State Wrestling: Day 2 (updated)

(3:30 p.m.)
After further review (and talking with a Catholic coach), it appears Jesuit is far from out of it. In fact, after the consolations, the Blue Jays could have a sizeable lead, meaning Catholic could have to win at least 4 of its 6 championship finals.

Here's where we stand:
Jesuit leads with 210 points thanks to a stellar wrestleback round, and Catholic is in second with 201 points.

This is how it has to play out for Jesuit to win it all - If Jesuit wins both of its finals, Catholic must win at least four of its finals. If Catholic doesn't win two more finals than does Jesuit, the Blue Jays claim the title.

And the kicker: Brother Martin and Rummel, if their wrestlers take individual state, could hand the title to New Orleans rival Jesuit.

(3:15 p.m.)
Jesuit's fortunes continue to go up and down, losing a few third-place and fifth-place matches and winning some. But here's the thing - those wrestle-backs are key. Thanks to the consolations, the Blue Jays made up tons of ground, and are now eight points behind Catholic for first.

Brother Martin is now down to Jesuit by nine points and 17 to Catholic. But that's not including the consolation finals and fifth-place matches.

And Catholic and Brother Martin and Jesuit each have guys left in the championship finals. It's critical for both Jesuit and Brother Martin to win their finals, or else Catholic will go back to Baton Rouge victorious.

(1:30 p.m.)
Just handed to me - today's attendance after three sessions. Nearly 3,000 people came to watch the morning semifinals, making the total attendance for 2008 only 68 people shy of 8,000. That's a 507 person gain from a year ago.

However, factored into that are passes. Tickets sold for the third session are actually down by nearly 150 from last year, but 107 more passes were given out this year. In all, 59 fewer people watched Jesuit self-destruct, Brother Martin put on a show and Shaw dominate.

(1:15 p.m.)
Jesuit, thanks for playing. I don't know all the ins and outs of wrestling, but I do think I know that the Blue Jays have fallen too far behind. Jesuit, through the semis, has 154 points.

Who is it trailing? Catholic-BR with 182 points and Brother Martin with 180 points. Methinks 28 points is too much to overcome, even through wrestle-backs/consolations.

Now the question is will Jesuit be able to hold onto a podium finish. The Blue Jays lead Rummel by only one point with consolations and finals left, and the Red Raiders have four guys in finals while Jesuit has only two wrestlers left in the championship bracket.

(12 p.m.)
And the fall is now a sure thing for Jesuit: The Blue Jays, with only a few semifinals to go in Division I, are in third, with Catholic opening a 6-point lead. Brother Martin also has surpassed Jesuit, but by two points.

This one is close, but Catholic right now has more wrestlers in finals than does Jesuit. The Blue Jays will need to win all consolation matches and hope that Catholic loses all or most of its.

In Division II, Shaw opened a commanding 39.5-point lead and will win the state championship. Likewise for Brusly, which continues its domination of Division III with a nearly 100-point advantage.

Developing here in Kenner is a final day fall down by Jesuit. The Blue Jays made eight semifinals. Right now, only two have made it through with three losing. Two of the losses came in head-to-head against second place Catholic-BR. This bears watching. Kind of like the stock market.

Jesuit came into Saturday with a 9.5 point lead. It's tenuous now. The Blue Jays have lost three of four semifinals right now, two coming to Catholic, which was in second heading into the semis. Jesuit can't afford to lose too many more.

Looking for an upset? In the Division I, 112-pound semis, No. 4-seed Blake Savoie took down Jesuit's top-seeded Jonathan Dupre, the defending state champion. The match ended with Savoie 7, Dupre 6.