Braves dominate Wolfpack
<p>Flathead's Trae Vasquez gets near-fall points on Billy Barrett during the 113-pound match at the 2015 crosstown dual on January 22 at Glacier. Vasquez pinned Barrett in the first round. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Flathead's Dyan Guzman holds on to Glacier's Ryder Day as he looks up at the clock as time expires in the final overtime period during the 126-pound match of the crosstown dual at Glacier on Thursday. Guzman won the match 4-2. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Flathead senior Dyan Guzman put an exclamation point on a dominant night by the Braves, topping Glacier’s Ryder Day 4-2 in double overtime to cap a 36-18 win for Flathead in the crosstown wrestling dual on Thursday night at Glacier High School.
In an evenly-fought match at 126 that saw each wrestler gain a single point through regulation and overtime, Guzman broke the tie when he earned an escape with five seconds left in the first half of the period. After Day earned an escape early in the second half of the round to tie the match again, Guzman finally earned a take down with 16 seconds left. He would ride out the final seconds and give a fist pump as the team celebrated around him.
“I’ve been waiting to do that since my sophomore year,” Guzman said.
“I had the mindset he wasn’t going to beat me. I went out on the mat expecting to win.”
It was one of eight matches the Braves would win in a convincing dual victory, including three pins.
“I was proud of the guys, you could tell they wrestled from whistle to whistle every match,” Flathead coach Rich Vasquez said.
“You could tell in the third period our guys were conditioned and they looked good. They were confident and they just kept coming.”
Freshman phenom Trae Vasquez picked up four takedowns and two near falls before pinning his opponent at 113 pounds.
Daniel DeVall trailed his match 7-1 in the third period before quickly flipping the script for a pin at 145 and junior Payton Boyce earned his pin a minute into the first at 205.
The Braves also earned decisions from Payton Hume at 132, Matt Gash-Gilder at 170 and Logan Wilson at 182.
Michael Schmeusser won by forfeit at 120.
“We’re rounding into shape right about now,” Vasquez said. “We’re going to focus on the basics, we have some things to work on. Overall as a team, we’re coming together. Everything’s in and now it’s a matter of polishing things up, getting ready for seeding and state.”
For its part, Glacier picked up the wins it needed, but was only able to earn bonus points in one match. Heavyweight junior Eli Horn reversed into a near fall and earned a pin with six seconds left in the first period to gain six points for the Wolfpack.
“He did a great job of wrestling his style,” Glacier coach Ross Dankers said. “He’s been working on that half. I was real excited for him to go out and do that.”
Every other win came by decision — Justin Gibson at 103, Cody Decker at 138, Quinn Barber at 152 and Arik Lybeck at 160.
“It was frustrating,” Dankers said. “They do a good job of staying in good position. We weren’t able to force our offense.”
Each team is on the road this weekend, wrestling in the Class AA duals in Great Falls. It is the last big event of the season before the seeding tournament in two weeks.
Flathead 36, Glacier 18
103 — Justin Gibson, G, dec. Cody DeVall 9-6; 113 — Trae Vasquez, F, pinned Billy Barrett 1:35; 120 — Michael Schmeusser, F, win by forfeit; 126 — Dyan Guzman, F, dec. Ryder Day 4-2; 132 — Payton Hume, F, dec. Sam Barber 5-4; 138 — Cody Decker, G, dec. Tyler Davis 7-2; 145 — Daniel DeVall, F, pinned Cody Settle 4:44; 152 — Quinn Barber, G, dec. Tucker Nadeau 5-2; 160 — Arik Lybeck, G, dec. Anthony Wright 3-2; 170 — Matt Gash-Gilder, F, dec. Jacob Ferkin 7-1; 182 — Logan Wilson, F, dec. Isaac Saenz 5-2; 205 — Payton Boyce, F, pinned Kellen Bemis 1:00; 285 — Eli Horn, G, pinned Riley Leigh, 1:54.