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Loose Tigers in "The Birdcage" eat up the Blue Jays

January 21st, 2020 | Written by: Editor

For a team one pundit said at the beginning of the season may not finish better than 13th, the Jesuit Blue Jays are on their way to putting him on a "stand-by" list for a ride on a turnip truck. Take away three Division II teams from the last weekend's Louisiana Classic and the Blue Jays would have finished eighth, instead of 11th. A few Blue Jays have been slowly but surely becoming more and more successful. Luke Battaglia, at 145 lbs., placed second at the LACL to defending state champion Alex Duncan of Brother Martin in a 5-1 match. Charlie Cyrus, at 160 lbs., lost a match in Sudden Victory to Catholic's Ian Wyble in the semifinals, but went on to place third. As a 13-man team at the LACL (they did not enter anyone at 285 lbs.) they won 27 matches and lost 24. Six Blue Jays won more than two matches and two of those, Joseph Rosevally and Jackson Ballay, were one match away from placing.

Unfortunately, however, on Wednesday, January 15th, their guests at "The Birdcage" on Banks Street were the Holy Cross Tigers who finished a surprising (to some) second at the Louisiana Classic. The Tigers simply have a stronger team this year and they showed it in a 55-15 domination of the Blue Jays. Battaglia, Cyrus and Yates Hoffman won matches for the Blue Jays. In a scary circumstance, Holy Cross' Beau Verdin was hip-tossed by Jesuit's Joseph Barnett at 220 lbs. It looked like the cause of the loud THUD heard as the two hit the mat was caused by Verdin's head, but it was Barnett who did not get off of the mat. The match was delayed, as it should have been, until an ambulance arrived to take Barnett to the hospital. The editor learned at the Louisiana Classic that Barnett was at school on Thursday.

Have no doubt, though, Jesuit is a February team. Every year some Blue Jay comes out of nowhere and scores way too many points than expected. And, after all, a team only really has to pique one weekend during the four-month season.