Flathead, Glacier finish duals

The Daily Inter Lake

HELENA - One final tuneup.

That was how both the Flathead and Glacier wrestling teams viewed Saturday's duals against Helena High and Helena Capital.

Both teams traveled to Helena for 5 and 7 p.m. duals.

Flathead won both - 51-28 over Helena High and 66-12 over Capital. The Wolfpack defeated Capital, 56-24, but lost to Helena High, 44-33.

"Both of the duals, the kids wrestled really well. Again, we had quite a few different faces in the lineup and all of them performed really well," said Flathead coach Matt Owen.

"I thought they all wrestled really hard and did a good job out there," he said.

"Every time we get out there, I think we're wrestling a little bit tougher.

"I think the big thing is it's just another way to fine tune things and get ready for divisional and our push through to state," he said.

"I think we're right where we want to be going into the last couple of weeks," said Glacier coach Mark Fischer of the Wolfpack.

"The match with Helena we knew was going to be tough. We just didn't match up with them. There was one match that could have gone either way and we lost it. Other than that, I don't think there was much else we could have done," he said.

"I feel great about it. We have two weeks left. We took a few lumps this week. In the Flathead dual (on Thursday), we got banged up a little bit, but we'll be ready to go for that seeding tournament at our place," Fischer said.

The match of the day was between Helena High heavyweight Toby Erickson and Flathead's Tyler Thomas.

"It was a great match. They had a couple of good exchanges," Owen said.

"Tyler had (Erickson) on his back and it was really close to being a pin," he said.

Erickson managed to get out of that, and with the match tied at 6-6, he finally caught Thomas in a scramble and pinned him.

"He did a great job," Owen said of Thomas.

"He was never in bad position. They had a couple of good scrambles in there and we saw some things to help him work on to help get him next time," he added.

Owen also complimented the efforts of Steel Hahn (125).

He pinned his Capital opponent, but lost a 15-9 decision to a Niko Guymon of Helena High.

"(Hahn) had (Guymon) on his back almost the whole third period. He was doing everything he could to get a pin, but the kid was doing a good job of keeping one shoulder up," Owen said.

Fischer complimented the efforts of Zach Barber (105) and Tanner Woodland (160).

"He's been wrestling up every time we ask him to. He's been so solid for us this year," the coach said of Barber.

Barber got two pins Saturday - over Helena's Wyatt Boyer and Capital's Austin Lundin.

Fischer also had good things to say about freshman Josh Erickson.

Erickson weighs about 156, but broke into the varsity lineup for the first time this weekend and wrestled 171.

"He went out there and just wrestled great against a pretty tough Capital kid," the coach said.

Flathead 66, Capital 12

98 - Alex Markle (CHS) maj dec Jake Kinkel (Fla), 13-1; 105 - Caleb Piasecki (Fla) pin Austin Lundin (CHS), :16; 112 - Jake Steuben (Fla) pin Steve Emge (CHS), 1:46; 119 - Cody Tally (Fla) tech fall Cody Murphy (CHS), 22-5; 125 - Steel Hahn (Fla) pin Tom Adamson (CHS), 2:41; 130 - Shaun Lau (Fla) won forfeit; 135 - Tanner Beaman (Fla) pin Simon Asay (CHS), 5:59; 140 - Jeremiah Gaiser (Fla) maj dec Maverick Mansfield (CHS), 10-1; 145 - Guy Nordahl (CHS) dec Chase Gamer (Fla), 5-4; 152 - Caleb Allan-Schmidt (Fla) pin Tristan McMahon (CHS), 2:28; 160 - Bryce Stacey (Fla) pin Pat Legg (CHS), 3:30; 171 - Duncan Aylor (Fla) dec Tait Strom (CHS), 7-4; 189 - John Franchi (Fla) won forfeit; 215 - Pat Streich (Fla) pin Nick Alamia (CHS), 5:58; Hwt - Tyler Thomas (Fla) pin Josh Wallis (CHS), 1:03.

Flathead 51, Helena 28

98 - Kinkel (Fla) pin Jimmy Mayer, 1:30; 105 - Piesecki (Fla) pin Wyatt Boyer, :57; 112 - Brady Bertagnolli (HHS) pin Steuben, 5:43; 119 - Tally (Fla) pin Jake Walthauer, :39; 125 - Niko Guymon (HHS) dec Hahn, 15-9; 130 - Lau (Fla) pin Jerrod Maddio, 2:29; 135 - Beaman (Fla) pin Joey Bogard, 5:22; 140 - Ryan Fuss (HHS) dec Gaiser, 7-2; 145 - J.T. Street (HHS) maj dec Garner 10-2; 152 - Steve Mantel (Fla) dec Kale Kamerzel, 11-4; 160 - Stacey (Fla) pin Jacob Silberling, 3:03; 171 - Matt Upham (HHS) pin Aylor, 3:50; 189 - Franchi (Fla) pin Andy Riordan, :26; 215 - Streich (Fla) won forfeit; Hwt - Toby Erickson (HHS) pin Thomas, 2:43.

Helena 44, Glacier 33

98 - Mayer (HHS) pin Christian Knopp (Gla),1:07; 105 - Zach Barber (Gla) pin Boyer (HHS), :47; 112 - Bertagnolli (HHS) pin Zach Orr (Gla), 1:24; 119 - Cooper Sipe (Gla) pin Walthour (HHS), 1:54; 125 - Guymon (HHS) won forfeit; 130 - Maddio (HHS) pin Dexter Orr (Gla), 1:59; 135 - Shane Stange (Gla) dec Bogard (HHS), 3-0; 140 - Fuss (HHS) dec Riley Pisk (Gla), 11-8; 145 - Lucas Cummings (Gla) dec Street (HHS), 5-1; 152 - Larry Francis (Gla) pin Kamerzel (HHS), 1:21; 160 - Tanner Woodland (Gla) dec Silberling (HHS), 10-7; 171 - Upham (HHS) pin Taylor Heavirland (Gla), 2:59; 189 -Riordan (HHS) tech fall Randy Martin (Gla), 17-4; 215 - John Fransden (Gla) won forfeit; Hwt - Erickson (HHS) pin Dan Gilbert (Gla), :29.

Glacier 57, Capital 24

98 - Markle (CHS) pin Knopp, 1:08; 105 - Barber (Gla) pin Lundin, 2:20; 112 - S. Emge (CHS) pin 2:45; 119 - Sipe (Gla) tech fall Quinn Markle, 16-0; 125 - Orr (Gla) pin Murphy, 4:45; 130 - Costeckie (Gla) won forfeit; 135 - Stern St. Onge (Gla) dec S. Asay, 9-2; 140 - Mansfield (CHS) dec Pisk, 3-2; 145 - Cummings (Gla) pin Cory Nettleton, 1:03; 152 - Francis (Gla) pin Caleb Spangler, 3:35; 160 - Woodland (Gla) pin Legg, 1:48; 171 - Strom (CHS) dec Josh Erickson, 9-5; 189 - Randy Martin (Gla) pin Silas Easterling, 5:44; 215 - Fransden (Gla) pin Alamia, 1:31; Hwt - Gilbert (Gla) pin Wallis, 2:15.