2012 Baton Rouge City Championships
Bears dominate
Catholic wins 10th straight in City Wrestling Tournament
BY FRED ALDRICH
Special to The Advocate
January 29, 2012
“Catholic High has that confidence that they’re not going to lose, and we’re trying to instill that in our kids.” PAT MAHONEY, East Ascension coach
ZACHARY — Catholic High enjoyed a record-setting day in winning the 43rd Baton Rouge City Wrestling Tournament at Zachary High School on Saturday. The Bears rolled up a record 327.5 points, set another record with a 133.5-point winning margin over second place East Ascension, and had eight individual champions in the 14 weight classes.
It was Catholic’s 10th straight win, 12th in the past 15 years and 24th overall in the history of the tournament.
Ryan Toups (145), Zack Louis (132), Landon Becnel (126) and Brandon Luckett (152) became two-time winners in the city meet in leading the Catholic High scoring. Those four were all No. 1 seeds, while their teammate Murphy Bell (160), who was not seeded, also had an outstanding tournament when he upset the third, second and first seeds on his way to the championship in his weight class.
“Murphy Bell had a losing record coming into the tournament,” Catholic coach Tommy Prochaska said. “He wrestled lights out — a great job on his part.”
The other Catholic high champions were Nick LaMotte (113), Michael Bourgoyne (138) and Caleb Sutton (195).
With Catholic High out of reach in the point totals, the battle for second place was a fierce one. East Ascension edged Live Oak 194 — 190 for second place. Brusly (183.5) and Dutchtown (175.5) rounded out the top five. “Call me crazy, but I wasn’t conceding first,” East Ascension coach Pat Mahoney said. “I’m stupid like that. I figure we have the same number of wrestlers, the same number of seeds and the same number of first-round matches. We do what we’re supposed to do and we’re in it. “Catholic High has that confidence that they’re not going to lose, and we’re trying to instill that in our kids,” he said. The Spartans did not have a winner in the finals, but did well enough in consolation wrestle-backs to hold onto second place.
Live Oak had one champion in 120-pounder Cody Hill who defeated Brusly’s Trevor Schermer by decision, 4-3. It was the sophomore’s 104th career win, putting him on a path to challenge the all-time Louisiana career record.
Brusly’s Austin Schermer set a Baton Rouge city record with his 194th win in the semifinals before falling 3-1 to Louis in the finals. The difference in that match was a two-point takedown by Louis right at the buzzer to end the first round.
Hill and Toups were chosen by the coaches as the outstanding wrestlers in the lower weight classes.
Toups had an amazing comeback to overcome second-seeded Grant Godso of Redemptorist. Godso had turned a 7-2 deficit into an 8-7 lead in the second round, and led 15-11 with 15 seconds left in the match when Toups tied the match on a reversal and two back points. Toups took Godso down quickly in the overtime period and added a near fall for a 20-15 win. “It was really nerve-wracking,” Toups said, “I fought to the end and it turned out all right. I felt pretty confident in the overtime, but it took a lot to get there.”
Zachary’s Cameron Miller was trailing Catholic’s Cameron Hunt 6-5 in the 170-pound final when he reversed Hunt and pinned him at the 1:31 mark of the third round. They had split in two previous matches this season. “He shot in and took me down, but I tried to roll him and was able to succeed,” Miller said. “I was pretty confident when I rolled him. I knew I had to stick him there or that was it.”
Miller was selected as the outstanding wrestler in the upper weights.
The much-anticipated rematch at 285 between Brusly’s Jacob Haydel and St. Michael’s Stephen Scardina didn’t materialize when Scardina missed the match to take the SAT. Haydel pinned Kyle Hidalgo of Catholic for the title, but missed the chance to avenge his only loss of the season against 47 wins. “I was really disappointed — extremely,” he said. “I didn’t find out until weigh-ins. I really wanted a second shot.”
The other individual champions were Dutchtown’s Aaron Carbo (106) and Zachary Hill (220), and Andrew Allemond of St. Amant (182).