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Fini |
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Sauerwin, III,
with his third win of the season over Castex, becomes the third to deny
the Crusader a title |
LHSAA State
Wrestling Tournament |
Division I, 126
Pounds |
May 9th, 2021 | Written
by: Staff writer |
Place |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
Podium |
No Photo
Available |
No Photo
Available |
No Photo
Available |
No Photo
Available |
No Photo
Available |
No Photo
Available |
Name |
Charles Sauerwin, III |
Ethan Castex |
Michael Rader |
Joseph Rosevally |
Ethan Ourso |
Kyle Thibodeaux |
School |
Holy Cross |
Brother Martin |
St. Paul |
Jesuit |
Catholic |
Sulphur |
Seed |
1 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
Class |
12 |
12 |
12 |
12 |
12 |
12 |
Final Record |
24-0
|
24-3
|
10-2
|
12-2
|
5-4
|
8-2
|
Final records only include Louisiana losses but all wins
Weight Class Synopsis
How does one explain Charles Sauerwin, III this season? Certainly more
than one person had to wonder this. In 2020 he placed only fifth while the
seeding committee and this writer thought he would do better than expected,
and certainly not worse. The reason postulated here is actually two reasons.
Two reasons that appear at first glance to be the same, yet they assuredly have
differences - only their mother knows for sure. References like that re
the Holy Cross Tigers can only mean the Frost twins. The Frosts competed
at 113 lbs. and 120 lbs. in 2020. That put Dylan Lauriano at 126 lbs. and
Sauerwin at 132 lbs. They did well during the season, as Lauriano was
seeded fourth and Sauerwin third, yet both placed fifth. If the two were
126 lbs. and 132 lbs. as juniors, but 120 lbs. and 126 lbs. as seniors, and
particularly if a
growth factor is allowed, it seems safe to say they both were wrestling at least
a full weight class higher than they could have last season. It is safe to say they
were doing what was best for Holy Cross as a team.
This season both were able to wrestle at weights at which they could perform
at
their best. Lauriano had a great season and was unfortunately in a weight
class in which the best wrestler, junior Glenn Price of Shaw, was in Division
II. That kept a Louisiana Classic title from his grasp. And he
simply had an off-weekend at the River Center.
Sauerwin was in a weight class in which two-time Division I runner-up Ethan
Castex of Brother Martin was the favorite. Well, until January 6th, when
Sauerwin was able to recover from a Castex takedown and unexpectedly pinned the
Brother Martin senior in 2:00. That was Sauerwin's first match against a
Louisiana opponent, and would be his last until a Jesuit dual meet two days
prior to the Louisiana Classic. He only had one loss, however, to an
out-of-state opponent in the finals of a Georgia tournament. Until his
match with Sauerwin, Castex had no losses and had won the Black Horse in Tennessee,
the Zachary Big Horse and the Trey Culotta Invitational tournaments.
Both made the LACL finals rather easily, pinning each of their four
opponents. The question lingered, though, as to whether the dual meet win
by Sauerwin was a fluke. Sauerwin showed decisively, via a 7-3 win, that
it was not. Both had three falls on their way to the Division I state
finals. Castex had an additional match which ended in a 15-0 quarterfinals
technical fall. This was the biggest match of Sauerwin's career. It
was the same for Castex, only he had finals experience. He had been there twice before.
In their first two matches Castex scored the first points. Would that
happen this time if the situation arose?
St. Paul senior Michael Rader placed third, one place better than he was
seeded, but very few things did not go the way of the Wolves at this event.
His opponent was Jesuit's Anthony Rosevalley, whom he had defeated in the
quarterfinals. Rader also topped Rosevalley in early December. That
win explains why Rader and Rosevalley were seeded behind third-seeded Kyle
Thibodeaux of Sulphur. Thibodeaux had a fine, if short, season. He
won the Jacob McMillan Memorial and placed fifth
at the LACL. But that was because
Rader was forced to withdraw from the LACL after the consolation semifinals.
That gave Thibodeaux the nod over Rader for the third-seed spot at this event. Rader
was bumped
to fourth and, accordingly, Rosevalley to fifth. The two sorted that out
and met for the third time in the consolation finals.
Rosevalley also had a tournament win. He defeated Ty Duncan of Brother
Martin in the Trey Culotta finals. Castex also won that event as he was
competing at 132 lbs. at the time.
Catholic senior Ethan Ourso only had five matches prior to the Louisiana
Classic. He was unable to compete after December 9th, and then was subject
to another six-week hiatus after the LACL. He and Thibodeaux were sort-of
on a "third tier" of this weight class, and even if favored to do so, both did well to
place fifth and sixth out of 24 entrants.
Ethan Castex goes on this
writer's list of the best wrestlers to never win an individual title.
Fellow Crusaders Taylor Gambill and Paul Schmidt are on that list. There
are many others. I remember the talk about some Crusader freshman who was
tearing the early 2017-18 Crusader opponents to shreds. Some people
wondered why he only placed fourth at the state championships. The
question only arose due to an 8-7 semifinals loss to Catholic's Luke Romano.
Had Castex got past Romano, he would have faced Holy Cross' Caruso Signorelli.
Signorelli also lost three straight finals matches. One of the two of them
would have been happier. Both of them, however, should be very proud of
their high school wrestling careers. Everyone they care about already is.
Early Championship Rounds
|
R2: (5) Anthony Rosevally (JES) defeated Hayes Tillman (EA) via a 17-1
TF |
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R2: (4) Michael Rader (StP) pinned Matthew Born
(BYR) in 3:21 |
Back to Top
Quarterfinals
|
(1) Charles Sauerwin, III pinned (8) Brennan Chiasson (HNV) in 2:53 |
|
(4) Michael Rader (StP) pinned (5) Anthony Rosevally (JES) in 5:04 |
(3) Kyle Thibodeaux (SUL) pinned (6) Ethan
Ourso (CAT) in 0:31 |
(2) Ethan Castex (BM) defeated (7) Brandon Turner (PKY) via a 15-0
technical fall |
Back to Top
Semifinals
|
(1) Charles Sauerwin, III (HC) pinned (4) Michael Rader (StP) in 5:04 |
|
(2) Ethan Castex (BM) pinned (3) Kyle
Thibodeaux (SUL) in 4:38 |
Back to Top
Championship Consolation Rounds
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(4) Michael Rader (StP) defeated (5) Anthony Rosevally (JES) 7-2
to place 3rd |
|
(6) Ethan Ourso (CAT) pinned (3) Kyle
Thibodeaux (SUL) in 3:46 to place 5th |
Back to Top
Finals
Top-seeded Charles Sauerwin, III put to rest
all doubts with a 7-6 win over second-seeded Ethan Castex of Brother
Martin |
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|
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Castex scored the first takedown again
and held a 3-2 lead entering the third period. Sauerwin
escaped to tie the match 4-4, but Castex took him down for a 6-4
lead with 90 second remaining. Sauerwin tried a switch but
Castex knew to allow only one point before two, and he let go of
the Tiger wrestler to maintain a 6-5 lead with just over a
minute remaining. Sauerwin shot a single, crawled behind
Castex for the other leg and was awarded the takedown with 35
second remaining. |
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Back to Top
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