Butte stifles Wolfpack in season-opener

Braves beat Bulldogs in dual meet

The Daily Inter Lake

Three late pins were not enough for the Wolfpack, as Butte defeated Glacier 48-18 in a season-opening Class AA wrestling dual on Thursday afternoon at Glacier High School.

“I thought overall we gave a good effort,” Glacier coach Ross Dankers said.

“I think we can take away a lot of things from this dual that we can work on and build off.”

The Bulldogs won the first seven weight classes and had five pins to take a 38-0 lead before Tre Krause (285) earned the Wolfpack their first points of the dual. Krause pinned Kyle Harding in 21 seconds in the heavyweight match.

Tilynne Vasquez (113) and Tristan Little (126) also had pins to give the Wolfpack 18 points.

“It is always nice to get that first one out of the way,” Dankers said.

“I think we started out the dual a little tight and on our heels, but it was a great learning experience, and we have a great group of kids that are excited to continue and put the work in.”

The Wolfpack are back in action today at the Helena Duals.

Butte 48, Glacier 18

103 – Keagan Gransbery, B, dec. Dylan Miller, 9-2; 113 – Tilynne Vasquez, G, pinned Christian Sherman, :53; 120 – Will Queer, B, dec. Bridger Beach, 14-2; 126 – Tristan Little, G, pinned Connor Kinda, 2:31; 132 – Scott Allen, B, dec. Lance Fretwell, 12-6; 138 – Anthony Liva, B, pinned Royce Conkin, 3:05; 145 – Dylan Averyt, B, pinned Kael Willis, 1:42; 152 – Carl Anderson, B, pinned Caden Willis, 1:32; 160 – Quinn Sullivan, B, dec. Caden Gilmond, 17-1; 170 – Kole McGrath, B, pinned Thomas Crofts, :22; 182 – Austin Endy, B, pinned Skiler Hitt, 3:05; 205 – Kameron Moreno, B, dec. Colby Martin, 8-4; 285 – Tre Krause, G, pinned Kyle Harding, :21.

Flathead 42, Butte 26

Flathead kicked off the season with a Class AA dual victory over Butte on Thursday afternoon at Flathead High School.

Jaden MacNeil (145) opened the dual by pinning Dale Kent.

“What a great way to start the season,” Flathead coach Jeff Thompson said. “It started with Jaden MacNeil, he got the momementum going for all our wrestlers.”

Also recording pins for the Braves were Brendan Barnes (120), Dominic Battello (138), Zaybin Stewart (160), Tanner Russell (170) and Sebastian Koch (285).

The Braves lost seven 2017-18 state placers to graduation. But Thompson was impressed by efforts of freshmen like Fin Nadeau (132), who won in an 11-5 decision.

“The seniors stepped up when they needed to and then freshmen were really solid ... It’s exciting to see the future step up,” Thompson said.

Thompson was especially proud of the four wrestlers – MacNeil, Koch, Russell and Paxton Boyce – that just finished their season with the Class AA runner-up football team.

“They carried that success from football” and wanted to compete, Thompson said, even with just a week of practice on the mat.

The Braves will be in Helena today for the Helena Duals.

103 – Keagan Gransberg, B, dec. Cole Eastwood, 19-10; 113 – Christian Sherman, B, pinned Colton Wieczarek; 120 – Brendan Barnes, F, pinned Gavin Vetter; 126 – Asher Kemppainen, F, dec. Will Queer, 7-4; 132 – Fin Nadeau, F, dec. Scott Allen, 11-5; 138 – Dominic Battello, F, pinned Anthony Liva; 145 – Jaden MacNeil, F, pinned Dale Kent; 152 – Carl Anderson, B, dec. Bo Meyer, 12-2; 160 – Zaybin Stewart, F, pinned Quinn Sullivan; 170 – Tanner Russell, F, pinned Kole McGrath; 182 – Kameron Moreno, B, pinned Paxton Boyce; 205 – Austin Endy, B, pinned Ross Calhoon; 285 – Sebastian Koch, F, pinned Kyle Harding.