Stampley, Diaz top area hopes
By Kevin Foote; 11:13 p.m. CST February 19, 2014
There have been years when the Comeaux Spartans have headed to the Division I State Wrestling Tournament at the Ponchartrain Center in New Orleans with realistic hopes of finishing in the top three or five or perhaps seven in the state.
This year, the goals are a little bit different.
Placing in the top nine or 10 spots this weekend would be good in the mind of coach Keith Bergeron, but don’t expect him to be upset about it.
“Not at all,” Bergeron said. “To be honest, I’m very excited about what we’ve done this year. The team went beyond our expectations. If you would have told me before the season that we’d be the parish champs again and the district title again, I would have said it was a longshot. I’m really satisfied with how the guys have come around.”
The Spartans are led by No. 2 Connor Stampley (28-2) at 126 pounds. Five other Spartans were seeded in the top eight, including Jake Verret No. 8 at 120, Kole Miller No. 7 at 145, Jacque Girouard No. 7 at 152, Calvin Griffin No. 8 at 182 and Jamal Campbell No. 8 at 285.
Lafayette High sports the only other top four seed from the Acadiana area in sophomore Rodrigo Diaz at 220.
The difficulty for Diaz (47-5) is the 220-pound division is loaded at the top with a pair of undefeated wrestlers in Byrd’s Quin Gilliam (39-0) at No. 2 and Destrehan’s Rae Juan Marbley (20-0). That doesn’t even include No. 3 Michael Yeatman of Holy Cross at 31-4.
“He (Gilliam) deserves it (No. 1),” LHS coach Brandon Billeaud said. “He was first at Ken Cole and first at Louisiana Classics. He’s strong, but he’s quick as well. Marbley has got a motor. He likes to tie you up more.”
Diaz lost twice to Gilliam – 15-7 the first time and then suffered a technical fall in the rematch.
“That (second match) was deceiving,” Billeaud said. “We brought all the action to him and just didn’t capitalized. We’ll try to tie him up a little more this time.”
Billeaud is also excited about the opportunities for Thaquan Priestley, who is seeded No. 8 at 145. Priestley didn’t become eligible until mid-semester, so he doesn’t have a lot of matches under his belt. “The thing about him (Priestley) is that he’s so athletic and his hips are so good that he’s got a chance against anybody he wrestles,” Billeaud said. “I didn’t think he would get seeded, so I’m really excited about that.”
Damien Lasseigne is coming off a strong performance at Ken Cole at the highly competitive 152-pound division.
The only other area wrestlers seeded are the Acadiana High duo of Gage Landry at No. 5 at 138 and Eric Duhon No. 8 at 160.
Bergeron is hoping for similar upsets from Miller at 145, Girouard at 152 and Griffin at 182. “Griffin’s had a good year," he said. “He’s very capable of pulling off an upset.“
Division I State Wrestling Seeds
106 – 1. Alex Betteridge (31-3), East Ascension; 2. Steven Shields (39-8), Brother Martin; 3. Brody Martin (43-5), Jesuit; 4. Nicholas Lirette (48-4), Hahnville; 5. Christopher Zea (38-7), Holy Cross; 6. Jonathon Bradley (26-19), Catholic-BR; 7. Robert Fairchild (25-18), Rummel; 8. Prentice Spurlock (20-6), John Ehret.
113 – 1. Mason Mauro (30-2), Brother Martin; 2. Devyn Breaud (20-7), Rummel; 3. Nicholas Charles (38-8), Jesuit; 4. Joseph Foret (17-5), Holy Cross; 5. Mitch Napoli (20-15), Catholic-BR; 6. Steven Van Zandt (25-14), St. Paul’s; 7. Javarious Jones (26-14), Airline; 8. Cornell Tolliver (19-6), Byrd.
120 – 1. Ben D’Antonio (31-10), Jesuit; 2. Tyler Mire (36-4), Rummel; 3. Joshua Matthews (32-12), Catholic-BR; 4. Jacob Bernard (45-8), East Ascension; 5. Beau Bush, Holy Cross; 6. Seth Johnson (19-8), Brother Martin; 7. Nicholas des Bordes (27-10), Mandeville; 8. Jake Verret (29-13), Comeaux.
126 – 1. Taylor Gambill (39-3), Brother Martin; 2. Connor Stampley (28-2), Comeaux; 3. Collin Guerra (35-11), Holy Cross; 4. Christian Walden (36-7), Airline; 5. Jake Rando (26-9), Jesuit; 6. Aaron Cambre (14-4), Hahnville; 7. Matthew Ashford (44-23), East Ascension; 7. Zachary Lawson (42-14), Fontainebleau; 8. Austin LeBouef (20-9), St. Amant.
132 – 1. George Benoit (37-4), Holy Cross; 2. Paul Klein (39-1), Brother Martin; 3. Brennan Taylor (33-3), Sulphur; 4. Antonio Lococo (39-10), Airline; 5. Kalik Battle (43-8), Byrd; 6. Jacob Rovira (34-10), Jesuit; 7. Tristyn Wheeler (45-10), St. Amant; 8. Chris Meraux (17-8), St. Paul’s.
138 – 1. Austin Meyn (36-4), Brother Martin; 2. Brennan Taylor (46-2), Catholic-BR; 3. Will Lafranca (31-11), Jesuit; 4. Joshua Averett (41-8), St. Amant; 5. Gage Landry (20-8), Acadiana; 6. Hunter Bourgeois (21-11), St. Paul’s; 7. Timothy Ellender (28-8), Sulphur; 8. Zack Bowman (24-22), Rummel.
145 – 1. Danny Evans (33-1), Brother Martin; 2. James Claitor (31-3), Catholic-BR; 3. Rick LaCava (27-8), Rummel; 4. Brandon Cowell (52-10), Dutchtown; 5. Hunter Dempster (32-12), Hahnville; 6. Griffin Mason (33-14), Jesuit; 7. Kole Miller (16-14), Comeaux; 8. Thaquan Priestley (17-5), Lafayette High.
152 – 1. Mason Williams (33-3), Brother Martin; 2. Matthew Mire (39-4), Catholic-BR; 3. Jack Fontenot (41-2), John Ehret; 4. Ashton Queyrouze (33-18), Jesuit; 5. DeQuan Jackson (46-19), East Ascension; 6. Trey Duhon (9-6), Sulphur; 7. Jacque Girouard (22-12), Comeaux; 8. Joseph Kerry (30-13), Rummel.
160 – 1. Tanner LeBlanc (41-1), St. Paul’s; 2. Gason Eymard (38-13), Jesuit; 3. Travis Quarterman (31-10), Brother Martin; 4. Brandon Verges (35-11), Fontainebleau; 5. Daniel Rittell (39-12), Zachary; 6. Gabe Arceneaux (38-16), Dutchtown; 7. Jarrett Moss (39-15), Baton Rouge; 8. Eric Duhon (27-7), Acadiana.
170 – 1. Jake Eccles (32-2), Jesuit; 2. Brice Duhe (37-4), Holy Cross; 3. Blaze d’Aquin (31-6), John Ehret; 4. Frankie Arena (25-12), Mandeville; 5. Matthew Moreau (24-4), Catholic-BR; 6. Nicholas Comardelle (32-16), Brother Martin; 7. Harrison Hooper (34-6), Airline; 8. Nicholas Wallis (22-6), Zachary.
182 – 1. Guy Patron (45-4), Jesuit; 2. Yehia Riles (44-4), Brother Martin; 3. Brendan Allen (23-4), Covington; 4. Porter Dazet (32-8), Holy Cross; 5. Ethan Eisenhardt (45-6), Fontainebleau; 6. Keegan Gilligan (25-6), Airline; 7. James Young (24-15), Rummel; 8. Calvin Griffin (19-9), Comeaux.
195 – 1. Daniel Relayson (34-4), Holy Cross; 2. Matthew Perez (33-9), Sulphur; 3. Kenderick Jones (42-4), Hahnville; 4. Joshua Tapia (39-4), Brother Martin; 5. David Thompson (9-6), Destrehan; 6. Robert Hudgins (9-6), Rummel; 7. Sean McManus (21-10), Zachary; 8. Javad Ben (25-16), Dutchtown.
220 – 1. Quin Gilliam (39-0), Byrd; 2. Rae Juan Marbley (20-0), Destrehan; 3. Michael Yeatman (31-4), Holy Cross; 4. Rodrigo Diaz (47-5), Lafayette High; 5. Jacob Clapp (26-12), Brother Martin; 6. Travis Goodman (32-13), Dutchtown; 7. Nicholas Cashio (26-12), Catholic-BR; 8. Tyler Fontana (25-18), Rummel.
285 – 1. Christian Ponson (45-3), Fontainebleau; 2. Ryan Hanley (11-1), Rummel; 3. Conor Karwath (58-4), East Ascension; 4. Dominic Carmello (41-7), Jesuit; 5. K.J. Wilson (32-8), Catholic-BR; 6. Blake Pacheco (35-15), Dutchtown; 7. Travis Gardner (24-13), Holy Cross; 8. Jamal Campbell (25-11), Comeaux.