Columbia Falls wrestlers go 3-1 at Whitefish, look forward to divisionals

The Columbia Falls wrestling team looked like it was going to roll through the Whitefish duals tournament to end the regular season. The Matcats pounded host Whitefish 47-18 and then dropped Libby 54-24, and Browning, 46-15.

But they kind of ran out of gas against Eureka and lost, 54-6 for the title.

“We got into some tough matches and couldn’t recover,” coach Jessie Schaeffer said. “We kind of laid down. We have to do some searching this week.”

The MatCats will look to bounce back this weekend at the Western A divisional tournament in Whitefish. This is largely a young team, with just a few seniors. But they’ve been getting some good wrestling lately out of Hunter Peterson (132) who went undefeated at Whitefish, Colton McPhee (132), Ben Windauer (126), Storm Kemppainen (170), and Jakob Freeman (205). McPhee and Freeman are just freshmen, Windauer’s just a sophomore.

Schaeffer said the plan is to get 16 wrestlers qualified for state. The team is open at 103.

“We hope they’re all on the bus for Billings,” he said.

Polson is the team to beat in the divisonal tourney. The MatCats beat them in a dual at home earlier this season, but since then, the Pirates have been a tough out. This year’s divisional tournament combines the Northwest and Southwest A teams, so the pool will be much larger than previous years.

Eureka 54, Columbia Falls 6

103 — Double forfeit. 113 — Josh Goff, EUR, win by forfeit. 120 — Kahden Bakkila, EUR, pin Winfield West, 5:36. 126 — Jon Schmidt, EUR, dec. Ben Windauer, 9-3. 132 — Hunter Peterson, CF, pin James Fehr, 5:00. 138 — Josh Schmidt, EUR, dec. Kaleb Gravelin, 5-0. 145 — Cannan Smith, EUR, pin Mason Fetters, 3:23. 152 — Jarrett Pecora, EUR, dec. Colton Sweeney, 4-1. 160 — Colby Hammack, EUR, pin Troy Meyer, 5:17. 170 — Garrett Graves, EUR, pin Storm Kemppainen, 1:35. 182 — Austin Sherwood, EUR, dec. Miguel Garate, 3-0. 205 — Joe Fehr, EUR, pin Jakob Freeman, 1:17. 285 — Kaelan Yanak, EUR, pin Kyler Koski, 2:42.

Columbia Falls 46, Browning 15

103 — Double forfeit. 113 — Tyler Brown, BRO, win by forfeit. 120 — Winfield West, CF, major dec., Trevor James, 12-3. 126 — Ben Windauer, CF, win by forfeit. 132 — Hunter Peterson, CF, dec. Issac Wippert, 4-2.138 — Kaleb Gravelin, CF, pin Emmit Augare, 1:52. 145 — Mason Fetters, CF, pin Ryan Kipp, 0:24. 152 — Colton Sweeney, CF, pin Justin New Breast, 2:45. 160 — Troy Meyer, CF, pin Dylan Loring, 4:58. 170 — Cody Lucke, BRO, dec. Storm Kemppainen, 7-1. 182 — Miguel Garate, CF, dec. Brett Kipp, 5-2. 205 — Jakob Freeman, CF, pin Joe Monroe, 0:17. 285 — Kolton Wippert, BRO, pin Kyler Koski, 3:16.

Columbia Falls 54, Libby 24

103 — Buddy Doolin, LIB, win by forfeit. 113 — Mason Sams, LIB, win by forfeit. 120 — Winfield West, CF, win by forfeit. 126 — Ben Windauer, CF, win by forfeit. 132 — Brandon Thomas, CF, pin Reid Christensen, 1:32. 138 — Lane Young, LIB, pin Nathan Hader, 3:10. 145 — Mason Fetters, CF, win by forfeit. 152 — Tim Carvey, LIB, pin Colton Sweeney, 5:06. 160 — Colton McPhee, CF, pin Tanner Wood, 0:34. 170 — Storm Kemppainen, CF, win by forfeit. 182 — Dale Meyer, CF, win by forfeit. 205 — Jakob Freeman, CF, pin Clancy Gout, 1:45. 285 — Kyler Koski, CF, win by forfeit.

Columbia Falls 47, Whitefish 18

103 — Double forfeit. 113 — Taisuke Matsuo, WF, win by forfeit. 120 — Winfield West, CF, pin Eli Taylor, 3:01. 126 — Ben Windauer, CF, pin Dillon Thorsteinson, 2:38. 132 — Hunter Peterson, CF, tech. fall Robert Bertelsen, 15-0 (no time reported). 138 — Kaleb Gravelin, CF, pin James Buckley, 0:54. 145 — Mason Fetters, CF, pin Brooks Krause, 1:40. 152 — Colton Sweeney, CF, pin Alex Mazzonetto, 2:30. 160 — Troy Meyer, CF, win by forfeit. 170 — Colton McPhee def, CF, dec. Konrad Zinke, 11-4. 182 — Aiden Eisenbarth, WF, pin Dale Meyer, 2:31. 205 — Travis Catina, WF, dec. Jakob Freeman, 6-3. 285 — Steven Quimby, WF, pin Kyler Koski, 1:41.