Flathead’s Noah Poe-Hatten has his sights set on a title

Noah Poe-Hatten has way more wins, 120, than losses in his high school wrestling career, but one of the 21 defeats has stuck with him.

It was last year’s State AA title match at 182 pounds; he lost 3-2 to Butte’s Mason Christian.

“That’s the guy that brought me to reality,” Poe-Hatten, then a junior, said. “I figured I had to hit the gym this summer.

“I’ve been training pretty hard this past year. It kind of lit a fire. That one kind of hurt.”

Leading into this weekend’s Western AA Divisional in Butte, Poe-Hatten is 25-2. He hasn’t lost to anyone in Montana; the defeats came to Conan Northwind out of Granger, Wash., and three-time Idaho state champion Hunter Hobbs out of St. Anthony.

“He’s lost to two dudes,” Flathead head coach Jeff Thompson notes.

Now it appears Poe-Hatten is the dude. The No. 2-ranked wrestler in Montana, Great Falls Russell’s AJ LaFurge, didn’t fare well in their head-to-head meeting. It seems “The Silent Assassin” is going to call in what’s due.

“If you look at his demeanor… he’s just a little shy, a little quiet,” Thompson said. “He’s not a rollercoaster guy with his emotions.

“In the long run, in the sport of wrestling, it’s really helped. He can just go and go, because he’s not using any extra energy. He’s constantly moving forward. Just a Steady-Eddie.”

In Poe-Hatten’s memory the second part of his nickname came first.

“After my second match, they kind of found out I didn’t like people getting on my legs,” he said. “Someone called me ‘Assassin,’ and it kind of just stuck. They added ‘Silent’ in front after that first season because I don’t talk too much. I don’t celebrate after my matches.”

The matches generally haven’t lasted long: He pinned Missoula Sentinel’s in 1 minute 26 seconds Saturday.

The day before, it took him 2:53 to pin Helena Capital’s Dylan Graham, who is ranked No. 6 at 182.

“He’s so fun to watch,” Thompson said. “Any time somebody gets close to him, he’s going to wind up on his back. He’s a fan favorite because of that.”

Poe-Hatten isn’t much for cutting weight. His freshman season he came into practice weighing 154 and wrestled at 152, and that was that.

“I kind of weigh myself at the beginning of the year and say, ‘Yep, I’ll go that weight this year,’” he said. “I haven’t cut since I was probably in seventh grade.”

Poe-Hatten finished third as a freshman, then second at 160 as a sophomore. He lost to Missoula Big Sky standout Hunter Meinzen — now at Oregon State — both seasons, 6-5 and 5-1.

Then came last season, in which he wrestled “light,” around 176 pounds, and extremely well, including a win over Butte’s Christian.

“Beat him at the Rocky (Mountain Classic) and then he beat me at State,” Poe-Hatten said.

An “off-season” of lifting and out-of-state trips followed. He earned All-America status at the Fargo Nationals for a second straight season. And he added muscle.

“I got up to 194 this summer, with the bulk,” he said. “And then once I started eating normal I got back to 182, 181. I feel like I am a bigger guy out there. That’s what people are telling me.”

The Flathead wrestling room also helps. At any practice Poe-Hatten can go against 160-pounder Gabe Lake, or Anders and Gunnar Thompson at 170, or Sawyer Troupe at 205.

“Same pace, same effort every time, even if he’s cutting,” he said of Lake. “He might be a little skinnier, but he’s definitely strong.

“Anders, he’s a guy who’s just gotten better and better over the years. He’s definitely a threat to win a state title.”

There are also assistant coaches Shawn Roberts and Kevin Wilmot, who mix it up on the mat. Wilmot won a Big 10 title for Wisconsin.

“(Roberts) is kind of a younger guy who shows up and beats us up in the room,” Poe-Hatten added. “He wrestles live and just kills us. Really keeps us in check.”

Back to Lake: The senior committed to North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene during the season. Three weeks later, so did Poe-Hatten.

“We both got full-tuition scholarships,” he said. “I just really liked the environment. It’s right by the lake. It’s nice to get a super scholarship and get your school paid for.”

Looking at career in health science, Poe-Hatten hopes academic scholarships — his grade-point average is 3.5 — make up the difference on room and board. Then obviously he hopes to land at a four-year program.

Which Thompson 100 percent believes will happen.

“I do,” he said. “Most importantly, he’s a good student. The second thing is passion for the sport. You’ve got to live it and breathe it, and you have to love to work out. He’ll lift mornings, run in the evenings, and he just absolutely loves to be on the mat. And on top of that he has that natural genetic formula you have to have to be a next-level college wrestler.”

Before that, Flathead will be pushing as many wrestlers out of divisionals and to State, the following weekend in Billings. The Brave Brawlers are two-time defending state champions.

“It’s looking really good,” Poe-Hatten said. “We have a guy at pretty much every weight, and a lot of top-four ranked guys. All of our varsity guys have been in there all offseason. These guys are tougher than they were a couple years ago.”

One minor glitch: While Flathead finished second, first and first at the last three state tournaments, the Brawlers won just two of 12 finals matches. Three of the guys that lost last year and itching to jump up: Anders Thompson, Lake and — of course — Poe-Hatten, who put in that extra work for a reason:

“I kind of need that state championship this year,” he said.