2011-12 Season Newspaper Articles

By Robin Fambrough

Advocate sportswriter

December 29, 2011

Some high school teams prefer to take at least part of the Christmas Holidays off. Not the Brusly High wrestling team.

One week after traveling to Alabama for one holiday tournament the Panthers will host one of their own. And it’s a really big one.

The third annual Deep South Bayou Duals is the largest dual-format tournament in Louisiana and it starts Thursday at LSU’s Maddox Fieldhouse at 9 a.m. The two-day event concludes Friday with finals set for approximately 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $7 for students each day.

“We’ve had some big tournaments before, but this is the biggest field yet,” Brusly coach Jimmy Bible said. “You’re talking about having 49 teams and 29 of those are from out of state.

“Along with that you’ve got a Who’s Who in Louisiana wrestling with Catholic High and the teams from New Orleans, Jesuit, Brother Martin and Rummel. And you’ve got St. Paul’s, Teurlings Catholic. It’s going to be a packed house.”

Teams from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina are scheduled to compete along with 20 Louisiana schools.

Florida has the largest out-of-state contingent with seven teams, even though traditional power Pace opted to drop out of the tourney at the last minute, along with teams from California and New York.

Brusly is coming off a second-place finish at another duals tourney, the Alabama Duals, held in Birmingham. The winner of that tourney, host Thompson High, is also among the out-of-state teams to watch this week. Thompson is Alabama’s defending 6A state champion.

Bible also included Georgia-based Bremen, Florida’s Lake Highland Prep, Missouri-based Jefferson City and Texas-based Flower Mound as other out-of-state teams to watch. Lafayette High and Rayne were late Louisiana entries.

Most tournaments divide competitors up according to weight class and teams earn points as their wrestlers post victories. A dual tournament follows the format of a dual meet with teams squaring off against each other for individual competitions.

Teams are divided into pools and will compete against other teams in their respective pools on Thursday. A total of 16 mats will be set up in the fieldhouse for the competition.

Friday’s competition also begins at 9 a.m. and will consist of matchups between teams based on their finish in their respective pools.

“The teams that finish first in the pools will match up against each other,” Bible said explained. “And so will the other place finishers. Teams that finish second in the pool can advance and finish as high as third place.

“There should be some outstanding competition. It’s another chance for all of us to see where we stack up.”