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WE ARE ADAPTIVE

WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

Friday at the Culotta

December 19th, 2025| Written by: Staff writer

NOTE: This page will be updated as the day goes on.

3 p.m.

Upon briefly perusing the pool rounds of the Trey Culotta Invitational, one weight class stands alone as far as Louisiana wrestlers are concerned. That would be the 132 lbs. weight class. The top seeds in the four pools are Fontainebleau's Braden Sellers, Brother Martin's Scott Cascio, Blaise Watson of Teurlings Catholic and Anthony Oubre of Holy Cross. These four gentlemen have pasts (read into that what you will).

Sellers defeated Cascio 17-12 on December 13th in the Zachary Big Horse finals. Last season each had a win over the other. Sellers dominated Cascio 18-9 MD in the St. Tammany Parish Championships. Two weeks later Cascio mauled Sellers via a 17-1 TF in the state championship quarterfinals. Sellers placed sixth at State. Cascio won his second state title in as many tries.

Oubre defeated Cascio 14-4 MD in the 2024 Griffin Open finals. Oubre placed third at 126 lbs. at the state championships. In the semifinals of the 2023 Spartan Invitational, Oubre defeated Sellers 6-2. Sellers placed sixth at State at 120 lbs. Oubre won State at 113 lbs. with a "fat man's roll." That is just not supposed to happen.

Sellers defeated Watson via a fall in 3:44 in last year's Trey Culotta quarterfinals.

Oubre is the only one of the four who is undefeated in the 2025-26 season. I am giving him "the nod" at the beginning, but I have yet to look at any Culotta Friday results.

OK - Looking at results now.

At 120 lbs. 14th-seed Dominik Baxter of Pace, FL defeated #3 seed Pierce Ritchey of St. Thomas Catholic, TX 18-3 TF.

At 132 lbs. Sellars, Cascio, Watson and Oubre all won their first two pool matches.

There were two upsets at 150 lbs. Daniel Jarreau of Brother Martin, the 11th--seed, defeated #3 John Junkin of Vestavia Hills, AL, 6-3. The #4 seed, Landon Ardeneaux of Covington, fell to the 12th-seed Hunter Peoples of South Gadsen, AL, in 1:23. Junkin lost his Round 2 match in 1:09 to the 19th-seed Cole McMillin of Houston H.S., TX.

At 165 lbs. Teurlings Catholic's Kaleb Sonnier, the 19th-seed, defeated the #3 seed Finn Ferraro of Holy Innocents, GA in 0:36.

At 190 lbs. the #4 seed, will Callahan of St. Thomas Catholic, TX, fell in 1:12 to the 12th-seeded Bradley Spicer of Vancleave, MS.

OK - I will wait to give updates should I deem them of interest.

9:30 p.m.

Only two weight classes contained significant upsets.

At 138 lbs. #7 Caden Myers of Covington pinned #2 Ryan Mckelvey of Vestavia Hills 2:36.

At 150 lbs. #8 William Jewell of Teurlings Catholic defeated top-seed Keith Hodge of Brother Martin 9-3, and #7 Dominic Ruggieri of Southside defeated #2 Nicholas Stan of Fontainebleau 14-2 MD.

In the team standings after Friday's matches, Vestavia Hills, AL, leads Brother Martin by six points, 153-147. Teurlings Catholic is third with 129.5 points, followed by St. Thomas Catholic, TX (118.5). St. Thomas More (116), Holy Cross (113.5) and Houston High School, TX (100.5) were the remaining school left who scored over 100 points.

One should expect the Crusaders to take the lead early on Saturday, and then to not look back. Vestavia Hills brought 13 wrestlers, but only 11 point scorers. Brother Martin has 26 entrants. Granted, only 14 of them are designated point scorers, but the other 12, well, they are Brother Martin wrestlers. They have great coaching and great practice partners. A second-string team of Brother Martin wrestlers could be the first string at any number of schools - not so much the major Division I powerhouse Catholic schools, nor, say, Division II powerhouses like Teurlings Catholic, St. Thomas More or North Desoto, but it would still be a formidable squad. While the second-string Crusaders do not score any points of their own, in winning matches they keep other teams from scoring points. It is a pretty substantial "home field advantage," but four other teams brought more than 14 grapplers. And it is a smart move to get the younger...wait...age rarely makes a difference these days...less experienced wrestlers a chance to face some very good competition.

Doors open to the public on Saturday at 7 a.m. Wrestling should start at 9 a.m. with the finals slated for around 2:30 p.m. Admission on Saturday is $15, with kids 5 and under free.

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