TexasWrestling
The Texas Outlaw has once again lived up to its expectation. Each weight class had killer semi finals in the 2nd day of bracket wrestling. After the first day of Pool’s, the 2nd day was to 16 man brackets and instead of going 0-2 and done. Each bracket was wrestled out to the last place insuring that every wrestler got the maximum amount of matches.
Allen won the tournament which wasn’t no surprise to anyone with the team they have this year. The surprise was the amount of points scored in the tournament was the most ever scored in the history of the Outlaw. Allen almost doubled the 2nd place Deer Creek from Oklahoma. With this tournament every match is worth points but winning obviously is more points. Katy, College Park and Vandegrift followed up as the other top Texas teams. Not to be tooting Allens horn but the Allen B-team also placed in the top 10 which would make one wonder that maybe the tournament was a little weak this year, but when looking at the rankings update on several occasions the B-Team was beating ranked wrestlers in 6A and 5A, this may be the best team Allen has ever had if that’s possible.
| 1 | Allen Blue | 806.5 |
| 2 | Deer Creek | 445.0 |
| 3 | Glenpool | 440.5 |
| 4 | Jenks | 437.0 |
| 5 | Katy | 431.5 |
| 6 | Conroe Woodlands College Park | 402.5 |
| 7 | Austin Vandegrift | 398.5 |
| 8 | Westmoore | 365.0 |
| 9 | Allen White | 351.0 |
| 10 | Bixby | 293.0 |
The finals was done up little different this year as well wrestling the 106 and the 285 weights at the same time. I was told that’s how the California teams run their tournaments. This allows the tournament to go a little quicker and give time for the medal presentation.
We will break down each weight with notable matches.
106 was Allens #1 ranked Caden Garcia cruising through the pools and the brackets including Caden Brown the B-Team wrestler for Allen who eventually took 3rd beating Katy’s Phoeniz Medrano-Martinez. Garcia ran into Guy Clevenger of Catoosa Oklahoma a 2x Junior High Champion ink the finals with Clevenger controlling the match for the most part and eventually winning a 6-2 decision.
113 was all nationally ranked Braxton Brown who pinned everyone including the top ranked 5A wrestler Tyten Volks of Frisco Centennial in the finals. I will say that Tyten breezed through his competition until the finals pinning everyone himself except for Joel Hernandez of Coppell who he majored. Matt Thorsen was also another Allen wrestler that placed 3rd beating top ranked 6A wrestlers.
120 had #3 and 2x state placer Jackson Crandall of Katy trying to dethrone #2 and state runner up Kade Moore in the finals giving us our first top 3 ranked wrestler finals match. The match was a barn burner for the first 2 periods with Crandall giving Moore all he could handle and then some with the some great scrambles. Don’t really know what exactly happen but Moore caught Crandall just right and put him on his back and got the fall with 30 seconds left in the match. Rex Jacobs a freshman of Vandegrift increased his awareness by placing 5th right under 2 Oklahoma wrestlers.
126 was an all Oklahoma finals with Reginald Jones of Westmoore and Grant Edwards of Fort Gibson. they put on a great show for us all like all light weight wrestlers do. Angel Avila of Sharyland Pioneer surprised everyone except himself by placing 4th, a great showing for the 5A wrestler placing over top ranked 6A wrestler Remy Jacobs of Vandegrift and Emilo Acosta of El Paso Franklin who placed 5th and 6th respectively.
132 was Oklahoma state champ Zach Blankenship of Bixby and @x state finalist and Champ Noah Gochberg of Vandegrift. Yep Gochberg dropped from 138. Gochberg looked to breeze through his competition until he got to El Paso Franklin’s Christopher Martinez where he only won on decision. A quick 30 second fall over Jacob Smith of College Park who bumped up a weight class, but the finals was all Blankenship where Gochberg took 2nd. Rance Waigand of Allen and Jacob Smith of College Park had a great match for 3rd where Waigand won by decision 6-2.
138 this weight was a high anticipated weight class as it had Jame McClain III of Franklin, Luke Sloan of Vandegrift and Cade Manion of Deer Creek Oklahoma all state placers and champs. This was to be the real test for McClain to see if he was back to his ole self. McClain on the pool side never went into the 2nd period winning all by falls. Day 2 was different with his first match a undefeated state qualifier from Jenks Oklahoma where he won by a 4-2 decision. Match 2 in the quarter finals was a tech fall, semi finals was against Luke Sloan of Vandegrift who had dropped from 145 who he defeated 5-0 to reach the finals where he met the 2x Oklahoma state placer Cade Manion and 2019 Outlaw Champ of Deer Creek. Manion proved to be to much for McClain III as Manion won the finals 12-4. Sloan came back and placed 3rd.
145 Anthony Ferrari of Allen was the one man show at this weight and everyone else was wrestling for 2nd place down. Ferrari had Jaylon Otero of Catoosa Oklahoma a 3x state placer in the finals. Ferrari wasn’t scored upon the entire tournament. Josh Thomas of College Park with the absence of Luke Sloan at 145 moves into the #2 ranked spot at 145-6A and places 3rd.
152 State Champ and #1 ranked Mario Danzi of Allen won at this weight but not without some trials. Truman Timmons of Katy drops down from 160 and gives Danzi a battle but gets caught and pinned in the semi finals. It was Brandon Thomas of College Park who battled his way through 4 Oklahoma wrestlers and 1 from Arkansas to reach the finals to face Danzi. A lot of people thought Thomas was gonna upset Danzi as he keep the score close and wasn’t backing down but in the end Danzi’s leg riding proved to much for Thomas and Danzi wins 8-5 decision. Timmons of Katy came back and took 4th place.
160 Jonathon Wertz of College Park was the Texas stand out here. Wertz breezed through everyone until the semi finals where he defeated Allen’s Alejandro Cavazos who was ranked #2 in the state. In the finals Wertz had Drake Vannoy of Jenks Oklahoma a 2x state champ. Wertz was a scrapper but lost a close decision 6-4 to the Oklahoma champ. Jacob Kelske of Katy placed 3rd beating Cavazos in the 3rd place match.
170 This was the weight class we all waited for hoping to see the 2 state champs Elise Brown Ton of Allen and Kishawn Higgins of Katy ranked #1 and #2 respectively. As day 2 came to a close it was the finals match we all waited and hoped for. Higgins came out of the gate with a blast double taking Brown Ton down for 2 and appearing to control Brown Ton from the top but not able to do anything. As the 2nd period came around every scramble went Brown Ton’s way with Brown Ton getting the take down each time. The score ended 7-3 in favor of Elise Brown Ton.
182 Featured 5A stand out Ronald Caldwell of Cedar Park making the finals against Jersey Robb of Bixby Oklahoma. Bixby pulled out the win by a 8-3 decision. Vinny Olivia of Allen takes 3rd over Joseph Pfromm of Bryan with Christopher Pruske of San Antonio Churchill taking 5th.
195 was another finals battle of #1 and #2 6A ranked wrestlers with 2x state placer and state runner up #1 ranked David Powers of El Paso Franklin vs #2 and state placer Zane Davis of Allen. Powers started out right off the bat controlling the match and getting up 2 takedowns when Davis reeled off 3 straight takedowns himself and if had 5 more seconds woulda defeated Powers with a last second takedown that was a second to late. As it was Powers stays undefeated and #1 ranked at 195-6A with an 8-7 decision. #4-5A ranked Arian Sejdini of Frisco Centennial gave up his first loss of the year to Davis in the semi finals and came back to place 3rd over another wrestler who gave up his 1st loss to Powers, Jonathon Felts of Jenks Oklahoma a state placer.
220 Showed a Texas Prep wrestler #1 ranked James Ogunrin of Episcopal School Houston making the finals and losing in TB-1 5-1 in a battle with Tyler Crossno of Greenwood Arkansas, a battle of state runner ups.
285 Featured #2 ranked and state placer Ben Bell ranked #2 in 5A who defeated Isaiah Steel of Allen narrowly by a 6-5 decision. Bell remains undefeated on the year and won all matches bye a fall until the finals.
Another well ran tournament by Jose Delgado w/Mat Control.
