Brother Martin celebrates 18th state wrestling title on campus

Video: Interviews from Brother Martin celebration

It was a day to ponder numbers at Brother Martin, including 18, 9, 14, 4, 11 and 319.5.

At a morning assembly, the Crusaders celebrated their 2018 state wrestling championship team, which easily captured the Division I crown on Feb. 17 at Bossier City.

Athletic Director Mark Wisniewski cited the impressive numbers.

Brother Martin has now won 18 state wrestling championships, trailing only Holy Cross and Jesuit all-time in that department in Louisiana state history.

The Crusaders posted the third highest point total in the history of the LHSAA state meet with 319.5 points. In doing so, Brother Martin had all 14 of its wrestlers finish in the top six in their respective weight classes.

Then, there is the impressive resume of head coach Robbie Dauterive.

As a wrestler at the school who graduated in 1984, Dauterive was part of two state championships under Ray Charboneau at Brother Martin. As the head coach of the Crusaders, Dauterive has now presided over nine state championship teams, including six in the last seven years for 11 overall that he has been involved with at Brother Martin.

The Crusaders finished third in 2017 after winning five straight state titles as Holy Cross captured the crown with Jesuit second.

“We expected to win last year and we didn’t get it,” Dauterive said. “It is a little bit more special this year. This was a team. It was a great team all year. I was a little concerned the week before state. They were beating each other up in the wrestling room. I had to call them in to remind them that they were wrestling guys who would be top-seeds in the state.”

The Crusaders lose just four senior starters from this year’s team and figure to be the team to beat once again in 2019. Dauterive saluted his seniors.

“Justin Leal getting that last chance and making the state finals was great,” Dauterive said. “Noah Roux battling through injuries was special. Luke Cotton just wrestling so tough for us for all four years and having one great career here at Brother Martin. Garrett Legendre is a kid that we never expected to give us the points that he gave us and the place finishes he gave us. They were great and will be missed.”

Cotton was hampered by the flu at the state meet and still battled through it to finish third at 132 pounds.

“We were a lot more motivated to get that trophy back this year,” Cotton said. “We realized what we really needed to do to get that championship back. It was pretty hard but I really don’t want to use that (flu) as an excuse. I wasn’t 100 percent. I was trying but I couldn’t overcome it. Even after my first win in the wrestle-backs, I was crying. I came back and won the next match to get third. It’s not how I wanted to end it personally but it was all about the team.”

Leal wrestled with an injured shoulder which he had operated on after the state meet and reached the final at 120 pounds, finishing second.

“Coach Dauterive is a great motivator,” Leal said. “Being third last year was a really big hit to the team. I have a tear in the back of my arm. I got it last year in May. It never felt right. I missed a couple of months. I had the options of having surgery or wrestling with the tear. Coach Dauterive motivated me to wrestle. I had my doubts at first. My shoulder got stronger as I went along and I got better. The team got closer and came together.”

All four individual state champions will return for Dauterive in 2018-19, including Connor Hoffman (106), Daniel Croy (126), Patrick Evans (145) and Mack Brown (285), bad news for all opponents of the Crusaders.”

“We are going to be really good next year,” Dauterive said. “If you are going to beat us, you had better work really hard. We return 10 place finishers, four state champions and a state finalist. Winning never gets old. I just encourage kids out there if you want to come wrestle and win a state championship, come over and check out Brother Martin.”