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Ten new and four repeating Louisiana Classic champions were crowned on Saturday at the end of what is often referred to the hardest tournament to win in Louisiana.  The event, held Friday and Saturday at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, Louisiana, drew 402 wrestlers from 52 schools, including Houston Strake Jesuit of Texas and South Walton High School of Florida.

[Bottom row, left to right] Connor Hoffman (BM), Blake Mateu (RUM), Cooper Simon (RYN), Daniel Croy (BM), Gavin Christ (BAS), Cole Houser (StP), Patrick Evans (BM). [Top row, left to right] Mack Brown (BM), Perry Ganci (JES), Tyler Carriere (RYN), Dane Harter (StM), Jacob Fereday (CAT), Paul Treuting (JES), Camdyn Ingram (LO)

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Team Results

The Brother Martin Crusaders won their fourth Louisiana Classic team championship   With six finalists and four champions, Brother Martin scored 278 points.  Two Crusaders placed fourth and two others placed sixth.

The 2018 Louisiana Classic champion Brother Martin Crusaders	Michael Clapp accepted the team championship trophy from event organizer and Catholic head coach Tommy Prochaska.

Connor Hoffman won the 106 lbs. championship over St. Paul's Carter Duet via a fall in 1:27.  The unseeded Duet had reached the finals by defeating fifth-seeded Ashton Surrency of Shaw, unseeded Sam Dreuil of Jesuit (who defeated fourth-seeded Chad Baradell of Bonnabel) and then the upstart De la Salle freshman Zachary Lauland, who won matches against top-seeded Jacob Frost and eighth-seeded Cameron Witherwax of St. Louis.

Top-seeded Daniel Croy, at 126 lbs., had one of his hardest tasks of the season in defeating second-seeded Ethan Pickren of South Walton High School of Florida 3-2.  At the end of the second and third rounds, Pickren was close to scoring a takedown on Croy, but he did not gain enough control to get the call before time ran out.

Top-seeded Patrick Evans defeated second-seeded Matthew Matherne of Ouachita Christian 11-4 at 145 lbs.

At 285 lbs., fourth-seeded Mack Brown upset top-seeded Miles Santiago of Teurlings Catholic via a semifinals fall in 2:33, and then defeated second-seeded Jordan Campbell 6-1 in a Sudden Victory finals match.

Luke Cotton (132 lbs.) and Alex Duncan (138 lbs.) were runners-up for the Crusaders.  Justin Leal (120 lbs.) and Michael Clapp (182 lbs.) placed fourth and Garrett Legendre (195 lbs.) and Kyle West (220 lbs.) placed sixth.

Jesuit won the runner-up spot with 186 points.  The Blue Jays' Paul Treuting won a championship at 160 lbs. and defending Division I state champion Perry Ganci won at 220 lbs.  Thomas Arseneaux placed second for Jesuit at 182 lbs.

The 2018 Louisiana Classic runners-up Jesuit Blue Jays	Coach Brian Barry accepted the team runner-up trophy from Tommy Prochaska.

Holy Cross placed third with 158 points.  The did not win any individual titles, but had runner-up finishes by Michael Lundin at 120 lbs. and Caden Mumme at 170 lbs.  Jacob Frost (106 lbs.) and Jacob Spahn (126 lbs.) placed third for the Tigers.

St. Paul's finished fourth with 152 .5 points and had a repeat Louisiana Classic champion in Cole Houser at 138 lbs.  The Wolves had two runners-up as well: Carter Duet at 106 lbs. and Grant Hughes at 152 lbs.

All of the top-four teams had to compete with less than their full strengths.  Brother Martin's Lane Boudreau was out at 138 lbs., but was well replaced by runner-up Alex Duncan.  Jesuit's Nathan Koenig was competing for the first time in almost a month, and the Blue Jays did not use four wrestlers who competed in the Prep Slam X in Atlanta.  Holy Cross was without Matthew Gerrets, Spencer Rayes and Ryan Doody, who was replaced at 220 lbs. by eighth-grader Cole Baiamonte, who won his first two matches, reaching the quarterfinals.  Brandon Stein and Jared Thieler did not participate for St. Paul's.

Archbishop Shaw won the team Outstanding Sportsmanship plaque, but had left prior to the presentation of the award.

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Outstanding Wrestler

Jesuit's defending Division I state champion Perry Ganci won the Outstanding Wrestler award. Many may have thought Rayne's Tyler Carriere would win the Outstanding Wrestler award.  Carriere defeated previously undefeated and defending Division I state champion Matt Salinas of Airline 4-3 in the semifinals, and McKinley's undefeated Gavin Bonilla 5-2 in the finals. When one looks at the 220 lbs. bracket, though, it becomes evident why the distinction went to Ganci.  The Blue Jay pinned all five of his opponents in the first round.  Prior to the finals he had falls in 0:21, 0:13, 0:18 and 0:20.  In the finals, he was forced to go 16 seconds past one minute by Zachary's Wes Brady.  It is debatable as to whether Ganci broke a sweat during the entire weekend.

Divisions II and III

In 45 years no Lee High Invitational/Louisiana Classic tournament was impacted by Division II and Division III wrestlers as much as this year's event was.  The years 1995, 1996, 2009, 2014 and 2015 each had three champions from non-Division I schools.  In 2012 there were four.

This season, six champions hailed from the two divisions.  From Division II Blake Mateu of Rummel won his third Louisiana Classic title, and he did it over Division III's Alex Yokubaitis of St. Louis, in the 113 lbs. finals.  At 120 lbs. Rayne's Cooper Simon defeated Michael Lundin of Holy Cross.  Basile's Gavin Christ, a runner-up last year, was the sole Division III champion, and the first since 2015 when Brusly's Koby Mancuso and Dunham's Kirk Wilson won titles.  Live Oak sophomore Camdyn Ingram remained undefeated at 152 lbs.  Dane Harter of St. Michael won the 182 lbs. championship and Tyler Carrier of Rayne won at 195 lbs.

Aside from Yokubaitis, Division II finalists were Matthew Matherne of Ouachita Christian (145 lbs.) and Martin Garrett of Shaw (160 lbs.).

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Undefeated Against Louisiana Competition

In the tournament preview article 24 entrants were listed as not losing to Louisiana competition (25 was inaccurate in the preview article).  Only 13 remained when the tournament was over.  They are Blake Mateu, Daniel Croy, Gavin Christ, Cole Houser, Patrick Evans, Camdyn Ingram, Jacob Fereday, Trevor Carriere and Perry Ganci.  That list, of course, only has nine names on it, but four wrestlers listed in the previous article did not compete in the event.

Of the three top-seeds who lost before the finals, Jacob Frost, Hunter Hawkins, Matt Salinas and Miles Santiago, each rebounded from their losses to place third.

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Individual Champions

106 lbs.	113 lbs.	120 lbs.	126 lbs.	132 lbs.	138 lbs.	145 lbs.
Connor Hoffman Brother Martin	Blake Mateu ** Rummel	Cooper Simon Rayne	Daniel Croy * Brother Martin	Gavin Christ Basile	Cole Houser * St. Paul's	Patrick Evans * Brother Martin

152 lbs.	160 lbs.	170 lbs.	182 lbs.	195 lbs.	220 lbs.	285 lbs.
Camdyn Ingram Live Oak	Paul Treuting Jesuit	Jacob Fereday Catholic	Dane Harter St. Michael	Tyler Carriere Rayne	Perry Ganci Jesuit	Mack Brown Brother Martin

* Denotes number of previous Louisiana Classic wins

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Random Photos

Former Comeaux state champion Connor Stampley	Stampley's younger brother Gabe with St. Paul's Peyton Ward	Charles Hudson, Gavin Christ, Cooper Simon, Dyllon Bernard and Dylan Ames	Brother Martin wrestlers lounging comfortably

Houston Strake Jesuit wrestlers	Michael Lundin of Holy Cross	Morgan Manuel and Cooper Simon of Rayne	Zachary head coach J.P. Pierre with Jesuit wrestling alumni Will LaFranca and Joseph Dupre	The 14th-place Rayne Wolves

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Venue, etc.

The tournament, for the first time a true double-elimination event, was run very efficiently by director and Catholic High Head Coach Tommy Prochaska, ably aided by Brusly coach Jimmy Bible, among others.  Ten mats were used at the start of the wrestling, and on Saturday, mats were removed as they became unneeded, until there was only one mat remaining for the finals.  A couple of bleachers lined the sides of the mat, but most onlookers availed themselves of numerous available folding chairs, bringing them to the edge of the mat on three sides.

The United States Marine Corps provided recruitment information to interested wrestlers, as well as an Honor Guard presenting the American and USMC flags prior to the beginning of the finals matches.

The event was able to run much easier than December's Deep South Bayou Duals.  That event, however, required all 10 mats to be used throughout the two-day dual meet competition.  It also required pathways between all of the mats, two sides of which were lined by chairs for the teams opposing each other on a particular mat.

The one highly disappointing aspect of the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center was the facility's concession stand.  Very few, if any, products sold cost less than three dollars.  For three dollars one should get a cold soft drink in a 16 oz. bottle.  Instead, the drinks came with ice and in cups and made of something a little more durable than Kleenex, and with tops that fit poorly.  Near the end of the event, three dollars-worth of French fries looked like this:

This is what coats with deep inner and outer pockets are for.

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