MatCats nip Greenchain
<p>Libby’s Kyle Leir (left) sticks an arm out to break his fall while being taken down by Columbia Falls senior Kohl Thompson during their 145-pound match Thursday night at Columbia Falls.</p>
<p>Columbia Falls junior Seth McCall (top) stretches as he tries to pin Libby’s Aaron Seefeldt during Thursday’s dual. Seefeldt won the match at 125 by decision, 8-7.</p>
COLUMBIA FALLS - The Columbia Falls MatCats made all the right moves at all the right times on Thursday night as they defeated the visiting Libby Greenchain 33-30 in a Northwestern A wrestling matchup.
Both coaches wrapped up the back-and-forth affair pretty simply.
"The key was we didn't give up any pins. We didn't give up any falls. We stayed off our backs ... and we fought off our backs. Not giving up the fall kept their score low and allowed us to find ways to get wins where we needed to," said Columbia Falls coach Jesse Schaeffer.
"We didn't get any pins and they got a couple," agreed Libby coach Kelly Morford.
"We won seven matches. They won three. They just went out and got more pins where they needed to and we didn't."
Both teams juggled their lineups a bit - Libby gave up 18 points in forfeits, Columbia Falls six. The MatCats also moved people around due to injury and illness.
"Without two of our varsity kids in the lineup, that hurt us a little bit," Schaeffer said.
"We knew coming in we were going to give up some points in forfeits. We knew we had to get pins in certain places and not get pinned in others - and we did the opposite of that," Morford said.
"Credit Columbia Falls. They knew what they had to do to win the dual and they came out and got the job done. "
Columbia Falls led most of the way. Libby held two brief leads on the night - it won a 4-0 decision in the night's first match at 160. Columbia Falls claimed a pin at 171 (Josh Folsom) to go up 6-3. Libby followed that with a major decision at 189 (Austin Bailey) and Columbia Falls retook the lead for good with the first Libby forfeit at 215.
Libby forfeited that weight in order to move 215-pounder Gunnar Moe to heavyweight.
"We were hoping to get a pin. But their heavyweight wrestled pretty well," Morford said.
Moe got the win - by decision.
That got the Greenchain to within a couple points. But Columbia Falls got a forfeit at 98, there was a double forfeit at 105 and the MatCats Shonn Roberts put Columbia Falls at 24-10 with a pin at 112.
Libby came as close as 24-22 after the 130-pound weight class, but forfeited 135.
The 140-pound weight class was the turning point, according to Schaeffer.
Bryan Shaffer claimed a 4-1 decision.
"It was a big win for Bryan. He's been sick all week, but he looked good tonight. He had two big takedowns on the kid, handled the kid pretty well," he said.
That win gave Columbia Falls a 33-22 lead. With two weight classes remaining, Libby needed pins. Instead, it got a decision and a technical fall.
But Morford wasn't unhappy with the outcome.
"We didn't win the dual on the scoreboard, but I thought we wrestled OK. We just didn't get our pins," he added.
Dual started at 160
98: Jordan Huges, CF, won by forfeit; 105: Double forfeit; 112: Shonn Roberts, CF, p. Dylan Roby, 1:17; 119: Zach Crace, L, won by forfeit; 125: Aaron Seefeldt, L, dec. Seth McCall, 8-7; 130: Mitch Haugen, L, dec. Josiah Osborne, 3-0; 135: Zayne Brunz, CF, won by forfeit; 140: Bryan Shaffer, CF, dec. Garret Chapel, 4-1; 145: Kyle Leir, L, dec. Kohl Thompson, 5-0; 152: Josh Bowers, L, tech fall Travis Province, 20-4; 160: Dylan Berget, L, dec. Jacob Burgess, 4-0; 171: Josh Folsom, CF, p. Robin Kyes, 3:52; 189: Austin Bailey, L, maj. dec. Marcus Ross, 11-3; 215: Jacob Babcock, CF, won by forfeit; 285: Gunnar Moe, L, dec. Wade Motichka, 1-0.