Fini

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium		No Photo Available
Name	Joshua Vincent	Michael Seal	Hunter Addison	Gavin Gauthreaux	Todd Arceneaux	Dayden Simon
School	Teurlings Catholic	Shaw	North Desoto	Belle Chasse	Carencro	Rayne
Seed	4	2	1	5	3	7
Class	11	12	10	12	12	12
Final Record	13-2	14-8	24-2	10-5	8-3	14-11

Final records include Louisiana losses but all wins

Weight Class Synopsis

Junior Joshua Vincent of Teurlings Catholic had numerous reasons to not like being seeded fourth.  He was 9-2, with his only losses coming from the Division I consensus second-best Luke Battaglia of Jesuit, and to two-time defending Division III state champion Hunter Trahan.  With the absence of Division I 152 lbs. favorite Rayden Ingram of Live Oak and Battaglia, he was seeded first and placed second at the Louisiana Classic (LACL).  He had some high-quality wins over East Ascension's Josiah Wakefield, Jake Romig of Holy Cross, Todd Ritter of Shaw and Luke Robertson of De la Salle.  So, just to clarify, he was seeded first at the LACL, finished second, and lost to someone he would not see in the state championship, and those factors led to his being seeded fourth in the Division II state championships, which most will agree is not as hard a tournament as the LACL. 

Seeded over Vincent were #1 Hunter Addison of North Desoto, #2 Michael Seal of Shaw and #3 Todd Arceneaux of Carencro.

Addison had an impressive record of 20-1 with his only loss coming from Catholic's Peter Kelly in the LACL 145 lbs. finals.  Twelve of those were against out-of-state competition, so it is tough to use those re a seeding argument.   He did have some quality wins over Shaw's Michael Seal and Grant Nastasi of St. Paul, but those were at 145 lbs.  Actually, Addison only competed at 152 lbs. in four matches prior to the state championships.  He was seeded third at the LACL, in which he placed second (as did Vincent), but by moving up a weight class, which usually makes things a tad harder) he was rewarded by being seeded three spots over Vincent, at #1.  Vincent proved that with an 8-3 semifinals win, and Addison went on to place third and took it very well, with a smile on the podium.

Seal was 11-7 prior to the state tournament.  He had two losses to Addison, and like Addison, the vast majority of his matches were at 145 lbs.    Two of his losses were not surprising as they came from Rummel's Jacob Ramirez and Peyton Ward of St. Paul.  Another, which would not be considered suspect now, was to Brother Martin's Eli Hope.  But he also had a Division II loss to Belle Chasse's Gavin Crossen and Division III's Gavin Gautier.  So, with seven losses and not placing at the LACL, Seal is seeded two spots over Vincent.  But the young man deserves credit for giving Vincent as hard a match in the finals (6-2) as Addison did in the semifinals (8-3).

Arceneaux was 6-1 upon entering the state championships.  His six wins were not against high caliber opponents, but they were wins nonetheless, and five ended in falls.  His loss came from a Division I wrestler who did not place at the state tournament at 145 lbs.  His loss came a week after his first 2020-21 match, and he wrestled three other matches that day.  In any other year he might have had 30+ matches and that one loss might not loom so big.  Actually, it did not loom that large to the seeding committee.

The seeds should have gone Vincent, Addison, Seal and then probably Gavin Gauthreaux of Belle Chasse, who only had three losses, all from the LACL, and had a high-quality win over East Ascension's Josiah Wakefield.  Addison and Seal would have made a great semifinal match.  And Gauthreaux proved his worth by defeating Arceneaux in the consolation semifinals.

Addison took third with a fall in 1:59 over Gauthreaux.  Arceneaux beat the seventh-seeded Simon in 4:27 to place fifth.

Vincent looked happy enough after winning his first state championship.  If not, well, winning the Division II Outstanding Wrestler award should have done the trick.

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Quarterfinals

(1) Hunter Addison (ND) pinned Gerjuan Taplin (BRD) in 1:07

(4) Joshua Vincent (TC) pinned (5) Gavin Gauthreaux (BC) in 5:56

(3) Todd Arceneaux (CAR) defeated (6) Mark Donegan (RUM) 12-3 MD

(2) Michael Seal (SHW) pinned (7) Dayden Simon (RAY) in 2:42

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Semifinals

(4) Joshua Vincent (TC) defeated (1) Hunter Addison (ND) 8-3

(2) Michael Seal (SHW) pinned Todd Arceneaux (CAR) in 4:53

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Championship Consolation Rounds

(1) Hunter Addison (ND) pinned (5) Gavin Gauthreaux (BC) in 1:59 to place 3rd

(3) Todd Arceneaux (CAR) pinned Dayden Simon (RAY) in 4:27 to place 5th

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Finals

Fourth-seeded Joshua Vincent of Teurlings Catholic defeated second-seeded Michael Seal of Shaw 6-2   After a scoreless first period Vincent took a 3-0 lead after scoring an escape via a stand-up and a takedown via a single-to-a-double.  The period ended with Vincent ahead 3-0. Seal decided to start the third period standing and he scored a takedown 15 seconds into the round by stopping a Vincent shot and controlling Vincent's head and a leg.  It was tenuous control at best as Vincent faced Seal, who still hung-on to his opponent's leg, until a stalemate was called.  Vincent stood-up and escaped again, increasing his lead to 4-2 with 1:08 remaining.  A takedown for Seal and the match might go into overtime.  A takedown by Vincent would basically end it.  With 45 second remaining Vincent, while both wrestlers were still standing, shucked Seal forward and got behind Seal.  He brought Seal to the mat with 43 seconds remaining and rode out the rest of the period to claim an 8-4 win.

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