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Saturday Matches - February 1st |
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The top four seeds
advanced to the
semifinals, but two of
them not so easily.
Fourth-seeded Noah
Landry of Brusly had a
tough time getting past
Jesuit junior Jacob
Rovira by a score of
4-2. Second seed
George Benoit had an
even harder time with
C.E. Byrd's Kalik
Battle. This was
the second meeting
between the two.
Benoit defeated Battle
3-0 at the Spartan Open.
This time Benoit managed
just enough, posting a
1-0 decision.
(Left) Jacob
Rovira (JES) over Ashton
Wilson (HUN) 8-5.
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Senior Noah Landry
sat out his junior year at Brusly after
transferring from Mandeville. But he
is having a great 2013-14 season. He
has championships from the South Walton
Border Wars and the Brusly Invitational, and
at 138 lbs. only two losses, both to
defending Division I state champion Brennan
Taylor of Catholic. Landry went down
to 132 lbs. for the Louisiana Classic and
placed fifth.
Klein has had a pretty good junior season
himself. He entered the Ken Cole 33-0,
with two wins over Live Oak's Cody Hill, a
defeat of a Tennessee state champion, and
tournament championships (and more often
than not Outstanding Wrestler Awards) at
Mandeville, East Ascension, the Trygg
Memorial, the Trey Culotta and the Soddy
Daisy, TN "Showdown."
Landry proved to be one of his toughest
opponents of the year. Klein only
managed a first period takedown for a 2-0
lead. In the second, he reversed
Landry to take a 4-0 but Landry managed an
escape and the period ended 4-1 in Klein's
favor. In the third Landry escaped
again, cutting Klein's lead to 4-2, and then
Landry erased the lead with a takedown,
tying the match 4-4. But with 20
seconds remaining Klein escaped to take a
one-point lead, and for "good measure" he
scored another takedown, finally prevailing
7-4.
According to Klein's father, Landry scored
the first offensive points against the
Crusader junior all season. |
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On January 11th
Holy Cross junior George Benoit did what
nobody else thought to do to get out of the
incredibly tough 138 lbs. weight class.
While Rick Lacava of Rummel moved up to 145,
Benoit dropped down to 132, a weight class
nobody wanted a part of due to the presence
of two-time defending state champion Paul
Klein of Brother Martin. To try his luck
against Klein, though, he first had to get
past another scrappy freshman from Airline,
Antonio Lococo.
The match was pretty close at first. Benoit
took a 2-0 lead with a takedown in the first
40 seconds, Lococo reversed him, momentarily
at least, and the Benoit reversed Lococo to
end the period leading 4-2. In the
second period Lococo managed an escape buy
Benoit took him down again, this time adding
two nearfall points to register an 8-3 lead
after the second period. The third
period was all Benoit. Lococo managed
two escape point, but Benoit tacked on
another six, and advanced to the finals with
a 14-5 decision. |
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Saturday Night Finals |
| #2 George Benoit
(Holy Cross) over #1 Paul Klein
(Brother Martin) 3-1 in "Sudden
Victory" |
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OK, I
started the silly comparison
with the little
image I created on a whim.
It flowed so nicely - "Klein,
Paul Klein." It isn't as
if one can get away with things
like "Nowosiwski, Christopher
Nowosiwski," or "Rabinowitz,
Matthew Rabinowitz." After
this match, though, I have to
feel like Ian Fleming after he
published From Russia with
Love in 1957, except I will
not be the one to decide how
toxic the poison in Rosa Klebb's
shoe blade was.
(The reading public was
mortified when it appeared that
there would be no more James
Bond novels after From
Russia with Love.
Hence in the next James Bond
novel, The Diamond Smugglers
- the impetus for the film
Diamonds are Forever -
Mathis of the Deuxième
Bureau, France's military
intelligence agency that was not
surprisingly defunct by 1940,
handily had an anti-toxin on
hand. If Fleming could
later write
Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, he
certainly had license to do
that.)
By this time Klein was 37-0.
Benoit was 24-4, with losses at
138 lbs. to Brother Martin's
Austin Meyn (two points),
Catholic's Brennan Taylor (two
points), Rummel's Rick LaCava
(one point, and Benoit had a win
against Lacava earlier) and a SV
loss in Las Vegas. At 132
lbs. he had a potentially stern
test in Sulphur's then
undefeated sophomore Brennan
Taylor (no relation to the
Catholic one). Benoit
passed with flying colors in a
14-4 dual meet victory followed
by a 12-1 Louisiana Classic
finals victory over Taylor.
Klein and Benoit had not
wrestled each other before (in a
high school folkstyle season, at
least, as Benoit has been at
heavier weights than Klein). |
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At the end of the SV round Benoit
rolled out of a double-leg and
forced Klein to let go of his ankle
for the winning takedown. |
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Klein was
aggressive in the first. Both feigned
attacks off of head-locks and shucks.
Klein got in a single-leg shot, switched to
a double but Benoit fell over him and
wrapped up his waste, and Klein could not
convert the shot into points.
After trading false starts at the beginning
of the second period Klein broke the tie by
turning into Benoit and standing out in the
first three seconds. Klein stayed
aggressive and Benoit played it smart,
knowing when to work near the edge of the
mat but attempting his own shots as well.
For the most part the two grappled "up top"
for head and arm control. Klein got in
a good double-leg shot near the end of the
round, but Benoit let himself drape over
Klein's back and grabbed an ankle as they
fell to the mat. Time ran out and the
round ended with Klein leading 1-0.
In the third period it was Benoit's turn to
score a quick escape, which he did to tie
the match at 1-1. Klein mounted a
strong attack with shucks and high-crotch
shots but could not get past Benoit's
defense. Klein managed a very deep
double-leg and turned Benoit to the mat but
Benoit wrapped his arms around Klein's waist
again and rolled over and on top in a strong
sprawl position. Klein lifter him up
with his head, but draping over and grabbing
Klein's ankles again, Benoit forced a
stalemate. In the last 30 seconds it
looked like Klein might finally have scored
a takedown. Benoit lunged with his
arms out and Klein shucked him to the side
and down on the mat. Klein spun behind
Benoit and grabbed an ankle, but just
barely. Benoit turned 180 degrees to
face Klein and pull his leg in along with
Klein's head, effectively ending in a sprawl
defensive posture over now just a reaching
single by Klein. Klein, naturally,
would not give up the single, and worked it
up to a double, but Benoit still had a
sprawl position. Time ran out and the
two were tied 1-1 going into a "Sudden
Victory" period.
The two grappled for the first 46 seconds
until they went out of bounds. Shortly
after the restart Klein shot a deep
double-leg and tried to lift Benoit up and
scoot behind him. Benoit encircled
Klein's waist and rolled, ending up with his
head and shoulders under Klein's legs.
From there Benoit turned into Klein, lifting
Klein's right leg up while Klein's head was
facing the mat. Klein was forced to
his stomach but had an arm back between his
legs still holding onto one of Benoit's
ankles. Benoit finally broke that hand
off, and just before the buzzer sounded
Klein was forced to his stomach, ceding the
winning takedown. |
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Consolation Rounds
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Kalik
Battle of Byrd battled back from
his quarterfinals loss to
Benoit, advancing to the
consolation finals after
victories over Live Oak's
Brandon Webb (2:05), Pearl
River's Timothy Hillard (13-6)
and Brusly's Landry (3-1).
Battle defeated Airline's
Lococo, a winner over Jesuit's
Jacob Rovira in the consolation
semifinals (4:55), 13-3.
Lococo had beaten Battle twice
previously.
Rovira placed fifth via a
forfeit by Landry. |
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