MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / February 9, 2000

KENNER – A semifinal appearance by Lamar Duhe capped a top 20 finish by East St. John at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s statewrestling meet Saturday at the Pontchartrain Center.

The Wildcats, who were shut out a year ago, finished 18th in Division I with 38.5 points. Brother Martin, which had seven individual state champions, ranaway with its second straight state title, finishing with a record 328 points.

Jesuit was second with 236.5 points with Rummel third with 179.5 points.”We did a lot better than we expected,” coach Dan Erwin said. “We made thetop 20 for the first time in awhile. We were like a little family. We got oneach other when we missed practice or didn’t work hard.”Duhe, wrestling in the 215-pound weight class, became the first East St.

John wrestler to make the semifinals since Nick Peppo in 1998. After a byein the first round, Duhe out-pointed Catholic’s A.J. Green, 13-11, Fridaymorning to reach the quarterfinals.

Duhe, the fifth seed, took a 4-3 lead after the first period of two takedowns.

Another take down in the second period built the lead to three. After anescape by Green, a takedown by Duhe made it 8-4. Two more escapes byGreen cut the deficit to 8-6 but Duhe came back with another takedown. Atechnical violation and an escape by Green made it 10-9 after the second period.

Green tied the match early in the third period with an escape. But Duheanswered as a technical violation and a take down gave him a 13-10 lead.

Duhe kept it up against Ryan Barger of Byrd in the quarterfinals Friday evening, jumping out to a 2-0 lead on an early takedown. After Barger closedto within one on an escape, Duhe scored on another takedown, pinning Barger with 20 seconds left in the first period.

That win advanced Duhe to the semifinals against top-seeded and defending state runner-up Marshall Delesdernier of Jesuit. Delesdernier pinned Duhe atthe 5:44 mark on his way to the state title. Delesdernier pinned Brothermartin’s Blake Henry in five minutes for the title.

Duhe went into the consolation bracket where he pinned the sixth-seed, King Gladney of Airline, in 58 seconds in the semifinals. Duhe then fell to third-seeded Peter Rogers of Grace King in the finals, 7-2, to place fourth.

“He did real well,” Erwin said of Duhe who placed in every tournament this season. “He went against the guy who placed second in the state last yearand wrestled well. He and the other kids stepped it up and did better. He wasprepared and ready to go. The other guy (Delesdernier) got some good legattacks and that was it but Lamar did well for a second year wrestler.”Another wrestler who did well for the Wildcats was Josh Entremont who reached the quarterfinals in the consolations in the 140-pound class.

Entremont opened the meet with an 8-4 victory over Mandeville’s Daniel Lawton, using a reversal with 1:36 left in the match to pull away.

Entremont next went against fourth-seeded Robbie Milam of Grace King in the second round. Milam took a 5-2 lead early in the third round on atakedown and near fall before Entremont pulled to within one on a technical violation and an escape. But Milam scored a late takedown to pull out a 7-4win.

Entremont dropped to the consolation bracket where he pinned Lafayette’s Matt Mire in 1:23 in the second round. Against Holy Cross’ Tony Palisi in thethird round, Entremont rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third period to take a 7-4 lead on a reversal and a near fall. Palisi closed to within one on a reversalbut Entremont held on for the 7-6 decision.

Entremont pinned Catholic’s Nathan Lemoine in 2:50 in the fourth round before falling to Central’s Corey Smith by a 13-2 major decision in the quarterfinals. Smith went on to defeat Milam, 6-5, for fifth place.In the 275-pound class, Calvin Raphile was pinned by Byrd’s Ryan Nealy in 3:41 in the first round of the championship bracket but went on to reach the third round in consolations. After a bye in the first round, Raphile pinned DeLa Salle’s Jedidiah Jackson in 1:52. Catholic’s Nathan Jeter pinned Raphile in56 seconds in the third round Darnell Rixner reached the fourth round of the consolations in the 189-pound class. After receiving a forfeit victory over Rummel’s Randy Smith in thefirst round of the championship bracket, Rixner lost a 7-2 decision to Holy Cross’ Paul DiGrado, the fifth seed, in the second round. After a bye in thesecond round of the consolations, Rixner pinned Lafayette’s Dale Thomas in 2:02. Catholic’s Lynn Johnson, the sixth-seed, defeated Rixner, 3-0, in thefourth round on the way to a third-place finish.

Blake Maus advanced to the consolation third-round in the 171-pound class.

Maus received a bye in the first round in the championship bracket but was pinned by second seed Jeremy Atkinson of Rummel in 1:38 in the second round. Maus defeated West Jeff’s Royce Perez, 22-16, in the second roundof the consolations before falling to Riverdale’s Kevin Lazano by technical fall in 4:11 in the third round.

Victor Curley also reached the third round of the consolations in the 152- pound class. Curley pinned Airline’s Trey Hays in 1:19 in the first round ofthe championship bracket before being pinned by Lafayette’s Adam Porche in 2:47. After receiving a forfeit victory over Higgins’ Thomas Maury in thesecond round in consolations, Curley was pinned by Rummel’s Corky Dennis in 5:18.

Calvin Martin advanced to the third round of the consolation bracket in the 135-pound class. Martin received a forfeit victory over Acadiana’s CoreyPomier in the first round of the championship bracket but lost a 15-0 technical fall to third seed Chris Smith of Carencro in the second round.

Martin defeated West Monroe’s Kenneth Roberts by a 19-4 technical fall in the second round of consolations. He then took a 6-3 lead in the secondperiod of his third round match against John Ehret’s Ray Rivarde before Rivarde used two late takedowns to gain a 10-7 decision.

Freshman Ricardo Moriera won his first match in the 130-pound bracket, pinning Byrd’s Greg Chairtano in 1:58. Moriera hung with second seed TaitFaulk of Lafayette in the second round before being pinned in 4:48. Morierathen received a bye into the third round of the consolations where he fell to Alan Neives of Baton Rouge by an 8-4 decision.

Melanie Maurin won her first match by forfeit over Mandeville’s Gabriel Macormic before being pinned by Belaire’s Thach Nguyen, the eighth seed, in 1:36. Maurin received a bye into the third round of the consolations whereshe fell to Bonnabel’s Ray Woodworth, 21-5.

Chad Miller went to the second round of the consolation bracket of the 145- pound bracket after receiving a bye in the first round. Miller was pinned byComeaux’s Rocky Kulbeth in 2:46 in the second round. Miller had earlier beenpinned by Catholic’s Garrett DuBois in 3:47 in the first round of the championship bracket.

Greg Watians was pinned by Byrd’s Pete Flowers in 15 seconds in the first round of the 125-pound class. After receiving a bye in the first round of theconsolation bracket, Watians was pinned by West Monroe’s Chris Cagle in 1:44 in the second round.

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