A/B-C state wrestling: Columbia Falls advances four to semifinals
BILLINGS — Two matches into his third Class A state wrestling tournament appearance on Friday, Columbia Falls junior Shonn Roberts has yet to give up a point.
Roberts worked his technique in his first match before deciding to pin Dillon’s Bridger Nelson in the second period. Roberts was up 7-0 in the second before defeating Nelson.
Roberts’ quarterfinal match was a bit quicker as he pinned Havre’s Dylan Stewart in 57 seconds. Roberts will be vying for his third consecutive state championship as he faces Josh Venema of Corvalis in the semifinals today.
Teammate Mason Fetters (113) beat Roberts to the semis when he pinned Frenchtown’s Cade Livoti in 53 seconds to secure his matchup against Clay Stillwagon of Butte Central.
Haze Bell (132) will also be joining his teammates, but not as easily. Bell squeaked out a 3-2 decision in a high-intensity match with Hamilton’s Robert Few.
“He’s doing what he needs to do right now, he’s doing what we expected out of him,” Columbia Falls coach Jessie Schaeffer said.
The last Wildcat grappler in the semifinals is heavyweight Spencer Ross, whose first period pin in the quarterfinals sets him up with a rematch against Anaconda’s Bryce Wigert.
“He’s got a big match against a kid he lost to earlier in the season,” Schaeffer said. “Hopefully we’ll try and change that.”
The Wildcats have seven wrestlers competing in the consolation bracket where one win will guarantee them, at least, sixth place and a spot on the podium.
“We’ve won the matches that we expected to win,” Schaeffer added, “but we haven’t created the upsets that we wanted to, and it’s put us into the situation where we have to come out [today] and wrestle hard.”
Columbia Falls is currently third in the team standings with 88 points, just 34 points behind Sidney.
Havre leads all Class A teams with 143.5 points.
Libby’s Skyler Higareda (132) earned a semifinal bout with Jarret Degen of Belgrade after a 5-3 quarterfinal win. He is joined by Zach Crace (138) and Garret Chapel (170) as the only Loggers left in the tournament. All are still in the running for a state title if they win their semifinal matches.
The Whitefish Bulldogs have James Buckley (113) and Matthew Sampson (152) one win away from competing in the medal rounds if they can win their consolation quarterfinal match.
Polson’s Isaiah Williams (220), Tele Seeman (182), Tel Motichka (170), Carlos Quinones (126) and Jaron Morgan (113) are also in the consolation quarterfinals.
In Class B-C, Colstrip has a two point lead over Choteau in the team standings with Forsyth well behind in third.
Eureka’s Garret White (113) kept his title hopes alive by dominating his quarterfinal opponent, Jess Lockwood of Brodus, to earn a 9-1 major decision and a spot in the semifinals against Glasgow’s Kasey Seyfert.
Teammate Zach Durden (120) will join White in the semis as he’ll take on Tate Niederegger of Chinook.
Bigfork’s only competitor, Vinny Quirk (182), won his opening round match but fell in the quarterfinals to Choteau’s Layne Durfee. Quirk did represent the Vikings well in the consolation bracket by pinning Whitehall’s Dillon Hoerauf in 1:40. Quirk will wrestle Conrad’s Hunter Mycke for the chance to medal.
The consolation quarterfinals and championship semi-finals begin today at 9 a.m.