Wrestling: St. Paul’s leads Division I, Teurlings Catholic and Basile positioned to repeat heading to Championship Saturday

BATON ROUGE – St. Paul’s maintained its solid lead established earlier on Friday with an excellent evening session as the Wolves slightly increased their lead by the end of Day 1 of the 2021 LHSAA state wrestling championship at the Raising Canes River Center.

The Wolves have placed nine of 14 wrestlers in Saturday’s 10 a.m. semifinals, including 11 placers in the 14 weight classes.

East Ascension kept up its fine pace of earlier in the day, remaining second after the final round of consolations Friday evening, trailing St. Paul’s by 22.5 points. Holy Cross moved into third, trailing the Wolves by 31.5 points while defending state champion Brother Martin is fourth, 32.5 points behind the Wolves. Catholic of Baton Rouge is fifth with Jesuit sixth.

St. Paul’s coach Matt Pinero likes the position his team is in heading into the semifinals.

“We lost one we thought would make it through and gained one that we did not expect so it all evened out,” Pinero said. “Sophomore Landry Barker at 170 is wrestling up in class for the team. He weighs about 160. He had not broken through until today and he did so. He wrestled well and guaranteed a place on the podium.”

Holy Cross has nine wrestlers who got through to Saturday, East Ascension has eight wrestlers still alive and Brother Martin has seven.

Key semifinal matchups include at 138 pounds where Sean Cripple of St. Paul’s will square off with Jamarius Koshko of East Ascension and at 145 pounds as Grant Nastasi of the Wolves goes up against Quinn Williams of Brother Martin.

Top seeds in the semifinals for the Wolves include Peyton Ward (160) and Blain Cascio (182).

East Ascension top seed Brad Mahoney (170) and Gavin Soniat (285) will be expected to deliver for the Spartans.

Holy Cross has all four of its top seeds alive in Dylan Lauriano (120), Charles Sauerwin III (126), Evan Frost (132) and Jacob Frost (138) with all four capable of delivering a slew of points for the Tigers on Saturday.

Dylan Moser (106) is the lone top seed in the semifinals for Brother Martin.

“We need to perform to the level that we are capable of,” Pinero said. “Historically, we’ve competed really hard in the championship side of things and not so much in the consolation side of things. We need to compete consistently, across the board, and perform the best we can and we will be happy with the result, regardless of what it is.”

Defending Division II champion Teurlings Catholic and defending Division III state champion Basile are well positioned to repeat as state champions heading into Saturday.

The Rebels face stiff competition from North DeSoto, holding just a three point lead. Archbishop Shaw is third, 17 points back while Archbishop Rummel is fourth and Rayne fifth.

Teurlings Catholic features top seeds in the semifinals in Ethan Boudreaux (113), John Paul Travasos (160) and Kane Chisholm (285).

North DeSoto has three top seeds in the Final Four, including Hunter Addison (152), Andrew Gonzales (170) and Dylan Olivier (195)

The Eagles have top seed and defending state champion Glenn Price (120) leading the way.

The Raiders have top seeds Jacob Baltz (106), Kobe Wise (126) and defending state champion Jacob Ramirez (145) leading the way into the semifinals.

Defending Division III state champion Basile is well positioned for a repeat. The Bearcats lead second place De La Salle by 23 points while Archbishop Hannan is third, 26 points back. Brusly is fourth with St. Louis Catholic fifth.

Basile has three top seeds in the semifinals in Jay Guillory (113), Alex Menier (132), Baylor Waggoner (195)

The Cavaliers have top seeds Zachary Lauland (138) and Byron Phillips (220) in the Final Four.

The Hawks have top seeds Preston Gautier (152), Grayson Pennison (160) and Mark Pennison (170) leading the charge into the semifinals.

Follow gavel-to-gavel coverage by following me on Twitter @kentrahan.

Division I Team Scores
1 St. Paul’s 168.0
2 East Ascension 145.5
3 Holy Cross 136.5
4 Brother Martin 135.5
5 Catholic-BR 132.5
6 Jesuit 124.0
7 Zachary 98.5
8 Sulphur 94.0
9 Dutchtown 84.5
10 Parkway 71.5
11 Chalmette 67.0
12 Airline 66.0
13 St. Amant 64.5
14 Live Oak 61.0
15 Hahnville 51.0
16 Comeaux 44.0
17 Fontainebleau 42.0
18 C.E. Byrd 37.0
19 Baton Rouge 34.0
20 Destrehan 33.0
21 Central BR 30.0
22 Lafayette 29.0
23 Covington 28.0
24 Southside 27.0
25 Acadiana 23.0
26 Mandeville 22.5
27 Terrebonne 8.0
28 Sam Houston 6.0
29 Grace King 4.0
30 John Ehret 2.0

Division II Team Scores
1 Teurlings Catholic 126.0
2 North Desoto 123.0
3 Archbishop Shaw 109.0
4 Archbishop Rummel 96.5
5 Rayne 94.0
6 Belle Chasse 81.0
7 Lakeshore 73.5
8 Carencro 73.0
9 Benton 49.0
10 Haughton 46.0
11 Pearl River 30.0
12 North Vermillion 23.0
13 Caddo Magnet 19.0
14 Broadmoor 7.0
14 St. Thomas More 7.0
16 Riverdale 6.0
17 Salmen 3.0
18 Plaquemine 2.5

Division III Team Scores
1 Basile 115.0
2 De La Salle 92.0
3 Archbishop Hannan 89.0
4 Brusly 71.0
5 St. Louis Catholic 59.0
6 St. Michael The Archangel 57.0
7 Kaplan 48.0
8 Bossier 44.0
8 Church Point 44.0
10 John Curtis Christian School 40.5
11 South Beauregard 34.0
12 Evangel Christian Academy 30.0
13 Dunham 20.0
14 Thomas Jefferson 17.0
15 DeQuincy 16.0
16 Erath 13.0
17 Calvary Baptist 11.0
18 Haynes Academy 10.0
19 Summerfield 8.0
20 Glen Oaks 7.0
21 Episcopal 3.0