WE ARE ADAPTIVE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

The Teurlings Catholic (TC) Rebels were only six points ahead of North Desoto at the end of Friday night's action.  By the end of the event, the Rebels took their six-point lead and added 100 points to hit, outscoring team runner-up North Desoto, which had 192 point.  East Ascension placed third one point behind the Griffins, with 191 points.

Rebel scoring wrestlers knocked off two Griffin scorers, where as only one Griffin scorer defeated a Rebel scorer.  Additionally, a Rebel non-scorer, junior Kendra James, knocked off third seeded Marques Hampton in the consolation finals.  James placed fourth while Hampton placed sixth.

More telling was that TC put seven wrestlers into the semifinals, and six of them won their way into the finals.  North Desoto had five semifinalists but only two moved on to the championship matches.  TC outmatched ND in that they had 11 wrestlers place in the top-six vs. seven for the Griffins.  They also out-pinned ND 35-16.

Brusly's 13 wrestlers defeated Rummel's 12 157.5 to 130, and that 27.5 point difference may mean a lot at the state championships.  That many points is hard for one wrestler to score unless he wins a state title, or loses a first match and then comes back to place third.  Unfortunately for Brusly, they have two very capable wrestlers at 170 lbs., locked in between good ones at 160 lbs. and 182 lbs.  At the 2022 state championships Chris Miller placed second at 138 lbs.  Silas Robichaux placed fifth at 195 lbs.  Both were at 160 lbs. for this event, with Miller being the point scorer yet seeded fifth to Robichaux's' third.  At 182 lbs. is Anthony Denova, who also placed fifth at the 2022 state championships.  Miller and Robichaux each made it to the consolation finals, but the senior chose not to wrestle the match, nor for one to forfeit it to the other.  The 152 lbs. weight class was not filled by the Panthers in this event, so if either Robichaux or Miller can cut down to that, well, problem solved.

Champions: Teurlings Catholic Rebels	Runners-Up: North Desoto Griffins	Third-Place: East Ascension Spartans

Top Ten Team Scores after Saturday

Junior Varsity Select Champions (front, with hoodies) and participants

Individual Weight Class Champions

Awards

OW - Junior Varity Select Natalie Davis - Haughton - 113-120 lbs. The sophomore Pirate recorded five falls, in 1:22, 3:36, 1:47, 0:50 and 0:31 to win the 113-120 lbs. weight class.  Her JVS record is now 9-0.  She has 11 wins against her male competitors against 15 losses.  Five of those losses were from 2022 state championship placers.  Four others were the young men I expect to place in Bossier City in February.

Most Pins-Least Time: Jacob Doucet - Teurlings Catholic 220 lbs. Seven falls in 7:49 Doucet lost his first match via a fall in 0:24.  He then pinned his next seven opponents in O:15, 3:41, 0:44, o:30, 0:37, 0:28 and 1:34, for a combined time of 7:49, to place third.  In doing so, Doucet tied champions Brennan Boyer and Braedon Simoneaux for the fourth most points scored by a Rebel in the tournament.  Only champions Ethan Boudreaux (30), Alex Rojas (31.5) and Brandt Babineaux (32) scored more team points than Doucet.

Outstanding Wrestler - Lower Weight Classes Tyson Roach - Sam Houston 120 lbs. Those at the Ken Cole finals witnessed the end of a rivalry hard to compare to others, and due to the respect each has for the other, what may not be seen for a long time to come. The finals was the 10th match in two years between Sam Houston's Tyson Roach and Southside's Landon Reaux.  That is Reaux, which does not rhyme with "Row, row, row your boat..." but does with Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat song's "Day-o, day-o, Daylight come and we want go home."  (The only other option I could think of was Rayovac batteries.) Roach won this last of seven matches between the two this season.  Reaux won four of those matches and two of their three last season at 106 lbs.  The Ken Cole finals match, a 12-2 Major Decision by Roach, may not have been their best, save for the first minute, but it later defined the friendship and mutual respect between the two mat warriors.

Prior to the finals, Roach, who had lost their last three meetings in the Trey Culotta semifinals, the Public-School Wrestling Championships finals and the Louisiana Classic finals, and thus "on paper' was expected to lose this match, told me Landon and he would like me to take a photograph of the two of them, regardless of the match outcome, on the mat after the match.  True to their word, they posed right after they shook hands.  Reaux will graduate this summer while Roach still has a senior year ahead of him.  But I fear it will be a long, long time before we see such talented rivals on the mat and such friends off of it.

Outstanding Wrestler - Heavier Weight Classes Gabriel Milbern - Walker 295 lbs. In the heavier weight classes Walker senior Gabriel Milbern won the Outstanding Wrestler award for pinning the undefeated and LACL champion Ryan Fobbs of Erath in 0:33.  Fobbs had previously defeated Milbern 6-2 in the semifinals of the Public-School Wrestling Championships.

OK, someone has to work on the titles of these awards, as Roach's says "Lower Class" and Milbern's says "Upper Class."  They might as well say "Untouchable" and "Brahman."  #StopCasteAwardsasTheyJustGiveMullerSomethingStupidtoWrite

Distinguished Service Award Mr. Doug Hanson Mr. Hanson has been a fixture as an official in the Lafayette area for over three decades and is a familiar face in the larger Louisiana tournaments.

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