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Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Samuel Favaza	Michael Barnett	Anthony Oubre	Michael Finders	Alex Cook	Johnny Laris
School	Fontainebleau	Jesuit	Brother Martin	Airline	Hahnville	St. Amant
Seed	5	3	1	2	NS	4
Record	41-9	23-9	40-7	31-6	19-6	36-8
Class	10	9	9	10	9	12

Fontainebleau high school had not won a Division I state championship since Ethan Eisenhardt slipped past Lafayette's (and then Mizzou's) Rodrigo Diaz 3-2 in 2015.  Sophomore Samuel Favaza put an end to that with a fall over Jesuit's third-seeded Michael Barnett in 4:17. 

The Division I seeding committee might not have known what to do with Favaza.  He had not competed at 106 lbs. all season.  He did well at 113 lbs., winning the Bulldog Brawl at home, the Zachary Big Horse, the Titan Invitational and the St. Tammany Parish Championships.  His struggles came twice from De la Salle's Dylan Duvernay (D3 1st x2), Jesuit's Bodi Harris (D1 1st), Southside's Kael Reaux (x3), a split with Holy Cross' Vincent Vidacovich (D1 3rd) and an SV loss to Brusly's Braylin Poston (D3 5th).  He had no experience this season with any of his opponents in this event and the top four seeds did well competing the vast majority of their matches at 106 lbs.  All of Favaza's opponents were also freshman, save St. Amant veteran Johnny Laris, who was a senior.  Oubre was no ordinary freshman, as should be expected with the #1 seed, and after a Favaza takedown and three reversals, the two went into a Sudden Victory period.  A great Oubre shot was met with a better Favaza counter, which he turned into a pin by spladle with 29 seconds remaining.

The Blue Jay freshman Barnett, rather unbelievably, did not win a single tournament in the 2022-23 season.  He placed second at the Zachary Big Horse, third at the Warrior Open, the Border Wars (no small feat, that) and fifth at the Louisiana Classic.  Winning this match would have relieved a lot of Blue Jay angst.  But just getting there was enough to avoid a tie with Catholic.  Well, not at the time, as a lot of post-semifinals efforts helped just as much.  Unexpected things happened to the Blue Jays in this event.  Some could be viewed as negative, some as positive, while others could be viewed as "That just wasn't supposed to happen."  No matter how one views them, it worked.

Oubre wasted little time in earning third.  Less than three minutes, actually.

In December I recall telling Hahnville freshman Alex Cook, while he was helping breakdown the Tiger Clash, "Don't let the straps beat you," when he was having a little argument with the straps for the mats.  He won that argument eventually, albeit I imagine he forgot that I photographed it.  At the state championships the Hahnville freshman lost in the first round to second-seeded Michael Finders.  He then won four straight matches until falling to the top-seed Oubre in the consolation semifinals.  He faced the senior Laris in the match for fifth-place and won 7-2.  Do not expect Master Cook's first round match at the 2024 state championships to be against the number-two seed.  It well well may contain the number-two seed, though.

Early Championship Rounds

R1: (2) Michael Finders (AIR) pinned Alex Cook (HNV) in 2:50

R1: Micah Tran (CHL) pinned Kendall LeRay (BRD) in 1:11

R2: (7) Holden Wempren (EA) pinned Jack Gabel BR) in 0:23

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Quarterfinals

(1) Anthony Oubre (BM) pinned (8) Gavin Meadows (ZAC) in 1:36

(5) Samuel Favaza (FNT) defeated (4) Johnny Laris (StA) 6-1

(3) Michael Barnett (JES) pinned (6) Scott Cascio (StP) in 1:06

(2) Michael Finders (AIR) pinned (7) Holden Wempren (EA) in 2:00

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Semifinals

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Consolation Rounds

C2: Caleb Walker (SUL) pinned Drake Comeaux (ACA) in 2:33

C2: Brock Breaux (HC) defeated Caleb Walker (SUL) 10-6

C2: Alex Cook (HNV) defeated Scott Cascio (StP) 12-8

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Championship Consolation Rounds

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Finals

(5) Samuel Favaza of Fontainebleau pinned (3) Michael Barnett of Jesuit in 4:17 Jesuit freshman Michael Barnett was not supposed to be a big factor re the Division I team championship, but he became one when he won his semifinals match.  He looked to be more of one after taking down the fifth-seeded Fontainebleau sophomore Favaza.  But that only lasted about a minute.  Favaza escaped with two seconds remaining and owned the second two minutes 5-0, bringing a 6-2 lead into the final two minutes.  The memory of a true sexagenarian is suspect at best, but it could not have been, of all people, the Jesuit photographer who told the editor that Favaza was a "pinning machine," or something of that nature.  Whoever it was, 43 seconds into the last period Favaza scored a fall, and what might have been a Blue Jay cushion for the Division I championship was taken away.

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