WE ARE ADAPTIVE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

*  Some information on these events may be found below.

December 6th and 7th was a big weekend of wrestling.  In state events were held at Rayne, Catholic, Mandeville, Metairie Brusly and Bossier City.  Teams also entered out-of-state events in Tennessee and Florida.  And three wrestlers represented Louisiana well at the college level in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Trygg/Sara Memorial

The Trygg/Sara Memorial is held annually now at Rummel.  The Trygg Memorial is the oldest New Orleans area tournament still running, albeit with a hiccup or two due to COVID and the months in which it was held.    Honoring former East Jefferson head coach George Trygg, whose East Jefferson Warriors were the first public school team to win a Division I state championship, it was developed by former Grace King and now Bonnabel head coach Roberto Furtado in 1983, and was held at Grace King High School.   The Sam Sara Memorial was started circa 2004 to honor long-time Grace King coach Sam Sara.  It was started by Rummel coach Rod Cusachs to honor his wrestling coach at Grace King.  When Grace King was closed the two tournaments were merged.

The host Rummel Raiders won the event, outscoring runner-up Fontainebleau 198 to 152.5.  Northshore teams battled for third place, and it was Covington outscoring Slidell by three points - 123-120.  Hannan placed fifth.

1st Place Rummel Raiders

Fontainebleau placed second with 152.5 points.  Winning titles for the Bulldogs were Braden Sellars, Azeem Qaiser and Gabriel des desBordes.  Dustin Smith and Nicholas Stan were runners-up.

Slidell placed fourth with 120 points.  The Bengal Tigers had champions in Zander Hollis and Jayvier Hollis.  Matthew Pierce was a runner-up. The Bengal Tigers also dismissed any snobby nicknames from New Orleans, Metairie and Kenner people by dubbing themselves "The Dell."  There are too many Westbank teams for something like that to have worked collectively.  They will remain a term I will not divulge, albeit it is no secret.  And I am guilty of that, having attended a seriously snobby St. Martin's Episcopal.  We never fared very well when crossing the Huey P.  Actually, we rarely fared that well when leaving the campus, aside from the lovely November of 1980 night when we rolled Newman exquisitely.  Our punishment - we had to miss classes the following day to go Uptown and cleanup the mess we made.  Once done, it is a safe bet more cars went from Newman to Fat Harry's than back to school.

Outstanding Wrestler

Rummel junior Dominic Durham was voted the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.  Durham pinned all four of his opponents in times of 0:38, 1:04, 0:17 and 0:52.  Durham was a 2024 Division II state champion, placed third in 2025, and is well on his way to earning a second state title.  Durham is 16-0 with championships at the Gulf Coast Clash and the Swamp Owl 8ish.

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Mandeville Open

Teurlings Catholic held off Holy Cross to win the Mandeville Open.  The Rebels scored 183.5 points to the Tigers' 174. 

	Central's Jackson Ellis, shown with coach Dennis Parker, won the 150 lbs. weight class over Holy Cross' Garrett Chittendam.  He might wish it was over the Tigers' Robert Morse, but nothing builds confidence like a tournament win.
	Albany's Preston Shaffett and Will Bridges placed third at the Mandeville JV tournament.

Outstanding Wrestlers

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Pink Panther Invitational

[Left] The Walker girls team at the Pink Panther. [Right] Walker champion Willow Dixon with St. Amant champion Mikayla Byington.

Thirty-five teams had entrants in the 4th Annual Pink Panther Invitational, held at Brusly High school, in Brusly, Louisiana, last Saturday (December 6th).  That translated into 159 wrestlers.  The event has grown in popularity every year as it is the only "girls only" event held in Louisiana at present.

The Pink Panther's Growth over the years   In 2025 the tournament had 159 entrants. In 2024 the tournament had 138 entrants. In 2023 the tournament had 65 entrants. In 2022 the tournament had 44 entrants.

Mikayla Byington, believe it or not, won her first Outstanding Wrestler award.  None of her four matches took over a minute.  Her falls were in 0:18, 0:32, 0:59 and 0:47.  Mikayla's was for the lighter weights. For the less lighter weights, the OW award went to South Beauregard's Sarah Cervenka.  The Golden  Knight (Dame?) pinned her opponents in times of 0:20, 0:34 and 1:55.

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Acadiana Invitational

The Acadia Invitational, held on Saturday, December 6th, at Acadiana High School in Lafayette, was a chance to get matches under one's belt, albeit it individual awards were given. 

St. Thomas More may have fared better than the other teams, having three champions and three runners-up.  Acadiana had three champions and one runner-up, as did Southside.  Sulphur had two champions and three runners-up.

Outstanding Wrestlers

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Riot on the Red

Arkansas High School won the Ladies Riot on the Red, beating North Desoto 145 points to 120.  Two Texas teams scored over 80 points, and Parkway was in the fifth spot with 49 points.

On the boys side it was North Desoto placing first with 161.5 points.  C.E. Byrd was second with 138.5 points and Parkway was a close third with 133.5 points.

North Desoto Results

North Desoto Boys - 1st	North Desoto Girls - 2nd	Bryce Chambers - 1st	Abby Risinger - 1st	Ruth Webb - 1st

Outstanding Wrestlers

Jennings/McCrory/Petitjean Duals

Terrebonne won the Jennings/McCrory/Petitjean Duals held at Rayne High School in Rayne, LA.  In the pool rounds the Tigers defeated Basile 50-30 and Haughton 65-12.  In the championship bracket Terrebonne defeated the host Rayne (Black) team 53-27 and, in the finals, Lafayette 41-36.  Rayne (Black) placed third with a 43-29 victory over Sam Houston.

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South Walton Border Wars

After Friday's wrestling St. Paul was in the lead.  They sunk to a very respectable fourth after Saturday's competition was over. scoring 230 points.  Jesuit was fifth with 216 points.  The Blue Jay B team placed 14th with 88 points.  Jefferson, GA, won the event with 295 points.

St. Paul had two champions in Connor Ayala at 113 lbs. and Caleb Shartle at 190 lbs.  Oliver Scarpelli at 157 lbs. and John Martinez at 215 lbs. were runners-up for the Wolves.  Max Belsome at 132 lbs. and Quinn Anderson at 190 lbs. were runners-up for the Blue Jays.  Shartle defeated Anderson 14-7 in the 190 lbs. finals.  Matty Bennett, of the Jesuit B team, placed second at 106 lbs.  He defeated Jesuit's Jackson Landry 7-4 in the quarterfinals. 

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Catholic Duals

Pre-Catholic Duals Note

For these duals to mean anything more than just getting some mat time, East Ascension needs to beat Hoover, AL and St. Amant in the Round-Robin Pool A.  Catholic should win Round-Robin Pool B relatively easily.  Hoover is an unknown quantity.  St. Amant is not.  The Gators won the Spartan Classic by five points over the Spartans, but as is often the case, tournament results mean next to nothing re dual meet results.  When the Spartans and Gators meet, the Spartans should be favored at 106, 113, 138, 150, 165 and 285.  The Gators should be favored at 120, 157 and 175.  The 126 lbs. weight class leans toward the Gators, as might 144 lbs.  If Kent Pearson competes, then 190 lbs. goes to the Gators, leaving just 215 lbs. up for grabs.  To their detriment, the Spartans do not have a 132 lbs. entrant, but they do have two 126 lbs. entrants, so one of those two should bump up a weight.  This should be a very fun match to watch, even just via the cartoon-like figures on TW.

I do not like doing it, but I will be pulling for the Spartans.  Should they win, we should see the first of possibly many matches between Catholic's two-time defending Division I state champion Kristian Scott and EA's defending Division I state champion Braylon Stewart.  If I recall things correctly (which is always suspect) that match will be a battle of a supreme technician (Scott) vs. plain raw athleticism (Stewart).

Apres Catholic Duals

First of all I should clarify something.  I like pulling for East Ascension.  While coaching at Brother Martin Carlos Bertot loved telling me "You are in love with East Ascension."  Whatever my true feelings may be, I should not have written "I do not like doing it, but I will be pulling for the Spartans."  That was written solely because I wanted to see Catholic's Kristian Scott and East Ascension's Braylon Stewart meet for the first time this season.  Neither team is listed as entering the Trey Culotta and they do not have a dual meet scheduled, so we may not see that match until the Louisiana Classic.  Even that is not assured as we do not yet know what out-of-state teams will be competing which might have wrestlers who are just as good or better than Scott or Stewart.  That just bolsters my argument that, even though it was not intended to be one, the LACL is still the premier event in the state and should thus only should allow Louisiana teams to participate in it.

The Spartans came oh so close to making a Scott-Stewart a reality.  Each school won seven matches and each had six falls to their credit.  The difference in the 41-40 St. Amant victory was that in the two matches that were not decided by falls, St. Amant scored a technical fall whereas East Ascension only scored a major decision.  Had both matches been determined by TFs or MDs, it would become necessary to delve into the NFHS Tie-breaker System.  I am not going to delve into the actual matches re the criteria required to win the tie-breaking point, but it appears it would be criteria "h" - "The team having the greater number (total match points) of first point(s) shall be declared the winner.

Regardless, St. Amant won the match fairly, and Catholic demolished them in the finals match as they did to all other opponents.  The Bears defeated Baton Rouge 63-18, Prairieville 71-12, Dutchtown 54-12, Zachary 63-18, St. Thomas Catholic, TX 52-21 and then St. Amant 59-15 in the finals.  The Bears did so while giving up to 12 points per match due to forfeits, mainly at 285 lbs. as Michael Mouch, Joshua Shelton and Nolan Emmels were in football until Edna Karr knocked off the Bears 17-10 in the Division I Select football semi-finals.

The 52-15 win over St. Amant is a little misleading.  Twelve of the Gators' points came from forfeits.  This as a markedly different Bears team than the one they put against St. Amant on November 19th, a match won by the Gators 42-37.  Catholic also had to forfeit the 285 lbs. weight class due to the reasons listed previously.  The 11/19 Bears squad was without Caleb Kirk, Alec Sonnier, Mark Evans, Luke Brickey and Connor Dooley.  St. Amant's Josh Caronna won at 175 lbs. as Cooper Williams was at 190 lbs.  Last Saturday Williams dropped to 175 lbs. and defeated Caronna, the Spartan Classic champion, 14-6 MD.  Mind you, St. Amant is a very good team.  They won the Griffin Open and the Spartan Classic.  In dual meets, aside from their last one, they were undefeated again Baton Rouge, Walker, Mandeville, St. Martin, MS, Episcopal, Comeaux, Lafayette, Brusly, Chalmette, East Ascension, Hoover, AL and Live Oak.

Facing the Catholic team of early December was, well, a bit of a rude awakening as to how good the Bears will be in upcoming events.

I attempted to put together a 2026 state prediction article earlier this season.  Based on the information I had, which, granted, was not as in-depth as I used to do, Catholic wound up fifth.  I shared that with someone who is privy to a lot more information than am I, and he had Catholic winning the 2026 LHSAA State Division I Championships.  Now I am beginning to see why.

Stewart Schay Black Horse Invitational

Two Louisiana schools sent teams to the Stuart Schay Black Horse Invitational at Sam Houston High School in Germantown, Tennessee.  Brother Martin goes every year, and wins it as often as not, but they only managed to place eighth this time.  Walker sent a team for the first time.  The Wildcats placed 15th but had a champion in Chris Godso, III at 285 lbs.  Two other Wildcats placed in the top-eight.  The Crusaders had a runner-up in Scott Cascio and fourth-place finishes by William Fontenot and Quinn McDermott.  Five other Crusaders placed in the top-eight.

Walker's Chris Godso was the only Louisiana wrestler to take home a Black Horse championship.  Godso, seeded fourth, won his first match in 1:25 and his second in 2:14.  He decisioned the fifth seed 11-6 and then pinned his semifinals opponent, the #1 seed, in 2:56.  Having enough of the second period, and much more so the third period, Godso reverted back to a first period fall over the #3 seed in 1:34.

Brother Martin Results

Walker Results

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Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational

There was definitely a taste of Louisiana at the 2025 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.  But it was a bad taste for wrestlers from California (three), New Jersey, West Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland, Illinois and Oklahoma.

Evan Frost, seeded first ranked #3 in the FloWrestling NCAA Division I rankings, beat a Cal Poly kid 6-0, followed that with a 6-1 over a Princeton Tiger and then scored an 11-2 major decision over a West Virginia opponent.  In the finals, Evan Frost's opponent, Kyler Larkin of Arizona State, forfeited for medical reasons. 

Jacob Frost, seeded third and ranked #4 in the FloWrestling NCAA Division I rankings, teched a Sacred Heart (Connecticut) kid 15-0 in less than two minutes, followed that with a 9-1 major decision over a Navy opponent and then dispatched the #6 seed from Stanford 4-3.  Jacob's opponent in the consolation finals forfeited for medical reasons.  Jacob, forfeited his consolation finals match for medical reasons also.  He was ii for the Iowa State-Iowa dual meet the week earlier.

Spencer Lanosga, seeded third and ranked #10 in the FloWrestling NCAA Division I rankings, defeated an opponent from Northwester 8-3, then teched a Stanford kid 19-2 and pulled out a gutsy 7-2 win over the sixth seed from Oklahoma.  Spencer lost his consolation semifinals match to an Arizona State wrestler and forfeited his fifth-place match for medical reasons.

California Baptist College is in the tournament but Richie Clementi is not their 141 lbs. entrant.  I shall not mention why as I do not know what college spies might read my articles.  I will venture it is an act of mercy on Clementi's part, because if he was competing, that might make the event way too spicy for the rest of the nation's palate.

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