Airline freshman Ernie Perry III won the 106-pound division in the Louisiana Classic tournament held Friday and Saturday at the Lamar Dixon Center in Gonzalez.
Parkway finished eighth out of 50 teams. The tournament included the top six teams in last year’s Division I tournament and the top three teams in Division II.
Parkway, which has moved up to Division I after winning the last two Division II titles, scored 125 points.
Brother Martin, which has won seven Division I titles in the last eight years, won with 235 points. Holy Cross, last year’s Division I runner-up, was second with 194.
Airline finished 14th with 76.
Perry received a first-round bye and then pinned his first two opponents. In the semifinals, it took him just 15 seconds to pin Holy Cross’ Brandon Gainy. Gainy won a narrow 3-1 (SV-1) decision over Parkway’s David Viers in the quarterfinals.
In the championship match, Perry won a 7-2 decision over Brother Martin’s Mason Eisensohn.
According to trackwrestling.com, Perry entered the tournament with a 27-1 record.
Parkway’s Kaleb Garcia was third in the 182-pound class. He received a first-round bye and pinned his first two opponents. In the semifinals, he lost to eventual champion Jarin Meyer of Baton Rouge 6-0.
In the third-place match, Garcia won a 10-0 major decision over Holt Cross’ Hayden Brodanax.
Parkway’s Jacob Chittom finished fourth in the 160-pound class. Chittom won three matches to reach the semifinals and then lost a tough 8-7 decision to eventual champion Ben Davidson of St. Paul’s.
Parkway’s Joshua Keeler finished fifth in the 120-pound class. He defeated St. Paul’s Carter Duet in the fifth-place match 5-3 (SV-1).
Keeler pinned his first opponent. After losing in the quarterfinals, he won two matches in the consolation bracket before falling to St. Louis’ Alexander Yokubaitus 9-3 in the semifinals.
Parkway’s Dezrel Eloph was fifth in the 285-pound class. He won the fifth-place match by forfeit over John Curtis Christian’s John Drake.
Eloph pinned his first two opponents. After losing in the quarterfinals, he pinned two more opponents in the consolation bracket before losing to Chalmette’s Jaden Benn 3-0 in the semifinals.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Wrestling State Tournament is Feb. 14-15 at the CenturyLink Center.
