2012-13 Results and Media Coverage
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Coaches wiped the blood from Cody Hill's jersey and face and wrapped his injured head for a third time as the Live Oak wrestler tried to hold off Catholic's Brennan Taylor. Taylor dropped Hill to the mat in the third period's final seconds and then again in the extra time to claim the 8-6 sudden victory in their 128-pound semifinal matchup.
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"With the tape, it was hard to breathe, plus losing all that blood and energy — it was tough," said Hill, still with tape circling from the top of his head to below his jaw. "I just had to fight through it, though. The cut happened, and I knew I had to fight through it. It made me work harder. I wrestled the same. I didn't change anything. I didn't want it to faze me. "It was a good match. Taylor's a tough kid. It was close."
Hill's head began bleeding heavily after a first-round collision and needed tending to multiple times as the junior insisted on finishing the match. He looked at his coaches the first time and said, "Just tape my head." The blood soaked through the bandages in each of the next two rounds, at one point dripping from his head and beginning to cover his chest.
"We didn't know whose blood it was at first, but Cody's a tough kid," Live Oak Coach Chris Collier said. "He said, 'Tape it up, and let's go.' It makes you feel good as a coach to have a kid that has that kind of drive and want, and coming out being the defending (event) champion, he wanted to defend his title." The injury will require two staples in Hill's head and about two week's rest, said Collier, who helped quickly rush his athlete to a trainer as soon as the match ended.
Hill hopes to return to action in time for the Baton Rouge City Meet on Feb. 1-2. He expects to be fine for the state tournament Feb. 15-16.
"It's been kind of the case for us all season," Collier said. "We've been pretty banged up. We just started getting some guys back ever since we went down to Brother Martin. That's when we just had a rash of injuries, and we're just trying to get everybody healthy." |
HEAD OF THE CLASSES?: Two spectators watching the Hill-Taylor matchup discussed the 128-weight class as likely the event's best. Taylor will face Brother Martin's Austin Meyn in the final this afternoon after Meyn's 6-0 semifinal defeat of Rummel's Matt Calcote.
"(The) 126 was a very good weight class with the quality of opponents in there," Catholic Coach Tommy Prochaska said. "Also, 120 was a tough one, so yeah, there were very, very good matches, and that finals will be a good match. We're 0-2 against the Brother Martin kid right now, so it's a big match for us just for confidence because it'll be the last time we see him before the state meet."
Holy Cross' Alex Nicosia beat top seed Paul Klein of Brother Martin in one 122-pound semifinal, while Comeaux's Jacob Dale beat Payton Garlington of Hoover, Ala., in the other.
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RIVER PARISH CAMARADERIE: Few, if any, wrestlers received as much support in the semifinals as Destrehan's Rae juan Marbley in his 222-pound matchup with Catholic's Myles Nash.
Hahnville Coach Dan Erwin and a group of his Tigers, all in their purple jackets, stood beside the Destrehan contingent and matched it shout for shout.
"There's a saying in our parish, St. Charles Parish: 'We're all one,'" Erwin said. "The quote is, 'You and I, we are St. Charles Parish,' and our kids believe in that. Those kids wrestle together in the summer. Rae juan wrestles in our club, which is called the River Parish Wrestling Academy. He wrestles for us, and they have four or five other kids on their team that wrestle for us, and they're friends.
"They've shed blood, sweat and tears together, and they go at, and they wanna support him."
Marbley, who upended top-seed Brennan McKnight of Rayne on Friday, pushed farther into the championship bracket than anyone from the parish before falling short of Nash is a physical 11-7 bout.
"For us, we have 11 youngsters — 10 sophomores and freshman, one junior and three seniors — on the Hahnville team, so we're very, very young," Erwin said. "Our three seniors are very inexperienced, and they're very inexperienced — Destrehan is — and it kind of showed in a big-time match with Rae juan.
"It's his first big semifinal match ever on a grand stage in front of the whole state, and I think he performed well. He made three or four mistakes, which will be corrected, and I think he'll get to the next level." |
COMEAUX LEADS NON-PRIVATES: Brother Martin (278.0), Catholic (206.5) and Jesuit (193.5) lead a pack of seven private schools atop the Louisiana Classic standings as consolation rounds ease to a close before the 4 p.m. championship matchups.
Holy Cross (120.0), St. Paul's (117.0), Rummel (111.0) and Teurlings (108.5) round out that group before a stretch of public schools, led by No. 8 Comeaux (107.0), No. 9 Hoover, Ala., (100.0), No. 10 East Ascension (87.5) and No. 11 Brusly (85.5).
"I think we're doing all right," Comeaux Coach Keith Bergeron said. "We have a mixture of some seniors and some younger kids out here wrestling. Our older kids are doing what they're supposed to do and have been having a good tournament. We've got two in the finals with Jacob Dale and Tyrek Malveaux, who are both returning champions in this tournament from last year and returning state champions, and we have Connor Stampley still in, who will hopefully finish in third. He's in the top six right now.
"I think we're right about where we should be. Young kids did what they could. We didn't expect a whole lot out of 'em, but their turn's gonna come in the future."
