Barnburner at Glacier

It came down to the final weight class, and the final minute for Missoula Sentinel and Glacier Thursday night in a Western AA thriller at Glacier.

After nearly two hours of back-and-forth wrestling action that settled nothing on the scoreboard, the final outcome hinged on results of a 160-pound match between Sentinel’s Josh Hamilton and Glacier’s Travis Woodland.

And the two seniors didn’t disappoint.

Hamilton broke a 4-all tie with a takedown with 37 seconds remaining and then held off Woodland at the end for a hard-earned 6-5 decision, and the necessary three team points to give Sentinel a 33-32 victory.

Woodland got an escape with 6.1 second left to get within a point, but he couldn’t pull off a fast takedown to win it as time ran out.

Woodland, on the strength of a takedown in the first 24 seconds of the match, led 2-1 after the first period. Hamilton, a third-place finisher at state last year, took a 4-3 edge into the final two minutes.

Woodland tied the match at 4-all with a quick escape five seconds into the final period.

It was the second time those two wrestlers have squared off this season.

“It wasn’t that close,” Sentinel coach Jeremy LaPorte said of the earlier meeting between Hamilton and Woodland, which Hamilton won.

“Woodland stepped up big time.”

Glacier coach Mark Fischer agreed.

“He did step up big time. He showed a lot of heart out there. I’m real proud of him.”

Lucas Cummings set the stage for the dramatic team finish by pulling off a 10-2 major decision at 152 to give Glacier four points and a 32-30 advantage. He picked up the necessary eight-point difference in his match with a takedown at the buzzer.

“We kind of got a break too, when the dual started at 171 and ended at 160,” LaPorte said.

“We got to start out with one of our top wrestlers and end it with one of our top-ranked kids.”

LaPorte, who wrestled at Flathead and is in his first year as head coach with the Spartans, said he was not surprised the outcome was this close.

“And both of us have a couple kids out (of the lineup),” he said.

Both teams won seven matches on the night. Sentinel forfeited at 112.

The Spartans finished with four pins to just one for Glacier. The Wolfpack’s Zach Barber won by fall in 1:51 at 105.

“Overall, we wrestled pretty well,” Fischer said.

“We had some breakdowns mentally where we just relaxed for a second, or we would be in a close match and lose by a pin.”

Glacier also came through with some late-match heroics to pull out some much-needed decisions.

Randy Martin, down 4-0 heading into the final period, scored five points in the last 1:27 for a 5-4 decision at 215.

Cooper Sipe fell behind 4-0 in the first period at 135 and trailed 5-3 after two periods. A takedown with 1:28 left in the match tied it up and he used a late 3-point nearfall to win it 8-5.

Not so lucky was Brayden Bagley at 145. The Wolfpack junior gave up a takedown in overtime with 2.5 seconds left to drop a tough 12-10 decision.

“For the kids we  had in there, I didn’t expect it to turn out like it did,” Fischer said.

“For us to come this close, it’s like a victory for us.”

Glacier and Sentinel will continue with dual action on Saturday at the AA Duals in Great Falls.

98 — Kaleb Mitchell, G, dec. Jordan Hegel, 2-0; 105 — Zach Barber, G, pinned Jake Bush, 1:51; 112 — Jackson Barber, G, won by forfeit; 119 — Lucas Mantel, G, maj. dec. Luke Davenport, 16-6; 125 — Jeff Meier, S, pinned Grant Tafoya, 4:34; 130 — Dave Marne, S, pinned Nick Iavicolli, 3:15; 135 — Cooper Sipe, G, dec. Ty Simonich, 8-5; 140 — Tyler Hendrickson, G, dec. Sean King, 9-4; 145 — Josh Seeberger, S, dec. Brayden Bagley, 12-10 OT; 152 — Lucas Cummings, G, maj. dec. David Degarmo, 10-2; 160 — Josh Hamilton, S, dec. Travis Woodland, 6-5; 171 — Tanen Doty, S, pinned Logan Clay, 1:01; 189 — Jace Prideaux, S, dec. Boyce Ballard, 9-3; 215 — Randy Martin, G, dec. Shawn Bradshaw, 5-3; 285 — Bentley Alsup, S, pinned Dan Gilbert, 2:34.