WE ARE ADAPTIVE WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

"What the hell happened" are the last words uttered by Steve McQueen in The Sand Pebbles.  At the time, everything was going swimmingly as, despite that the courtyard they were in was surround by Chinese soldiers under Chiang Kai-Shek, Candace Bergen and the children had escaped out of the back.  As McQueen made his bit to leave he was shot, which caused him to shout those words before a second bullet silenced his character.

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Tyson Roach	Brennan Boyer	Cameron Redditt	Dylan Stubbs	Daniel Olivier	Hyatt Parker
School	Sam Houston	Teurlings	Brusly	Rummel	North Desoto	Comeaux
Seed	1	3	5	4	2	7
Record	57-5	35-7	31-18	14-8	6-3	26-15
Class	11	11	11	10	12	12

Look at the above photos of the 126 lbs. placers.  The one kid who has every reason to be upset is smiling as if his mother put binder clips on the insides of his cheeks.  In third place and fifth place are two defending state champions thinking "This was much more fun last year."  In fourth place is a kid who was seeded fourth, but he is attempting a smile after a tough 5-4 TB-1 loss.  The senior in sixth-place might be thinking going down to Division II was not as easy as he may have thought (it is not, Mr. Parker, but you did well as two of your losses came from defending state champions).  Champion Tyson Roach is probably still wondering how the "Master Plan" just barely worked.   The "Master Plan" being letting Sam Houston senior Pollex Coleman compete at 120 lbs., which he won quite easily, whereas Roach found the 126 lbs. finals a much harder task, requiring his scoring five points with 20 seconds remaining to win 7-6.  Yet runner-up Brennan Boyer, who led the finals match for 4:36 seconds and lost a four-point lead with 20 seconds to go, is the one that baffles the editor as much as pineapple on pizza.  All six gentlemen have character - Boyer has something else, though.  Hopefully, there it not a vaccine for it.

Roach's season was pretty spectacular.  Although he lost the season series 4-3, he still beat Southside's 2021 Division I state champion Landon Reaux three times.  He also beat Reaux's 2023 120 lbs. opponent, senior Watts Goodson of Catholic, but a last second score in a Louisiana Classic quarterfinals match.  He won the Warrior Open, the Tiger Invitational, the Griffin Open, the Spartan Invitational (first win over Reaux), the Ronnie Suarez, the Zachary Big Horse, the Jacob McMillan (2nd win over Reaux) and the Ken Cole (3rd win over Reaux.  He placed second at the Public Schools Championships (to Reaux), the LACL (Reaux again) and placed third at the Trey Culotta (a semifinals loss to Reaux).  He had two wins over Jesuit's Bodi Harris (D1 1st), three wins over Dutchtown's Cole Mire (D1 3rd), four wins over Walker's Kye Karcher (D1 5th), two wins over Brennan Romero of TC (D2 2nd) and three wins over St. Louis' Luke Caballero (2021 D3 1st, 2022 and 2023 D3 2nd).  And we all get to watch Roach for one more season.

Boyer, also a junior, had a very good season, if not as spectacular as Roach's.  He won the Tiger Invitational, the Brusly Division II and the Ken Cole.  He placed third at the Gulf Coast Clash and, as about a 10th-seed, placed fourth at the LACL.  He was also fourth at the Riot on the Red.  Every one of his losses came from a state finalist or was one he avenged, save one to Parkway's Christopher Bacot who could not participate in the state championships.  Boyer might very well have smiled on the podium for having lead Roach for the majority of the finals match.  He is that kind of young man. 

Early Championship Rounds

R1: (5) Cameron Redditt (BRU) defeated Tristan Scott (RAY) 21-5 TF

R1: (4) Dylan Stubbs (RUM) pinned Christian Thibodaux (StTM) in 5:15

R1: Daniel Olivier (ND) pinned Jamil Jarquin (KD) in 0:56

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Semifinals

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Consolation Rounds

C1: Gavin Thomas (NV) pinned Ethan Smith (RIV) in 2:25

C1: Patrick Ray, Jr. (BOS) pinned Jamil Jarquin (KD) in 2:25

C2: (6) Austin Veillette (LAK) pinned Christian Thibodaux (StTM) in 3:51

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Championship Consolation Rounds

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Finals

(1) Tyson Roach of Sam Houston scored five points with 20 seconds remaining to defeat (3) Brennan Boyer of Teurlings Catholic 7-6 Boyer scored first with a takedown in the first period.  In the second two minutes, three reversals were scored, but Boyer scored two of them to take a 6-2 lead into the third period.  Knowing he had to score five points, Roach started standing but Boyer held him at bay.  With 20 seconds remaining, Roach attempted a throw.  It appeared that Boyer lowered his level to counter the attempt, but he lost his balance.   Roach pound on him and put him on his back for a five-count as time ran out.  It certainly did not go as planned, but Roach won his second LHSAA state championship.

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