Fini

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Jacob Ramirez	Logan Smith	Gavin Crossen	Christian Bates	Todd Ritter	Jackson Peters
School	Rummel	Teurlings Catholic	Belle Chasse	North Desoto	Shaw	Benton
Seed	1	2	7	NS	4	3
Class	12	12	12	9	11	9
Final Record	25-2	12-6	10-5	4-2	9-8	6-6

Final records include Louisiana losses but all wins

Weight Class Synopsis

Rummel's defending Division II state champion Jacob Ramirez could have been undefeated this season and have another Louisiana Classic title on his resume.  Yet he let little things get in the way of a perfect season.  One was a defending state champion two weight classes heavier the Ramirez's "comfort" weight.  Another was a two-time defending and "never beaten by a Louisiana wrestler" Division I state champion one weight class below his normal 145 lbs.  He jumped to 160 lbs. to face St. Paul state champion Peyton Ward in a late November dual meet.  He lost, but it was a close 11-8 match.  The second time was at the Louisiana Classic.  He defeated the 145 lbs. champion, Peter Kelly of Catholic, twice last season by scores of 15-7 and 10-4.  Although Nastasi did not make the LACL finals this year, he was the #1 seed, and Ramirez defeated him last season 9-3, 10-2 and 14-3.  He also defeated third-place finisher Quinn Williams of Brother Martin in 2:54 last year.  It would not have been a silly bet to pick him to win the 2021 LACL, even if his loss to Ward cost him the top seeding spot.  But one other wrestler was lurking in Ramirez's range of weights, and that was Holy Cross' Jacob Frost.  Ramirez wanted to see how he could do against Frost.  He might have thought differently after that match, as Frost won via a 15-0 Technical Fall, but one has to respect Ramirez wanting to test his mettle rather than just go home with a gold medal.  Aside from his losses, nobody else walked off of the mat without having suffered a major decision, technical fall or fall.

Ramirez's toughest competition was second-seeded Logan Smith, a senior from Teurlings Catholic.  Smith placed second to Rayne's Ryder Hawley in the Jacob McMillan Memorial and his only other losses were to four Division I opponents, three of whom placed (1st, 3rd and 6th) at the state championships.

The seeding was a little suspect after Smith.  Jackson Peters on Benton was 4-3, and also a freshman, yet he was seeded third.  Fourth was Shaw's defending Division II runner-up Todd Ritter who, at 6-6, just did not have the season he may have expected (as if anyone really did).

Ritter ended up defeated Peters in 0:31 to place fifth.  The third and fourth spots were unexpectedly filled by seventh-seeded Belle Chasse senior Gavin Crossen, who defeated North Desoto's unseeded freshman Christian Bates in 0:44 in the consolation finals.

Quarterfinals

(1) Josh Ramirez (RUM) pinned (8) Dax Botelier (PR) in 2:46

(4) Todd Ritter (SHW) defeated (5) Christian Bates (ND) 6-5

(3) Jackson Peters (BNT) pinned (6) Dax Constantine (RAY)

(2) Logan Peters (TC) pinned (7) Gavin Crossen (BC) in 3:36

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Semifinals

(1) Josh Ramirez (RUM) pinned (4) Todd Ritter (SHW) in 3:40

(2) Logan Smith (TC) pinned (3) Jackson Peters (BNT) in 5:02

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Championship Consolation Rounds

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Finals

Top-seeded Josh Ramirez won his second Division II state championship via a 19-4 technical fall over Logan Smith of Teurlings Catholic   The scores by round went 7-1, 5-2 and 7-1 before the match was stopped.  The single points in the first and third rounds were escapes given by Ramirez.  Yet he did not intentionally show-off.  In the second period, after Ramirez chose to start standing, Smith took Ramirez down.  Ramirez reversed him and tried for a fall, albeit he was unsuccessful and only scored three nearfall points before time ran out.  After Smith chose to start the third period standing and Ramirez scored a takedown, a technical fall was just a takedown and three nearfall points away, so Ramirez let Smith escape again.  By 5:31 he had scored the requisite points and won his second title for the Raiders.

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