Fini

The glorified paperweights the editor give out each year go to the wrestlers the editor believes had the best overall season, neither discounting nor overemphasizing their showing at the state championships.  Nobody is going to convince Byrd's Cameron Vaughn's that he did not have the best championship weekend of anyone, but his record was a little sketchy before that weekend.  Only in rare cases does one tournament define a whole season.  Oft times a disclaimer is used for Division II and III wrestlers who wrestle down a weight class for the Louisiana Classic, as that is where they would want to be were they in the Division I state championships.  A disclaimer was not really needed this year as the Division II and Division III winners all had very justifiable cases.

NOTE:  The glorified paperweights are not ready yet.  Something is going around, I believe.

106 Pounds Ernie Perry, III: Freshman - Airline 30-0   First-place at the Warrior Open, the Riot on the Red, the Arlington-Martin Warrior Open, the Lone Survivor, the Louisiana Classic and the Division I State Championships.  His sole loss was in the Mid-America Nationals in which he placed 3rd.  Perry was all but unknown to south Louisiana wrestlers until he dominated the then favorites at the Louisiana Classic. 113 Pounds Evan Frost: Sophomore - Holy Cross - 43-1 Evan Frost lost only one match this season, and that was in the Kansas City Stampede in which he placed third.  He won two other out-of-state events, the Gulf Coast Clash and the South Walton Border Wars.  In Louisiana he won the Brusly 8, the Jacob McMillan Memorial, the Battle of New Orleans, the Louisiana Classic and the Catholic League District Championships, prior to his second Division I state championships. 120 Pounds Jacob Frost: Sophomore - Holy Cross - 41 - 2 Like his brother Evan, Jacob's only losses came at the Kansas City Stampede, in which he placed fourth.  He also won the Gulf Coast Clash (and OW award) and the South Walton Border Wars.  And like Evan he won the Brusly 8, the Jacob McMillan Memorial, the Battle of New Orleans, the Louisiana Classic and the Catholic League District Championships, prior to his second Division I state championships. 126 Pounds Raheem Bonnet: Senior - Archbishop Shaw - 38-1 For state seeding purposes, Bonnet was 38-3.  Were he not so stubborn, he could have been 38-0 (as the editor tabulates records).  Leading 4-2 in the LA Classic semifinals, he tried to win but could not, forfeiting his next two matches.  Bonnet won the Warrior Open, Lakeshore Open, Ketelsen Memorial and the Catholic League Championships prior to the Division II State Championship, for which he was voted the Division II Outstanding Wrestler.  132 Pounds Connor Hoffman: Senior - Brother Martin - 19-5 Hoffman got a late start to the season, albeit he started with a 5-3 win over Rummel's Jacob Ramirez.  Yet he lost to Ramirez and Byrd's Demetri Teddie at the Trey Culotta, and also to Grant Nastasi of St. Paul and Enrico Caruso of Holy Cross - but those were all at 138 lbs.  Dropping to 132 he won the Catholic League Championships.  As a 2018 Division I state champion, his prior experience was evident in his 3-1 over Catholic's Peter Kelly for a second Division I title. 138 Pounds Jacob Ramirez: Junior - Archbishop Rummel - 54-5 Four of Ramirez's losses were to out-of-state competition.  The Rummel junior's only Louisiana loss was early against Brother Martin's Connor Hoffman.  He avenged that loss a week in January came back from an 11-2 deficit to win the Ken Cole finals.  Ramirez won the Raider 8, the Lakeshore Open, the Gulf Coast Clash, the Jesuit Invitational, the Louisiana Classic, the Ken Cole Memorial and the Catholic League Championships before the Division II state championships.  145 Pounds Alex Duncan: Senior - Brother Martin - 41-4 Duncan's only losses were to out-of-state competition, but he placed second in the Gulf Coast Clash and the Trey Culotta.  He won every match against Louisiana competition, and had tournament wins at the Mandeville Open, Black Horse Open, the Louisiana Classic and the Catholic League Championships prior to winning his second Division I state championship.

152 Pounds Richard Mack, III: Senior - North Desoto - 42-2 A 2018 Division II state champion as a sophomore, in his senior year his only two losses were at the Beast of the East in Delaware.  Out-of-state Mack won BA Open, the Heath Open, the Rumble at the Rock and the Bring the Hammer events.  In Louisiana he won the Louisiana Classic and the Northwest Louisiana Regionals prior to winning the Division II state title for the second time. 160 Pounds Mason Massicot: Senior - Brother Martin - 25-6 The defending Division I state champion started with a Mandeville Open win.  Then, if placing 2nd at the Gulf Coast Classic and the Black Horse, and 3rd at the Culotta is unacceptable, he went "downhill," "hitting bottom" at the Prep Slam, after which doctors thought he had a season-ending injury.  For Massicot it just meant a month off.  He won the Catholic League Championships and was seeded 1st at the state championships, having beaten all but the 6th and 7th seeds.  That, however, was one tournament too many.  Nevertheless, nobody else had a record like Massicot's, despite it not being what he might have wanted. 170 Pounds Trent Mahoney: Senior - East Ascension - 77-0 Where to start?  Mahoney won the Warrior Open, Lakeshore Open, Griffin Open, Spartan Invitational (his 3rd), Big Horse Open (his 4th), Trey Culotta Invitational, Lone Survivor, Battle of New Orleans, Louisiana Classic (his 3rd), Ken Cole Memorial, Greater Baton Rouge Championships (his 3rd) and the Division I State Championship (his 3rd).  Along the way he won the most matches and pinned the most opponents in a Louisiana season and career and tied the national career record for falls. 182 Pounds Isaac Cortez: Senior - Basile - 23-0 The Bearcat senior started his season defending his Trey Culotta Invitational title by which he dominating the field with six falls and a majoring decision.  He followed that with wins at the Brusly and Rayne invitationals and the Ken Cole Memorial, in which he defeated defending Division II state champion David Bernard of Teurlings Catholic via a 13-5 major decision.  Bernard was one of only two wrestlers to last six minutes with Cortez.  Three weeks later he dominated the Division III 182 lbs. field, winning his third Division III state title and the Division III Outstanding Wrestler award. 195 Pounds Chase Spooner: Senior - South Beauregard - 23-1 A Division III runner-up in 2019, Chase Spooner could not even get a match in his team's first five events.  So, like Isaac Cortez, his 2019-20 debut was also the Trey Culotta Invitational, and, like Cortez, he dominated it with six falls and a major decision.  He then won the Brusly Invitational and the Louisiana Classic, pinning Covington's Christopher Evans in a much-anticipated finals match.  A week later Spooner was upset in the Ken Cole semifinals but then went on to win the Jesse James Southwest Shootout and the Division III state championship. 220 Pounds Logan Brimmer: Senior - Hahnville - 31-1 Logan Brimmer did not place in 2019 despite his #4 seeding.  That must have festered as he all but dominated the 220 lbs. weight class in 2019-20.  He won the Billy Duplessis Invitational, the Battle of New Orleans and a slew of dual meet matches before falling to defending Division I state champion Cole Ulfers 11-5 in the Louisiana Classic semifinals (he went on to place 3rd).  He then won the District 7-8 championships, and, seeded second, pinned and, well, injured, but nicely, his way into a rematch with Ulfers.  This time Brimmer was very stingy about giving up points and primarily used defense for a 5-2 win. 285 Pounds Datremecious "Trey" White: Senior - Evangel - 18-0 White is one of only four wrestlers in this list who competed against but did not lose to out-of-state wrestlers.  White won the Prep Slam XII by pinning all four of his opponents in the first period.  He then won the Brusly Invitational and the Northwest Louisiana Regionals prior to winning his second Division III state championship.  Only John Drake of John Curtis and Bobby Simpson, II, of Byrd, lasted six minutes with White.

Beefs with these choices are allowed.  Some arguments can be made for other wrestlers to win these glorified paperweights, so I will try to explain why some of those who could have won one didn't.

Honorable Mentions:

126 lbs.:    Josh Keeler is worth mentioning as only he and Bonnet had wins over Brother Martin's Ethan Castex.  Keeler, however, ran into a lot of trouble (as everyone else did) at the 120 lbs. weight class in the Louisiana Classic and the Ken Cole Memorial.  It was a genius move by Parkway to put him at 126 lbs. for the state championships.  However, due to those losses and that one cannot say how Bonnet would have fared had he not been injured in the Louisiana Classic.  Bonnet did pin the Louisiana Classic winner in a later tournament finals.

138 lbs.:    Demetri Teddlie's 1/6th of a bad match against Ramirez at the Ken Cole Memorial finals seems a harsh way to have to buy or make one's own paperweight, but Teddlie also had an unexpected and un-avenged loss to St. Amant's Jaden Snyder on January 4th at the St. Amant Duals.

160 lbs.:    Catholic's Ian Wyble had a shot if he had won the Division I 160 lbs. finals match.  He lost to Massicot at the Gulf Coast Clash, but only via a 3-1 score and it was early in the season.  Yet Ben Davidson of St. Paul dominated Wyble in the Louisiana Classic finals.  Even though Wyble beat Davidson in the state semifinals, it was a Sudden Victory match rather than a domination.  If Davidson had won the weight class, Massicot would still have earned the paperweight, and had Wyble got past Vaughns, that would have been expected and do nothing to thwart Massicot's status.

182 lbs.:    Jarin Meyer of Baton Rouge had a great season.  But he did not get a chance at a couple of 182 lbs. opponents which would have been nice to see.  Neither Isaac Cortez, David Bernard or Latrell Williams of Carencro were at the Louisiana Classic.  Williams had a one-point win over Bernard on the season, but that was wiped out when Bernard defeated Williams in the Division II finals.  And it is hard to think of Cortez losing to anyone after he destroyed Bernard at the Ken Cole.  Add to that a very close 4-2 loss to Trent Mahoney, in both Trent Mahoney's and Meyer's first match of the season.  Mahoney, however, moved up to 182 lbs. for that match.  23-0 beats 32-1 (Meyer), 30-2 (Bernard) and 10-1 (Williams). 

285 lbs:    Connor Finucane has an argument, but he only competed in nine matches all season.  Soniat had a great state tournament, particularly defeating Comeaux's Donald Paul in his third try, but he had no championships to his name and Finucane was expected to defeat him.  Paul was a preseason favorite but lost two matches in the last two weeks of the season.  White's dominance in Louisiana as well as Texas, Alabama and Georgia, particularly his Prep Slam XII win, tops all.

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