County teams prep for divisional

THOMPSON FALLS – Wrestlers from throughout Sanders County kept busy last weekend, with each squad wrestling in multiple matches.

The busy week, the final before the start of the divisional tournament in Eureka on Saturday, Feb. 7, started with a dual meet/mixer in Thompson Falls last Thursday.

The mixer included teams from Ronan, Superior, Plains-Hot Springs, Mission-Charlo and the host Bluehawks wrestling team.

Before the start of the evening’s mixer the night’s wrestling kicked off with a dual meet between Thompson Falls and Plains-Hot Springs.

The head-to-head competition began at the 103-pound weight class with Kaleb Frank of Thompson Falls winning a decision over Daniel Uli of the Savage Horsemen to put the match score at 5-0 in favor of Thompson Falls.

Despite the outcome of the opening match, Savage Horsemen Head Coach Kenny Marjerrison was pleased with how Uli wrestled.

“Daniel Uli wrestled a very good kid, and he wrestled the entire match and scored some points,” Marjerrison said.

Following the 103-pound bout, Edward Greene of Thompson Falls and Terrence Caldwell of Plains-Hot Springs battled in the 113-pound weight class.

At the conclusion of an exciting match it was Caldwell who walked away the winner, after a 14-10 decision to make the match score 5-3.

Marjerrison was excited to see both of his light weights wrestle well.

“Both had amazing performances. Those two wrestled exceptionally well,” Marjerrison said.

In the 120-pound weight class Bluehawks wrestler Cody Garrison pinned Savage Horseman Austin Stafford to earn six points for his team and move the score to 11-3.

After Plains-Hot Springs conceded a forfeit in the 126-pound weight class the score stood at 17-3.

The next match was at 132, where Luke Like of the Savage Horsemen faced off against Sam Ostwald of the Bluehawks.

Ostwald would go on to win the match by major decision and move the score to 21-3.

The Plains-Hot Springs grapplers rebounded strong in the middleweight classes starting at 138.

Savage Horseman James Detienne pinned Bluehawk Jase Sorenson in the first period to get Plains-Hot Springs six critical points and move the match score to 21-9.

At 145 Jake Lile of Plains-Hot Springs followed up Detienne’s pin with a pin of his own to move the score to 21-15.

Facing a deficit of only six points, Plains senior Russell Kujala came up big, earning a pin in seven seconds to tie the match at 21 points apiece.

Bluehawks responded with a rally of their own starting at 160-pound weight class.

Logan Goodwin of Plains-Hot Springs faced off against Kyle Milner of the Bluehawks and in a hard fought match, Milner came out on top with a 6-1 decision, to move the match to 24-21 in favor of Thompson Falls.

Plains-Hot Springs conceded a forfeit at 170-pounds moving the score to 30-21 in favor of Thompson Falls and setting up the final match between Austin Cooper of Thompson Falls and Anthony Byrns in the 182-pound bout.

Cooper finished the dual meet with a pin and gave the Bluehawks the 36-21 win in the meet.

Following the dual meet and the mixer in Thompson Falls, the Savage Horsemen traveled to Florence for a mixer on the following night.

Marjerrison noted his team saw some good matches and wrestled hard last Friday.

“Across the board we wrestled very well,” Marjerrison said.

Ending a busy week of competition the Plains-Hot Springs wrestling team hosted Thompson Falls, Arlee, Bigfork, Superior, Noxon and Mission-Charlo for a mixer at Hot Springs High School.

“You could tell our kids were tired but they handled it well. We won more than we lost at our mixer and by and by it went pretty well,” Marjerrison said.

Now the team will spend one final week prepping for the divisional tournament in Eureka.

Marjerrison noted the divisional tournament would be tough but the team will work hard to perform well this weekend.

“The end goal is to get as many through to state as we possibly can,” Marjerrison said.  

Plains-Hot Springs will be joined at the tournament by Thompson Falls, and Noxon.