In winning its state-record 26th state wrestling championship,
Holy Cross (New Orleans) dethroned seven-time defending champion Brusly in the Division III competition held at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City.
Meanwhile,
Archbishop Rummel (Metairie) won its first state wrestling title in school history while turning back district rival and 23-time champion Jesuit (New Orleans) in Division I.
Teurlings Catholic (Lafayette) took the Division II crown as a two-day record crowd of 11,264 attended the Louisiana High School Athletic Association State Wrestling Tournament.
Six of the seven Holy Cross wrestlers who reached the state finals came away with individual championships. Holy Cross and Brusly battled throughout the final day of the meet before the Crusaders finally clinched the title when top-seed Steven Kleamenakis defeated No. 2 Dylan Hood of
Brusly, 5-1, in the 215-pound division.
Holy Cross finished with 265.5 points to 254 for Brusly. Rummel scored a 286-262.5 victory over Jesuit. Teurlings Catholic overwhelmed defending champion St. Michael (Baton Rouge), 313.5-269.5.
"I couldn't be any prouder of my team or my coaching staff,'" said Rummel coach Rod Cusachs, whose team finished second to Jesuit in last year's meet. "Anything less than a state championship would have been a failure.''
Rummel clinched its victory with six matches to go when top-seed Rhett Ernst pinned No. 7 Ronnie Hoefield of Jesuit at 2:51 of their 145-pound match.
Mandeville top-seeded senior Elijah Levee highlighted the individual action with his fourth state title. Levee defeated Zachary Carmello of Jesuit at 160 pounds, 8-2, to become the 10th four-time state champion and the fourth from the Metro New Orleans area.
Levee is the first four-time winner from different schools. He won state titles the last two years for Mandeville after winning at Northlake Christian (Covington) as a seventh- and eighth-grader in 2007 and 2008, respectively. He missed his sophomore season with a football-related injury.
RAWLS ROLLS RECORD GAMECentral (Baton Rouge) Kay Rawls rolled a girls state-record 289 game in finishing with a 651 series in the Wildcats' 17-10 victory Broadmoor (Baton Rouge). Rawls also had a 651 series in an 18-9 victory over Holden earlier this season. In the 10 years since bowling became a LHSAA-sanctioned sport, no girl has matched Rawls' top game. Rawls also set a composite school boys-girls record with her 289. Rawls is averaging 195 per game after winning the LHSAA singles title last year.
JOHN CURTIS POLE VAULTER SIGNS WITH STANFORDPole vaulter Dalton Duvio, who won the 2010 Class 2A state title for
Curtis (River Ridge), has signed a scholarship with Stanford. Duvio also had offers from Duke, Dartmouth, Harvard and Princeton.
Duvio has a personal-best vault of 16 feet, 4 inches and cleared 15-11 during the current indoor season to rank ninth nationally, John Curtis coach Preston Curtis said. Duvio signed his scholarship papers at John Curtis.
"I really liked everything about (Stanford), the academics, athletics, and the weather is great," Duvio said. "It was amazing. All of my choices were prestigious academic institutions, but Stanford's athletic program was the deciding factor.''
Duvio scored a 30 on his ACT and will be academically eligible to compete as a freshman.
PINEVILLE CELEBRATES ONE-GOAL LOSSPineville was no match for third-seeded
Lafayette in losing its boys soccer first-round playoff game, 8-1.
But it was the manner in which Pineville scored that made the Rebels ecstatic and brought smiles, and even tears of joy, to the 100 or so fans who watched the game at Lafayette High's stadium.
Ross Barron, a senior with Downs syndrome, scored Pineville's only goal in the final game of his career. Barron also scored once during the regular season.
"There wasn't a dry eye in the stadium," Lafayette coach Jeremy Cart told the Alexandria Town Talk. "My seniors were the biggest cheerleaders for him on the sideline."
Pineville coach Grant Eloi inserted Barron into the game at forward with about 12 minutes left. Cart pulled his starters and instructed his reserves to "work with" Pineville in helping Barron realize his dream of scoring a playoff goal. Barron missed his first two shots but finally found the net with a crisp kick.
Upon scoring, Ross ran around cheering, gave an intense fist pump "and then he kind of stopped and looked at his coach, as if for affirmation," Carl said.
"I was crying at that point," Eloi said. "I clapped and gave him a thumbs up and said, ‘Good job, Ross! You did good!'"
Eloi played soccer at Pineville with Barron's older brother several years ago and found a spot for the younger Barron on becoming head coach. Barron mostly saw junior varsity action last year and scored on a penalty kick against Buckeye, Eloi said, but that was nothing compared to the goal that will become the memory of a lifetime.
FONTENOT ENJOYS MILESTONE WINNorth Central (Lebeau) basketball coach Butch Fontenot, 70, established himself as one of the state's winningest boys basketball coaches when he realized his 800th career victory in a 93-62 victory over Westminster Christian Academy (Opelousas).
Two coaches are ahead of Fontenot with more than 1,000 victories and another won his 900th in December. The list is short, though, which is why Fontenot is considered one of the state's best.
"Right now, this (800 wins) means so much, because I don't think there will be another coach that is going to come behind me," Fontenot said. "It's almost impossible, because of the way leagues are structured now and the number of games that you can play."
North Central, seeded second in Class A, improved to 26-4 in getting ready for the postseason. With an ensuing win over St. Edmund (Eunice), Fontenot improved his career record to 801-296.
