The Parkway Panthers finished runner-up in the 43rd annual Ken Cole Invitational wrestling tournament held Friday and Saturday in Lafayette.
For the third time this season, nemesis Lafayette Teurlings Catholic prevented the Panthers from winning the title. And for the third time, it was by a slim margin.
Teurlings Catholic scored 230 points to 205.5 for Parkway. Lafayette Comeaux was just one point behind the Panthers in third.
Teurlings Catholic and Parkway shared the Division II state title last year and are expected to battle it out again this year at the state tournament Feb. 8-9 at the CenturyLink Center.
Parkway’s Joshua Keeler and Trey Fontenot and Airline’s Peyton Bass won their respective weight classes.
Keeler defeated Basile’s Alex Menier in the 106-pound finals 2-1. Keeler pinned his first two opponents and then won a 9-0 major decision over Sam Houston’s Kiaunta Zachary in the semifinals.
In another tight title match, Fontenot shut out Teurlings Catholic’s Colten Sonnier 3-0 in the 120-pound division. He pinned his first two opponents and then defeated Live Oak’s Clayton Hill by a 10-2 major decision in the semifinals.
Bass dominated his opponent in the 126-pound finals, defeating Comeaux’s Hunter Broussard 16-0, a technical fall. He pinned his first three opponents to reach the semifinals against Parkway’s Darryl Nicholas, who won his first three matches by fall, a 5-1 decision and a 13-1 major decision.
Bass pinned Nicholas in 1:35 to reach the finals.
Airline’s Tucker Almond took third in the 152-pound class, edging Teurlings Catholic’s Carlos Femmer 4-3 in the third-place match. He won his first two matches by fall and decision before losing to eventual champion Dylan Ames by fall in 5:59 in the semifinals.
Parkway’s Kaleb Garcia dropped a tough 2-1 decision to Zachary’s Austin Landry in the 160-pound third-place match.
Parkway’s Peyton Miller was fourth in the 195-pound class. Jacob Chittom (145) and Connor Cloinger (220) posted fifth-place finishes. Jordan Clark was sixth in the 113-pound class.
Haughton’s Nate Williams was sixth in the 145-pound class. Chittom edged Williams 6-4 in the fifth-place match.
