Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

Trojan Boys Wrestling Team Place 2nd at Divisionals - On to State for 8

This year the Montana High School Association decided to have two super divisions for wrestling instead of the usual four. The western division included 24 schools and, as this was the first qualifying tournament, the teams brought their full rosters. This totaled 224 wrestlers Whitehall was competing with. Whitehall wrestlers have had a successful year so far, having a dual record of 24-1. This gave them confidence and hopes of a successful tournament. After two days of wrestling, Whitehall earned the second place trophy, scoring 169.5 points. First place went to Boulder with 175.

This two day tournament consisted of many of matches with many lead changes. Other contenting teams included, Cut Bank (148 pts), Fairfield (137.5 pts), Thompson Falls (136.5 pts), Florence (132 pts), and Eureka (122.5 pts).

Whitehall wrestled 15 of its 16 members; unfortunately Michael Reiff was out with an injury. The rest of the team had worked towards to this weekend and performed well.

Isaac Skogen (103#) was pitted against the second place wrestler, Anderson of Boulder, his first match and was beaten. His second match was against the 6th place Schmidt of Cut Bank. After getting the first takedown and battling through the second round, he was eventually pinned in the third. Dallen Lanes (120#) lost his first match to 7th placer Brown of Boulder, and then lost to Buresh of Townsend.

Whitehall had two wrestlers at the 126 pound class. Wesley Biggers started the day with a loss to Berkram from Cut Back, but came back with a pin against Lovette of Anaconda. Advancing through the bracket placed Biggers against his teammate, Dane Hoover. Hoover won the match, finishing Biggers' tournament.

Hoover started the day winning with a pin against Sampson of Anaconda, followed by another win with a pin against Payne of Townsend. He then lost to the 2nd place Ramos of Fairfield. This put him in the match he won against teammate. He lost his next match to Carey of Plains. This set him up for a medal match to determine placing. He was victorious over Fields of St Ignatius with a pin, a 7th place finish and qualifying for the state tournament.

Dawson Powers (132#) was next with a first minute pin over VanBlarico of Boulder. He later continued with a 10-4 win over Colesworth of Choteau. Saturday morning Powers lost to 2nd place Smith of Eureka before coming back with a 7-0 win over Nollen of BigFork. This put him in the consolation championship against Sawyer of Anaconda. Dawson lost this match, but earned the 4th place medal and a trip to state.

The 138# class again had two Whitehall wrestlers. Nick Denny started the day with a heartbreaker. He started the match with a 7-2 lead before losing his advantage and getting pinned late in the second period. In his second match, he again had a good start but lost to Carville of Plains by decision. Gavin Watson started with a tough match against 2nd place Richtmyer of Townsend. After that loss, he came back strong with a pin against Killorn of St. Ignatius, this was follewed by a loss to Thorton of Boulder.

At 145#, Trentin Walker held true to his 4th seed standing. He clicked off solid wins with pins against Humes of Eureka, Jette of Anaconda and a 9-4 victory over Woll of Big Fork. Walker lost his semifinal match against Larson of Cut Bank, but responded with a 5-0 win over Oxarart of Boulder. His 3rd and 4th place match ended in a loss against Crawford of Arlee, earning Walker the 4th place medal and a trip to state.

Dallen Hoover has dominated the 152# weight class this year. It seemed like everyone was gunning for him, but he held them all off. This started with an early pin against Moody from Manhattan, followed with a pin against Kindler of Choteau and an 11-8 semifinal decision over Reishus of Thompson Falls. This put Hoover into the championship match, where he beat Chamberlin for Florence 5-2, for first place.

At 160#, Miles Hoerauf finished the tournament in 3rd place. This started with a first period pin over Ramos of Valier, followed by a second period pin of Scherer from Cascade. He lost his semifinal match to Haskins of Superior, but came back with a 6-1 win over Perez of Fairfield and pin over Hannum of Thompson Falls for the third place win. Also at 160# Karson Klapan lost to the same Perez of Fairfield, before falling to Rausch of Boulder.

170# fit well with Kyle Denny. He started with first period pins of both Spittler of Fairfield and Lee of Choteau. He followed that with a second period semifinal pin of Ferrier of Big Fork. In the championship match he lost to Vanek of Cut Bank to earn the second place medal and trip to state next week.

Justin Keuhl wrestled at 182#. He started with a loss to 5th place Johnson of Simms. He then lost to the 8th place Hostetler of St. Ignatius.

At 205#, Jamus DuBois had the longest match of the tournament. He started with first period pin over Weaver of Florence. This set up a match against Fehr of Eureka. The regular time ended, after several stoppages for bloodtime, 5-5, which sent it to overtime. The overtime period ended 6-6 which led to the ultimate tie breaker. This period ended with DuBois ahead 7-6. A 15 minute discussion ensued where the officials determined that a call was made earlier that needed to be corrected. That left DuBois behind 6-7 for a final score. After this heartbreaking loss, Dubois was able to recover with a second period pin over Miller of Anaconda. Saturday, DuBois pinned Bjorge of Superior, but then lost to Morgan of Choteau. Fehr had lost his semifinal match which put him in Jamus' crosshairs again. This time DuBois completely controlled the match 5-1 and earned the 5th place medal.

Leo Scafani finished out the roster as a light heavyweight. In the lower side of the weight class, he competed against wrestlers up to 285#. He never backs down and showed his determination and skill with a quick 24 second pin over Toole of Townsend, followed by another first period pin over Layman of Anaconda. He then won a 4-0 battle over Young of Florence. This advanced him to the semifinal match against cross county rival Riehl from Boulder. Scafani won 6-2 placing him in the championship match against Crowell of Cascade. Though Crowell had pinned all his other opponents, Scafani took him to the end but lost in a 2-0 decision.

 

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