Blue Hawk wrestlers gearing up for postseason

With divisional and state tournaments on the horizon, the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks are gearing up for what they hope is a successful postseason.

Last Tuesday in Bigfork, top Blue Hawk grapplers performed well against the Vikings.

Defending state champion Trae Thilmony scored a pair of pins over two different Bigfork wrestlers.

Blue Hawk freshman Max Hannum also scored a pair of wins, including one by fall.

Thilmony, still just a junior, was dominant in both of his wins.

He opened with Bigfork’s Eli Tidwell at 138 pounds and needed just 19 seconds for his first takedown. Thilmony then put Tidwell on his back two different times in the first period and ended up building a 10-0 lead.

Thilmony took Tidwell down quickly in the second period and decked him at the 2:48 mark.

Later in the match, Thilmony faced Bigfork’s Ryder Nollan at 138. He scored a first-period takedown for a 2-0 lead.

But in the second period, Thilmony really cranked it up, scoring three takedowns and two near falls while compiling a 14-0 lead.

Thilmony put the finishing touches on the match with a pin at 4:51.

Hannum, wrestling at 160 and 170 in his two matches, won by injury default, then with a pin.

In his opener at 160, Hannum faced Bigfork’s Archie Brevik. Two first-period takedowns gave Hannum a 4-2 lead. A takedown and an escape made it 7-4, but the match stopped abruptly when Hannum took Brevik down hard at the 2:46 mark.

The senior from Bigfork was in obvious pain and couldn’t continue while Hannum collected the win.

In his other match, Hannum rolled to a 7-1 first period lead over Bigfork’s Joseph Farrier. Hannum was leading 9-3 midway through the third period when he locked up Farrier for a fall at the 5:03 mark.

Senior Dane Chojnacky split two matches while wrestling at 182 pounds.

He opened with Bigfork freshman Evan Tidwell and dominated the first period with three takedowns and one nearfall. Early in the second, Chojnacky got the pin at 2:29.

Later, he took on Darby’s Cody Fisher and lost a 16-4 major decision.

Blue Hawk sophomore Eli Ratliff had his teams’ other win, claiming a 9-5 decision over Bigfork 145-pounder Shelton Woll. Ratliff nearly had Woll pinned early in the second period, but settled for the win.

Ratliff then moved up to 152 where he faced Viking junior Pat Wallen. Ratliff led 8-2 in the first with two nearfalls, but he got caught and pinned in 1:19.

Blue Hawk junior Owen Fernstrum faced Bigfork’s Vaughn Pendlay at 152 pounds and fell behind 5-0 after one period and 13-5 after two.

But Fernstrum nearly rallied for the win in the third. He picked up two takedowns and then had Pendlay on his back midway through the period to cut the deficit to one point, 13-12. But the Viking scored a late takedown to win, 15-12.

Blue Hawks head coach Mike Thilmony was pleased with how his team wrestled.

“We wrestled pretty good,” Thilmony said. “We wrestled well on our feet and scoring well on top was great to see.”

The Blue Hawks are scheduled to wrestle at Cascade Feb. 13 and at Eureka Feb. 20.

Divisional B-C wrestling will be held in Cut Bank Feb. 26-27 and the state tournament will be in Shelby March 5-6.