Fini

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Michael Gilreath	Luke Robertson	Preston Gautier	Luke Fontenot	Graham Montet	Aujri Harris
School	Evangel	De la Salle	Hannan	Basile	St. Louis	Brusly
Seed	2	4	1	3	8	NS
Class	9	10	10	10	9	10
Final Record	18-3	16-12	11-3	16-12	4-4	4-11

Final records include Louisiana losses but all wins

Weight Class Synopsis

Michael Gilreath lost a 16-15 state finals match in 2020.  He reached the finals as a fifth-seeded eighth-grader.  With luck he has kept tabs on Holy Cross' Jacob Frost, who also placed second while an eighth-grader and next year is expected to win his fourth Division I state championship (probably making him the fourth to do so behind Brother Martin's Paul Klein and Steven Shields' and his brother Evan).  But that possibility is three years away, so he might "kick back" a little and enjoy this one.  Not likely says Nicholas Lococo, who spends a lot of time working with Gilreath.  "He simply doesn't understand the word 'quit.'"  This year, however, the seeding committee only expected Gilreath to make the finals.  He was 14-3 upon entering the tournament, and two of his three losses were to tough Division I and Division II opponents: Josiah Wakefield of East Ascension and Hunter Addison of North Desoto.  But his other loss was at the Brusly Invitational to Hannan's Preston Gautier.  Gilreath took third at Brusly and Gautier placed second, and thus Gautier was awarded the top spot on the state bracket.  Gautier was 8-2 with his losses coming in the Brusly Invitational finals to Andrew Trahan (now a three-time state champion for Brusly) and to Grant Vicknair of Division I state champion St. Paul.

Basile's Luke Fontenot was seeded in the third position.  He was 7-3 and had a runner-up finish at Brusly.  De la Salle's Luke Robertson was 14-11 with a fourth-place finish at Brusly and a sixth-place finish at the Trey Culotta.  He had also been defeated by Gautier and Gilreath.  South Beauregard's Kyler Connor was seeded fifth and Brad Taylor of St. Michael was in the sixth spot.  St. Louis freshman Graham Montet was 0-2 and Brusly sophomore Aujri Harris was 2-8, but both would double their win totals.

Gilreath made the finals as expected with quick falls in 1:11 and 1:35, followed by a 12-4 Major Decision over Fontenot.  The top-half of the bracket was not so stable.  After pinning Conner in 0:53 the Cavalier sophomore Robertson pinned Gautier in 4:48 to match-up with Gilreath in the finals.

Conner, the senior from South Beauregard, did not make it to the placement matches.  He was ousted by eighth-seeded freshman Graham Montet of St. Louis via a fall in 2:09.  Montet lost to Fontenot in the consolation semifinals via a 7-1 score, which forced Montet into the match for fifth-place.  There he unexpectedly met unseeded Aujri Harris of Brusly.  Harris ousted sixth seed Brad Taylor of St. Michael to make the placement matches but lost to Gautier 13-7.  Montet needed everything he had to get past the Brusly sophomore in a 13-10 TB-1 match.  Still, a 3-2 record and a spot on the podium was more than most people expected from Master Harris.  Gautier had a tough match with Fontenot for third place, winning 10-5. 

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Quarterfinals

(1) Preston Gautier (HAN) pinned (8) Graham Montet (StL) in 1:35

(4) Luke Robertson (DLS) pinned (5) Kyler Connor (SB) in 0:53

(3) Luke Fontenot (BAS) pinned (6) Brad Taylor (StM) in 1:49

(2) Michael Gilreath (EVA) pinned Aujyri Harris (BRU) in 1:35

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Semifinals

Luke Robertson (DLS) pinned Preston Gautier (HAN) in 4:48

Michael Gilreath (EVA) defeated Luke Fontenot (BAS) 12-4 MD

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Championship Consolation Rounds

Preston Gautier (HAN) defeated Luke Fontenot 10-5 to place 3rd

Caleb Montet (StL) defeated Aujri Harris (BRU) 13-10 in TB-1 to place 5th

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Finals

Second-seeded freshman Michael Gilreath of Evangel pinned fourth-seed sophomore Luke Robertson of De la Salle in 5:17   Gilreath scored first with a takedown via what could be called an extended duck-under.  Robertson escaped and the first period ended 2-1 in Gilreath's favor.   Gilreath won the toss, deferred the decision, and Robertson chose to start standing.  In the first 30 seconds Robertson came close to stepping behind Gilreath, but the freshman backed away and only incurred a warning for stalling.  A few seconds later Gilreath scored a single-leg takedown to take a 4-1 lead.  With 40 seconds remaining Robertson was awarded a point as Gilreath was cited for applying a full-nelson.  Two seconds later Robertson was awarded another penalty point when Gilreath had to resort to locking his hands to prevent Robertson from escaping.  The score was now 4-3.  With 20 seconds remaining Robertson tied the match at 4-4 with an escape.  Gilreath then pushed Robertson's head down and spun around him for another takedown.   The third period started with Gilreath leading 6-4.  On top for the third period, Gilreath was warned again for stalling and Robertson was given his third penalty point.  Now the score was 6-5.  With 50 seconds remaining, though, Robertson sat-out and Gilreath caught his shoulders and then his head, and pulled him back, earning a fall at 5:17.

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