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Jesuit at Holy Cross Wednesday, January11th, 2024 Holy Cross High School 5500 Paris Road New Orleans, Louisiana 6 p.m.

A couple of teams that performed spectacularly last week will meet in a dual meet on Wednesday. Last Wednesday, January 3rd, the Holy Cross Tigers went to Brother Martin and dominated the Crusaders 43-16.  Last weekend Jesuit eked past Teurlings Catholic by four points to win the 47th Ken Cole Memorial.  Both teams have a slew of wrestlers who should go far in the state championships.  Hence, as much as a dual meet can, it could be considered a good indicator of how the teams will do come February. 

The real benefit of this dual meet is its effect on how wrestlers may be seeded for next weekend's Louisiana Classic and then at the LHSAA State Wrestling Championships in Bossier.

Well, that could be a benefit of this match, but odds are it really may mean very little.  What is postulated below means even less.  If I asked Holy Cross coach George Benoit and Jesuit coach Jonathan Orillion for the lineups they intend to use, they would probably acquiesce.  But I am not going to ask them to do that as I would not be able to publish this until about 4 p.m. on Wednesday.  Or they could tell me "No," questioning my integrity (" i n t e g r i t y" - OK...I use it so little I needed to check the spelling) and crushing any self-worth I may have attained over the past decade.

So, I decided to go with what worked for them last week.  I am using the scorers Jesuit used at the Ken Cole and the lineup the Tigers used against Brother Martin.  I added Jose Rincon to fill the 126 lbs. weight class for Jesuit, meaning no disrespect for Jude DeGruy, who went 2-2 at the event and scored 6.5 points.  Without those points at 126 lbs. the Blue Jays would have placed second to Teurlings Catholic.  I also added Vincent Vidacovich for the Tigers at 120 lbs., a weight class Holy Cross forfeited against Brother Martin. 

If the estimated lineups below are somewhat correct, then I have to think Jesuit is the favorite in this match.  I only found one head-to-head match that was won by a Tiger but I found five won by Blue Jays, as well as another Blue Jay win if the weight classes are adjusted that way.  And it is worth noting that I have no notes for 215 lbs. and 285 lbs.  Should things be close near the end of the weight classes, Jackson Calderaro and Spencer Lanosga are good to have at the end.

I have mentioned several times that the Tigers are a young team, and that they may be the favorites to win a Division I team championship in 2025.  The Tiger lineup below has each wrestler being in the 10.71 grade.  That is akin to being in the part of a geometry class in which one wants to tell the teacher, "OK, we understand proofs now!  Can we do something else?"

Jesuit's lineup is much closer to each kid being a junior.  No more are they sophomores who might give freshmen a "break" as they were freshmen a mere year ago.  Now it is about aligning followers from the soon-to-be new freshmen and sophomores.  The juniors weald the true power.  Seniors have much more important things to do (well, they think they do, at least).

The point is that while Holy Cross is a young team, Jesuit is pretty young also.

Possible Dual Meet Lineups

*    There is some serious doubt about Tiger 8th-grader Michael Klein being in 8th-grade.  Some have accused him of being in 7th-grade.  Someone might want to consult with some Little League baseball authorities to check his birth certificate.

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