2006 Newspaper Articles

SOARING CONCLUSION

Jesuit ends season of struggles in championship form

By Billy Turner, Staff Writer for The Times-Picayune: February 19, 2006

Through a hurricane evacuation, past the transition of having a new coach, fitting in new underclassmen wrestlers and simply going through a new season with a bulls-eye on their Jesuit jerseys, the Blue Jays stuffed all their struggles into one long season.

They lost the mats they would practice on, the building they were used to, but they never lost their desire, senior Brad Gruezke said.

But some normalcy returned for the Jesuit wrestlers at the Pontchartrain Center on Saturday night, as reflected by their tired smiles.  The Blue Jays defeated arch-rival Brother Martin 232.5-214 to win their third consecutive LHSAA state wrestling tournament before a crowd of 2,201, down almost 500 from last year.

When Hurricane Katrina blew into New Orleans on Aug. 29, many Blue Jays wrestlers flew to Houston to attend Jesuit Strake.  Much of Jesuit's team began the season there, like seniors Mike Bossetta, Patrick Braud and Gruezke and underclassman Johnny Palmer.

"Some of the team was in Houston, some in New Orleans, and it just never felt right," Gruezke said.  "It took us awhile to get back together."

Those wrestlers returned in January, but the Blue Jays team was not intact until what was the middle of the season for some teams.

Gruezke was 43-7 last season at 199 pounds; Saturday he was a finalist at 135.  Bossetta was 42-10 at 189 pounds and the 2005 champion; he was a finalist at 215 this season.  Braud was 20-3 last season at 135 pounds; he was a finalist at 140 this season.  This season began with them out of the metro area.

Former coach Mark Strickland, who led Jesuit to two state titles, went to Houston to coach the wrestlers there for a while, but eventually he decided not to return with them.  [Carlos] Bertot was given the job in mid-October.  His job status will be evaluated after this season.

"I wasn't sure of the magnitude of the job at first," Bertot said.  "We lost our facility, we lost our coach.  We didn't have the kids.  It was very difficult."

Bertot and assistants Jonathan Orillion and Mark Delesdernier IV began to see the team jell in late January.  The Blue Jays finished third at the Lee High tournament in Baton Rouge.

"We were undergoing some growing pains," Bertot said.

Then, Jesuit won the District 8-5A tournament.

"I felt us come together in that tournament," Bertot said.

Jesuit had six of 11 semifinalists make the finals Saturday, including Bossetta, Braud, Gruezke and Palmer.  Rummel and Brother Martin had four, and St. Paul and Catholic of Baton Rouge had three each.

When the evening's finals began, the team championship possibilities were down to Jesuit and Brother Martin.

A winning finalist adds four points to the team total, with a pin adding an additional two points.  Catholic was in third place with 170 points as the night began, meaning the most it could get would be 18 additional points.  Brother Martin had 200 to Jesuit's 208.5 as the finals began.

Jesuit's evening began with a victory, increasing the pressure on its challengers.  Kevin White, seeded no. 1 at 103 pounds, defeated Rummel's David Staines in a 2-0 decision.  Ben Capella, a third seed at 119 pounds, followed that with a pin against Ronald Martin of Ehret.  That meant the Blue Jays were up 18.5 points and Brother Martin's first wrestler, Justin Shields, had yet to wrestle.

Shields gave the Crusaders hope by defeating St. Paul Jared Stritzinger 8-0, but Gruezke came back with a pin against St. Paul Danny Tigert.  Gruezke had lost in the finals last season.  Gruezke started slowly but took control midway through the match.

"I take a disasterously long time to get started, my coaches say," Gruezke said.

That gave Jesuit 224.5 points, more than Brother Martin could amass and made the Blue Jays the champions.

"It was great, for state to be decided this close in my senior year and for my match to put us over the top," Gruezke said.  "It's validation for all we went through, all the hard work and the evacuations and everything."

Still, that left a signature match, Brother Martin's James Casadaban against Jesuit's Braud, the only match of the night featuring wrestlers from the top two teams against each other.

The match went two extra periods before Casadaban won 2-1 on a last-second score.

Brother Martin's Matt Cotaya won at 152, and Justin Wagner loast at 171 to Hahnville's Levi Gruwell, giving the Crusaders three individual titles in four finals.

But that wasn't enough.

Jesuit's Palmer, a fifth seed, defeated Brice Jacobs of Hahnville 2-1, and Bossetta beat Rummel's Greg Kempton 5-4.  That meant Jesuit won five of six finals.

In other results, Rummel's Tyler Ehret, a top seed, lost to Lafayette's Andre Broussard at 112.