2012-13 Results and Media Coverage
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Brusly — Rummel flexed its muscles early and often Saturday morning in a matchup of recent state champions.
The 2011 Division I state champion Raiders claimed 10 of 12 matches and earned another two by forfeit to rout defending Division III champion Brusly, 66-7.
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| Matt Calcote - (Jerit Roser, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) |
Tyler Frame - (Jerit Roser, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
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"That's why we came up here to wrestling 'em, because you know they're a tough team," Rummel Coach Rod Cusachs said. "We're trying to wrestle tough teams every week because we're working towards state.
"Michael Darwin wrestled real well, came out and wrestled a tough kid and also Austin O'Donnell, our heavyweight, is one of the football players who are coming back and picking up some big wins for us."
Matt Calcote started visiting Rummel off well against a familiar opponent in the 126-pound class. The two-time state champion took down 2012 state runner-up Wyatt LeJeune quickly and extended his advantage in the second and third periods to set the tone with the 19-8 decision. "I came out strong and did what I had to do to take him down," Calcote said. "I tried to let him up. My coaches told me take him down, let him up, take him down, let him up, so I kept on doing that." Calcote said he feels he becomes a stronger wrestling after every meeting with a top opponent, such as LeJeune, whom he defeated last week in the finals of Rummel's Sam Serra Invitational.
The Raiders' rolled from there with two pins in the next three matchups and victories in the day's first five matches.
Rick LaCava dropped Zeaven Hunt just before the first period ended in the 132-pound class, then Joe Kerry claimed an 11-0 decision in the 138-pound class.
Tyler Frame made quick work of Branson Daigle with a pin just 1:08 into the 145-pound match. "The goal in the dual meet was to dominate from the beginning just as it is in every other dual meet," Frame said. "I think overall from 106 all the way to heavyweight, we had a great dual meet. The goal is always to dominate, but we didn't come up short."
Cody LaCoste followed with a 13-8 decision from Diondre Dorsey in the 152-pound class in the morning's closest match before Brusly could finally get on the board.
Kobe Mancuso did the trick for the Panthers with a 10-2 decision in his 160-pound battle with Rummel's Guillermo Suarez, but the bright spots were too few and far between for Brusly to keep up overall.
"What we try to do is we try to wrestle those bigger schools because it prepares us for our division," Brusly Coach Jimmy Bible said. "I've made pretty good friends with the guys from Rummel and Catholic High and Brother Martin and all those, and we try to get duals with them because we know if we're wrestling with those guys, then eventually we'll be able to handle the competition in our division."
Darwin pinned Brusly's Dillon Prejean in 40 seconds in the 170-pound class, Aaron Maddox took the 182-pound class for Rummel by forfeit and Tyler Tromcoso continued the momentum by pinning the Panthers' Brandon Thomas in 2:47 in the 195-pound class.
Donald Johnson scored the remainder of the host team's points with a 9-3 decision against Kevin Fields in the 220-pound class.
"Mancuso started off a little slow and gave up a takedown, but he came back in the end — he's tough for us," Bible said. "Donald's coming off a sickness himself, and he came in good for us today, and even our 152-pounder (Dorsey), he lost, but he showed a good effort, and that's what we're trying to get."
O'Donnell pinned the Panthers' Jovante Wheeler in 32 seconds in the 285-pound class, and teammates Robert Fairchild, Devin Breaud and Tyler Mire closed out the big win in the 106, 113 and 120-pound matchups.
Fairchild pinned Deven Jones in 1:15, Breaud won by forfeit and Mire pinned Kyle Cascio in 1:27.
"There's no excuses for us," Bible said. "We weren't prepared for a team like Rummel, but the season goes on. We're dealing with a lot of injuries and sickness right now and exams going on. There's all kinds of excuses I could make, but in the end we weren't prepared, and they came out and just handed it to us. "Kudos to them. Coach has a good team, and I think they're gonna do well later on in the state tournament."