It is said that the All Class Wrestling Tournament in Billings is one of Montana’s premier sporting events. Represented by athletes from Montana’s smaller schools to the Class AA schools of Kalispell, Billings and Great Falls, the stands are filled with family and fans. To win here at all is an accomplishment. To win a championship is unforgettable. Corvallis brought back one state champion as well as finishing fourth in the Class A standings. Havre won the championship with 215 points. Corvallis had 147 points and Hamilton had 51 points.

Travis Davis was the lone champion from the valley and Corvallis. He came out strongly and pinned Kyle Lawson of Ronan in 3:32. He next pinned Tre Yeager of Lewistown in 1:58. In the semi finals, Davis took an 8-3 decision over Havre’s Brett Normanday. The Blue Devil sophomore earned the championship with a 9-4 decision over Brennan Gorder of Sidney.

Steven Jessop finished third at 135. The senior went 5-1 at the tournament. He won the first match with a pin over Livingston’s Jordan Tillett. He lost his next match, 8-7, in a close match over Libby’s Kyle Leir. Jessop went on to win his next three matches. He defeated Wyatt Deering of Frenchtown/Alberton, Dexter Trask of Fergus County, Jacob Young of Polson and David Preller of Miles City.

Travis Davis of Corvallis wins the championship. Brian Davis photo.

Dalton Roundy of Darby (top) finished second at 135 pounds. Brian Davis photo.

At 140 pounds, Riley Nagel’s first two victories were pins over Park County’s David Busby and Dillon Beeler of Dawson County. He lost to Ryan Martin of Fergus County but came back to top Tommy Cooper of Laurel with a 6-4 decision and then took third with a 7-4 decision over Jayme Kelly of Sidney.

Chace Malone finished fourth at 98 pounds. The freshman defeated Ian Edwards-Myslicki of Libby/Troy with a pin at 37 seconds into the opening match. He lost to Laurel’s Karson Kukes in the second round and then worked his way back through the bracket. He defeated Dalton Niedge of Custer County, Tyler Forcella of Dawson County and Cole Campbell of Hardin before losing to Craig Feistner of Polson who took third.

Chace’s brother, Marcus Malone also finished fourth in his weight bracket, 105 pounds. Marcus defeated Hilary Night Fun of Browning and Travis Kaufman of Dawson County in the opening two rounds. He lost to Bryce Weatherston of Belgrade but came back to defeat Carson Wabaunesee of Frenchtown/Alberton. He lost his final match to Havre’s Gilbert Bara in a 7-3 decision.

Levi Gingerich finished in fourth place at 112 pounds. He defeated Polson’s Razz Walhood with a pin and then lost to Kolter Kukes of Laurel. Gingerich came back and defeated Austin Gifford of Hardin, Tim Allsop of Corvallis, and Bacarro of Columbia Falls before losing to Kukes again for fourth place.

Kenny Thomas finished in sixth place at 130. He had wins over Laith Wilson of Park County and Marty Etchemendy of Custer County.

Hamilton had two wrestlers make it to the medal round. Paul Donaldson finished in third place at 215 pounds. He barely broke a sweat in his first match against Jayme Hafeman of Hardin whom he pinned in 14 seconds. He then defeated Jared Ruttkofsky of Havre with an 11-7 decision. He lost to Columbia Falls’ Kelly Houle. Donaldson rallied and came back to defeat Josiah Clairmont of Polson with another quick pin and then pinned Trevor Conrad of Dawson County for third.

Wes Sherman has had his trials this season with a knee injury. He didn’t even wrestle the entire season but sat out for almost three weeks. The rest helped. He defeated Jory Stevens of Sidney with a pin in the opening round. He then won a 10-5 decision over Belgrade’s Clint Robinson. Chris Kurkowski of Custer County lasted only 43 seconds in the semi finals against the determined Bronc. But Sherman was unable to overcome Mitchell Schnittgen of Havre and finished second.

In Class B, Darby’s Dalton Roundy finished with a 3-1 record and a second place medal at the 135 weight. He defeated Brannon Dodson of Cut Bank with a pin. His next opponent was Joel Harvey of Broadwater County. Roundy pinned him at 2:39. Roundy won a 5-4 decision over Superior’s Garrrett Stephens in the semis before losing to Forsyth’s Dallen Bauer in the championship round.

Another Tiger, Caleb Caicedo, also made it onto the podium Saturday night. He finished fifth at 119. Caicedo had wins over mark Stark of Wolf Point and Calor Jacobsen of Fairfield/Power before losing to Braden Hallock of Glasgow and Kenneth Bach of Plains/Hot Springs. He defeated Zeb Shawner for fifth place with a fall at 4:29.

Darby finished with 55 points and in 14th place. Glasgow won the competition with 185 points. Florence finished in seventh place with 86 points. There were 37 teams competing in the B/C matches.

Florence sent eight wrestlers to state and placed six of them in the top six. Cody Lund finished third at 135 pounds. He opened his quest with a win over Chris Shupe of Harlem but then lost in the second round to Dallen Bauer of Forsyth. Lund worked his way back through the ranks then with wins over PJ Botch of Huntley Project, Chad Cebulski of Malta, Garrett Stephens of Superior and took a major decision over Matt Halmes of Cascade for third place.

Cody’s brother, Tanner Lund finished in fourth place at 119. He finished with a 3-2 record. He opened against Zeb Shawner of Glasgow and then had to defeat Shawner again in the consolation round. Tanner also defeated Landen Shettel of Malta and lost to Jade Rauser of Broadwater and Beach of Plains/Hot Springs for fourth place.

Zach Newbary finished in fourth place at 145 with a 3-2 record. He defeated Justin VandenBox of Cut Bank, Jacob Nelson of Cascade and Clint Mrnak of Carter County. He lost to Hunter Azure of Poplar, who went on to win his fourth state championship. Newbary also lost to James Peterson of Charlo/St. Ignatius.

Corbin Newbary also finished in fifth place at 130. He defeated Jacob D’Isidoro of Cut Bank and then Lost to Luke Zeiger of Glasgow. Corbin came back to defeat Silas Clark of Cascade and Josh Wright of Superior. He lost to Colton Dirden of Harlem but then topped Eric Bergerson of Drummond for fifth place.

KaCee Sutton finished in fifth place. He defeated Clancy Spurlock of Broadwater in the opening round but then lost to Jorrell Jones of Chinook. He worked his way back through the consolation bracket with wins over Lakota Grayhawk of Wolf Point and August Lorenzen of Boulder. After losing to Chris Henrichs of Huntley Project, Sutton pinned Taylor Buck of Choteau for fifth place.

Special thanks to Brian Davis of Corvallis for the photos from the state championship tournament.

Blue Devils prevail in Battle of the Bitterroot

The Corvallis Blue Devils came back from a two-point deficit in the first quarter to defeat Stevensville, 79-73, in Southwest A play. Playing without Rodee Anderson who was sitting a one-game suspension after the Dillon game, it took the Blue Devils some time to find their rhythm.

“Riley (Bradshaw) and Rodee are always expected (to do well),” said Corvallis coach Dave Bradshaw. “Drew (Zeiler) kind of plays third fiddle and he’s accepted that. Tonight, when we needed him, he had a game.”

Zeiler, who finished with 26 points, poured in eight straight free throws in the fourth quarter to keep the Yellowjackets at bay. Corvallis came out on fire after the half and quickly built a commanding lead with Riley Bradshaw leading the charge.

Corvallis’ Joel Connolly takes a charge from Tyler Gavlak of Stevensville. Jean Schurman photo.

“We had a good third quarter,” said Coach Bradshaw. “I said if you could come out in the first five minutes and get on them, then preach to the defense to get a stop, we’d do ok.”

Stevensville trailed by 16 points at the start of the fourth quarter but clawed their way back into the game behind the shooting of Caleb Vance and Tyler Gavlak. With just under two minutes remaining, Gavlak sank the front end of a free throw to put Stevi three points down. Vance then went to work and had three left-handed lay-ups in a row. But the ‘Jackets couldn’t get past Zeiler and his free throws.

Corvallis 79, Stevensville 73

Stevensville – Austin Kelling 12, Josh Haynes 2, Josh Schultz 15, Caleb Vance 16, Tyler Gavlak 16, Brenden Jones 8, Jalen Pfau 2, Price Miller 2.

Corvallis – Drew Zeiler 26, Tyler Tintzman 6, Colby Henderson 7, Riley Bradshaw 26, Joel Connolly 10, Mahlone Jessop 2, Trevor Brown 2.

Stevensville defeated Frenchtown, 78-57, on Saturday. The Yellowjackets came out focused and played strong throughout the night. Gavlak finished with 25 points and Josh Schultz added 17.

Hamilton lost to league-leading Dillon, 66-46. The Beavers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Zach Stoeger had nine points to lead the Broncs.

Florence marches into the District 6B tournament this week with one thing on their mind, winning. They bring with them the top seed in the district with only one loss (to Corvallis). They have a bye in the first round and will play the winner of the Deer Lodge/Superior game at 12:30 pm on Thursday, February 18.

The Falcons won both of their games over the weekend. They defeated Valley Christian, 79-54. After a close first quarter, the Falcons went to work inside. Junior post Quinn Smith finished with 18 points and Alex Mitchell, the second tower inside for Florence finished with 17 points. Reid Baerlocher had 15 points.

Friday night found Darby at the Florence gym. Once again, the Falcons started slowly but then found their rhythm and went on to win, 80-39. Brandon Lorensen had 19 points and Mitchell added 18. Darby was led by Devin Thomas who had 10 points. Jake Lindquist and Sherman Smith each added nine points.

Darby will play Valley Christian at 6:30 on Wednesday, February 17.

Victor was host to Darby on Thursday night. The Pirates had a 28 point third quarter to give them the 72-48 victory. Three Pirates had double figures. Matt McClintick finished with 20 points, Alex Bishop had 16, and Dustin Harris had 12 points.

Sherman Smith had 11 points for Darby and Ben Robbins and Jeremy Campbell each had eight.

Victor will play the winner of the Seeley-Swan/Philipsburg game on Thursday in Philipsburg at the District 13C tournament. They are the No. 2 seed in the tournament behind Drummond.

Darby, Florence and Victor move on to tournaments

The Florence Lady Falcons will be seeded No. 2 in the District 6B tournament this weekend in Hamilton at Dale Berry Court. With that seed, they have a first-round bye and will play the winner of the Deer Lodge/Darby game at 8 pm on Thursday, February 18.

Florence held off a late-charging Eagles team to win, 47-37, over Valley Christian. Brittany Heinz had 14 points and Odessa Conley added 12 more in the win. Friday night, the Lady Falcons defeated Darby, 50-21. Conley had 21 points and Heinz again had 14 points in the win. Darby’s Rachel Wetzsteon had 11 points.

Darby defeated Victor, 51-22, in non-conference action on Thursday. Wetzsteon had 16 points and Julie Abrahamsen added 14 for the Tigers. Kaylene Munson’s seven points led Victor. Munson led the Lady Pirates against St. Regis on Saturday, again with seven points. St. Regis won, 58-20.

Victor will play Alberton at 1 p.m. in the District 13C tournament in Philipsburg.

Stevensville topped Frenchtown, 65-58, in Southwest A action. The Lady Yellowjackets pulled away in the third quarter to take the win. Kenzie Sebastian and Blaire Brookshire each had 15 points while Alexa Omlid added 14 more in the win.

Hamilton lost to Dillon, 30-22. The Lady Broncs were unable to score in the fourth quarter. They were led by Annie Schultz’ eight points.

Original Florence Falcons honored

The original Florence Falcons were honored Friday night in Florence. Prior to 1943, Florence’s teams were known as the Comets. In 1943, the team became known as the Florence Falcons. Florence school team Gayle Munson (left) and Wallace Porch are the only two members of the 1943 team still living. Porch lives in Minnesota and was unable to attend. His brother, Bob, stood in for him. Munson lives in Florence and attends most home games. The two men were honorary Falcon captains and ‘rode the pine’ next to the coaches and Florence team. Jean Schurman photo.

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