WE ARE ADAPTIVE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

The Catholic Bears took the lead after the semifinals (as someone predicted) of the 50th Louisiana Classic (LACL), held Friday and Saturday at the Lamar-Dixon EXPO Center in Gonzales, LA.  What was not predicted, or expected, was that they would increase the lead to 41 points after the consolation rounds, giving the Bears the team title before the finals started.  That was fortuitous, however, as none of Catholic's four finalists prevailed in their last match.  Individual titles would have been nice, certainly, but the Bears should benefit greatly from their performance re seeding at the LHSAA State Wrestling Championships in Bossier City on February 10th and 11th in Bossier City.

Defending Division II state champion Teurlings Catholic (TC) was the team expected to be the greatest threat to Brother Martin's hopes of winning their ninth-straight LACL title after they defeated the Crusaders in a dual meet in the finals of Shaw's Beast on the Bayou on December 28th.  The Rebels, however, in what could be argued was not their best tournament effort of the season, placed second, scoring 209 points, which was 0.5 points ahead of the Crusaders.  Jesuit, despite some unexpected losses, placed fourth, only two points behind Brother Martin, with 206.5 points.  That bodes well for the Blue Jays, as they were without defending state champion Spencer Lanosga at 285 lbs.  Lanosga, should he win at the state championships, should score 30+ points for the Blue Jays, which would put them with Catholic as current Division I favorites.  One has to factor out the Division II and III champions (four) and placers (23), as well as the Rockwall Heath, Texas team, and winning the Division I team title should be a close race.

Ernie Perry, III joined a select crowd of two by becoming the third wrestler to win four LACL titles since the inception of the event as the Lee High Invitational by Coach Bill Bofinger in 1973.  Perry did so by pinning all five of his opponents in either the first or second period.  He joins fellow Airline Viking Matt Rabinowitz, who won the event from 2007-10, and Korey Miller of St. Paul, who won from 2008-11.  Perry was awarded the Outstanding Wrestler for his achievement. 

Team Champion: Catholic	Team Runner-up: Teurlings Catholic

Southside senior Landon Reaux won his third LACL championship with an 8-5 win over Sam Houston's Tyson Roach.  This was the two's sixth match of the season.  Reaux holds a 4-2 lead going into next week's Ken Cole Memorial at Comeaux High School in Lafayette, where they very feasibly will meet for the seventh and last time of their LHSAA careers.

Sophomores Richie Clementi of Brother Martin and Nicholas DiGeralamo have half of their goal in hand, with each winning their second LACL titles and with two more to go.

Two Division II wrestlers won championships, both from TC.  Alex Rozas started off his quest for four titles when the freshman defeated North Desoto freshman Jacob Kershaw in the finals.  He was followed by teammate Ethan Boudreaux, who got past his nemesis of last season, Southside's Wiley Boudreaux.  Division III champions were Luc Johnson of Basile at 152 lbs. and Ryan Fobbs of Erath at 285 lbs. 

Ketelsen Sportsmanship Award: Jesuit	Individual Weight Class Champions

The most unlikely winner was Airline's Danon Walker at 195 lbs.  Technically he was the 28th seed of 31 competitor, He defeated the fifth-seed, the 12th seed, the 13th seed, the 1st seed and the 3rd seed in the finals.

If there were a "Comeback of the Year" award I would give it to Isaac Dees of Caddo Magnate.  Dees won the Division II state championship in 2020 for North Desoto but placed fifth in 2021.  He lost a little interest in the sport when he transferred to Caddo Magnate, at which he was ineligible his junior year.  But as this year has progressed, so has Dees, according to his coaches, who say he is right where he needs to be.  In this event he was seeded seventh and used a first-round fall and a 15-1 Major Decision to get where seventh-seeds are supposed to go - against second seeds in the quarterfinals.  That Match was against Nicholas DiGeralamo, and the eventual champion defeated Dees 17-4 Major Decision.  After that Dees went on a tear.  His first consolation match was a fall over unseeded Zach Pellerin of Catholic in 2:52.  Then he defeated unseeded Sergio Houston of Zachry 10-0 Major Decision.  North Desoto's Lake Bates, also unseeded, gave Dees his hardest win so far, via 4-3 score.  Then Dees faced third-seeded Arthur Schott of Jesuit and won 12-7 in SV-1.

This tournament has a lot of stories which should not be attempted at 2:45 a.m.  That is when math gets really, really hard.  They will all be told, the ones I know about at least, in time.

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Outstanding Wrestler: Ernie Parry, III	Ernie Perry, III interviewed by Advocate sports writing legend Robin Fambrough

Top 10 Scores after Friday

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Top-six Placers

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When Coach Bofinger asks one to take a photograph, one complies

CONFUSED?

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