When you look at some wrestling powerhouses like St. Paul, Teurling Catholic, or Basille you may find squads two or three deep at each weight class. Imagine being the lone wolf of wrestling at your school. Two local wrestlers are the sole representative wrestler for their schools and brought home some high rewards back home from Baton Rouge at the LHSAA State Wrestling Championship. Christian Otzenberger from Calvary claimed third place in the Division III 160-pound division. Trace Morrow from Summerfield captured a state runner-up for the Rebels for Divison III 179-pound division.
Morrow has been the lone wrestler for the Summerfield Rebels for the past few years, but that hasn’t hampered his progress in the sport. “Being from a small school and competing with these big schools, it’s a great feeling, ” Morrow said. “They have a whole team to support them and I’m not coming up with much of a team at all. I’m still scoring high points in the bracket. It feels great to finish as runner-up.” The Summerfield wrestler captured fourth at state two years ago and third last year. Although the wrestling season was in question and like every other sports season was disrupted by COVID-19, Morrow collected 2nd place at Spartan Invitational, Bauxite Miners Boys Invitational, and winning the Brusly Invitational.
Christian Otzberger became the sole wrestler for the Calvary when Cavaliers coach Jason Colgin moved away earlier in the year. The staff at Calvary and North Desoto stepped in to help the junior wrestler to train. “Since there was no team I felt all the weight was put on me, ”the Cavalier wrestler said. “I also realized that it was just me so I could go out there and do my own thing. I could just focus on myself.” Otzenberger has struggled with injuries throughout his career and got a couple of tournaments under his belt wrestling under a lot of pain. This was Otz’s first time competing in the state tournament. “Overall, I was nervous but excited, ” Otzenberger said.
Morrow came into the LHSAA tournament as the No. 2 seed in the Division III 195 pound class. Otzenberger arrived in the tournament with No. 3 seed.
“Otz” gained a first-round win with a 35-second pin over Jacob Walsh from Haynes Academy. Freshman Dontae Dominguez from Church Point took to the third period until the Calvary junior gained the pin. Otz had made it to the second day. This is a big accomplishment for the wrestlers. “I thought to myself ‘Wow, I made it to Day 2. ‘ “ Otzenberger said. “I’ve got to keep working and keep my head straight. Get plenty of sleep and plenty to eat that night.” With the start of Day 2, Otzenbsrger ran into the eventual state champion Andrew Trahan from Brusly. Trahan got the second-period pin. Otzenberger was going to have to compete for third through the consolation bracket. “I’m not going to lie. In the back of my head I just wanted to stop, ” the Cavalier wrestler said. “I felt as if I let everyone down, but I knew I didn’t. I knew if I gave up then, I would let them down and I kept pushing and I just wanted to win third no matter what.” The Cavalier got a second-period pin over Kagen Schexnayder from Kaplan. Otzenberger was guaranteed a spot on the podium. Baylor McCoy took Otzenberger to the limit and the Calvary Cavalier won third with a 10-1 decision. “I knew I had to keep on moving and not slip up, ” Otz said. “Don’t stop moving because you got to fight. You stop and you’re going to regret it.”
Morrow started the tournament with a first-round bye. The Rebel wrestler jumped out to a 9-0 lead over Blaine Briscoe from Church Point with a minute remaining in the match. A surge of 4 points by Briscoe closed the gap to 9-4 in the next 15 seconds. Morrow finished with three points and a 12-4 decision with an escape and final takedown to reach the semifinals. Summerfield’s lone wrestler gained a pin early in the third period over Jason Krall from DeLaSalle to reach the state championship. “I was just ecstatic, ”Morrow said. “I was just so happy I was in the finals because that was something I wanted to do since eighth grade. I’ve been pushing since then. It was just amazing.” Morrow ran into Baylor Waggoner from Basille who wrestled a total of 1 minute and 58 seconds for the entire tournament. Morrow received the state runner-up for Summerfield. “I was a little off my game but wrestled hard, ” the state runner-up said. “I’m OK with being the runner-up and proud of it.”
The two wolves are on different paths for next year. Morrow will go from the lone wolf at Summerfield to a member of an ambush of Tigers at Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. “It feels awesome. I’m ready to wrestle with a full team and see how I can progress up there” Morrow said. “Hopefully, I can go for a D2 title. I’m really excited that I get that chance. It’s bittersweet that I didn’t get a state championship, but I’ll take what I can get and just keep getting better.”
Otzenberger has one more chance at a title next year. “I’m getting super excited for next year, ” Otz said. “I’m going to work extra hard.”
This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links. I will only recommend products that I have personally used! Learn more on my Private Policy page.