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WE ARE ADAPTIVE

WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

Louisiana Classic - 195 pounds
Airline's unseeded Walker stuns everyone

March 31st, 2023 | Written by: Staff writer

CHAMPION
Danon Walker
Airline

2nd	3rd	4th
(3) Nick Migliacio Catholic	(2) Adam Landry Baton Rouge	Samuel Torres Northshore

After losing his first match of the season East Ascension's Jacob Schexnaydre won 35 straight matches upon entering the 2023 LACL. They included two wins over second-seeded Adam Landry of Baton Rouge, which were Landry's only losses.

Airline's Danon Walker was 18-9 upon entering the LACL and was not seeded in the top-eight. In the TW seeding list, he was seeded 28th of 31. Only one of the three wrestlers seeded lower than Walker was in his bracket, but Walker did not face him. The fourth-seed, Brother Martin's Jaden Weber, took care of the 29th seed, and then the 13th seed, Derrick Bennett of Chalmette, dispatched Weber. People took notice of Walker early, though, when he pinned fifth-seeded John Wayne Prejean of TC in 3:10. That led to falls of 25 seconds over the 12th-seed and then a 36-second pin over Bennett.

Walker's semifinals match against Schexnaydre was tied 2-2 entering the third period. Walker scored a first-period takedown and Schexnaydre an escape and was awarded a penalty point. Neither wrestler scored a takedown in the second period after Walker chose to start in the neutral position. The third period was a free-for-all. Choosing bottom, Schexnaydre took the lead via an escape, but lost it when Walker took him down. Another penalty point tied the match, and Schexnaydre took the lead with another escape. Walker took him down again to take another one-point lead, and then the Spartan took a one point lead with a reversal. As time was running out, Walker escaped and the match went to a Sudden Victory period. Walker needed just 12 seconds to score another takedown and advance to the finals with a 9-7 SV win.

In the bottom half of the bracket Landry was upset by then relatively unknown Samuel Torres of Northshore in another SV match, 7-5. Third seed Nick Migliacio of Catholic was taken to a Sudden Victory period by Torres in the semifinals, winning 8-6. But that was all for Migliacio as, after a 2-2 first period, Walker outscored him 7-3 prior to scoring a fall in 5:53.

One has to go back to 2013 to find another non-top-eight seeded wrestler who won the LACL title. That was Northside's Daniel Kincade, who beat the #6, #2, #3 and #4 seeds for his championship. Kincade, a senior, went on to win the Division II state championship.

Semifinals