Three-peat championship!

BATON ROUGE - The Basile Bearcats claimed a three-peat championship crown in the Division III LHSAA state wrestling meet held Friday and Saturday, February 26 and 27 at the Raisin’ Cane’s River Center.
“What a ride it has been!” said an elated Ben Bertrand, in his first year as head wrestling coach at BHS. “Best group of kids, coaches, and support system anyone could ask for. I am so proud of these boys for their leadership, dedication, sportsmanship, and team work. They worked their tails off and did it the right way: with character and positive attitudes. Even after some very tough matches and a few close losses, they kept their minds on the job that still needed to be done.”
“We were, overall, a young group who many thought would be in a rebuilding year after the great success of last year, but we had a bunch of hard working young men who thought and proved otherwise. Senior leadership was outstanding, and they prepared the way to continue our program’s success in the future. Geaux, Big Red!”
The coach noted the great community support. He said, “I would like to thank everyone for their support. We couldn’t have done it without the contributions of so many. This is a season that will forever mean so much to me. I look forward to many more fun years ahead.”
BHS led in the standings throughout the two day event and broke away from the rest of the pack in the final round to finish the tournament with 219.5 points. De LaSalle was runner-up with 188 points followed closely by Archbishop Hannan with a score of 181.5. Rounding out the top six schools were Brusly with 150.5, St. Louis with 119, and St. Michael the Archangel with 97.5. A total of 26 teams from Class 1A, 2A, and 3A participated in Division III at the state meet.
Twelve of the 14 Basile state competitors completed the tournament with recognition in the top five and 13 of 14 scored team points. Basile High laid claim to two individual state champions and three runnersup along with three Bearcats finishing in fourth place and four taking fifth place honors.
Leading the way for the Bearcats was senior Alex Menier, who claimed his fourth consecutive state title, finishing with an undefeated 14-0 season. This year’s crown was captured in the 132 lbs. weight class as he defeated Cade Hontiveros of Archbishop Hannan in the finals by a 14-4 score in a major decision.
At 195 lbs., Baylor Waggoner garnered his first state title and ended the season with an 11-1 record. He pinned Trace Morrow of Summerfield in 47 seconds to win his crown.
Runnersup from Basile included Jay Guillory (11-3) at 113 lbs., brothers Luc Johnson (17-2) at 120 lbs. and Andre Johnson (18-4) at 126 lbs.
In fourth place were Luke Fontenot (9-5) at 152 lbs., Baylor McCoy (3-2) at 160 lbs., and Christian Bergeron (6-3) at 182 lbs.,
Finishing in fifth place were Kye Smith (5-3) at 106 lbs., Brevan Fields (19-6) at 138, Parker Fontenot (14-6) at 145 lbs., and Anphrony Guillory (15-7) at 285 lbs.