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If anyone believes the Raider Open was
too small because it only had seven scoring teams, one
should be reminded about the characteristics of quality vs.
those of quantity.
Holy Cross’ first team was there, as was a second
Tiger team.
Brother Martin had two teams (albeit their starters received
a weekend off after Wednesday’s dominating 61-7 performance
over Catholic). Rummel
also had two squads participating.
Jesuit sent several of their starters.
Sulphur sent their varsity squad, as did Riverdale
and St. Thomas More.
There were some excellent matches.
Even though it may not have
been as large as the host Raiders initially planned, it
evolved into something that could be planned for in the
future. It was
completed in one evening on three mats.
Place winners were determined from 1st
through 6th and there were no five-match rule
forfeits. For
some of the wrestlers it might have been nice to have a free
Saturday. Should
the format remain a small one, taking perhaps the first 10
or 12 teams to commit, other teams could enter the following
day’s Jefferson Parish Invitational.
For traveling teams with non-refundable lodgings
reservations, it could be a two-for-the-price-of-one
scenario.
Holy Cross won the event with 216
points, followed by a Brother Martin team which did include
starters Pierce Williams and Ryan Genco, affording them some
wins during the week (Williams lost to Catholic’s defending
state champion James Claitor and Genco lost to a red-hot
Joshua Matthews on Wednesday).
Holy Cross had six
champions, followed by Rummel with three, Brother Martin and
Jesuit with two apiece, and Sulphur earned a title.
Rummel’s Rick LaCava
received the Outstanding Wrestler award for his 3-2 win over
George Benoit of Holy Cross at 138 pounds, avenging a prior
loss at the Spartan Open.
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106 Pounds |
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106 was full of
Rummel Raiders, but it was a Tiger and a
Crusader who made it to the finals.
Holy Cross' Chris Zea advanced to the finals
after defeating Raiders Tyler Williams and
Tucker Boesch. Stephen Rumney of
Brother Martin did the same to Robert
Fairchild. At the end of the first Zea
had a 2-1 lead and after two periods the
match was knotted at 2-2 after Rumney scored
an escape near the end. But, starting
on bottom, Zea owned the final period.
He scored a reversal with 1:15 remaining and
parlayed it into three nearfall points and a
7-2 lead. Whipping Rumney over from
his knees before Rumney could earn an escape,
Zea wrapped up his arms and scored a fall in
5:40. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Robert Fairchild of Rummel defeated
teammate Tucker Boesch of Rummel 6-2.
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113 Pounds |
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The 113 finals was
an all Crusader affair despite that
returning state champion Mason Mauro of the
Crusaders was not in the mix. Paul
Stephen-Schmidt advanced to the finals with
a 26 second pin and a major decision.
Ben Wisniewski advanced with falls in 43 and
37 seconds (one over another Brother Martin
teammate). The finals belonged to
Wisniewski, who scored a takedown after half
a minute passed, added three nearfall
points, and then used a half-nelson to force
Stephen-Schmidt to his back for a fall in
1:29. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
John Comboy of Holy Cross defeated John
Olivier of Brother Martin 10-4 to place
third.
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120 Pounds |
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The 120 finals
pitted two Holy Cross wrestlers in the
finals, but both of them were starters -
Beau Bush had just moved up to 120 for this
event. Bush gained a quality 5-0 win
over Brother Martin's Ryan Genco, after
which he and his coaches decided he probably
should not push his luck against the Tigers'
120 pounds starter Dylan Soileau.
Soileau defeated Jesuit's Jordan Giewat 9-1
to advance to the finals, but rather than
risk injury to either Tiger wrestler, Bush
forfeited the finals match. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Ryan Genco of Brother Martin defeated
Jordan Giewat of Jesuit 2-0 to place
third.
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126 Pounds |
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Collin Guerra of
Holy Cross seems to have improved
dramatically over last year, and that was a
year in which he was a Division II
runner-up. Evidently Brother Martin's
David Drago has done the same. Guerra
made the finals with a pin in 4:54 in his
semifinals match. Drago had to get
past Jesuit's Ben D'Antonio, a 2013 third
place finisher for the Blue Jays.
Drago did just that, but it took eight
minutes and a 4-4 Ultimate Tie Breaker
decision for him to do it.
After a first period in which he used an
elevated single-leg to score a takedown and
two late back points, Guerra held a 4-0
lead. Guerra then rode Drago during
the second period and added three more back
points to lead 7-0, and two more to lead
9-0. Near the end of the match Drago
got on the board with a role to a reversal
and almost some back points, but the match
ended 9-2 in Guerra's favor. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Ben D'Antonio of Jesuit defeated Damien
Tornabene of Rummel 8-0 to place third.
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132 Pounds |
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Sulphur sophomore
Brennan Taylor (destined to be confused at
some point with Catholic's wrestler of the
same name) entered the event with a 4-0
record, and he faced Brother Martin's Seth
Johnson, who won a close 5-4 semifinals
match over Jesuit's Jake Rando. The
first period ended in a scoreless tie.
Johnson escaped for a 1-0 lead after almost
a minute had elapsed in the second period,
but then Taylor started to dominate.
Fifteen seconds later Taylor scored a
takedown and held a 2-1 lead after the
second round. In the third Taylor
escaped and took Johnson down for a 5-1
lead. Johnson was able to escape again
with a minute left in the match but Taylor
fought off his takedowns and preserved a 5-2
victory. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Jake Rando of Jesuit defeated Christian
Mire of Rummel 14-0 to place third.
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138 Pounds |
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Until someone makes
a move, and without gaining a lot of weight
or losing a limb that is not highly likely (Paul
Klein is at 132 pounds and James Claitor is
at 145 pounds), 138 pounds will remain
the toughest weight class of the 2013-14 season.
Brother Martin's undefeated Austin Meyn
leads the group of four (Catholic's Brennan
Taylor, and the Raider Open finalists George
Benoit of Holy Cross and Rick Lacava of
Rummel comprise the other three top
contenders). Taylor has a win over Benoit
as does Meyn. In the consolation
finals of the Spartan Open, Benoit gained
the upper hand over Lacava - but only
briefly, as it turned out.
The final match was a very low scoring
affair, and in the first period neither
wrestler could score. Benoit opened up
the scoring with an escape in the first
seconds of the second period, but again
neither wrestler could take the other down
for the remainder of the round.
Lacava, though, was able to score an escape
in the third and with both combatants
trading simultaneous leg holds, Lacava came
out on top to score the only takedown of the
match, and then rode Benoit until the match
ended. After his 3-1 victory, Lacava
was voted the Outstanding Wrestler of the
tournament. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Blaine Eisensohn of Brother Martin
defeated Dylan Mire of Rummel 7-4 to
place third.
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145 Pounds |
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At 145 Pierce
Williams more than made up for his loss
Wednesday against Catholic (albeit losing to
James Claitor hardly requires atonement).
After two pins in the first two rounds
Williams found himself matched against
Ashton Queyrouze of Jesuit, who advanced to
the finals with a fall in 5:25 over Holy
Cross' Preston Robichaux. Williams,
who had only two losses on the season, scored
the only points of the match via a reversal
45 seconds into the second period. He
then used his legs to ride Queyrouze for the
entire third period to gain the win. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Zack Bowman of Rummel defeated Parker
Wilkins of Holy Cross 16-6 to place
third.
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152 Pounds |
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Rummel junior
Joseph Kerry is quietly having a very good
season. He won the Mandeville Open and
his two losses came in the Spartan Open
against eventual winner Mason Williams of
Brother Martin and returning Division II
state champion Lehrue Stevens, IV, of St.
Louis. Anthony Schneider is having a
pretty good season as well, with only three
losses, each at a different weight.
Kerry looked like he would win easily in the
first period, using a front head and arm
lock to twist Schneider to his back to score
takedown points with 1:17 remaining in the
first period. Ten seconds later
Schneider escaped and the round ended 2-1 in
Kerry's favor. In the second period
Kerry escaped for a 3-1 lead which is how
that period ended. Kerry scored two
more points on the top in the third period,
but Schneider scored an escape and then a
takedown. Trailing 5-4, Schneider was
unable to tie the score or take the lead,
and Kerry had his second title of the
season. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Evan Carrie of Jesuit defeated Nicholas
Nugent of Holy Cross 5-1 to place third.
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160 Pounds |
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Rummel's third
champion of the evening came in the form of
Guillermo Suarez. Suarez faced Holy
Cross's Mason Williams (yes, two of those
also this season) and while he took
almost 90 seconds to score a takedown,
Suarez then dominated the match with
leg-riding tilts. At the end of the
first period he led 4-0. At the end of
the second the score was 8-0. Just
riding Williams for most of the third
period, Suarez scored his final points with
seven seconds remaining en route to a 10-0
win. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Dylan Daboval of Jesuit pinned Devyn
Mancuso of Brother Martin in 2:22 to
place third.
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170 Pounds |
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Holy Cross' Brice
Duhe had a relatively easy route to the
finals: a bye and an injury
default in the semifinals. Rummel's
Matthew Bowman was looking to be Rummel's
fourth champion of the evening, but not
having lost in his first 12 actual matches,
Duhe would have no part of that. Duhe
used a high single-leg to take Bowman down
to his back and then tied-up the Raider's
arm to score a fall in 1:24. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Harley Hardy of Sulphur defeated Joseph
Olivier of St. Thomas More 7-1 to place
third.
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182 Pounds |
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Holy Cross' Porter
Dazet had only one loss on the season and a
Spartan Open championship. Jesuit
sophomore Guy Patron, Jr., also had only one
loss and titles at the Warrior and Wildcat
Opens. Both wrestlers shot
aggressively during the first period but
neither could complete a takedown before the
period ended. After an escape by
Patron in the second period, Patron found
himself fighting off a double-leg attempt by
the Tiger by lifting Dazet's hips up, and
found himself holding Dazet on his back with
a scissors around Dazet's head, with Dazet's
leg trapped inside it as well. Without
necessarily meaning to do so, Patron had the
Tiger on his back, scoring two takedown and
three nearfall points. Before the
round ended Patron had a 6-0 lead.
Dazet escaped a minute into the third period
and almost put Parton in a near-side cradle
of his own, but the round ended, and Patron
had his third championship of the season. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Mark Kingsberry of Brother Martin pinned
Joel Langlinais of St. Thomas More in
0:55 to place third.
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195 Pounds |
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Sulphur's Matthew
Perez may have just returned from playing
football as no record of his wrestling was
found on TrackWrestling or NWCAonline.
But in 2013 the then junior placed fourth at
195 pounds in Division I. Daniel
Relayson of Holy Cross has beaten everyone
aside from Brother Martin's Yehia Riles, who
has squeaked past Relayson twice.
Perez started very strong, putting Relayson
on the mat and threatening to score nearfall
points. Relayson, though, held onto Perez's leg
and did not cede control. With 11
seconds remaining in the round, Relayson scored the
first points of the match with a takedown.
On bottom to start the second period,
Relayson escaped and took Perez down for a
5-0 lead. By the third period
Relayson's stamina proved too much and he
turned the Sulphur wrestler over with a
"far-arm and near-leg" and scored a fall in
5:36. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Cody Stutson of Riverdale pinned David
Quiring of St. Thomas More in 0:19 to
place third.
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220 Pounds |
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Holy Cross' Michael
Yeatman had less trouble with, but could not
pin, Rummel's Tyler Fontana. Yeatman
scored on a single-leg in the first 30
seconds and led 4-1 after the first period.
On bottom to start the second period,
Fontana managed an escape and the round
ended 4-2 in Yeatman's favor. But in
the third period, on top, Yeatman scored
almost at will, putting up nine points to
Bowman's one, and Yeatman had his second
championship of the season in a 13-3 win. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Matthew Clapp of Brother Martin pinned
Ethan Wood of St. Thomas More to place
third.
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285 Pounds |
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Jesuit junior Dom
Carmello lost his first match of the season
in a tight 3-1 contest with East Ascension's
Conor Karwath. Holy Cross junior
Travis Gardner has also had a good start in
2013, winning the Mandeville Open and
placing second (to Karwath) in the Spartan
Open. But this match belonged to
Carmello. He scored a takedown in the
first 25 seconds. Thirty seconds later
he had an 8-0 lead, almost stacking Gardner
twice. In the second period, starting
on top, Carmello turned Gardner over with a
cross-face and ended the match at 2:27. |
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CONSOLATION FINALS RESULTS
Matt Montalbano of Brother Martin
defeated Brandt O'Brien of Rummel 5-3 to
place third.
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