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WE ARE ADAPTIVE

WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

Louisiana Classic - 152 pounds
Unheralded Bearcat makes his presence well known

March 31st, 2023 | Written by: Staff writer

CHAMPION
(4) Luc Johnson
Basile

2nd	3rd	4th
Anthony Hernandez Covington	(1) Jensen Bergeron Lafayette	(3) Gunner Guidry Holy Cross

The only blemish on Basile senior Luke Johnson's record prior to the LACL was an 8-7 loss to TC's Hudson Sharon at the Jacob McMillan. A week earlier Johnson defeated Sharon 15-10. Sharon was seeded fifth, though, while Johnson was fourth. Sharon's win was at a tournament while Johnson's was in a dual meet, so the seeding advantage based on head-to-head matches put Sharon ahead of Johnson. But that is not how the seeding committee saw it.

Forget Sharon, though. Not meanly, mind you, nor literally, as he is dangerous on a mat, but fifth was the right placed to seed him, even though his only other loss was a 4-2 SV one to Holy Cross' third-seeded Gunner Guidry. Guidry had only lost twice, both times to second-seeded Foster Shank of Dutchtown, who had lost to top-seeded Jensen Bergeron of Lafayette. One may ask, though, why not seed Sharon fourth and Johnson fifth? It is because Johnson should have been seeded first.

Let us go backward from the third seed, Gunner Guidry. The Tiger sophomore lost twice to the Dutchtown senior Shank, so we have Shank higher than Guidry. Shank, however, lost to Bergeron in the Public-School Wrestling Championships, so Bergeron goes over Shank. So now we have, in order, Bergeron, Shank and Guidry, which matches the seeding. Bergeron, however, lost to Brother Martin's Nick Cusimano at the Trey Culotta. Cusimano was undefeated entering the Trey Culotta, but in the final pool round, Johnson pinned him. Johnson later pinned Tai Leblanc of Brother Martin in the finals, after Cusimano was forced to forfeit to Leblanc in the semifinals. So, not only did Johnson beat a guy who technically beat Cusimano, he also beat Cusimano, who had defeated Bergeron (it deserves mentioning twice.)

One one-point loss was deemed less important than pinning an undefeated guy who pinned another one-loss guy who was seeded first.

Demeter, Ceres, Sucellos, Gefjun and other "seeding gods" agreed. Johnson recorded two falls, followed that with a technical fall in the quarterfinals and a first-period fall over Bergeron to make the finals. In the bottom half of the bracket unseeded Anthony Hernandez of Covington won his first match via a fall and his next three by a combined total of five points to meet Johnson for the title. Johnson shutout Gonzales 9-0 MD.

Do not underestimate Bearcats.

Preliminary Rounds