MatCats seeing improvement
Columbia Falls grapplers split the bill last week, downing Ronan in a dual Thursday away that was marked largely by forfeit 45-37. Friday they lost to Polson 46-24 in a dual that was closer than the score would suggest.
The Chiefs gave up six forfeits. Against Polson, the MatCats put five freshmen in matches.
One of the best matches of the night against the Pirates was 145-pound frosh MatCat Jason Williams against Polson’s Colton Lenz. Williams has a 4-0 lead going into the third period, only to lose 7-5. Wrestling is cruel like that — make a mistake and in a few short seconds a grapplers can lose a match.
“There were a lot of exciting matches that just didn’t go our way tonight,” said coach Jessie Schaeffer. “We made a lot of progress, we just didn’t match up well.”
The Cats also had solid performances from Sal Baccaro, Justin Whitman, Marcus Ross, Cody Hader and Jacob Babcock. Babcock won by pin, teh rest of the grapplers by decision.
The 125-pound Whitman was up by 5-4 with 35 seconds left when he scored a final takedown on Jesse Alfiero to win 7-4 in thrilling fashion.
The Cats end the regular season this week with an away dual against Whitefish Friday. Wrestling starts at 6:30 p.m. The team then has a week to prepare for the divisional tournament, which is in Whitefish Feb. 5.
Polson 46, Columbia Falls 24
98 - Carlos Quinones, P, p. Harland Jordan 1:12; 105 - Dylan Moll, P, p. Caleb Bauman, :44; 112 - Craig Feistner, P, won by forfeit; 119 - Sal Baccaro, CF, dec. Drew Fouty, 14-8; 125 - Justin Whitman, CF, dec. Jesse Alfiero, 7-4; 130 - Cody Hader, CF, dec. Jose Quinones, 8-4; 135 - Jacob Young, P, dec. Kohl Thompson, 7-3; 140 - Alex Nystrom, P, p. Bryan Shaffer, 3:23; 145 - Jared Young, P, dec. Jason Williams, 7-5; 152 - Colton Lenz, P, p. Jacob Burgess, 1:49; 160 - Mike Devlin, P, maj. dec. Mark Hader, 13-3; 171 - Josh Folsom, CF, won by forfeit; 189 - Marcus Ross, CF, dec. Marlin Burke, 9-6; 215 - Jacob Babcock, CF, p. Jerell Chief Stick, :30; 285 - Josiah Clairmont, P, p. Cody Bartos, 1:20.
98 - Harland Jordan, CF, won by forfeit; 105 - Caleb Bauman, CF, won by forfeit; 112 - Chase Rhine, R, pinned Taylor Mitchell-Hearon, :23; 119 - Sal Baccaro, CF, dec. Brandon Dumont, 5-3; 125 - Justin Whitman, CF, pinned Connor Benn, :57; 130 - Cody Hader, CF, won by forfeit; 135 - Kohl Thompson, CF, won by forfeit; 140 - Shelby Grant, R, pinned Brian Shaffer, 3:42; 145 - Dustin Goldsby, R, m. dec. Jason Williams, 12-4; 152 - Jacob Burgess, CF, won by forfeit; 160 - Quentin Denton, R, pinned Mark Hader, 4:24; 171 - Cole McArthur, R, pinned Josh Folsom, 5:28; 189 - Toby Cheff, R, pinned Marcus Ross, :50; 215 - Colby Roberts, R, dec. Jacob Babcock, 11-7; Hwt - Cody Bartos, CF, won by forfeit.