Warrior Wrestling posted a fourth place team finish at the Louisiana Classic, formerly the Lee High Invitational. It is the best finish ever for the team. The team scored 137 points, outscoring all other Division II schools and nearly doubling their nearest D2 competitor Teurlings (70.5).

  Ben Willeford (119) and Trey Gravois (125) led the Warriors each with third place finishes. In all, seven Warriors placed in the two-day, 52-team tournament: Landon Carr (130) placed fourth. Seth Barker (152) and Stephen Scardina (285) finished fifth, and Charlie Morgan (103) and Miles Greenblatt (160) placed sixth.

   The team was also helped in the consolation bracket by strong wrestling from Ryan Weber (112), Michael Morris (135), Chase Dunlap (171), and Michael Borne (215) who all made it to the second day of wrestling.

  Even with the good finish, the Warriors are not resting. With the St. Amant Dual this weekend, and the District, City and State championships still to come, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Just four more weeks left to the season, finish strong Warriors.

 Louisiana Career pins record falls

 Ben Willeford started his career 4 years ago while training for MMA. He was already an accomplished boxer and a good submission grappler. Ben joined the St. Michael wrestling family and has never looked back. He has accomplished many things in his career and continues to set new records at St. Michael. As of the date of this article Ben has 166 victories with 127 of them coming by pin.

 The old record was held by Andy Chapman of Baton Rouge High. On Wednesday Jan. 6th the stage was set for the record to fall. Ben would face 125lber Matt Hamilton of Dutchtown as Dutchtown had a void at 119lbs. The match went as many have gone in the past. Ben worked hard to control the pace and finally at 3:28 into the match Ben secured the victory by pin.

 Andy Chapman and many others were there to see the record fall. It has been a pleasure to coach this young man. I hope that he accomplishes all of the goals he has set for himself. If he continues to work as hard as he has up to this point he will surely do so. Congratulations to Ben Willeford. 

  Warrior Wrestling traveled to Shreveport at the end of December and came back with new confidence and a third place team trophy. Warriors defeated three divisional opponents, Northwood (77-6) and Parkway (57-26) on day one as well as John Curtis on day one of the two-day tournament. The only loss came in a hard-fought, 28-43, battle against Tallassee, a 5-A school from Alabama.

  The Warriors’ scores were good enough to land them in the Championship round where they defeated tournament host Evangel 59-12 to set up a day-two showdown with another divisional rival, Holy Cross. The Warriors won that dual 58-27 to set a re-match with Tallassee in the semi-final round. The re-match went down to the final match. Tallassee took the match and the dual 35-31 bumping the Warriors into the consolation semi-finals and a dual with last year’s Evangel champions, Shawnee.

  The Warriors took that dual 42-25 to meet Holy Cross for third place. And again, Warrior wrestlers met the challenge, this time outscoring Holy Cross 55-21.

  As important as the good finish was all the mat time Warrior wrestlers got this week. Most got nine matches in just two days. It would take two or three weekends for most to get that much time wrestling. It’ll serve each wrestler well as they march toward the State Championships in February. Also important were the head-to-head victories against divisional opponents. Those wins will give our wrestlers an edge in seeding for the state tournament.

Individual stats:

Barker 4 wins (2 falls, 1 tech fall)

Borne 4 wins (2 falls)

Carr 7-2 (4 falls, 2 majors)

Dunlap 9-0 (7 falls, 1 tech fall)

Dupuis 5-1 (3 falls)

Gravois 7-2 (5 falls)

Greenblatt 6-3 (5 falls)

Morgan 9-0 (2 falls, 5 majors)

Morris 2 wins

Murphy 3 wins

Patton 3 wins (2 falls)

Portier 6-3 (6 falls)

Seefield 4 wins

Weber 8-1 (6 falls, 1 tech fall)

Willeford 9-0 (8 falls)

Willeford also tied the All-Time pins record with his 126th pin registered against Holy Cross. He should take the lead at the dual Meet with Dutchtown Wednesday, January 6 at St. Michael.

 Filling only 8 weight classes the JV Warriors secured a second place finish at the Catholic High JV Tournament. Congratulations to the Warriors. The mat time gained at these events is invaluable to the development of these young wrestlers. Everyone had a good showing and as a team we grew. These guys a crucial to the future success of the Warrior program and will pay dividends at the end of this year.

 Wrestling at 112lbs. Charlie Morgan had an impressive showing winning the tournament. He teched Blaine Bush of Plaquemine in the finals 15-0. Charlie is really coming on and has been wrestling well the last couple of weeks.

At 285lbs. Dino took home the top place with a victory by fall over Travis Hasselbeck of Redemtorist. We still have work to do, but Dino is definitely on the rise in the heavyweight division.

125lbs. Stephen Dupuis lost a tough first round match in overtime. He then came back to take third. He avenged the first round loss in the consolation semis and looked tough all day.

130lbs. Jordan Zachary took third. He was up early to complete his hydration test and then came out blazing running through several opponents by pin. What a difference a year makes. Jordan looked great in his first official matches of the 2009-2010 season.

 Crain, Corsentino(4th), Seefield, Morris(3rd), Duncan, Collin Murphy(2-2), Sayes(2-2), and Wallin all wrestled well and had some success.