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Brother Martin wins seventh consecutive Louisiana Classic by 19.5 over St. Paul

January 18th, 2021 | Written by: Staff writer

Preseason speculation is exactly that - speculation. Nobody gets championships for it. If a team wants a Louisiana Classic title, or a state championship title, speculation has nothing to do with it.

COVID-19 does, though. The virus does not play favorites. Of the teams in contention for Divisional team championships, it might very well be the teams who fight off the virus better than the others that prevails. The state championships are still over a month away. That is time enough to get through quarantine periods, safely practice and do what it takes to avoid exposure until late February. "If not for COVID..." is not going to play that well. The team that can bring their strongest available wrestlers to the Raising Cane's River Center and then wrestle a little better than might be expected should come out on top.

The Brother Martin Crusaders, as a team, did just that Friday and Saturday as, with no individual champions, they still won their seventh consecutive Louisiana Classic title with 218.5 points, 19.5 points better than preseason favorite St. Paul. They were missing people due to COVID. So was St. Paul. Most of the teams there entered faces the editor had not seen before at an event for "starters."

Earning the runner-up trophy was more competitive than expected. St. Paul won it by scoring 199 points, two points more than Holy Cross' 197, and they were followed by East Ascension with 195. The Spartans were the highest placing public school since Airline finished fourth in 2017. But Airline finished 120 points behind the winners. The 2020-21 Spartans trailed by only 23.5 points. The Division II contenders were next with Teurlings Catholic nipping North Desoto 185.5 to 180.5 to place 5th. Hannan, who placed 20th with 53.5 points, led the Division III schools followed by Brusly with 48.5 in 22nd-place.

Brother Martin
Team champion for the seventh consecutive year


Seniors Ethan Castex and Eli Hope accept the championship team trophy for the Crusaders	Senior Sean Cripple accepts the runner-up team trophy for the Wolves.

Individual Champions

Individual 2021 Louisiana Classic Champions

106 Pounds	113 Pounds	120 Pounds	126 Pounds	132 Pounds	138 Pounds	145 Pounds

Landon Reaux Southside	Ernie Perry, III Airline	Glenn Price Shaw (he smiles!)	Charles Sauerwin, III Holy Cross	Evan Frost Holy Cross	Jacob Frost Holy Cross	Peter Kelly Catholic
152 Pounds	160 Pounds	170 Pounds	182 Pounds	195 Pounds	220 Pounds	285 Pounds

Andrew Trahan Brusly	Peyton Ward St, Paul	Brad Mahoney East Ascension	Jude Monaco Shaw	Corey Hyatt Sulphur	Dennis Daugherty Jesuit	Ashton Freeman Zachary

The Frost twins each earned their third LACL titles, and have another year to go. Perry and Kelly won their second titles. Kelly is a senior, but Perry has shots at two more championships.

Match Notes:

(Please know that these descriptions are based on what the editor recalls of each match and the information on the TrackWrestling match scoring screens. And everyone knows how incorrect those TW scoring screens can be!)

Weight	Notes
106	Top-seeded Ashton Sonnier learned the hard way that until 6:00 have elapsed no lead is safe. He led Southside sophomore Landon Reaux for four of the first five minutes of the match. He rode Reaux for a minute of the third period with a 7-2 lead. But Reaux rather just turned into Sonnier from the bottom and plunged the Rebel junior to his back, scoring a fall in 5:13. The win avenged a 6-5 loss to Sonnier on December 30th.
113	The LWN editor does not recall seeing anyone score on Airline's Ernie Perry, III last season (Mason Elsensohn did score two in last season's LACL finals, so it is the editor's recollection that is suspect) but saw Teurlings Catholic's Ethan Boudreaux score a takedown and a reversal against the 2020 Division I state champion in this finals match. The problem was that the scores took place in the third period and, while the reversal was the last scoring of the match, Perry had already registered 12 points against Boudreaux, leading to the Viking sophomore's second Louisiana Classic title.
120	Shaw junior Glenn Price was probably relieved that, while it was a Holy Cross wrestler he met in the finals, at least it was not Evan Frost, who defeated Price in the 2019 and 2020 finals. But that did not mean third-seeded Dylan Lauriano, who works-out with the Frosts at every practice, was going to be easy. And it was not as while Price scored a quick takedown in the first period, he was unable to turn Lauriano. Then, again, Lauriano could not escape from Price. In the second period Price escaped, and at the very end Lauriano scored a takedown, so it was 3-2 entering the third period. Evidently, Price's riding ability and that he scored a takedown on Price a few seconds earlier made Lauriano choose the neutral position to start the third period. The strategy makes sense, but it was put to rest when Price took Lauriano down again and rode him for the remainder of the match and a 5-2 LACL championship.
126	So, as many might have wondered, was Charles Sauerwin, III's win over Ethan Castex at the Brother Martin-Holy Cross dual meet on January 6th a fluke? Evidently not. Castex scored the first takedown quickly and escaped in the second period quickly to build a 3-0 lead, but five points in the last 75 seconds of the second round and a bottom position start at the beginning of the third period was all the Tiger needed as his riding skills led him to a 7-3 LACL title.
132	The bottom half of the bottom bracket went haywire at match #46 when unseeded Sean King of John Curtis pinned #7 Chris Bacot of Parkway in 1:47. Match #47 went unnoticed for the most part as unseeded St. Amant senior Jace Chenevert pinned unseeded Teurlings Catholic senior Ethan Papadakes in 5:24. Second-seeded Carter Duet of St. Paul had a hard 5-1 round-one match against Christopher Massey of Jesuit. In the second-round King was shutout 5-0 by De la Salle's Liam O'Connor. But the stunner of the day was that the Gator senior Chenevert, who was down 4-1 after the first period against Duet, won the second period 5-3 and the third 6-2 to defeat Duet 12-9. Chenevert won the last two rounds of his quarterfinals match with O'Connor as well in a 7-3 win. The top portion of the bottom half of the bracket went according to form and third-seeded Lance Ferguson of North Desoto found himself against the upstart Chenevert (seeding-wise, not age-wise). Chenevert fell behind in the first minute and was down 2-0 after the first period. But then the Gator came to life, just like the teed-off ones seen on television nature shows. He won the second period 5-0 and the third period 3-0 to win 8-2. That gave him a finals match with, well, Evan Frost, a two-time defending LACL and Division I state champion, who scored technical falls in both of his prior Louisiana Classic championship finals. He did so for a third time, but nothing can take away the fact that Chenevert earned the right to be teched by Frost over at least four seeded wrestlers who thought they might have that pleasure.
138	It's Jacob Frost, OK? This was his third LACL win, and he placed third as an eighth-grader. His match against a gutsy Jacob Ramirez is described later.
145	Most people expected a rematch between St. Paul's Grant Nastasi and Catholic's Peter Kelly, who lost to Nastasi 5-3 on December 9th. Kelley did more than his part to make that come true, including a 1-0 TB-1 semifinals win over Quinn Williams of Brother Martin. Nastasi though, after a tough 5-3 quarterfinals win against Holy Cross eighth-grader Nick DiGeralamo, held a 6-3 lead over #5 Hunter Addison of North Desoto before Addison took him down to his back and pinned him in 3:19. Addison was stalwart in the finals, not letting Kelly get more than three points ahead of him yet unable to close the 4-1 advantage Kelly held after the second period. This was Kelly's second LACL title and should assure him a top-seeding at the state championships if he does not run into new trouble at the Greater Baton Rouge Championships.
152	Even with his only losses coming from the likes of Jacob Ramirez, Rayden Ingram and Peyton Ward, Brusly's Andrew Trahan deserved an opportunity to remind people that he will be vying for his third consecutive Division III state championship in February. As a third seed behind Teurlings Catholic's Joshua Vincent and East Ascension's Josiah Wakefield, he found it. Belle Chasse's Gavin Gauthreaux gave him a little help as the seventh-seeded Cardinal took out Wakefield in a 6-4 SV quarterfinals match, and Trahan used less than a minute to advance past Gauthreaux to the finals. There he met top-seeded Joshua Vincent of Teurlings Catholic. Vincent had a win over Wakefield, and Wakefield simply must have had a more impressive record than Trahan, but the #1 seed looked suspect after a 2-0 round-two win and a 3-0 round-three win. A second period fall over Holy Cross' Jake Romig was impressive though, but the Rebel just could not seem to get comfortable against Trahan. He was only able to manage three escapes from the Panther wrestler who owned a 13-3 lead prior to scoring a fall at 4:21.
160	First, I must say this weight class was seeded perfectly, in which only one of the top-six seeds did not place where predicted. Top-seeded Peyton Ward lost a heart-breaking 4-3 finals match against North Desoto's Richard Mack, III in 2020. In these finals he was methodical and never gave Brother Martin's Rocco Horvath a chance to get ahead. Ward won all three rounds in an 8-4 finals match.
170	East Ascension's Brad Mahoney must have had a date or something, as he won his five matches with pins in 1:45, 0:34, 2:30, 3:31 and 1:54. Grayson Penniston of Division III Hannan had a nice run to the finals with pins in 0:52 and 0:53 followed by a 16-1 technical fall, but his semifinals match against third-seeded Parker Anderson of Jesuit was a 6-4 SV decision. Overtime matches are probably best to have the day, not the match, before meeting Mahoney.
182	Jude Monaco was Shaw's second top-seed and second champion after a 4-3 TB-1 victory over St. Paul Division I runner-up Blaine Cascio. Monaco had the better match as his three points in regulation came from an escape and a takedown while Casio's came from two escapes and a penalty point. But it was Monaco's ability to ride-out Cascio in the TB-1 first round that made the difference, as Monaco needed just over half of the 30 seconds allotted to him in the second half of the TB-1 round to escape from Cascio and win the title 4-3.
195	Of the top three seeds at 195, all three were undefeated. Cory Hyatt, at #3, just did not have that many matches. Dylan Olivier of North Desoto had about three times as many, and his only loss was not to a Louisiana wrestler. Nawab Singh had dozens of matches, and his only losses came from out-of-state opponents. Hence, the seeding was fine, particularly for Hyatt. Hyatt won his matches on the way to the finals in 0:45, 8-1 and 7-4 over #2 Olivier. Singh used pins of 1:40, 2:50 and 5:08. In the finals, though, Hyatt just looked to have more fun. I surmise that happens when one is ahead 11-4 entering the third round. Hyatt started on top and finished that way, putting Singh on his back for a fall in 4:27.
220	What's a Dennis Daugherty, I asked myself upon reading his name at the top of the 220 lbs. bracket? OK - I found he only had five matches so far, so with my abbreviated schedule I had not seen him this year. Yet he proved to be the one to beat. He pinned his first two opponents in 5:06 and 2:24, albeit 5th-seeded Garine Gibson of Chalmette gave him a stern test in the semis, won by Daugherty 7-3. The bottom bracket fell apart and unseeded Joel Lanclos of Teurlings Catholic emerged on top to face Daugherty. Actually, Daugherty is well-seasoned and was injured at the Prep Slam in early January of 2020. He had little problem with the junior from Teurlings Catholic, though, scoring a fall in 3:31.
285	This was a 285 lbs. match like many, many before it. 0-0 after one period. 1-0 after two periods, 1-1 after regulation. 1-1 after the SV Round. After seven-and-a-half minutes Zachary's Ashton Freeman changed things around by getting a stalling point (not the big change) and then getting a reversal to take a 4-2 lead. Soniat escaped in the second half of the TB-1 round, but the Freeman took him down to his back and scored a fall at 7:53. I fully understand how hard it is to do anything against an opponent as large as these two are. And knowing that one little mistake puts 285 pounds on your stomach or back makes it daunting to initiate much. There is no doubt a point when exhaustion is going to lead to mistakes. I guess the decision they have to make is if initiating something when one is not tired is more reliable than seeing if the other guy reaches the brink and starts making mistakes before he does. Nevertheless, Freeman now has a 2-0 lead over the Division I 2020 runner-up, and likely will find himself seeded first at the state championships.

Dale Ketelsen Sportsmanship Award

The team from Sulphur High School won the Dale Ketelsen Sportsmanship Award, as well as the LWN editor's Facebook "Likes" award.

Representing the Golden Tornado are, standing (left-to right) Doc Miller, Caleb Harris, Braden Laidlaw, Coach Jean-Paul Duhon, Daniel Burton, Corey Hyatt, Landon Royer (competes for Erath), Kyle Thibodeaux, Trent Trouth, Jordan Farias; kneeling: Hugo Perez.

Outstanding Wrestler

This marked Frost's 3rd consecutive Louisiana Classic championship and his second consecutive Outstanding Wrestler award. The Holy Cross junior faced Rummel senior Jacob Ramirez, the defending Division II 138 lbs. state champion and the LWN's pick as the best 138 lbs. wrestler of the 2019-20 season, in the finals. This season Ramirez wrestled at 152 lbs. for most of November and December. He did jump up to 160 lbs. for a chance to compete against defending Division I state champion Peyton Ward of St. Paul. Ramirez looks for challenges. Ward won 11-8, and neither the loss for Ramirez nor the fact that he went up a weight class takes anything away from either wrestler. In January Ramirez competed at 145 lbs. - until the Louisiana Classic. Ramirez was able and chose to compete at 138 lbs., because that is where Holy Cross' Jacob Frost was, and Ramirez does not avoid anyone he can reach, weight-wise. Frost, however, is not like any others Louisiana has seen before (except, perhaps, a weight class before when his brother Ethan is there) - which explains why he was a Division I runner-up as an eighth-grader and will look for his third consecutive Division I state championship in February. It is doubtful, however, than anyone foresaw what the match would be like.

The first takedown, by Frost, was scored after 1:13 had elapsed. In the next 47 seconds Frost added a three-point and a two-point nearfall. Choosing to start on bottom for the beginning of the second period, Frost escaped and then it was another 1:15 before he scored another takedown. Then he tacked-on another three-point nearfall for a 13-0 lead after four minutes. Ramirez had not escaped from Frost in the first two rounds and a throw was probably his last chance, so he opted to start the third round standing. Frost needed only 13 seconds to score a takedown and a very impressive technical fall.

Take nothing away from Ramirez, though, who might opt to complete the season at 145. If Spencer Lee were competing at 145 lbs. at the Louisiana Classic, that is likely the weight where Ramirez would have been.

Final Team Scores

Place	Team	Points	Place	Team	Points	Place	Team	Points	Place	Team	Points
1	Brother Martin	218.5	13	Live Oak	73	25	John Curtis	41	37	NOMMA	12
2	St. Paul	199	14	Zachary	71.5	26	Central	35	T-38	Calvary Baptist	11
3	Holy Cross	197	15	Belle Chasse	69	27	St. Michael	32	T-38	Plaquemine	11
4	East Ascension	195	16	Rummel	67	28	Fontainebleau	31	T-40	Dunham	7
5	Teurlings Catholic	185.5	17	Southside	66	29	Baton Rouge	24	T-40	John Ehret	7
6	North Desoto	180.5	18	Dutchtown	60	30	Erath	23	T-42	McKinley	6
7	Catholic	128	19	St. Amant	56	31	Comeaux	19	T-42	Summerfield	6
T-8	Shaw	127	20	Hannan	53.5	32	Lakeshore	17.5	44	DeQuincey	4
T-9	Jesuit	127	21	Chalmette	51	33	Acadiana	16	45	Broadmoor	2
10	Sulphur	100	22	Brusly	48.5	T-34	Benton	15	T-46	Episcopal	0
11	Airline	82	23	De la Salle	47	T-34	Hahnville	15	T-46	Haynes Academy	0
12	Parkway	77	24	Rayne	45	36	Mandeville	14	T-46	Salmen	0

This list incudes winners of the LACL and other noteworthy wrestlers who have yet to taste defeat. Not all teams have updated their LACL matches yet.

Name	School	Record as 01/17/21 (LA losses only)	Name	School	Record as 01/17/21 (LA losses only)
Dylan Moser	Brother Martin	17-0	Rayden Ingram	Live Oak	23-0
Ernie Perry, III	Airline	6-0*	Peyton Ward	St. Paul	9-0
Glenn Price	Shaw	19-0	Brad Mahoney	East Ascension	42-0
Charles Sauerwin, III	Holy Cross	21-0	Shad Sheffie	St Michael	19-0
Evan Frost	Holy Cross	27-0	Jude Monaco	Shaw	12-0
Alex Menier	Basile	8-0	Corey Hyatt	Sulphur	6-0
Jacob Frost	Holy Cross	18-0	Dennis Daugherty	Jesuit	5-0
Marc Martinez	Brusly	15-0	Ashton Freeman	Zachary	7-0

* Out of state records are not listed in TW records

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