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Sure, it is not a week just yet, but recapping wrestling news is better than waiting for photos to edit themselves or head colds to go away.

Zachary Big Horse

St. Amant Gators 2018 Zachary Big Horse Champions

The St. Amant Gators won their third tournament of the season as they amassed 232.5 points at the Zachary Big Horse on December 15th.  Host Zachary earned runner-up honors with 165.5 points and East Ascension nipped Live Oak 157.5 to 155 for third.  The Gators had two individual champions.  At 120 pounds, junior Corey Brownell tied his record versus Live Oak's Clayton Hill at 2-2 with a 6-4 finals victory.  At 170 pounds, 2018 defending Division I runner-up Hunter Hawkins remained undefeated with 13-3 major decision over Zachary's Caleb Mickelson.  Ty Didier, Jace Chenevert, Jacob Cardwell and Seth Signorelli placed second for the Gators. East Ascension had the most individual champions.  The Mahoney brothers, Brad at 145 pounds and Trent at 152 pounds, and Devon Clark at 195 pounds each won their weight class.  Holy Cross had two champions in Nick Cusimano at 106 pounds and Logan Lacoste at 138 pounds.  The other winners were David Cuccia of Fontainebleau (113 pounds), Jordan Chenevert of Live Oak (126 pounds), Luke Eccles of Jesuit (132 pounds), Avery Verret of Covington (170 pounds), David Batiste of Zachary (182 pounds) Robert Rabel of Dunham (220 pounds) and Jaden Ben of Chalmette (285 pounds).

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Champions Nick Cusimano, Jordan Chenevert, Luke Eccles, Hunter Hawkins and Cory Brownell; 3rd place Cole Baiamonte

Meaning no disrespect to Zachary, one of the best things to come out of the Big Horse tournament might be a stellar Greater Baton Rouge Championships tournament.  After the Big Horse, four matchups come to mind:

1. Corey Brownell of St. Amant and Clayton Hill of Live Oak.  These two have split their four matches so far with Brownell winning a 14-9 SV in the first one, Hill winning the next two 10-3 and 3-0, and Brownell winning at the Big Horse 6-4;
2. Brad Mahoney of East Ascension and Anthony Dodson of Live Oak.  These two have alternated wins in their three matches.  Mahoney won 10-8 in their first meeting.  Dodson then dominated Mahoney in a 19-9 major decision.  In the Big Horse finals, it was Mahoney coming out ahead 14-9;
3. 2018 Division II runner-up Lance Robinson of Zachary gave 2018 Division I state champion Trent Mahoney a scare in a match won by Mahoney 7-5.  Robinson dropped to 152 pounds after winning the Spartan Invitational;
4. Robert or Grant Rabel is back wrestling for Dunham.  He won the Big Horse at 220 lbs., and if he stays at that weight he may face 2018 Division I state champion Gavin Bonilla, who Rabel defeated 2-1 in last season's GBR championships.  Should Rabel drop to 195 lbs. he will have to contend with East Ascension's Devon Clark.

It may take waiting until the GBRs on January 25th-26th as very few local-area tournaments remain before city championship tournaments.  Twenty-seven teams are listed as participating in the Trey Culotta this weekend at Brother Martin.  Some of those matches may benefit the Ken Cole Memorial, as it is a week before this year's Louisiana Classic.  Thus the Trey Culotta, the Ken Cole and the Louisiana Classic will be the largest tournaments of the year.  A lot of other wrestlers will be involved in those events, which will limit the possibility of seeing rematches of the above-listed rivalries.

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Jacob McMillan Memorial

Teurlings Catholic won the Jacob McMillan Memorial by 0.5 points over the Panthers, 192 to 191.5  Comeaux was third with 155, followed by Basile with 117 and C.E. Byrd with 89.

The Rebels and Panthers each had four champions and two runners-up.  Joshua Keeler, Trey Fontenot, Kaleb Garcia and Connor Cloinger won championships for Parkway while Darryl Nicholas and Carson Sanders placed 2nd.  For the Rebels, Matthew Carrier, Charles Travasos, David Bernard and Miles Santiago won titles and Colton Sonnier and George Femmer placed second.

Other winners were Alexander Yokubaitis of St. Louis, Hunter Broussard and Dylan Ames of Comeaux, Gavin Christ of Basile, Bruce Arceneaux of Church Point and Jeremiah Brooks of Acadiana.

Gavin Christ of Basile was voted the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.

Champions: Teurlings Catholic Rebels	Runner-up: Parkway Panthers (Trey Fontenot & Carson Sanders)	Fourth-place: Basile Bearcats	Fifth-place: C. E. Byrd Yellowjackets	Lower weights Outstanding Wrestler: Gavin Christ

A tight race is looking more and more probable in Division II between Parkway and Teurlings Catholic.  A second glance of the results will show that Parkway only had 13 wrestlers entered to Teurlings Catholic's 14. That does not matter with these teams.  Parkway had only 13 wrestlers at the 2017 Lone Survivor tournament, in which the Panthers placed 2nd to Teurlings Catholic by 50 points.  When both teams had 14 wrestlers at the 2017 Jacob McMillan, Parkway took first, followed by Comeaux and then the Rebels, who were 57 points behind. Parkway then won the Ken Cole with 176 points, 29.5 points ahead of the fifth-place Rebels.  In that event Parkway had 13 wrestlers while Teurlings Catholic had a full contingent of 14.  Then Parkway won the Division II Duals State Championships with a 42-26 win over Teurlings Catholic.  Yet at the state championships, the Panthers could only hope that the Rebels' Miles Santiago would not pin Live Oak's Anthony Ingram to assure a tie with Teurlings Catholic for the title.

In a nutshell, how the teams will fare in any given tournament is unknown.  A very strong Live Oak team, plus some additional wrestlers from other Division II schools, makes predicting a Division II state team champion a bet Las Vegas probably would not even take.

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Billy Duplessis Invitational

A team from Brother Martin won the Billy Duplessis Invitational (formerly the Jefferson Invitational).  This is not really news as a Crusader teams has won the event since 2012, but this one was close, as the Crusaders only outscored the runner-up Tigers of Hahnville by 10.5 points.  (The Crusaders only won by 12.5 points over Rummel in 2017, but before that the margins of victory were much bigger.)

In this event, one less wrestler might have meant something.  Brother Martin had a full team while Hahnville only had 13 wrestlers.  Hahnville averaged 14.75 points per wrestler and adding that to their total would have eclipsed the Crusaders by four points.  Yet, one only wrestles whomever shows up, which is what the Crusaders did and nothing can be taken away from their title.

1st: Brother Martin	2nd: Hahnville

(Left) Outstanding Wrestler Vincent Bruno; (center) Shaw placers Beau Rutley (3rd). Justin Gaubert (1st), Armando Amaya (1st) and Aston Surrency (1st); (right) Coach Billy Duplessis flanked on his left by Stuart Hart and on his right by Eliot Guerin, members of Duplessis' 1979 John Ehret Division II State Championship team.

Oddly, the Crusader had no individual champions.  Mason Eisensohn, Dylan Moser, Ross Mayer, Ben Wilson and Nasus Moore placed second for Brother Martin.  Hahnville had four champions in Allen Mire, Shannon Summers, Logan Brimmer and D'Quinn Butler.  Eli Chatham placed second for the Tigers.

Other winners were Bonnabel's Sergio Maldonado, who is 11-0 since moving to 106 pounds after the Spartan Invitational, Vincent Bruno of Mandeville, Isaac Suarez, Chris Montalbano and Jacob Ramirez of Rummel, Ashton Surrency, Justin Gaubert and Armando Amaya of Shaw and Jeff Fisackerly and Patrick Barze of Host John Ehret.

Mandeville's Vincent Bruno was voted the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.  Bruno scored a fall in eight seconds in the first round, scored a 12-2 major decision in the semifinals and a 10-2 major decision in the finals.

More on this event will be found on www.louisianawrestlingnews.com at a later date.

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North Desoto

The North Desoto Griffins traveled out-of-state over the last fortnight, placing third at the Wylie East Invitational on December 8th and second at the Bring the Hammer tournament in Cabot, Arkansas. 

North Desoto placed 3rd at the Raider Invitational Tournament in Wylie, Texas.  Joshua Sarpy, Cameron Davis and Dylan Oliver won championships for the Griffins.  Lance Ferguson placed second and Bryan Brown, Logan Ferguson and David Morris placed fourth.

On December 15th the Griffins placed second in the Bring the Hammer tournament in Caton, Arkansas.  North Desoto placed a mere 14 points behind the championship team from Madill, Oklahoma.  Joshua Sarpy, Richard Mack, III and Andrew Gonzales won championships for the Griffins.  Dylan Oliver placed second and Cameron Davis and Logan Ferguson placed fourth.

Sarpy was voted the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.

North Desoto: 2nd at Bring the Hammer in Cabot, AR	Griffin Bring the Hammer winners Andrew Gonzales, Joshua Sarpy and Richard Mack, III	Outstanding Wrestler Joshua Sarpy

Additional news from the Griffins' camp is that Joshua Sarpy and Richard Mack, III, have been accepted to compete in The Beast of the East tournament in Delaware on December 20th-23rd.

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Kingsway Duals

Brother Martin travelled to the Garden State last weekend and fared very well, posting a 4-2 dual meet record.  On Friday, December 14th, the Crusaders dualed Kingsway Regional High School and St. John's College High School.  The Crusaders defeated Kingsway (who would host Saturday's Kingsway Duals) 37-21 and defeated St. John's, from the District of Columbia, 58-15.

On Saturday the Crusaders went 2-2, defeating Maryland's St. Paul's School for Boys 54-24, and then Pennsylvania's Sun Valley 68-30.  The Crusaders lost to Pope John XXIII of New Jersey 37-30 and to St. Joseph Regional High School 43-22.  Pope John VVIII went undefeated during the event, and St. Joseph Regional only lost to Pope John XXIII, so it is likely the Crusaders at least tied for third-place in the event.

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