Polson hopes to challenge Havre

The Daily Inter Lake

All Havre, all the time?

That's the conventional wisdom for Class A at this weekend's all-class state wrestling tournament in Billings.

Nobody in Class A is sending more wrestlers to state than the Central A champion Blue Ponies (18).

Polson won the Northwestern A, Corvallis the Southwestern A, and Sidney the Eastern A.

"Havre, they're a tough team," said Columbia Falls coach Jesse Schaeffer. "But I wouldn't put Polson out of it too far. They have a lot of solid kids that will perform well for them."

"I just hope we don't let our guard down," said Pirate coach Bob Owen. "If we wrestle that

well (as they did at divisional), we're going to be right in there.

"He's really got a great, great lineup," Owen said of Havre coach Scott Filius. "But their division is not nearly as tough as ours."

Many of the Havre wrestlers go into state as No. 1 or No. 2 seeds. They'll wrestle No. 4 seeds in the first round.

"It means they jump up quite a few points after the first round," Owen said.

"But we seeded very well. Our matchups look pretty good. We're ranked second. I think we can at least hold that ranking if we wrestle well," Owen said.

Schaeffer also wouldn't count out four-time defending state champion Sidney.

"(The Eagles) will come in the first couple rounds and do very well," he added.

Ronan qualified 13 wrestlers, Polson and Libby each has 12 athletes going to state and Whitefish and Eureka have six apiece.

Polson had six divisional champs, Ronan three, Libby two and Whitefish one.

"I was real happy with (12 qualifiers). It's what we had hoped to get," Owen said.

The Columbia Falls Mat Cats may have been the team that exited last weekend's Northwestern A divisional tournament with the biggest smiles on their faces.

Columbia Falls finished fourth in the team standings, but 11 Mat Cats qualified for state, three as divisional champions.

Clayton Patterson won at 105 and Cody Kolodejchuk won at 130 pounds, and Michael Hader won the 140-pound weight class.

"It was an exciting weekend for us, for the coaching staff and the kids," Schaeffer said.

"I'm feeling great. I'm very pleased with the kids' performance. It was fun to do that well in front of our home crowd.

"I don't think as a team we've wrestled this well before - this year. I don't think too many of them could have performed any better," he added.

"It was a fun weekend."

But that fun is past - and the sight of the Billings Metra can be daunting.

"It is a real eye-opener. It's exciting. It's a different experience for them," Schaeffer said.

"There are some kids who are going to have their hands full," he added.

"Some of them might step it up, which I hope they will. They can surprise you," he said.

Columbia Falls has several goals. The coaches are hoping the younger kids will get some mat time and hopefully a couple wins. The kids who have been there, they're hoping can step up into the top six. They're hoping those who have placed in the past can bump up their performances and get into the finals.

Opening-round matchups for the Northwestern A divisional champions are as follows:

98: Cameron Neiss, Ronan, vs. Vince Demers, Anaconda.

105: Clayton Patterson, Columbia Falls, vs. Stephen Jessop, Corvallis.

112: Tyson Noyes, Ronan, vs. Ethan Newsome, Frenchtown.

119: Kevin Kaltschmidt, Whitefish, vs. Leif Holm, Hamilton.

125: Conlin Benson, Polson, vs. Dustin Stephens, Corvallis.

130: Cody Kolodejchuk, Columbia Falls vs. Logan Naylor, Miles City.

135: Logan Torgison, Polson vs. James Collins, Sidney.

140: Michael Hader, Columbia Falls, vs. Richard Hedder, Sidney.

145: Billy Johnson, Polson, vs. Carl Ty Hill, Hardin.

152: Brock Picard, Polson, vs. Jimmy Harding, Miles City.

160: Ted Morigeau, Polson, vs. Leo Wells, Browning.

171: Brock Pickard, Polson, vs. Kyle Dodson, Browning.

189: Justin Graham, Libby, vs. Justin Apple, Belgrade.

215: Jake Graham, Libby, receives a bye.

285: Mike Trosper, Ronan, receives a bye.