Jesuit, Catholic, Brother Martin locked in very tight battle for D1 state wrestling title

BOSSIER CITY – The Division I and Division III LHSAA state wrestling championship divisions figured to be very close.

That has certainly proven to be the case through one day of competition, particularly in Division I after day one of competition at Brookshire Grocery Arena.

The three favorites who seemed as close as possible heading into the tournament were virtually inseparable as Jesuit holds a four-point edge over Catholic High of Baton Rouge and a five-point lead over Brother Martin.

Jesuit has the most through the semifinals with eight, Brother Martin has seven and Catholic has six wrestlers in the round of four.

Overall, the Blue Jays have 11 wrestlers still alive, including three in the place rounds Saturday. Leading the charge into the semifinals are top seeds Bodi Harris (113), Jackson Calderaro (182) and Spencer Lanosga (285).

“It’s a lot of fight out there, I’m excited about it,” Orillion said. “It’s what we asked our guys, to put ourselves in position to fight for championships. It’s what we’ve been talking about for a few years now. Day two is always the important day. Coming in, we knew there would be three teams. Everybody is fighting hard.”

Catholic has nine advancing to Saturday, including three in the place rounds. The Bears have no top seeds but have seven second-seeded wrestlers.

Brother Martin has nine still competing as well, including two in the place rounds. Leading the way for the Crusaders into the semifinals are top seeds Anthony Oubre (106), Richie Clementi (132) and Kent Burandt (145).

“It’s going to be a long day tomorrow,” Brother Martin coach Andrew Nicola said. “I would have liked to have seen two more of our guys on the podium. I think we left some points off the board. We’re going to scrap hard tomorrow.”

There are three head-to-head matchups, including Jose Rincon of Jesuit against Watts Goodson of Catholic at 120 pounds, Chase Haydel of Jesuit against Christian Rowley of Catholic at 132 pounds and Arthur Schott of Jesuit taking on Rory Horvath of Brother Martin at 160 pounds. Horvath has defeated Schott in two very competitive matches in the last three weeks.

In Division II Teurlings Catholic is poised to defend its title but it will not be easy, thanks to a strong showing from North DeSoto.  The Rebels hold a nine-point lead over the Griffins heading into Saturday.

The Rebels placed 13 of their 14 wrestlers in the semifinals. North DeSoto has 10 in the semifinals. Third-place Archbishop Rummel advanced six to the round of four and trails Teurlings Catholic by 24.5 points.

There is just one head-to-head matchup between Teurlings Catholic and North DeSoto and it is at 160 pounds where Owen de Boisblanc of the Rebels will meet Lake Bates of North DeSoto.

Division III is still competitive but defending champion Basile showed depth to build an 11.5 point lead over Archishop Shaw. De La Salle is third.

The Eagles have 10 of 14 wrestlers in the semifinals while Basile has nine. De La Salle has six in the round of four.

In head-to-head semifinal matchups, Kyle Smith of Basile will meet Blake Andre of Shaw at 113 pounds while at 120 pounds, Shane Barbarin of De La Salle squares off with Kobe Nguyen of Shaw. At 138, Malachi Benetrix of the Cavaliers will meet Carson Dalton of the Eagles while Matthew Krail of De La Salle battles James Nero of Shaw.

All No. 1 seeds held their seeds and advanced to the semifinals.

The semifinals are set for Saturday morning.