AA wrestling: Wolfpack start with victory over Bulldogs
<p>Glacier’s Arik Lybeck throws Butte’s Kadin Schonsberg during a wrestling dual Friday at Glacier High School. Lybeck won the 152-pound match by pin in 3:17.</p>
In the last match of the day, deadlocked with Butte in the first Class AA wrestling dual of the season, Wolfpack senior Wyatt Clay pinned Glacier to a 45-39 victory by executing a nifty move to gain the advantage and earn the team win.
Clay, leading Butte’s Wyatt Merkel 7-2 and in the down position to start the second period of their 182-pound match, somersaulted out of Merkel’s grip — called a granby roll — and took his opponent’s back in one swift move, pinning him seconds later.
“I figured I needed to stay behind him and work a move,” Clay said.
“That’s what I did. I got a cradle.”
The pin, Glacier’s sixth and the 10th of the dual, was the final act of an extremely close match.
Butte held the advantage for most of the match, starting off the dual with a pin from Lee Cannon at 195 pounds.
The Bulldogs led by as much as 24-12 before Glacier started to reel the score back in.
Back-to-back pins by Cody Decker (132) and Quinn Barber (138) gave the Wolfpack a lead before the teams began to trade pins.
Trailing in the 160-pound match to Jacob Ferkin, Butte senior Nick Challeen got a takedown with 15 seconds remaining and a pin with 12 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 39-36 lead with two matches left.
Glacier’s Tanner Stupack earned a 6-1 decision at 170 pounds to set up a tie dual for Clay in the final match.
Also earning pins in the match were Glacier’s Justin Gibson at 98 pounds, Sam Barber at 120 and Arik Lybeck at 152. Bryson Henningson (113) and Kaleb Ferriter (145) picked up pins for Butte.
“Wyatt has really wrestled a good first couple of weeks and really shown the team that he’s working hard,” Glacier coach Ross Dankers said.
“Our veterans really stepped up and carried the team for us. They showed our younger guys how to go out on the mat and take control. We started to see some of the philosophical things we tried to teach these first 10 days come out.”
The Wolfpack did a good job of staying aggressive throughout the match, though sometimes it got caught in a bad position.
“Staying aggressive is what we want to do,” Dankers said.
“In the third period, hopefully we’re in good enough shape to capitalize on our opponents.”
Glacier will hit the road to wrestle in today’s Polson Invitational.
Next week the Wolfpack travel to Missoula Big Sky for a Western AA dual on Thursday. The Mining City Duals follow on Friday and Saturday in Butte.
98 — Justin Gibson, G, p. Tyler Casey, 1:06; 106 — Tyler Vetter, B, win by forfeit; 113 — Bryson Henningson, B, p. Brandon Olsen, 1:13; 120 — Sam Barber, G, p. Tyler Ossello, 1:54; 126 — Kelly Merrick, B, dec. Ryder Day, 6-5. 132 — Cody Decker, G, p. Ax Henningson, 1:54; 138 — Quinn Barber, G, p. Willy Anderson, 3:39; 145 — Kaleb Ferriter, B, p. Cody Settle, 1:56; 152 — Arik Lybeck, G, p. Kadin Schonsberg, 3:17; 160 — Nick Challeen, B, p. Jacob Ferkin, 5:48; 170 — Tanner Stupack, G, dec. Cian Randall, 6-1; 182 — Wyatt Clay, G, p. Wyatt Merkel, 2:29; 195 — Lee Cannon, B, p. A.J. Robinson, 1:41; 220 — Konnor O’Neil, B, win by forfeit; 285 — Zach Dennehy, G, win by forfeit.