Greater Baton Rouge Championships.  Three of his four losses were to Division I competition while the fourth was to a Division II runner-up.  He won six matches against Division I opponents and he split with Hayden Harms of Dutchtown (D1 2nd), winning their first match 6-5 UTB and losing the second 5-4.  Suffice to say he had a particularly good 11-4 record entering the state championships.

Hannan’s Wade Rist, who was the only Division III wrestler to defeat Basile’s Christian Bergeron, was seeded third, followed by freshman Anthony Smith of John Curtis in the fourth spot.  Smith placed third at the Brusly Invitational and fourth at the District 9-5A Championships.

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Quarterfinals

Johnson, Baldwin and Smith advanced as expected to the semifinals. 

Rist was not so lucky.  After dusting him off and washing the mothball odors from his singlet, the Bearcats enlisted the aid of senior Ethan Bazinet for the state championships.  Bazinet was the top seed at 160 lbs. as a sophomore in 2020 but ran into a buzzsaw from Brusly in his semifinals match by the name of Joshua Westly.  Langley placed fourth in that event and did not compete in the 2020-21 season, during which he underwent shoulder surgery.  In his first match of these championships, he upended the third-seeded Rist 11-6.

(1) Christian Johnson (BOS) pinned (8) Will York (EPI) in 0:27

(4) Anthony Smith (JC) pinned (5) Silas Robichaux (BRU) in 3:57

(6) Ethan Bazinet (BAS) defeated (3) Wade Rist (HAN) 11-6

(2) James Baldwin (DUN) pinned (7) Jackson Perdue (DLS) in 0:40

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Semifinals

Dunham’s Baldwin proved to be too much for Bazinet’s second match in two years.  Baldwin could not turn the Bearcat to his back, but a first period takedown, control throughout the second period, and a reversal and further control in the third period sufficed in a 4-0 win.

(1) Christian Johnson (BOS) pinned (4) Anthony Smith (JC) in 4:50

(2) James Baldwin (DUN) defeated (6) Ethan Bazinet (BAS) 4-0

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Championship Consolation Rounds

The consolation finals were a rematch of the quarterfinals match for Bazinet and Rist.  Neither wrestler scored in the first period.  Rist rolled Bazinet for a reversal in the second round, but, on a restart, Bazinet Granby-rolled Rist and caught him in a headlock.  A fall ensued shortly thereafter.  Bazinet did more than he was expected to do in scoring 16 team points and proved in the last match of his high school career that he still had "game."

The Curtis freshman Smith spent just a little while less than he required in his quarterfinals win over the fifth seed, junior Silas Robichaux of Brusly.  Using 3:57 in that match, Smith only required 3:21 to place in his first state championships.

(6) Ethan Bazinet (BAS) pinned (3) Wade Rist (HAN) in 2:27 to place 3rd

(4) Anthony Smith (JC) pinned (5) Silas Robichaux (BRU) in 3:21 to place 5th

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Finals

The two top seeds put on a show in the finals.  Johnson opened with a five-point throw, and Baldwin answered with an escape and a takedown.   Johnson reversed him and Baldwin again escaped and took Johnson down.  That was just in the first period, after which Johnson led 7-6.  Starting neutral, Baldwin took an 8-7 lead with a second-round takedown, but gave it back after a Johnson reversal.  Baldwin reversed Johnson again to take a 10-9 lead, but after a tying escape and another takedown, Johnson led 12-10 and never trailed again.  The Bossier junior added two more nearfall points at the end of the round, but before the whistle blew Baldwin scored a reversal and the round ended with Johnson ahead 14-12.  Starting neutral again, Baldwin tied the match with a takedown after 20 seconds had elapsed.  Thirty seconds later Johnson reversed Dunham, put him on his back, and recorded a fall in 4:54.

(1) Christian Johnson (BOS) pinned (2) James Baldwin (DUN) in 4:54

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