WRESTLING: Flathead bites 'Dogs; Vasquez starts season with flashy pin
<p>Flathead's Payton Hume puts Butte's Kaleb Ferriter in a cradle during a 15-4 major decision in the 145-pound match at Flathead on Friday. The Braves won the dual 35-31. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Pin falls aren’t anything new for Flathead sophomore Trae Vasquez.
The defending Class AA state champion at 113 pounds, Vasquez has his share of pins in his wrestling career, but Friday against Butte he broke out something special.
“It’s a leg cradle,” Vasquez said. The move saw the Braves star hook his legs behind the neck and knee of his opponent and roll the Butte wrestler to his back, where Vasquez got the pin 30 seconds into the second round.
“It’s something that I don’t practice often. I kept it in the back of my head and when I saw it there, I hit it. It was a pretty cool way to get a pin.
“It was probably one of the coolest pins I got in my whole career, so I was really happy about it.”
Vasquez’s pin was the flashiest of four pins the Braves scored in a 35-31 dual win over Butte’s Bulldogs on Friday in the season opener at Flathead High School.
Butte beat Glacier 63-12 earlier in the day.
“Butte is always tough,” Braves coach Rich Vasquez said.
“We have a lot of guys who are (wrestling) up a weight class right now. It was a good win for us to get out of the gates.
“I thought our lungs looked pretty good. Normal stuff, a little bit shaky at times, but for the most part I thought the guys answered the bell the right way for the start of the season.”
Flathead is a young team again this year, starting 10 sophomores or juniors in the dual. In addition to Vasquez’s strong showing, junior 103-pounder Hunter Rush earned a pin in 1 minute, 14 seconds and sophomores Payton Hume and Bryce Schaffer each recorded major decisions. Schaffer won 14-2 at 113 pounds and Hume 15-4 at 145.
The Braves seniors got in on the act as well, with Anthony Wright, at 170 pounds, and Payton Boyce, at 205, earning pins in their matches.
Flathead won three of its first four matches to start the dual, led off by an 8-4 decision from 160-pound Tucker Nadeau, and led 31-15 before Butte closed with four wins in the last six weight classes, earning three pins and a major decision in the stretch to cut into the Braves final margin of victory.
“I thought the guys finished well,” Rich Vasquez said.
“They rallied around each other and came together pretty well. You’ve gotta love that about duals. The guys come together. It was good stuff all the way around.”
Flathead is back on the mats this weekend with a trip to the Helena Duals today. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m.
Flathead 35, Butte 31
160—Tucker Nadeau, F, dec. Kadon Schonsberg, 8-4; 170—Anthony Wright, F, pinned Kadon Queer, 4:26; 182—Quinn Cunneen, B, dec. Hunter Wellcome, 11-6; 205—Payton Boyce, F, pinned Kyle Harding, 1:09; 285—Jeff Queer, B, pinned Michael Lee, 1:48; 103—Hunter Rush, F, pinned Will Queer, 1:14; 113—Bryce Schaffer, F, maj. dec. Tyler Casey, 14-2; 120—Gabe Tierney, B, pinned Cody DeVall, :49; 126—Trae Vasquez, F, pinned Tyler Verrer, 2:30; 132—Kelly Merrick, B, pinned Austin Gabbert, 2:54; 138—Braxton Henningsun, B, maj. dec. Isiah Burkhalter, 13-2; 145—Payton Hume, F, maj. dec. Kaleb Ferriter, 15-4; 152—Kyler Smith, B, pinned Taylor Morton, 4:36.