Cats, Chiefs start strong

COLUMBIA FALLS - A good start. 

That's how both coaches saw Friday's Northwestern A wrestling dual between host Columbia Falls and Ronan.

The Wildcats picked up four forfeits en route to a 45-31 victory over the Chiefs.

The evening was a three-team effort as Whitefish also wrestled both Ronan and Columbia Falls.

Ronan bounced back from the loss to defeat Whitefish 51-18 and the Mat Cats downed the Bulldogs 72-9 in the nightcap.

The Ronan win was a milestone for Columbia Falls head coach Jesse Schaeffer - his first dual victory over the Chiefs.

"It was nice to get the win," Schaeffer smiled.

But he wasn't about to take anything away from Ronan, either.

"Ronan did a good job. They won more matches than us tonight. If it was heads up, they would have won the dual and we've got to give them credit for that. They wrestled hard."

"We're giving up too many pins, still," said Ronan coach Dustin Azure.

"But for a young team, we went out and scrapped and that's what I expected from them. Now, we've just got to learn from our mistakes and push forward," he said.

The Chiefs had to jockey their lineup around a bit, Azure said.

"We had to bump a lot of weights around. We had some weight issues with our kids, but I think they will get them under control. That just comes from inexperience," he said.

"Now it's about finding the holes and fixing them and pushing forward," he said.

Schaeffer was thinking the same way.

"But the great thing is, what I told our guys, we know where we are at as a team. We know what we need to work on - and we got the nerves out."

Ronan started fast.

The dual started at 145 pounds and Ronan built a 25-6 advantage on the strength of three straight pins by Quentin Denton (160), Cole McArthur (171) and Toby Cheff (189) and a major decision by Colby Roberts (215).

The Columbia Falls rally started at heavyweight as Cody Bartos got a third-period pin to bring the score to 25-12.

Columbia Falls edged closer with forfeits at 98 and 112. The Mat Cats gave up a pin at 119, but answered instantly with a pin by Justin Whitman at 125. Mat Cat Adam Richardson claimed a tough 2-0 decision at 130 to give Columbia Falls its first lead at 33-31.

The Mat Cats claimed forfeits at 135 and 140 to finish the dual.

All in all, Columbia Falls recorded three pins - by Justin Whitman (125), Jason Williams (152) and Bartos (285) - and picked up four forfeits.

"We do need to grow as a team," Schaeffer said. "That's a positive thing. I believe we are step ahead of where we started off last year and we will continue to build," he said.

"I think we are in good shape and I think we're going to see a lot of growth," he said.

"We do have a fairly good, solid core of juniors and we have some new faces out there on the mat," he added.

Schaeffer gave compliments to Kohl Thompson (145) and Marquis Isley (171).

Thompson lost a 4-2 decision to Dustin Goldsby and Isley was pinned by Cole McArthur.

"That team over there (Ronan) has some solid kids. You've got to give (Thompson and Isley) credit. They had the heart to go out there and battle with them," he said.

Columbia Falls 45, Ronan 31

98: Harland Jordan, CF, won by forfeit; 105: Double forfeit; 112: Seth McCall, CF, won by forfeit; 119: Andrew Tiegan, R, pinned Sal Baccaro, 5:01; 125: Justin Whitman, CF, pinned Jake Stenstrom, 1:39; 130: Adam Richardson, CF, dec. Brandon Dumont, 2-0; 135: Cody Hader, CF, won by forfeit; 140: Dulan Corbett, CF, won by forfeit; 145: Dustin Goldsby, R, dec. Kohl Thompson, 4-2; 152: Jason Williams, CF, pinned Ronny Cullis, 3:06; 160: Quentin Denton, R, pinned Jacob Burgess, 2:48; 171: Cole McArthur, R, pinned Marquis Isley, 1:24; 189: Toby Cheff, R, pinned Josh Folsom, 1:47; 215: Colby Roberts, R, maj. dec. Jacob Babcock, 9-1; 285: Cody Bartos, CF, pinned Aaron Yazzie, 5:31.

Ronan 51, Whitefish 18

98: Kaleb Mohn, WF, won by forfeit; 105: Double forfeit; 112: Double forfeit; 119: Andrew Teigan, R, pinned Trystem Armstrong :26; 125: Jake Stenstrom, R, pinned Zach Snethen, 1:42; 130: Brandon Dumont, R, won by forfeit; 135: Jason Newbury, WF, won by forfeit; 140: Double forfeit; 145: Dustin Goldsby, R, won by forfeit; 152: Ronny Cullis, R, dec.Andrew Timmons, 9-6; 160: Quentin Denton, R, pinned Jarrid Selway, :44; 17: Cole McArthur, R, pinned Marcelo Theodoro, 1:57; 189: Toby Cheff, R, pinned Robby Neff, 1:02; 215: Colby Roberts, R, pinned Jacob Forrest, :42; 285: Wolf Zinke, WF, pinned Aaron Yazzie, 1:52.

Columbia Falls 72, Whitefish 9

98: Harland Jordan, CF, pinned Kaleb Mohn, 1:05; 105: Double forfeit; 112: Seth McCal, CF, won by forfeit; 119: Sal Baccaro, CF, pinned Trysten Armstrong, :28; 125: Justin Whitman, CF, pinned Zach Snethen, :35; 130: Adam Richardson, CF, won by forfeit; 135: Cody Hader, CF, pinned Jason Newbury, 1:47; 140: Dylan Corbett, CF, won by forfeit; 145: Kohl Thompson, CF, won by forfeit; 152: Andrew Timmons, WF, dec. Jason Williams, 12-6; 160: Jacob Burgess, CF, pinned Jarrid Selway, 1:48; 171: Marcelo Theodoro, WF, pinned Marquis Isley, 3:46; 189: Josh Folsom, CF, pinned Robby Neff (WF) 1:12; 215: Jacob Babcock, CF, pinned Jacob Forrest, :57; 285: Cody Bartos, CF, pinned Wolf Zinke, 2:43