2011-12 Season Newspaper Articles
Bossier starts off strong in state meet
10:36 PM, Feb. 11, 2012 - ShreveportTimes.com
Written by Kelly Morris
The start of the LHSAA state wrestling meet was a good one for Shreveport-Bossier City.
After Day 1 at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner, Bossier was in fifth place in Division III at press time while Parkway and Benton were seventh and ninth, respectively in Division II. Byrd was 10th in Division I. The meet will conclude today.
The Bearkats, who came to Kenner with momentum thanks to a victory at the regional meet, had strong showings from familiar names.
In Division III, Bossier's Koree Venus (120), D'Varciea Small (160), Jalen Oliver (170) and Tim Johnson (182) all moved to the semifinals.
Venus started the day with a bye in the 120-pound weight class. He made it to the semifinals after a 3:41 pin. Small won by pin over Doyline's Jesse Morado (3:46). Small's teammate, Johnson, needed less time to advance to the semifinals.
Johnson pinned Loyola's Patrick Kay in 18 seconds. Last year, when the state meet was in Bossier City, Johnson wrestled at 152 pounds and fell in the finals. Evangel's Benjamin Kirkikis followed Johnson's lead with a pin to advance to the semifinals in Division III. He pinned John Curtis' Tyler Cortez in 5:07 in the 126-pound weight class.
In Division II, Parkway's Alex Simmaly moved to the semifinals after a 9-5 decision against Archbishop Shaw's Bryce Ballas in the 106-weight class.
Up three weight classes, Benton's Anthony Stapa also won by decision over an Archbishop Shaw wrestler. Stapa, wrestling at 126 pounds, won by decision (10-6) over Joshua Lennie to advance to the semifinals. In Division I, Byrd's Andrew Martin is semifinal-bound at 152 pounds.