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The Brother Martin Crusaders won their fourth consecutive Trey Culotta Invitational by 19 points over surprise runner-up St. Thomas More.  The Crusaders scored 275 points to the Cougars' 256.  Actually, determining who would take home the runner-up trophy was very much a four team race.  The difference between runner-up St. Thomas More and the fifth-place Teurlings Catholic Rebels was only eight and 1/2 points.  Vestavia Hills, AL placed third with 254 points.  Holy Cross placed fourth with 251 points and they were followed by Teurlings Catholic's 247.5 points.

1st: Brother Martin Crusaders	2nd: St. Tomas More Cougars

A lot of things could have happened, but did not.  TC's Alex Rozas was in Delaware placing third in the Beast of the East.  Were he at the Culotta he probably would have won the 120 lbs. weight class, being that he had already teched Southside's Zane Blanchard.  Antonio Femmer placed 12th at 120 lbs. and scored four team points.  Weight class winners scored as much as 40+ points.  Rozas would have to score only 33 points for the Rebels to top the Crusaders.

James2 Casadabans	Dr. Van and Mimi. Culotta	Fontainebleau's Coach Justin Wooley	Mrs. Reeves filming one of Ryle's matches

But, one can only wrestle those who show up, and that means St. Thomas More earned their runner-up status via their five champions and one runner-up.  Brother Martin did not have the services of 2025 fourth-place winner Joshua Lara.  In the consolation semifinals of the 2025 Ken Cole Invitational, Lara destroyed Southside's Dominic Ruggieri, the 150 lbs. Culotta champion, via an 18-0 technical fall.  Hence, the Crusaders might have scored at least 15 more points, negating the chance of Teurlings Catholic to win the event.

Individual Champions

106  Pounds	113 Pounds	120 Pounds	126 Pounds	132 Pounds	138 Pounds	144 Pounds
Lee Gervais Holy Cross	William Fontenot Brother Martin	Zane Blanchard Southside	London Ford Spain Park, AL	Braden Sellers Fontainebleau	Foster Peterson St. Thomas More	Jonas Rebstock St. Thomas More

150 Pounds	157 Pounds	165 Pounds	175 Pounds	190 Pounds	215 Pounds	285 Pounds
Dominic Ruggeri Southside	Enzo Lopez St. Thomas More	Bradley Williams Spain Park, AL	Rylee Reeves Holy Cross	Jules Deshotels St. Thomas More	Jordan Sherrod Vancleave, MS	Italo Chavarria- Mendez - Slidell

Outstanding Wrestler Jordan Sherrod, Vancleave, MS The Vancleave senior's pool rounds were decided by a 10-2 major decision and a fall in 1:27.  In the championship bracket he won his quarterfinal match 3-1.  His semifinals match was a 7-3 decision and he won the finals match 7-0

FloW Brackets

Boys Final Team Results

Finals Matches

106 Pounds Lee Gervais (HC) pinned Nico Bobian (PAC) in 5:25 The scrappy Holy Cross eighth-grader improved his record to 27-3.  The first period went to Bobdian who scored a takedown, suffered a reversal from Gervais, but then escaped with just over one minute.  Bobdian led 4-2 going into the second period.  That was the first and only good news for the Vestavia Hills wrestler.  In the last four minutes Bobdian only managed two escape points.  Gervais, however, scored an escape, three takedowns and seven nearfall points.  After his last takedown Gervais recorded a fall in 5:25.

113 Pounds William Fontenot (BM) pinned Russell Maturin (TC) in 2:38 Opening up a big lead is great, but, as will be seen below at 126 lbs. and 190 lbs., it guarantees nothing.  Fontenot's decided that would not happen in his finals match. He just scored a fall to avoid going to the third period.  Fontenot's 10 points in the first period came from taking down Maturin three times and a penalty point.  Maturin only managed two escape points during the match.

120 Pounds Zane Blanchard (SS) defeated Dominik Baxter (PAC) 18-3 TF Upon entering the Trey Culotta, Pace sophomore Dominik Baxter was 10-0.  Unfortunately, he was facing Southside's defending state champion Zane Blanchard.  Blanchard was 23-0.  Okay, he was really 23-1.  But that one loss should not make anyone think less of Blanchard.  The loss was to Teurlings Catholic's Alex Rozas by a technical fall.  One might notice that Rozas was not at the Culotta.  Instead, he was in Newark, Delaware placing third at the Beast of the East.  The week before that Rozas placed fifth at the Walsh Ironman Tournament.  Baxter should be proud that he was able to score a takedown, Even though, it was his only three points he would score.  Blanchard, however, scored three takedowns, two four-point nearfall and two escapes.

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126 Pounds London Ford (SP) defeated Behzod Rakhmatov (StC) 14-13 This was a heartbreaking match.  After the first four minutes Ford was ahead 7-4.  The third period started with Ford giving up an escape point and then Rakhmatov soring a takedown to make the score 8-7.  Ford scored another takedown to increase his lead to 11-7.  Then the penalty points took over the match.  Ford was awarded two points, while Rakhmatov was awarded six points.  However, Rakhmatov forgot, was not told or did not one of the penalty points was awarded in his favor.  He still thought he was behind by one point, and hence let Ford escape.  Rakhmatov learned of his error too late to remedy it.

132 Pounds Braden Sellers (FNT) defeated Scott Cascio (BM) 3-2 This was the fourth time that these two vied against each other.  In the 2024-25 season they split their two matches.  Sellers first defeated Sellers, but Cascio defeated Sellers in the State Championships.  This season they had one match before the Culotta, which was won by Sellers 17-2 TF.  This match was much closer, and was not decided until about 10 seconds remained in he third period when Sellers earned a takedown.  Cascio only managed an escape and a penalty point.  Be confidant that Cascio knows nobody will score 17 points on him again.

138 Pounds Foster Peterson (StMo) defeated Damien Apointe (HOU) 4-0 Peterson scored a takedown in the first period, but it really was not necessary.  Peterson stifled all scoring attempts by Apointe and really just needed the one point for an escape in the third period.  Apointe, though deserves a lot of recognition.  Only one wrestler held Peterson to a score below that of a major decision.  That was Dustin Eppinett of Dutchtown, whom Peterson beat 7-1.

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144 Pounds Jonas Rebstock (StMo) defeated Quinn McDermott (BM) 9-4 Three takedowns beats four escapes every time.  Rebstock was never not in control of this match, scoring one takedown in the first period and two in the second period.  McDermott was only able to score escape points in the first two periods.  Rebstock then rode-out McDermott for the entirety of the third period.

150 Pounds Dominic Ruggieri (SS) pinned William Jewell (TC) in 1:56 The Southside senior Ruggieri had faced Jewell, the junior from Teurlings Catholic, once before.  In the McMillan finals Ruggieri scored a takedown and four nearfall points, making the score 7-0 before pinning Jewell in 0:59.  This time, though, Jewell scored the first takedown after 1:24 had elapsed in the first period..  After that, it was rather a carbon copy of the first match.  The only difference was that Ruggieri traded one nearfall point for an escape point, again scoring seven points prior to earning a fall in 1:56.

157 Pounds Enzo Lopez (StMo) defeated Matthew Krail (HC) 7-5 Krail, a senior, scored the first four points of the match.  After that, the Tiger only scored when awarded a penalty point just as the match ended.  In the second and third periods, Lopez scored two takedowns and an escape, resulting in a 7-5 win.

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165 Pounds Bradley Williams (SP) defeated Jonah Little (HOU) 20-5 TF Spain Park's William Bradley is ranked #12 in the nation.  In the pool rounds he scored four falls.  In the championship rounds, one has to think he showboated a little, winning his two matches by technical falls after accepting a medical forfeit in the quarterfinals round.  Showboating or not, Bradley was fun to watch.  In the finals, Bradley scored five takedowns, allowing Little four escapes.  In the second period Bradley reversed Little, let him go, and took him down again to claim a 20-5 TF one second before the match's three-minute halfway point.

175 Pounds Rylee  Reeves (HC) defeated Zach Cestia (StMo) 4-1 These two met earlier, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.  Well, the "long time ago" is actually six weeks and the "galaxy far, far away" is just Baton Rouge.  But they did meet in the finals of the Warrior Open in which  Reeves scored a 4-2 victory.  In that match a takedown by Reeves was enough to win the match, but he tacked on an escape point in the final period.  More importantly, Reeves only allowed Cestia to score two escape points, both in the second period.  In the rematch in the Culotta, Reeves allowed Cestia to escape, making it a 1-1 match.  Whether in the third round or a sudden victory round, a takedown would most likely determine the winner of the match.  With only nine seconds remaining, Reeves scored a takedown to win the match 4-1.

190 Pounds Jules Deshotels (StMo) pinned Carter Macha (TC) in 5:05 As alluded to in the 113 lbs. weight class, big leads do not mean anything if they cannot be held over six minutes.  Carter  Macha of Teurlings Catholic defeated St. Thomas More's Jules Deshotels 10-9 in the Jacob McMillan finals.  The match being that close may have been a result of a good Teurlings Catholic football season, which ended on November 28th.  Macha was a linebacker on that team, which defeated Bonnabel 55-22 before falling to John Curtis 21-7 in the state quarterfinals.  Six days later Macha found himself a #1 seed at the Trey Culotta.  Macha breezed past his quarterfinal and semifinal matches in 1:35.  That setup a finals match against Deshotels, who also pinned his way into the finals.  It seemed like Macha just needed a few more matches "under his belt" to "come into his own."  And all signs pointed in that direction.  After two periods Macha built a 7-0 lead on two takedowns and an escape.  But in the third period, the undefeated 10-0 senior failed to score anything offensive.  His two escapes were forced on him by Deshotels, who started the third period in the neutral position and was taken down in 11 seconds.  Believing Macha could not take him down, Deshotels controlled the entire third period and was able to tie the match 9-9, and after his last takedown Deshotels recorded a fall in 5:05.

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215 Pounds Jordan Sherrod (VC) defeated Alex Diaz (BM) 7-0 The 215 lbs. finals was a repeat of one of Sherrod's pool matches, a 12-0 MD win over Brother Martin's Alex Diaz.  Diaz did a little better than in the first match, but he was still shut-out7-0.  Sherrod was voted the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.

285 Pounds

Jayvier Hollis (SLI) won via forfeit

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