Glacier grapplers rally, best C-Falls on Senior Night

Glacier’s four seniors in the lineup — Dylan Miller (113), Tristan Little (120), Caden Willis (152) and Colby Martin (205) — left the mat with wins on Senior Night, helping the Wolfpack rally by visiting Columbia Falls for a 40-27 dual wrestling victory on Thursday at Glacier High School.

Miller won by forfeit, Little and Martin both had first-period pins and Willis claimed a major decision.

“Could not be more proud of these great individuals,” Glacier coach Ross Dankers said of his seniors.

“To watch them grow up in this program is a true honor, and is what amateur sports is all about. Super excited for the four that competed, going undefeated tonight, and excited for Tre (Krause at 285) to get back on the mat for seeding.”

Krause, a senior, has been sidelined for three weeks with a knee injury.

The pin for Martin was his 21st this season. It also raised his season record to an impressive 23-7.

“Kind of nice,” Martin said of winning by pin in his home finale.

Martin had to beat the clock to get this one with just .8 of a second left in the period. Martin and Columbia Falls’ Jacob Freeman were locked up prior to that in a 2-all tie.

It was the third time Martin and Freeman have wrestled this season. Martin won the previous two — by pin and a 10-4 decision.

“Probably harder,” Martin said of wrestling someone three times, or more, in a season.

“They prepare for you so you have to change your game plan a little bit.”

And Martin did just that for this match.

“I fine tuned a lot of my technique,” he said.

“Fixed a few minor things.”

And it worked.

The dual opened at 138 with Thomas Peters winning by decision, 12-6, for Columbia Falls. Ayden Role followed with a tough 1-0 decision over Glacier’s Kale Willis.

Caden Willis then posted a major decision for Glacier at 152. Columbia Falls’ Jordan Knapton outmuscled Thomas Crofts 10-4 at 160, giving the Wildcats a 9-4 edge on the scoreboard.

It was all pins and forfeits, after that.

Lucas Thacker (170) and Colton McPhee (182) had back-to-back pins for Columbia Falls.

Martin followed with his fall and Taylor Gladeau (285) won by pin to put Columbia Falls on top 27-10.

The Wildcats gave up 12 points on forfeits at 103 and 113 and then Glacier pinned its way to victory with Little, Lance Fretwell (126) and Ricardo Hewitt (1:20).

“They do,” Columbia Falls coach Jessie Schaeffer said of forfeits coming back to haunt you. “Tough to win duals with forfeits.”

Of the 11 matches wrestled, Columbia Falls won six.

“We wanted to win seven matches in this dual,” Schaeffer said. “We didn’t quite reach that.

“We had the ball going up until 205,” he said. “That’s the match we wanted to redeem ourselves on.”

Columbia Falls is back in action today at the Whitefish Memorial Invitational.

Glacier wraps up regular-season action Saturday at Helena Capital and Helena High.

138 — Thomas Peters, CF, dec. Royce Conklin, 12-6; 145 — Ayden Role, CF, dec. Kael Willis, 1-0; 152 — Caden Willis, G, maj. dec. Isaac Balla, 11-1; 160 — Jordan Knapton, CF, dec. Thomas Crofts, 10-4; 170 — Lucas Thacker, CF, pinned Jarron Scott, 1:38; 182 — Colton McPhee, CF, pinned Skiler Hitt, :42; 205 — Colby Martin, G, pinned Jacob Freeman, 1:59; 285 — Taylor Gladeau, CF, pinned Camryn Vergeront, 3:48; 103 — Drew Kernan, G, won by forfeit; 113 — Dylan Miller, G, won by forfeit; 120 — Tristan Little, G, pinned Orion Barta, :58; 126 — Lance Fretwell, G, pinned Colten Hogan, 1:10; 132 — Ricardo Hewitt, G, pinned Zak Gray, 1:20.

Polson 60, Ronan 15

POLSON — Polson earned 30 points off five forfeits and added 30 more on pins by Jarod Farrier (132), Bridger Wenzel (152), Hunter Fritsch (170), Logan Adler (182) and Jasper Drake (285) to roll by Ronan for an easy Northwest A dual win.

113 — Rene Pierre, P, won by forfeit; 120 — Kellen Norman, P, won by forfeit; 126 — Trapper McAllister, R, dec. Maysn Cowell, 9-4; 132 — Jarod Farrier, P, pinned Julian Strait, 1:27; 138 — Dugan Davis, P, won by forfeit; 145 — Caleb Pierre, P, won by forfeit; 152 — Bridger Wenzel, P, pinned Christian Smith, :55; 160 — Garrett Croft, P, won by forfeit; 170 — Hunter Fritsch, P, pinned Jamison Webster, 1:20; 182 — Logan Adler, P, pinned Jesse LittleBoy, 2:39; 205 — Justin Mays, R, pinned Aaron O`Roake, :59; 285 — Jasper Drake, P, pinned Larz Sorrell, 5:21; 103 — Trevor Bartel, R, pinned Gavin Knutson, 3:01.