Brother Martin poised to recapture Division I wrestling title, De La Salle in position for three-peat

BOSSIER CITY – After a one year hiatus, it appears that the Brother Martin wrestling juggernaut is back with a vengeance.

The Crusaders overwhelmed the opposition to take a solid lead heading into Saturday morning’s semifinals.

Brother Martin advanced 12 of its 14 wrestlers into the Division I semifinals in an extremely impressive performance in its quest for an 18^th state championship. The Crusaders have a big lead over defending state champion Holy Cross 185.5-148.5.

Connor Hoffman (106), Ethan Castex (113), Justin Leal (120), Daniel Croy (126), Luke Cotton (132), Alex Duncan (138), Patrick Evans (145), Mason Massicot (170), Michael Clapp (182), Garrett Legendre (195), Kyle West (220) and Mack Brown (285) are all in the final four for the Crusaders. Brother Martin was 41-2 overall on the day, making head coach Robbie Dauterive very pleased but wanting more.

“When you have that record, you have to be happy but we could have been 43-0,” Dauterive said. “We need to wrestle better in the semifinals because it gets a little tougher. Everyone knows that. We will place all 14 wrestlers. We know if we have a setback in the semifinals that we just have to come back and wrestle well in the consolations. We have been working hard to get back here for a long time.”

The race is for second in a tightly bunched trio of New Orleans area schools, including St. Paul’s, Jesuit and Holy Cross. The Blue Jays are third at 143 while St. Paul’s is fourth with 139.5 points. The Wolves have the advantage with eight wrestlers through to the semifinals while Jesuit and Holy Cross each have six in the final four. Catholic High of Baton Rouge is fifth and has just three wrestlers in the semifinals.

Another hometown team has fared well as Airline of Bossier City is in a good position with five wrestlers in the semifinals.

In Division II, a hometown school is in position to unseat four-time defending state champion Teurlings Catholic but the Rebels have a good shot to make it five straight.

Parkway has a slight 143-139 lead over the Rebels entering the semifinals. The Panthers have the advantage with 11 wrestlers in the semifinals while Teurlings Catholic has nine. Archbishop Shaw and Live Oak each have four in the round of four while Belle Chasse, Archbishop Rummel and Rayne each have three. The Panthers are the only north Louisiana team to ever win a state title, having won in 2003 and 2006. Belle Chasse is third with 105.5 points with Live Oak fourth at 105 and Rayne fifth with 93 points.

In Division III, two-time defending state champion De La Salle is locked in a battle for the title with St. Louis Catholic of Lake Charles. De La Salle carries a 117-101 lead over the Saints into the semifinals. The Cavaliers got eight wrestlers through to the semifinals while the Saints have nine. Basile has seven in the round of four and Ouachita Christian has six. Brusly is next with five. John Curtis Christian has four while Archbishop Hannan has three.

De La Salle head coach Rod Cusachs is pleased with where his team is.

“We have some kids wrestling above our seeds,” Cusachs said. “We know schools are coming for us but we will bring it to them, too! We have eight kids in the semifinals and three in wrestle-backs. St. Louis Catholic is good and we expected that. We will need to fare well when we square off with them. I like where we are and really like the way we are competing.”

Basile is third with 97.5 points, Ouachita Christian is fourth with 86 points and Brusly is fifth with 73 points.

Advancing to the round of four for the Cavaliers were Zachary Lauland (106), Jamar Brown (120), Jeffrey Hefner (126), Grant Gebo (132), Ryan Hamrick (170), Alex Ormond (195), Eric Hamrick (220) and Jeremiah James (285). De La Salle is in search of a sixth state championship.

To say that form held on day one of the tournament would be an understatement. The expected contenders all emerged where it was anticipated they would be. There were no major upsets as all 42 top-seeds advanced to the semifinals. To further illustrate the point, all 42 second-seeds remain alive into the semifinals as well.

The semifinals are set for Saturday at 10 a.m. with the finals set for 5 p.m. Follow our gavel-to-gavel coverage with live updates beginning at 9:30 here at CrescentCitySports.com.

Division I

Division II

Division III