2012-13 Results and Media Coverage
Each school knows the routine when it comes to the Division III state wrestling tournament.
Brusly is more of a lock to win the state title than John Curtis is in Class 2A football.
Consequently, the race is for second place and there
are a couple Acadiana area schools among those contenders in the North Vermilion
Patriots
and the Rayne Wolves.
"We definitely have some high hopes," NVHS first-year head coach Sam Taulli said. "Rayne is battling some injuries, which might open a few doors for us. John Curtis a team that we don't know much about. We haven't seen a lot of their wrestlers this year."
Taulli sees Basile and Thomas Jefferson as other contenders to finish among the top five in the Division III team standings come late Saturday at the Ponchartrain Center in Kenner.
The Patriots are paced by Austin Scalisi (24-9) as the No. 1 seed at 126, No. 2 seeded Colin Laird at 145, No. 2 Bruce Vincent at 160 and Colin Vaughn as the No. 2 seed at 182.
"We need the guys who are capable of placing high to finish in the top two or three," Taulli said. "Vincent and the (Mason) Deshotel (from Basile) kid have a nice little rivalry between then, so that should be interesting.
"I think we've got three real good chances (at state titles) and two fairly decent shots. You just never know, though, what's going to happen. Once they get on the mat, it's mano-a-mano. You never know."
There's also Gavin Becker at No. 4 at 106, Brody Lemaire as the No. 4 seed at 152 and Jonathan Thompson as the No. 6 seed at 195.
The Patriots will be filling 13 of the 14 weight divisions, but the Wolves won't be quite that fortunate with no wrestlers at 106, 113 and 120. Bobby Cormier was lost to a broken collar bone at 106.
Then there's Billy Marcantel at 195 and Brennan McKnight at 220. Both suffered complete tears to the ACL. For Marcantel, it took place early in the football season. For McKnight, it happened at Ken Cole last month. He hasn't wrestled since.
"He's a tough guy with a lot of heart, so I expected him to be able to wrestle," Rayne coach John Chevalier said. "I have been amazed at how those guys have done it. They just have so much heart. They just go at it 100 percent. I had a hard time watching Billy's matches at first. After I saw him, though, he made me a believer."
Both Marcantel and McKnight are No. 1 seeds, as it Austin Bohne at 160. Bohne "didn't wrestle well at State last year" and he's looking forward to redemption this time around.
"He had a good year last year," Chevalier said. "He just didn't wrestle well at State. He really put in a lot of extra effort this year."
Rayne's also got Cody Manuel as the No. 4 seed at the loaded 145-pound weight division with Redemptorist's Grant Godso and North Vermilion's Bruce Vincent.
Another potential collision course between North Vermilion and Rayne could come at 126 pounds, where Landyn Thibodeaux is the No. 3 seed.
"Really, we don't focus at where we're going to place," Chevalier said. "I just want each one of our guys to wrestle their very best and leave everything on the mat."