Local standouts turned away
By Kevin Foote; 11:19 p.m. CST February 1, 2014
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Where there was a bit of sadness, there was also plenty of excitement and perhaps even more hope for the future when it came to local wrestlers at this weekend’s 38th Annual Ken Cole Wrestling Tournament at Comeaux High.
The sadness stemmed from the fact that for the first time since the event began way back in 1977, there wasn’t a single champion from the Acadiana area.
In fact, 1983 was the only year that you had to leave Lafayette Parish to find a local individual champion. While there were no Lafayette Parish winners that year, Jeanerette had four champions.
Despite the local disappointments, this year’s Ken Cole will certainly go down as one of the best.
“We ended up with about 59 teams and 498 wrestlers after we had some scratches,” Comeaux coach Keith Bergeron said. “It might have also been the largest tournament other than the state tournament ever in the state’s history.
“There was a lot of quality wrestlers here. I could see that during the seeding process. We had several wrestlers who placed at Louisiana Classics that weren’t even seeded here.”
The lack of a local champion certainly didn’t come from a lack of trying. The other local finalists were Teurlings Catholic’s Brock Bonin at 120, Comeaux High’s Connor Stampley at 126 and Northside’s O’Shea Dugas at 285. |
In Bonin’s case, he had already defeated No. 1-seeded Tristan Ruppert of Ocean Springs, Miss. in a dramatic 8-6 fashion in the sudden victory round.
“My coach told me to push the pace and take a lot of shots against him,” Bonin said. “He was just an all-around good wrestler. That was a good win.”
Then there’s the fact that Bonin is still only a sophomore.
“Yes, it was definitely a good tournament for me,” Bonin said.
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t some frustration involved in the finals loss – an 8-4 decision to East Ascension’s Jacob Bernard.
A minute into the first round, the match dramatically changed when Bernard got a takedown and then control for a quick 5-0 lead. From that point on, Bonin wrestled from behind. “I wanted to (scored first),” Bonin said, “but it didn’t work out that way. If I had, I think it would have been a different match.” Playing catch-up against Bernard was difficult for the sophomore because of his opponent’s strength. “He was very strong,” Bonin said. “There were several times when I had opportunities (for takedowns), but I just couldn’t because he was so strong.”
The pace of the match was different for Comeaux’s Stampley.
Unlike Bonin, Stampley and Brother Martin’s Taylor Gambill were scoreless after the first period. “I think it (0-0 first period) actually give you more of a drive,” Stampley said. “You know it’s going to be a tough one, so it makes you push yourself even harder.” The second period only produced a single point when Gambill got an escape. A minute into the third period, Stampley got an escape himself to tie it at 1-1, but then Gambill delivered a reversal with 55 seconds left to gain the lead for good.
It marked the first time since 2010 that a Spartan didn’t claim a win at the Ken Cole.
“It was close,” Stampley said. “Both of us were pretty even. He just did a few things a little better than me.”
It was indeed understandable that Stampley wasn’t on top of his game considering that he’d missed much of January with an injury. “Yeah, but this is my senior year, so that’s no excuse,” Stampley said. “I’ve got to keep pushing myself to get back to where I need to be.” Stampley is convinced that Gambill earned the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Division I state tournament with the 3-2 win and that he’ll be the No. 2 seed.
As good as the tournament had been, it ended with a splash in the event’s final two matches.
First came No. 1-seeded Quin Gillian of Byrd barely escaping a scare from Michael Yeatman of Holy Cross, 7-5 in overtime.
Then in the heavyweight division, Northside’s O’Shea Dugas introduced himself to the state with an impressive performance against Robert Kennedy of Belle Chasse. The only problem is that Dugas lost in controversial fashion 4-3.
“I’m very proud of him,” Northside coach John Simmons said. “He wrestled a great match. The kid he wrestled is the No. 1 guy in Division II and he’s a senior. He (Dugas) is a junior and a first-year junior.”
Much like the Stampley-Gambill showdown, neither scored in the first period and Kennedy claimed a 1-0 with an escape in the second period. But it appeared that Dugas was going to take the Ken Cole title with a quick escape nine seconds into the third period and then a takedown for a 3-1 lead with 1:08 left. Kennedy would then get an escape 14 seconds later for the win. Kennedy, however, was awarded a point for Dugas stalling with 53 seconds left and then another penalty point for locking hands to tie it at 3-3 with 37 seconds left, much to the frustration of Dugas. “I thought it (stalling point) was a little too quick,“ Simmons said. “But I tell my wrestlers all the time, not to leave it in the hands of the officials. He (Dugas) left it all out on the mat effort-wise, but he did leave a few points on the mat. I thought he should have been a little more explosive in the final 20 seconds.”
The two may very well wrestle again in the Division II state finals.
Ken Cole Wrestling Results
TEAM STANDINGS
1. Brother Martin 323; 2. Holy Cross 263; 3. Brusly 188; 4. Jesuit 168; 5. East Ascension 163.5; 6. Live Oak 158; 7. Teurlings 143.5; 8. Comeaux 138; 9. Dutchtown 128; 10. Airline 122.5; 11. Lafayette High 106; 12. DeLaSalle 94.5; 13. Zachary 94; 14. John Ehret 88; 15. North Vermilion 87.5; 16. Byrd 87.5; 17. Acadiana 86.5; 18. Sulphur 78.5; 19. Parkway 75; 20. Benton 72. Other locals: 28. Northside 52.5; 39. Carencro 35; 45. Rayne 23; 47. Kaplan 22; 56. St. Thomas More 5; 57. Church Point 0.
MOST PINS, LEAST TIME
Roy Dupuy, Northshore (5 pins, 7:05)
OUTSTANDING WRESTLER (Lower Divisions)
George Benoit, Holy Cross
OUTSTANDING WRESTLER (Upper Divisions)
Robert Kennedy, Belle Chasse
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
106 – 1. Brody Martin, Jesuit (dec. 8-6); 2. Alex Betteridge, East Ascension; 3. Steven Shields, Brother Martin (dec. 5-1); 4. Colt Olinde, Live Oak; 5. Christopher Zea, Holy Cross (pin 3:34); 6. Prentice Spurlock, John Ehret.
113 – 1. Mason Mauro, Brother Martin (4-1, 2 OTs); 2. Nicholas Charles, Jesuit; 3. Jacob Chenevert, Live Oak (pin 13-9); 4. Shane Ulfers, St. Paul’s; 5. Joseph Foret, Holy Cross (pin 4:05); 6. Javarious Jones, Airline.
120 – 1. Jacob Bernard, East Ascension (dec. 8-4); 2. Brock Bonin, Teurlings; 3. Tristan Ruppert, Ocean Springs (forfeit); 4. Jason Pitts, Parkway; 5. Ben D’Antonio, Jesuit (forfeit); 6. Dylan Soileau, Holy Cross.
126 – 1. Taylor Gambill, Brother Martin (dec. 3-2); 2. Connor Stampley, Comeaux; Taylor Gambill, Brother Martin; 3. Cody Hill, Live Oak (dec. 5-1); 4. Wyatt LeJeune, Brusly; 5. Collin Guerra, Holy Cross (dec. 2-0); 6. Christian Walden, Airline.
132 – 1. George Benoit, Holy Cross (dec. 3-1); 2. Paul Klein, Brother Martin; 3. Kalik Battle, Byrd (maj. dec. 13-3); 4. Antonio Lococo, Airline; 5. Jacob Rovira, Jesuit (forfeit); 6. Noah Landry, Brusly.
138 – 1. Trevor Schermer, Brusly (dec. 8-3); 2. Austin Meyn, Brother Martin; 3. Griffin Mason, Jesuit (forfeit); 4. Jacob Rees, Teurlings; 5. Timothy Ellender, Sulphur (dec. 9-6); 6. Gage Landry, Acadiana.
145 – 1. Daniel Evans, Brother Martin (dec. 2-1); 2. Brandon Cowell, Dutchtown; 3. Benjamin Rogers, Acadiana (pin 3:19); 4. Tre’ Pugh, Benton; 5. Austyn Hodge, Live Oak (maj. dec. 8-0); 6. Preston Robichaux, Holy Cross.
152 – 1. Mason Williams, Brother Martin (dec. 4-3); 2. Jack Fontenot, John Ehret; 3. Koby Mancusco, Brusly (dec. 3-2); 4. Ashton Queyrouze, Jesuit; 5. Lehrue Stevens, St. Louis (DQ); 6. Trey Duhon, Sulphur.
160 – 1. Alex Martin, DeLaSalle (dec. 3-1); 2. Travis Quaterman, Brother Martin; 3. Jarrett Moss, Baton Rouge (dec. 2-1); 4. The’Anthony Taylor, Huntington; 5. Daniel Rittell, Zachary (pin 2:21); 6. Eric Duhon, Acadiana.
170 – 1. Brice Duhe, Holy Cross (maj. dec. 10-2); 2. Blaze D’Aquin, John Ehret; 3. Aaron Maddox, Grace King (dec. 7-2); 4. Logan Sylve, DeLaSalle; 5. Harrison Hooper, Airline (dec. 7-2); 6. Brody Bonura, Live Oak.
182 – 1. Porter Dazet, Holy Cross (dec. 8-7); 2. Brendan Allen, Covington; 3. Yehia Riles, Brother Martin (dec. 10-9); 4. Jalen Olivet, Bossier; 5. Colin Vaughn, North Vermilion (dec. 0:19); 6. Matt Adams, Fisher.
195 – 1. Daniel Relayson, Holy Cross (pin 5:45); 2. Matthew Perez, Sulphur; 3. Josh Tapia, Brother Martin (pin 2:02); 4. Dillon Prejean, Brusly; 5. Javad Ben, Dutchtown (dec. 3-2); 6. Austin Guedry, East Ascension.
220 – 1. Quin Gillian, Byrd (dec. 7-5); 2. Michael Yeatman, Holy Cross; 3. Rodrigo Diaz, Lafayette High (pin 3:17); 4. Kellan Lockhart, Sam Houston; 5. Jacob Clapp, Brother Martin (TB 3-1); 6. Donald Johnson, Brusly.
285 – 1. Robert Kennedy, Belle Chasse (dec. 4-3); 2. O’Shea Dugas, Northside; 3. Kirk Wilson, Dunham (sudden victory, 3-1); 4. Conor Karwath, East Ascension; 5. Travis Santiago, Teurlings (dec. 8-3); 6. Blake Pacheco, Dutchtown.
