Flathead stomps Butte

BUTTE - It wasn't the best start, but the Flathead Braves will take the end result any day of the week.

The Braves lost the first three matches of Friday's dual with the Butte Bulldogs, trailing 17-0, but bounced back on the strength of nine pins and a major decision for a 62-23 road win.

"It was a pretty well-rounded team performance, a good team effort," said third-year Flathead coach Matt Owen

"It's good to get that first (win) under the belt. Hopefully, we can finish it off with a good rest of the weekend," he added.

The dual started at 98 pounds and Flathead lost the first three by forfeit, tech fall and pin.

But Caleb Piasecki got the Brave ball rolling with a pin at 119 pounds.

Cody Tally followed with a pin at 125 and Cody Piasecki and Jake Stueben (130 and 135) followed suit. Flathead picked up a forfeit at 140, then got a major win by Jeremiah Gaiser at 145.

"It was really nice to see those kids bounce back," Owen said.

The only other match Flathead lost on Friday was at 189 pounds. The Braves' regular starter didn't have enough practices in to wrestle so Cody Stinger stepped up.

"He went out there and wrestled tough. He just ended up on the short end of things," Owen said.

98 - Bryan Armstrong, Butte, won by forfeit. 105 - Zak Harney, Butte, tf. Kaleb Liehr 18-2 (3:45). 112 - Jarret Rowling, Butte, p. Billy Allen 1:16. 119 - Caleb Piasecki, Flathead, p. Tyler Harney 1:12. 125 - Cody Tally, Flathead, p. Gage Weston 5:44. 130 - Cody Piasecki, Flathead, p. Riley McNabb 1:52. 135 - Jake Stueben, Flathead, p. Bryce Armstrong 1:40. 140 - Jacob Egley, Flathead, won by forfeit. 145 - Jeremy Gaiser, Flathead, md. Chris Renz 15-5. 152 - Nick Iavicolli, Flathead, d. Derek McGrath 6-3. 160 - Larry Francis, Flathead, p. Clay Brozovich 1:54. 171 - Josh Erickson, Flathead, p. Gabe Kissell :42. 189 - Chris Yocum, Butte, p. Cody Stinger 3:08. 215 - Travis Ozegovich, Flathead, p. Jon Kotka 1:02. 285 - Connor Thomas, Flathead, p. Anthony Moritz :12.