Flathead edges Sentinel for mat title

By DIXIE KNUTSON/The Daily Inter Lake

POLSON - That was a little close for both Tanner Beaman and the Flathead Braves.

Beaman, Flathead's 135-pounder - and defending state champion - needed overtime to close out Missoula Sentinel's Austin Edwards at the Polson Invitational wrestling tournament Saturday night.

Likewise, the Braves barely edged Sentinel in the team scores.

Flathead won its sixth straight Polson Invitational with 234.5 points, while Sentinel scored 232. Corvallis was a distant third at 133.5, and Polson was fourth at 126.5. Glacier finished sixth, Whitefish seventh, Columbia Falls ninth and Eureka was 11th.

"The kid came out ready to wrestle. I wasn't ready and he got up by a couple points," Beaman said.

After a scoreless first period, Edwards got the first takedown in the second. He was up 2-1 going into the third and led 4-2 until the final 24 seconds of regulation.

"I was worried. After the first period, when I couldn't take him down, when nothing really was happening, I knew it was going to be a long match," Beaman said.

"I was trying to wrestle him upper body. That wasn't working for me, so I went down and tried taking a couple shots. The first couple worked and I tied it back up," he said.

"I needed to dig something out."

Beaman got the single leg in OT and finished the match, 6-4.

"I'm really pleased with where we're at, especially this early in the season," said Flathead coach Matt Owen.

He enjoyed how tight the tournament wound up - with just 2.5 points separating the Braves and Spartans.

The Braves could have won by a few more points, but once the coaches saw Flathead had won the tournament, heavyweight finalists Tyler Thomas and Connor Thomas elected to share that championship.

Flathead finished the night with seven champions, nine finalists and 13 placers.

Flathead champions are: Alejandro Calderon (119), Joaquin Calderon (125), Beaman (135), Caleb Allen-Schmid (145), Bryce Stacy (160) and Tyler Thomas and Connor Thomas, co-champions at 275.

Other local champs are: Polson's Trae Fouty (145) and Brock Picard (171), and Columbia Falls' Kelly Houle (189).

"It came down to the wire. That's a fun way to win. In the past, they've blown out these kinds of tournaments. For it to come down to the wire makes those finals matches a lot more interesting," Owen said.

"There are definitely no complaints. We have some areas to work on and we'll be hitting those pretty hard this week. But we're not shooting to win this kind of tournament. We're shooting to win state. I honestly thought we wrestled well," he said.

"The key is just to continue to progress as the year goes on. If we do that, then we'll do something well at state," he added.

Glacier coach Mark Fischer was also pleased with a lot of what he saw.

Glacier scored 47 points at this tournament last year and was 10th. This year, the Wolfpack scored 78 points and moved up four spots. Two members of the Wolfpack placed.

Larry Francis was third at 152, and 215-pounder John Frandsen was second.

"I thought our kids wrestled well. But we're not quite there yet. We've got a long way to go and everybody knows we all have some work to do," Fischer said.

"That's why we go to these tournaments. We'll learn what we need to work on to wrestle with the best kids in the state.

"I guess what we see is that right now, we're not a tournament team yet. I think we will be and I think we have a real good dual team right now and we'll work into a tournament team. But right now, we're a little too young. We don't have many kids who are going to get good seeds at these tournaments and it's going to be difficult to get good draws," he added.

Polson Invitational

Team Totals

Flathead 234.5, Missoula Sentinel 232, Corvallis 133.5, Polson 126.5, Frenchtown 86.5, Glacier 78.5, Whitefish 75, Mission-Charlo 72, Columbia Falls 67.5, Hamilton 64, Eureka 51.5, Thompson 46, Superior 21.5.

Individual Results

98: 1. Brandon Edwards, Sent, p. Marcus Malone, Corv., 2:50; 3. Derrick Sisneros, Ham, def. Jake Kinkel, F, 6-0. 105: 1. Zach Westre, Frt JV, def. Clay Armstrong, Frt, 13-4; 3. Caleb Piasecki, F, def. Levi Geingerich, Cor, 8-0. 112: 1.Tyler Stedman, Frt, def. Travis Davis, Cor, 9-6; 3. Cliff Evans, Sent, p. Cody Ishler, Frt JV, 3:50. 119. 1. Alejandro Calderon, F, p. Ryan Swelland, F JV, :42; 3. Dan Marne, Sent, p. Eric Roe, Eur, 1:10. 125: 1. Joaquin Calderon, F, def. Steven Jessop, Cor, 16-2; 3. Jacob Young, Pol, p. Randy Kirkedahl, Eur, 1:40. 130: 1. Jake Love, Sent, def. Shawn Lau, F, 6-4; 3. Keio Salmonson, Pol, def. Garrett Stephens, Sup, 3-1. 135: 1. Tanner Beaman, F, def. Austin Edwards, Sent, 6-4; 3. Michael Beebe, M-C, def. Travis Pete, CF, 4-3. 140: 1. Justin Mikkola, Sent, def. Ty Fouty, Pol, 9-4; 3. Brad Nordahl, Frt, def. James Peterson, M-C, 7-5; 145: 1. Trae Fouty, Pol, p. Richard Lyons, TF, 1:15; 3. Taylor Vaughn, Eur, def. Dan Jenkins, F, 4-1. 152: 1. Caleb Allen-Schmid, F, p. Brett Goodsell, Cor, 4:23; 3. Larry Francis, Gla, def. Taylor Brown, Eur, 15-2. 160: 1. Bryce Stacy, F, p. Justin Evans, M-C, 1:37; 3. Josh Hamilton, Sent, def. Michael Glover, TF, 7-4. 171: 1. Brock Picard, P, def. Tanner Doty, Sent, 15-3; 3. Ian Damon, F, def. Ethan Schwehr, Cor, 10-0. 189: 1. Kelly Houle, CF, p. Brennon Fisher, Frt, 3:36; 3. Jace Prideaux, Sent, def. Matt Faroni, M-C, 1-0. 215: 1. Bentley Alsup, Sent, p. John Frandsen, Gla, :49; 3. Brady Anderson, Ham, def. Kodie Kenfield, CF, 11-2. 275: 1. Tyler Thomas, F, Connor Thomas, F JV, co-champions; 3. Wes Sherman, Ham, p. Jeff Markette, Cor, 3:33.