Five is just fine
Taylor Vaughn of Lincoln County claims an 8-2 decision over Kyle Fulton of Forsyth in the Class B-C 160-pound semifinals. Vaughn wound up second.
Columbia Falls’ Kelly Houle pins Paul Donaldson of Hamilton in the semifinals of the Class A 215-pound weight class. Houle took first place with four straight pins in the tournament.
Flathead’s Shawn Lau wrestles Ben Sulser of Billings Senior in the Class AA 140-pound state championship match. Lau claimed a 5-0 decision and is now a three-time state champion.
BILLINGS - Two state champions and a fifth-straight Class AA wrestling team title.
How sweet it is for Flathead High School’s wrestling program.
The Braves survived some tense moments, trailing Billings Skyview by 13 points after the semifinal round on Saturday, to emerge with a 15-point victory over the Falcons in Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark. The Braves totaled 274 points to Skyview’s 259.
Great Falls High was third, 184 1/2, and Glacier sixth, 164 1/2.
“It couldn’t have ended on a better note than this one,” Flathead coach Matt Owen said.
“We had a great wrestleback round. We took the lead again and never let it go.”
Flathead had four individuals in the finals and two champions — Shawn Lau (140) and Caleb Allen-Schmid (160). It was the third state championship for Lau, but the first for Allen-Schmid.
Coming up short in the finals were Caleb Piasecki (112) and Joaquin Calderon (130).
“They had a great tournament,” Owen said of Flathead’s champs.
“The other two (Piasecki and Calderon) wrestled their butts off, too.”
Flathead won it last year with 339 points, while Skyview followed with 315.
“I think they’re equally special,” Owen, in his second-year as head coach, said of winning it again.
“We had a great bunch of guys last year and a great bunch this year.”
Flathead had eight wrestlers in third/fourth-place matches. Finishing third were Cody Tally (125), Jeremiah Gaiser (145), Larry Francis (171) and Connor Thomas (285).
Suny Cheff (112), Zach Deist (152), Josh Erickson (160) and Travis Ozegovich (215) were fourth.
Glacier had two in the finals — Logan Clay (171) and Dan Gilbert (285). Clay and Gilbert each lost championship matches by decision.
Gilbert, however, pulled off a major surprise in the semifinals, sticking Thomas in 1:56.
Thomas had won the five previous meetings.
“I just had a good feeling about wrestling him today,” Gilbert said.
“It’s been pretty close every time. I just went out and got it done.”
“Oh yeah, big time,” Glacier coach Mark Fischer said of Gilbert’s performance.
“(Assistant coach) Wes Hines has done a great job coaching the heavyweights all year. You got to give all the credit to him.”
Glacier’s other top finisher was Kaleb Mitchell (98), who was third.
But the night didn’t belong just to Flathead.
Columbia Falls’ Kelly Houle (215) pinned his way — four times — to a state championship in Class A. The Wildcat senior, who will play football at Montana Western in the fall, finished the season with 32, which broke the old season school record of 31. That was held by Caleb Schaeffer.
Houle finished with a 38-2 record.
Ronan’s Cameron Neiss (130) won his second straight championship and ended the season unbeaten in 41 matches.
Brock Picard (171) became just the second three time-state champion for Polson with a hard-fought 9-4 decision over Kyle Sweedman of Libby.
Toby Cheff (189) gave Ronan its second champion as he pinned his way to a state championship.
Finishing second were Ronan’s Micky Cheff (152), Libby’s Kyle Leir (135) and Eureka’s Taylor Vaughn (160).
On the team front, Havre repeated in Class A with a 215 total. Belgrade was second with 196 1/2.
Polson placed fifth, 134, Ronan seventh, 117, Libby 13th, 72, and Columbia Falls 14th, 71, and Whitefish was 18th, 20.
Glasgow also repeated in Class B-C.