WE ARE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

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Many intriguing twists and turns occurred on the wrestling mats on Wednesday, November 17th and on the ensuing weekend.  I did not see any though. 

I kept track a little bit. but ask to be forgiven as my daughter Camille was in town.  (If you were at the state championships last year, she was the one that took the "good" photos.)  We had "Daddy-Daughter Shot Day," and somehow because I also arranged a flu vaccine for her, we left Lakeside Mall an hour later and she had a new iPhone 13 Pro. Yet on "Daddy-Daughter French Quarter Saturday" we did see something rather impressive.  The friggin' Battle of Issus chess set at M. S. Rau in the French Quarter.  Think of it.  How often does one get close enough to leave fingerprints on, or lean on, a case containing something with an estimated value of $1,650,000.00?  I recall the King Tut exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art in 1977, but I never got that close.  The Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian came to my mother's mind, but she never got to lean on its case.

I missed some good stuff, though.

Gulf Coast Clash - Mobile, Alabama

Five top Division I and Division II travelled to Mobile for the Gulf Coast Class on Friday and Saturday, November 19th-20th.  Brother Martin, Catholic, Jesuit, Rummel and Teurlings Catholic competed in the 31-team event.

Alabama sent their "guns" too.  Thompson, the 2021 Class 7A Duals State Championships winners and the AHSAA State Championships runners-up, as well as Hewitt Trussville, who finished eighth in the regular state championships and tied for third in the Duals State event, were also there.  There was a Girls Division, a Varsity Division and an Elite Varsity Division.  The Crusaders had their eyes on the Elite Varsity championship.  They got it when Rocco Horvath won his 170 lbs. finals match, giving the Crusaders 203 points.  Thompson had 202.5 points but was finished for the day after their #1-seed was beaten 8-2 at 160 lbs.

(The editor only remembers one event with a tighter finish.  In the 2014 South Walton Border Wars, Vestavia Hills, Alabama scored 272 points.  That was a half-point better than Lake Highland Prep and Springstead, both of Florida, who tied for second with 271.5 points each.)

Catholic placed fifth with 120 points.  Jesuit was 11th, Rummel 15th and Teurlings Catholic placed 24th.

The Crusaders had four individual champions.  Three of them beat Thompson wrestlers on their title runs.  The other beat another New Orleans wrestler who beat a Thompson wrestler.

Freshman Richie Clementi defeated Thomas Giere, a 2021 AL 7A runner-up, 2-0 in the 113 lbs. finals.  En route to the finals Clementi defeated Catholic's Grant Grizzaffi in 3:16.  Sixth-seeded sophomore Jacob Elsensohn, the 120 lbs. champion, defeated Jesuit's Chase Haydel 10-1 MD in the semifinals after the unseeded Haydel defeated Thompson's second seed 5-4.  Elsensohn the Younger beat the top-seed from Hewit Trussville 16-4 MD.  Elsensohn the Elder, senior and 2021 state runner-up Mason, pinned the top-seeded Thompson wrestler in 5:25 before winning his finals match against third-seeded Watts Goodson of Catholic 9-3.  At 170 lbs., title clincher Horvath beat his Thompson opponent 10-3 in the quarterfinals before his 8-4 finals win.

2021 Gulf Coast Clash Louisiana Top-Four Finishers

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Griffin Open

Teurlings Catholic dominated the Dutchtown Griffin Open on Saturday, winning seven championships and scoring 240.5 points, 79 more than the host Griffins.  East Ascension placed third with 149 points, three more than fourth-place Zachary.

Zachary's Voltaire Sanders dropped to 145 lbs. and gave Live Oak's Andrew Lusby his first loss of the season in a 6-3 win.  Cole Mire of Dutchtown dropped to 120 lbs. yet is still looking for his first tournament win of the season.  It'll come, but on Saturday he fell to Teurlings Catholic's Ashton Sonnier 6-0. 

2021 Griffin Open Champions

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Bulldog Brawl

Host Fontainebleau won the 2021 Bulldog Brawl on Saturday with 216.5 points, besting runner-up Chalmette by 76.5.  De la Salle placed third.  The Bulldogs only had two champions but they had four runners-up and three others who placed third or fourth.

The 160 lbs. finals pitted 7-0 Landen Carroll of Covington against 12-0 Fontainebleau senior Raymond Favaza.  The match was a score fest for the first 3 1/2 minutes until the junior Carroll reversed Favaza to his back and scored a fall.  Tyson Roach and Caleb Lavine won their third titles of the season and both remained undefeated.  Roach pinned all five of his opponents in times of 0:29, 2:51, 0:52, 1:06 and 1:59 and was selected as the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.

2021 Bulldog Brawl Champions

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Catholic and Jesuit at Chalmette

On November 17th Catholic won dual meets 33-30 over Jesuit and 54-15 over host Chalmette.  The Blue Jays defeated the Owls 65-12.

The most noteworthy match was a 120 lbs. match between Jesuit's Chase Haydel and Chalmette's Anthony Perez.    Perez was 7-0 and won the Rummel 8 and the Titan Invitational.  Haydel was 2-2, albeit his losses came from undefeated Jacob Elsensohn of Brother Martin and undefeated Trey Faherty of St. Paul.  Yet Haydel got the win 5-4.  Haydel also defeated Catholic's Kyle Houser 5-3.  Perez beat Houser 7-2, and Houser and Haydel split a few days later at the Gulf Coast Clash.  There are some good Division I wrestlers at 120 lbs., including Dutchtown's Cole Mire now, but to date they are looking at third-place finishes if Elsensohn and Faherty are in the mix.

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