East Ascension’s Austen Waguespack was cut and eventually pinned in the final at the Spartan Invitational at East Ascension Wednesday night.
Waguespack trailed Mandeville’s Ryan Seals 5-2 in their championship match in the 103-pound weight class when a whistle blew and Waguespack found himself bloody. Seals would go on to increase the lead to 14-5 before pinning Waguespack 3:51 into the match. Waguespack, who wrestled at 112 pounds a year ago, had defeated Seals at the Spartan Invitational a year ago.
“Wag has got a lot of heart,” East Ascension head coach Pat Mahoney said. “We decided he would be stronger at 103. He just got caught with a big throw and had to play catch-up and against good guy, it is going to be tough to do. He was very impressive in his first three matches. We love to watch that kid wrestle.”
Host East Ascension was the high finisher among Ascension Parish Schools, placing 12th with 54 points. The Spartans also had James Rawls (112 pounds) finish fourth and Charles Billiot (189 pounds) take fourth in the “B” division.
“Almost every major wrestling program is here with their starters,” Mahoney said. “Our guys hung in there. We are a young team, so I am pleased with that.”
St. Amant’s Terry Palmisano led St. Amant with a fourth place finish in the 160 pound division as the Gators were 20th with 22 points. Jacob Linderkegol was also fourth in the 135-pound “B” division. St. Amant was without Abbas Lyamoun, Zach Eunice and Tre` Vaughn, all top finishers at state a year ago.
“I think we did great,” St. Amant head coach Earnest Brown said. “We only brought six guys and most of them are young. We will be coming together as a full team next week. That is going to make a big difference. We have a lot to look forward to.”
Dutchtown’s Taylor Harris finished second in the 130-pound “B” division to lead the Griffins to a 22nd place finish with 20 points.
“I think we wrestled pretty tough,” Dutchtown head coach Rodney Sutherland said. “We still have a lot of our starters missing so we are still a very young team on the mat. We are still leaving tournaments with wins. Not as placing as much as I would like but we are coming along and getting better each week. That is the goal.”
Catholic won the 40-team tournament with 224 points, placing 25 wrestlers in the top four, including 11 champions. Brother Martin had two champions and 12 top-four finishers to come in second with 148.50 points, followed by Rummel with 146 points and Comeaux with 107. Holy Cross was fifth with 82.50 points ahead of Brusly’s 75 and Shaw’s 74.50.
After receiving a bye in the first round, Waguespack pinned Holy Cross’ Anthony Gettys in 13 seconds, then pinned Catholic’s Zach Louis in 3:37.
Rawls dropped a 6-2 decision to Catholic’s Blake Ashford in the 112-pound consolation. Rawls pinned Shaw’s Forrest Ricks in 46 seconds to open the tournament, then took victim to a 16-0 technical foul against Comeaux’s Sidney Blecher before winning a 10-3 decision over Brusly’s Kyle Busby.
“If I can get him to wrestle as smart as he is tough, he would be unbeatable,” Mahoney said. “He does too much high risk stuff.”
Billiot pinned Istrouma’s Joshua Wilson in 4:13 before losing a decision to Sulphur’s Tyler Casteel. Billiot then pinned Live Oak’s Darren Rivet in 40 seconds before being pinned by Wilson 59 seconds into the consolation.
Palmisano, in his first tournament, pinned Hahnville’s Josh Noehl in 4:42 before pinning Brother Martin’s Gerard Roman in 1:40. He lost a major decision to Rummel’s Bernie Dupuy 16-3 before pinning Live Oak’s Dylan LeBlanc in 45 seconds. Catholic’s Patrick Bourgoyne won the consolation taking a 9-5 decision.
“We are looking for a lot from him,” Brown said.
Linderkegol took a forfeit win over Mandeville’s John Rush before losing an 8-5 decision against Catholic’s James Loupe. He then pinned Comeaux’s Alex Guillory in 2:24, Zachary’s A.J. Wales in 1:30 and Fontainebleau’s Robert Wright in 3:42 before forfeiting the consolation to Catholic’s Ben Jumonville.
Harris pinned Lafayette’s Josh Littleon in 2:20 to open the meet before pinning Brother Martin’s Nick Wilson in 1:22 and Hahnville’s Laken Harrell in 3:22 to advance to the championship match where he fell to Shaw’s Stefen Valencia in 1:06.
Dutchtown’s Dallas Chenevert (103 pounds) lost a 5-3 decision to Live Oak’s Cody Comier to open the tournament before pinning Holy Cross’ Anthony Gettys in 1:35 and Brusly’s Austin Schermer in 57 seconds. Chenevert fell to Rummel’s Dakota Boesch in 4:25 failing to advance to the consolation.
Austin Gravelle (130 pounds) of Dutchtown opened meet by pinning Istrouma’s Herbert Brooks in 20 seconds before losing a major decision to Brother Martin’s Wesley Fernandez 11-0. Gravelle went on to pin Holy Cross’ Roy Mistretta in 4:12 and take a major decision, 11-3, over Hahnville’s Adam Champagne before losing to Catholic’s Collin Durrett 5-3 before the consolation.
East Ascension’s Anthony Smith (145 pounds) won a 7-6 decision over Shaw’s Kelly LeBlanc to open the tournament before taking a 15-4 major decision over Rummel’s Alex Belsome before losing 3-1 to Comeaux’s Zach Saucier and 4-1 to Teurlings Catholic’s Scott Miller.
St. Amant’s Bryson Daigle (171 pounds) pinned Live Oak’s Josh Hughes in 3:40 to open the tournament before losing an 8-5 decision to Rummel Rob Schneider. Daigle then pinned Plaquemine’s Clark Cavalier before falling to Zachary’s Kieth Gauff in 4:30.
East Ascension’s Robert Gray pinned Holy Cross’ Jordan Berges in 3:35 to open the meet before losing a 7-6 decision to Brother Martin’s Sam Engro. Gray then pinned Riverside’s John Keller in 35 seconds before falling to Istrouma’s Chris Johnson in 1:42.
Adam Alfred (189 pounds) was fell to Shaw’s Chris Pastrana in 1:55 to open the tournament before pinning Calvary Baptist’s Justin Hester in 1:04. Alfred was then pinned by Sulphur’s Daniel Menard in 2:17.
Over 600 wrestlers participated in the two-day meet.
“It is a major undertaking,” Mahoney said. “It takes all of Gonzales to do it. The people and businesses of the community really get behind us.”
