Braves in good shape for state wrestling
Flathead has at least four wrestlers who have to be considered the favorite in their weight class
BILLINGS - It says a lot about how far the Flathead wrestling program has come - both from a broad perspective and even what was expected at the start of the year - that it took a couple of days of perspective to realize that the Braves did all right for the themselves at divisionals.
"Overall, looking back we had a good tournament," FHS coach Jeff Thompson said. "We didn't have a great tournament, but we got 12 in the finals and set ourselves up real nice qualifying 25 for state."
The performance was a little off of last year's pace, which sent 27 to state, but the Braves weren't supposed to be that good this year, a transition from last season's senior-laden team that brought home the first state championship since 1973.
Still, by the time the seeding tourney rolled around last weekend, Flathead had been so dominant during the year that merely meeting the stated goals of 12 finalists and 25 state qualifiers felt like a letdown at the time. Now, on the eve of beginning their defense of that title, the Braves know they are in good shape.
"The attitude is 'you know what, we have an opportunity, we can repeat, we've just got to go after it,'" Thompson said. "We have an opportunity, we just need to take advantage of it. It's going to be a dogfight. I see four teams in it - us, of course, Skyview, Butte and Billings Senior. A lot like last year, kind of a repeat. It's going to be close all the way down to the end, and we just need to perform."
Flathead has at least four wrestlers who have to be considered the favorite to win their weight class and another 10 or so with real chances to be champions. It's the other 10 or 11 that will decide if the Braves repeat as team champs.
"This week (in practice) we're just focusing on individuals - what you have control of," Thompson said. "What you can do to win close matches and get momentum going - I don't feel like we ever got momentum going at divisionals.
"We've had some different motivational speakers come in this week, we've had a couple of seniors talk, we had the last coach to win a state championship for the Braves in 1973 speak. It's been an inspiring week and we try to make practices fun and relaxed."
That week ended Wednesday night when the Braves loaded up the bus and drove to Butte where they spent the night before finishing the trip Thursday.
"A lot of people look at our long trip that we have, the eight-hour bus ride, as a disadvantage," Thompson said. "But the last two years we've seen it as an advantage. We've really seen our team come together and bond as a family. We really see our team loosen up and enjoy the trip."
The result last year was a state-record 325 team points and eight finalists. The quirk was that only one of those finalists, heavyweight Tiger Harris, brought home an individual championship. This year, the expectations are awfully high for a number of Braves to win it all.
"At a couple of different weight classes we have a couple of guys that could get in there and win it," Thompson said. "One-forty is wide open and we have two tough athletes in there with Colter Lane and Tyler Wells; 171 is wide open, everybody has beaten everybody else and we have Levi Holt and Scott Cassel; Chris Thompson is wrestling real well right now and he has a great opportunity; Brandon Hoffenbacker has not lost a AA match this year.
"Then our little guys - Brian Ham kind of got caught at divisionals, he was leading the match then lost, he has an opportunity; at 112 we have two guys that could win a state championship in Austin Zapata and Ricky Janes."
That list doesn't include 125-pounder Brandon Mitchell, who finished third at the seeding tourney but was way ahead in his semifinal match before getting pinned in a scramble, and freshman David Lau, who lost the 152-pound final but was ranked No. 1 going in.
Then there's 145-pounder Mikey Kuehne, who brings a 36-1 record into the state meet, his only loss coming to a wrestler who has dropped down to 140 pounds.
"We have a lot of opportunities, and again it's going to take a total team effort," Thompson said. "We need all those guys to step up. If we have a perfect tournament, we're going to dominate."
The all-class state tournament starts today at 9 a.m. at the MetraPark Arena and concludes Saturday.
Flathead's State Lineup
98 - Brian Ham, fr., 35-8; 105 - T.C. Decker, fr., 29-6, and Joel Ahles, jr., 18-7; 112 - Ricky Janes, so., 20-9, and Austin Zapata, so., 24-17; 119 - open; 125 - Brandon Mitchell, sr., 27-12, and David Anderson, jr., 9-10; 130 - Duran Flaget, jr., 24-10; 135 - Ryan Nelson, jr., 26-11; 140 - Colter Lane, jr., 19-13, and Tyler Wells, fr., 28-7; 145 - Mikey Kuehne, jr., 36-1, and Tucker Hankinson, so., 19-12; 152 - David Lau, fr., 30-10, and Ryan Ross, sr., 17-5; 160 - Drew Watkins, so., 23-9, and Josiah Nelson, jr., 15-21; 171 - Levi Holt, so., 31-11, and Scott Cassel, jr., 13-4; 189 - Chris Thompson, sr., 33-4, and Damien Farrier, jr., 20-7; 215 - Garrett Woodson, sr., 26-12, and Casey Poier, jr., 19-6; Hwt - Brandon Hoffenbacker, sr., 31-2, and Andy Noel, jr., 12-13.