WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA
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WE ARE ADAPTIVE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA |
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| 2025 State championships preview |
| August 3rd, 2024| Written by: Staff writer |
Have you really
nothing better to do?
This preview is brought to you by:
In a nutshell, these calculation will "go wrong" first:
Division I: Holy Cross 323.5; Jesuit 315.5; Brother Martin 214
Division II: North Desoto 366; Teurlings Catholic 360.5
Division III: Basile 241; John Curtis 140; De la Salle 130
Granted, I do not. It takes
a lot longer to read TrackWrestling results as my abilities have been
curtailed, "with extreme prejudice," of late.
You will (or should!) find multiple errors in speeling,
punctuation; lojic.
The 2025 state
championships should come down to a one-number difference between the
champions and runners-up in Division I and Division II.
In Division III there is definitely an advantage for one team.
I will start there.
But first, a word on math.
[LEFT]:
Jerry Ziesmer said the
famous line from Apocalypse Now, not Martin Sheen, Harrison
Ford or G.D. Spradlin.
Division III
It was bad enough for the rest of Division III that Basile’s potential 11 returning 2024 state tournament wrestlers averaged 15.36 points, which was 5.36 higher than Curtis. Plus, all 11 Bearcat wrestlers made their way onto the podium in 2024. Dropping two wrestlers from that Basile line-up to equal the number that can return for John Curtis and De la Salle just makes it worse. The Bearcats then averaged 17.22 points per wrestler.
Only five defending state champions will be
back to defend their titles, Basile sophomore Logan Bergeron, junior
Joseph Gilreath of Evangel, senior Malachi Benetrix of De la Salle,
senior Bryce Fontenot of South Beauregard and senior Konnor Burch of
Springfield. One should not
forget A.J. Johnson of John Curtis who won a Division III title in 2023.
[LEFT]: Springfield's 2024 Division III OW Konnor Burch.
[RIGHT]: Evangel's Joseph Gilreath and coach John Tademy.
That approximates a score of 241 points.
John Curtis is well behind with an estimated score of 140.
The estimate for De la Salle is 130.
John Curtis and De la Salle will be the Division III race to watch for
the runner-up spot.
I
have to go with Basile 1st, John Curtis 2nd and De la
Salle 3rd in Division III.
Division II
With
apologies to Rummel, Shaw and St. Thomas More, this is a two-team race between
the defending champion North Desoto (ND) Griffins and the defending runner-up
Teurlings Catholic (TC) Rebels.
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| The 2024 Division II state champion North Desoto Griffins |
When I did the math a second time I had each team averaging 26.125 points per wrestler returning from the 2024 state championships. That rather fired me up about the race, but then I saw the error of my ways (a much smaller error than my spending this much time on a stage-four weak mathematical observation). When I redid the math TC’s average points scored became 25.75 per wrestler. ND stayed at 26.125.
Each
team returns four 2024 state champions.
ND has
junior Dalton Compton, who is halfway to becoming a four-time Division II state
champion. Then they have senior
Caden Burns, senior Chase Smart and freshman Hayden Bell, who has the first leg
of becoming a four-time state champion completed.
If I had to pick a sure bet to repeat it would be Compton.
Burns is close, but 285 lbs. is a weight class in which recovery from a
minor mistake is extremely hard.
TC
returns juniors Alex Rozas and Braedon Simoneaux who, like Compton, already
posses two titles. Neither of them
were defeated by Louisiana wrestlers in the 2023-24 season.
Compton,
however, cannot make that claim. At
the Louisiana Classic (LACL) he fell to Dutchtown’s Cole Gros 5-2 and to Brother
Martin’s Jacob Elsensohn 5-4 SV. No
slouches there, at all.
Elsensohn has graduated and while Gros is headed into his senior year, Dutchtown
is in Division I. Burns also cannot
say that as he fell to East Ascension’s Damarcus Johnson in 0:59 at the LACL.
(He also fell to Jesuit’s Spencer Lanosga, but is anyone really going to
count that?)
TC also
has defending state champions in freshman Carter Macha (like ND's Bell, Macha
has the first of a potential four Division II state championships under his
belt, a feat his coach and father Brad Macha did for Redemptorist from
1992-1995) and 2024 Division II OW Pike Landry.
And it should not be forgotten that senior Rebel Brennan Romero, a
runner-up in 2023 and 2024, won a Division II championship in 2022 over Kaiden
Triche.
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| Landon Monica and Bryce Latino | Dominic Durham and Jacob Kershaw | Kaiden Triche and Nathan Adams | Caleb Lavine | Dalton Compton |
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| Hayden Bell | Chase Smart | Carter Matcha | Pike Landry | Caden Burns |
Division
II may come down to two guys who, in five finals matches, have yet to win one.
ND’s
Jacob Kershaw lost to Alex Rozas in 3:33 in 2023 and then to Rummel’s Dominic
Durham 3-1 in 2024. 2025 will not
be any easier – Kershaw has to go through a minefield.
Durham will probably be wrestling a few weight classes higher than
Kershaw, but Kershaw still has Rozas, possibly Lakeshore’s Bryce Latino (if his
parents feed him) and Rummel’s Kaiden Triche to worry about.
There is another Rummel kid named Landon Monica who might grow as well.
If Kershaw grows a lot then he may face
Durham or even Sam Houston’s Caleb Lavine.
In three
Division II championship finals matches TC’s Brandt Babineaux lost to ND’s
Daniel Oliver 7-6 in 2022, 3-1 SV to Compton in 2023 and 1-0 to Chase
Smart in 2024. If Babineaux grows,
as high school kids are wont to do, someone else at TC has to move also.
After the Smart-Babineaux match TC won three titles in-a-row by kids who
are returning.
The above could be interpreted as putting too much pressure on Kershaw or Babineaux. It is not. If the championship comes down to one of them winning or losing a match, that is just what too many people will remember. If a fault exists it is that of several kids who did not make the finals and did not get a TF or a fall, or lost matches they should have one. A team championship never comes down to the actions of one member of a 14-member wrestling team.
All I have to go on are the numbers I know to be absolutely useless
albeit meticulously calculated: North Desoto 1st, Teurlings Catholic
2nd in a single-digit spread.
That,
friends, is still a toss-up.
Division I
This is also a two-team race between the two-time defending champion Jesuit Blue Jays and the defending runner-up Holy Cross Tigers. Yet I am not throwing Brother Martin “under the bus” just yet
The 2024 Division I State Champion Jesuit Blue
Jays
The Crusaders, who finished third in 2024, have defending state champion Rory Horvath and three-time defending champion Richie Clementi. They also return three third-place finishers in Noah Confident, Matthew Graffagnini (have I mentioned I coached his father at St. Martin’s?) and Trey Trainor. They also have Ethan Simmons, who placed fifth in 2024 but second in 2023. To go home with a Brother Melchior Cup or a runner-up plaque will require a lot of Crusaders to “step it up,” and score every potential bonus point, as well as the help of many others: Southside’s Kael Reaux, Airline’s Danon Walker, Kristian Scott of Catholic, Ozias Gray and Caden Richard of Acadiana, Cooper Reagan of Benton, Cole Gros of Dutchtown, Scott Casio and Jackson Peak of St. Paul and Leeland Webb of Chalmette. Kye Karcher will be a senior at Walker this year as will Samuel Favaza, a 2023 Division I state champion for Fontainebleau.
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| Kristian Scott | Cole Gros | Kye Karcher, Anthony Oubre and Samuel Favaza | Leeland Webb | Scott Casio and Jackson Peak |
Not all
of them have to knock-off Tiger and Blue Jay wrestlers, but 75% might be needed
for Brother Martin to take some hardware home.
Based on last year’s results the Crusaders need 27.5 points to place
second and 72 points to win. That
is a lot to wish for, I know, but new coach Nick Shields and new assistant coach
Paul Klein will not leave anyone unprepared.
Additionally, nobody knows exactly what the Crusaders have in their
coffers.
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That leaves Jesuit and Holy Cross. Initially I had Jesuit ahead in points per returning wrestlers 22.55 to 20.36.
Yet, when I reduced Holy Cross’ 11 returning
wrestlers to nine, to match what Jesuit will
return, the Tigers pulled ahead 23.11 to 22.55.
That is a margin of less than one point.
Nobody gets to make a mistake unless they are positive that someone else
will unexpectedly see to superseding their seeding.
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The Tigers have been moving up over the last few
years. In 2022 they place seventh and scored 123 points, which was139.5
points behind champion Brother Martin.
The following year they placed fourth with 216.5 and lost to the
champion Blue Jays, In
2024 they placed second to he Blue Jays again, scoring 275.5 points,
which was 44.5 points below Jesuit.
To win this year the Tigers have to prevent Blue Jays from
scoring as much as they can.
Jesuit will have some kids threatening to do better than they
were expected, so disregard the estimated team scores.
Holy Cross returns four 2024 state champions in
Anthony Oubre (being held), Gunner Guidry, Nick DiGeralamo,
who is seeking his third Division I championship and Landon
Smith. (No, it will not be apocalyptic if Holy Cross defeats Jesuit in 2025. Yet does anyone think I could pass that up?) |
One
thing the Tigers must make sure of is that Gunner Guidry is not seeded first.
Over the years Master Guidry has shown total disdain for seeding and the
work of seeding committees. It
generally results in Guidry faring much better than his seeding projected he
would - the young man thrives on upsets.
He cannot upset anyone if he is seeded first.
That’s just a rule!
Then there is Jesuit, those pesky Blue Jays of which I have always said that if they win Division I, all is right with the world. Please know that I like Holy Cross immensely. When I wrestled Ed Kavanaugh was the Tigers’ coach, and he coached Keith Hosli, who coached me at St. Martin’s as a junior and senior.
I used
to say Jesuit got 25 points just for showing up at the state tournament.
That just meant that a few Blue Jays went much farther in the state
tournament than expected. Last
season’s state tournament was no different.
Of the Blue Jays who placed, they placed five places higher than they
were expected to do. That is not
very pertinent as the Tigers placed seven spots higher than they were seeded.
For
Jesuit Bodi Harris was seeded first in
2024, as was the 2023 finalist Michael Barnett.
Of their runners-up, Harris Treuting was seeded second, but their three
other finalists were not expected to make the finals.
J.P. Webre and Isaac Orillion were seeded third.
Jose Rincon was seeded fifth.
That is one factor that might make it more difficult for the Blue Jays
runners-up to make the finals again.
The other is that, of the kids who defeated a Blue Jay in the finals,
every one of them is eligible to return in the 2024-25 season.
Harris,
a senior, will lead the Blue Jays as he goes for his third Division I
championship. Harris, though, is
the only defending state champion Jesuit will have.
They lost the services of Jackson Calderaro and Spencer Lanosga.
Those two each scored 34 points and their combined 68 points is larger
than the 45.5 margin the Blue Jays had over the Tigers when 2024 was officially
over.
This
should also be a single-digit race for the championship.
History says to go with the Blue Jays in situations like this.
Yet, when one has a team like the
returning Tigers and coaches like George Benoit and Richie Dixon, I have to pick
the Tigers. The numbers have the
Tigers winning 323.5 to 315.5. I
have to give the Tigers the nod, but I do not see them winning by eight points.
I think it will be closer.
Addendum
The editor thanks you for spending the time to read this article albeit it has absolutely no redeeming value. You could have cooked a meal, read a Dr. Seuss book, gone for a run or mowed my lawn. In the "grand scheme" of things nothing I have written (that I can remember) has been intended or expected to sway policies one way or the other. I never expected coaches or the LHSAA to act upon my suggestions. I think, well, actually, I have been told by several kids that some of the things I wrote or just told them at events helped them a tad in their endeavors of this sport. I am extremely proud of that. Perhaps I need to redefine my definition of the "grand scheme."
I have mentioned this before, though, and it applies to everyone, but more so to some particular individuals. First is Brother Martin's Richie Clementi, who is seeking to become the fourth wrestler to win four Division I state championships and whom I have considered the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the state for the last two seasons; next comes TCs Alex Rozas and Braedon Simoneaux, and North Desoto's Dalton Compton, who are halfway toward four Division II state championships; lastly to Jesuit's Bodi Harris and Holy Cross' Nicholas DiGeralamo, who are seeking their third Division I championships, and to Rummel's Kaiden Triche who is seeking his third Division II championship, heed the following (and know the grammatical errors are for emphasis):
STATE owes nuthin' to nobody.
The targets on your backs are larger than they were in the 2023-24 season. Every one of your competitors has one thing in common: they have nothing to lose when wrestling against you. At practices, y'all have to work harder than you did last season. It is not enough to tell your coaches and teammates that you have 30 more seconds of spin drills or leg drives in you. That's a given. Y'all need to get others who have not tasted your successes to push you for 30 more seconds, if only to guarantee their success.
And you have to tell them to never start counting the lights on the ceiling.
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