Sam Houston’s Caleb Lavine and South Beauregard’s Bryce Fontenot hope their final high school matches will bring another state championship.

The defending state champions will compete with hundreds of other wrestlers this weekend at the state wrestling championships in Bossier City.

Lavine was the Division II 138-pound state champion last season and has moved up to 150 pounds where he is the top seed.

“I’m feeling excited,” Lavine said. “I was just telling another coach that I’m excited to feel the excitement of a big tournament again.

“My last big tournament was about three weeks ago. I feel the excitement of going to a big tournament and the nervousness, but good nervous energy. It hadn’t hit me yet that this is my last one, but I think it probably hit me afterwards when the job is done.”

Lavine has won 89.5 percent of his matches during his high school career, but he isn’t letting overconfidence stop him from improving his skills.

“A lot of, really, I think what I struggled with this year was just staying consistent and not letting myself be content with where I’m at,” Lavine said. “I know I would like to finish on a good note, so a lot of it is really just mental prepping, kind of sort of just forcing myself whenever I don’t want to do things. You’ve got something you still have to achieve, so forcing myself to do that extra work and not just relying on that last year’s state title, because that’s last year.”

Lavine is also chasing the school record for career wins. He is tied with two-time state champion Tyson Roach, who wrestles at Arkansas-Little Rock, at 204 pounds.

Fontenot said he hopes he can go out on top in his final match before he leaves it all behind for the next step in his life by joining the U.S. Navy.

“It’s a very interesting feeling,” Fontenot said. “I wouldn’t say pressure; it’s more of like part of my life is leaving me.

“I’m stepping away from the sport, but I can’t truly leave it, you know. It’s going to be a part of me forever. I’ve already signed a contract for the Navy. I’m trying to go for the SEAL program afterwards. I kind of want to do grunt work. I want to stay training the whole time.”

Fontenot (23-5) won a state title at 144 pounds last year and recently cut weight to wrestle at 138 pounds this weekend. He is the No. 1 seed.

“This season, it’s been all about my footwork, being more aggressive with my shots, stuff like that, just pushing the pace — higher cardio, being tougher on my opponent, basically, making him want to wrestle less,” Fontenot said.

Other No. 1 seeds from Southwest Louisiana include Basile sophomore Logan Bergeron (106 pounds, 30-6) and juniors Kye Smith (120, 19-6) and Romyn Cortez (285, 34-2), St. Louis Catholic senior Grant Habetz (144, 14-5), and South Beauregard seniors Aydan Green (157, 19-12) and Blake Butler (215, 34-8). All five wrestle in Division III. Bergeron and Cortez are defending champs, while Habetz was runner-up at 132 pounds.