Little guys duke it out in Superior

Nick Ianniello

Mineral Independent

It was a busy week for the Superior Bobcats Little Guy Wrestlers, with two duels and a lot of practice for the upcoming bracket match this Saturday.

“They did pretty good this week,” said Little Guy Bobcats Head Coach Charlie Crabb.

Last Tuesday the Little Guy Bobcats faced off against wrestlers from Plains, Thompson Falls and Frenchtown in a round-robin style duel.

Crabb said that each of the wrestlers got an opportunity to wrestle at least three times, and even though they kept no records at the event, each of the boys one at least one of their matches.

The duel started at 5:30 p.m. and parents, wrestlers and fans packed out the Superior gym to watch the Little Guy Bobcats grapple their way to victory.

Saturday, 18 of the Little Guy Bobcats traveled up to Polson for a jamboree event. Crabb said that once again, no records were kept but the wrestlers did their best and put up an impressive showing at the away event.

Wrestlers are divided up into similar weight classes as high school wrestlers, with some smaller classes to accommodate the smaller wrestlers.

Wrestlers are also divided up into age groups wrestlers from 7 to 8 years old wrestle in the beginner class, wrestlers from 9 to 10 years old wrestle in the novice class, wrestlers from 11 to 12 years old wrestle in the middles class and wrestlers from 13 to 15 years old wrestle in the juniors class.

All wrestlers wrestle folk style wrestling, just like the high school teams, and events are refereed by high school wrestlers as a way of giving back to the program that got many of them started wrestling as youngsters.

Crabb said that Saturday’s event in Polson was just for novices and juniors but there was still a lot of competition there for the young grapplers.

“Some of the bigger schools like Polson and Frenchtown have like 70 to 80 kids in their beginner novice classes so there were a huge amount of kids there,” Crabb said.

Tuesday evening, all 36 of the Little Guy Bobcats traveled to Thompson Falls for another duel where Crabb said no official scores were kept.

“We try to get everyone at least three matches regardless of their town, get them all to spend some time out there on the mats with an opponent and then send them on home,” Crabb said.

This Saturday in Superior the Little Guy Bobcats will have their first duel in the Little Guy Championship Matches.

Wrestlers from Libby, Thompson Falls, Plains, Noxon and Trout Creek will be heading to Superior to face off against the Little Guy Bobcats for a chance to advance to the next round of competition.

The top four placers from the beginner and novice classes along with the top eight placers from the middles class and all of the wrestlers from the juniors class will get to advance to the next round of competition.

On Saturday, March 21 in Thompson Falls, the winners of this Saturday’s tournament will compete for a chance to advance to the final tournament in Columbia Falls on Saturday, March 28.

Crabb said that the Little Guy Bobcats have been wrestling very strong this year and he expects to see most of them advance to the competition in Thompson Falls.

“I imagine most of our guys will make it out there,” Crabb said. “They won’t all make it but they’ve been wrestling pretty tough this season.”

The tournament in Superior will start at 10:30 a.m. and last until 4 p.m. Saturday. Crabb said he encourages anyone that wants to cheer on the Little Guy Bobcats to come out and do it Saturday.

“They’ve put in a lot of hard work,” Crabb said.