Polson sticks mat loss on Libby
The Daily Inter Lake
POLSON - Ted Morigeau stepped onto the mat with his 'A' game Thursday night.
Morigeau, the 2007 Rocky Mountain Classic champion at 160 pounds, figured he'd need to wrestle his best against 2006 Class A state runner-up Steve Bertelson of Libby.
Six minutes and four takedowns later, the referee raised Morigeau's hand to signal the 9-2 decision Morigeau had just claimed.
"I kept shooting on him," Morigeau said. "I felt pretty good. I've been practicing hard all week. I've been conditioning hard.
"I just basically worked him down.
"I thought personally that it would be a little bit closer," Morigeau said. And he expects to see Bertelson again - at divisional and at state.
"I figure Steve will be up there. He's pretty tough. He's a good wrestler. I admire him," he said.
That match was an indicator for the entire Polson/Libby dual.
Polson wound up winning 43-36. But in matches actually wrestled, the score wasn't close - 31-12 - in Polson's favor.
"We had a pretty good meet tonight," said Polson coach Bob Owen.
"Ted is on a roll. We are really pleased with his effort. He's been working his tail off," he said.
"Actually, all them are picking it up in the wrestling room," he added.
The coach was especially happy to see the wins in the close matches.
"Those are confidence builders," Owen said.
"It was sad. Good for Polson, but we had no fight, no toughness," said Libby coach Jay Graham.
"They were tougher than we were."
As for the Bertelson-Morigeau match, Graham wasn't sure what to think.
"He's tougher than that. He wasn't even in the match. That wasn't the Stevie I'm used to seeing," he said.
"(We had) no fire. There wasn't any heat. It was too bad," he added.
"They just gave it up. I wish I could get out there and wrestle," he said.
"Our seniors aren't getting these guys fired up. They've got to figure it out. I'm not seeing it. I'm not seeing it at all," Graham said.
Libby opened the dual with one of its two wins - 112-pounder Kyle Sweedman pinned Polson's Jacob Brown in 1:54.
But the next win for the Greenchain didn't come for a long time after that - Polson's Keio Salmonson won a 3-2 decision at 119, Pirate Trae Fouty claimed a major decision at 125. Pirates' Ty Fouty, Shayne Ludwick and Logan Torgison all pinned their Logger opponents. When Libby's Matt Roberts claimed his forfeit at 145, the score was 25-12.
Polson 43, Libby 36
98: Michael Roby, L, won by forfeit; 105: Levi Edwards-Myslicki, L, won by forfeit; 112: Kyle Sweedman, L, pinned Jacob Brown, P, 1:54; 119: Keio Salmonson, P, dec. Cody Elliott, L, 3-2; 125: Trae Fouty, P, maj. decision Caleb Gilder, L, 10-0; 130: Ty Fouty, P, pinned Kelbee Sweedman, L, 3:09; 135: Shayne Ludwick, P, pinned Andrew Elliott, L, 2:58; 140: Logan Torgison, P, pinned Porter Nelson, 3:39; 145: Matt Roberts, L, won by forfeit; 152: Jared Champion, P, dec. Steve Gary, L, 9-8; 160: Ted Morigeau, P, dec. Steve Bertelson, L, 9-2; 171: Pat Dellwo, P, won by forfeit; 189: Skylar Knutson, P, won by forfeit; 215: Jake Graham, L, won by forfeit; Hwt: Lyle Jordan, L, pinned Caden Thomas, P, 1:36.