Wrestlers compete at Western Duals
Both the Savage Horsemen of Plains-Hot Springs and the Bluehawks of Thompson Falls stepped onto the matt last week, first in a mixer on Tuesday in Eureka, and then in Ronan, on Saturday, at the Western Montana Duals.
On Tuesday, each team had to shed their share of rust from the long Christmas lay-off, but it wasn’t long before each wrestler hit their stride.
For the Savage Horsemen Caleb Connolly, 215 pounds, got his first win, pinning Noxon’s Adam Bruenner.
“Anytime a kid like that to get first win, it’s pretty exciting,” Plains-Hot Springs head coach Kenny Margerrison said. “He was pretty excited and it was a lot of fun.”
Another standout for Plains-Hot Springs was Kenneth Beach, who pinned Cody Ishler from Frenchtown. Ishler, a former state champion, had beaten Beach 4-7 in the championship match of the Superior tournament earlier this season.
“It was awesome, I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Margerrison said. “Anytime you can dominate a kid of that caliber the way Kenneth did is pretty cool. It was a lot of fun to watch.”
For Thompson Falls, Erik Hilety and Sean Sacchi both wrestled exeptionally well. Hilety, 215 pounds, had two victories, including a pin against Adam Moore of Noxon, and Sacchi wrestled competitively against Taylor Vaughn after bumping up from 160 to 171 pounds.
In Ronan, Thompson Falls finished sixth as a team, the highest finish in team history at the Western Duals, and the highest of any of the B-C schools in attendance. The Bluehawks won duals over fourth ranked rival Florence and class A Libby both with a 40-39 score on their way to a strong finish.
Indiviually for the Bluehawks, Sacchi went 6-0 over the weekend, Hilety finished 5-1, 171 pound junior Eric Milner had a 4-1 mark, and 152 pound senior Zach Lyons finished 4-2.
For Plains, Colby Chisholm won three out of his four matches while wrestling for the first time since injuring his neck earlier this season, and freshman heavyweight Ben Gorham stood out, winning five of his seven matches.
Plains-Hot Springs will wrestle in its senior night on Tuesday, and although results will not be available by press time, they will be printed in next weeks edition of the Valley Press.
Next weekend, both teams will compete in the Choteau Tournament with over 30 B and C teams from across the state.
Thompson Falls head coach Colby Cline, believes that Choteau will be an important indicator of his team’s progress, citing that most years, a finish at Choteau is within a place or two of a team’s place at state.