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Five Lafayette wrestlers claim Cole crowns
Written by Nick Fontenot, Special to the Advertiser
11:00 PM, Jan. 21, 2012
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| Teurlings' Trey Bonin and Brother Martin's Thomas Rigley compete in the 106-weight-class match of the 2012 Ken Cole High School wrestling tournament finals Saturday night at Comeaux High School in Lafayette. (Leslie Westbrook photo.) |
Going into the finals of the Ken Cole Invitational, Comeaux's Jacob Dale had pinned every opponent he faced in the tournament. In the finals, Dale made it five for five when he pinned Holy Cross' Alex Nicosia in 24 seconds and won the 113-pound weight class. "The home crowd just really pumped me up," Dale said. "I just tried to pin him as quick as possible. I went into instinct mode." "Jacob's really wrestling well," Comeaux coach Keith Bergeron said. "I feel like he is starting to peak going into state. He's staying focused and he has a goal and a mission that he wants to accomplish."
Comeaux's Tyrek Malveaux also took home a championship at the Ken Cole, defeating Jesuit's Ronnie Hoefeld to capture the 145-pound championship. Early in the match, the two wrestlers were slow to get started, feeling each other out before anyone made a move. "I was looking for him to make a mistake," Malveaux said. "I wasn't really thinking about it. I was just doing what my coaches taught me to do and it worked out." Up 7-6 late in the match, Malveaux slammed Hoefeld to the mat, resulting in two more points and he won 10-6. "I knew he was strong and just by forcing him, I wouldn't have got him down," Malveaux said, "so I just picked him up. I did what I needed to do to get the takedown." Bergeron said the perception that Malveaux is struggling as opposed to his stellar state-championship winning sophomore season is a misconception. "He is in one of the toughest weight classes in the state," Bergeron said. "In our division, there's gonna be three guys who will be in the state finals in his weight class. I think he's better right now than he was last year; it's just that the competition is a lot better. I wouldn't say he is struggling at all."
Teurlings Catholic's Trey Bonin opened up the finals with a 12-2 victory in the 106-pound weight class over Brother Martin's Thomas Ridgley. The match was stopped twice because of Ridgley suffering a nosebleed. "I started off kinda slow," Bonin said. "After a little while, I started to pick it up. Every time (the match) stopped, it got my mind back on track. I realized it was just another match." Teurlings took home a second championship when Nick Schneider scored in triple overtime to win the 182-pound weight class over Sulphur's Jeremy Hebert. Schneider said he expected something different from Hebert than what he got. "It's hard to describe, but I thought he would come out with more fire," Schneider said. "He was strong. Whenever I got on bottom, I felt like I could get away and escape him."
The 138-pound championship match featured a pair of Acadiana area wrestlers with TCHS' Philip Miller and Northside's Traven Lemalle. The match ended quickly when, in just 53 seconds, Miller pinned Lemalle giving the Rebels their third championship of the tournament.
Comeaux finished third in the team standings behind Jesuit and Holy Cross. Bergeron said with his team hampered by injuries, he feels good moving forward. "We do have a young team," Bergeron said. "We have a lot of guys injured and for us to finish third this weekend, we feel very good. We just have to keep on improving going into state. Dale, who won outstanding wrestler in the lower weight classes, echoed his coach's sentiments. "This tournament gives us good momentum," Dale said. "I have one more to win, and that's state."
The state wrestling finals are scheduled for Feb. 11-12 at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner.