Fini

One has to go back in time a little to recall the commercial above, but not as far as one would to recall "Basketball Jones," which was on the writer's shirt under his Charlie Brown Christmas sweatshirt.

This is 2020, and nothing is our fathers' anything.  This year's Trey Culotta Invitational, which started today and ends tomorrow, is not immune (for lack of a better word).  It is smaller this year, with only eight teams, and it lacks a depth of strong competition from teams like Catholic, Airline, Parkway, Teurlings Catholic, St. Paul's and Vestavia Hills, Alabama.  Brother Martin is hosting, of course, and the sole out-of-state team is Christian Brothers of Memphis, Tennessee.  It is also different in that Brother Martin is not the favorite.  While they are in second place, they are 23 points behind Christian Brothers of Memphis, Tennessee, who defeated the Crusaders at the Blackhorse Invitational on December 5th by 70.5 points.

Holy Cross is present, but not the squad they used on Wednesday to defeat East Ascension 46-28 (article in the works).  East Ascension is present, as is Jesuit, Live Oak, a gutsy De la Salle team (the sole Division III competitor) and perhaps a gutsier lone entrant from Chalmette, junior Anthony Perez.  But competition is present.  It will take a lot to walk off of Saturday's mats undefeated.

The Friday pool winners come primarily from Brother Martin (10) and Christian Brothers (8), but East Ascension has four, Jesuit and De la Salle have two apiece and Live Oak has one.  In the table below, Dylan Moser defeated Alex Ropski at the Blackhorse, Rocco Horvath won the weight class in which Aiden Bowers competed and Gabriel Croom won the weight class in which Chaney Phillips competed.  The 195 lbs. weight class only had six entries, so there was only one pool and hence one pool winner.

Day One Trey Culotta Pool Winners

Aside from the Oldsmobile advertisement everything else listed above is available on TrackWrestling, which is what fans have to use as spectators are not allowed at this year's event.  But TrackWrestling will not show one thing. 

It is not unusual for convenience to become a more and more appreciated part of one's life over time.  The writer realized this at about three-years-of-age, and thus, now at 58, was very happy to see the new match scoring towers.  The towers' three screens show the names of the wrestlers on the mat, their schools and the score, as well as the weight class, match number and wrestlers "on deck" and "in the hole."  This means the photographer can determine who is on a mat without having to go behind the scoring table and photograph the computer screen.  Heck, he could just sit in the middle and know who is wrestling when and where and take photographs accordingly.  Très pratique!

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