Blue Ponies win two on Bozeman mats

The Havre High wrestling team got back to business this past weekend in Bozeman, dualing three teams in its first action since the holiday break.

The Blue Ponies, who were in Bozeman for a triangular, wrestled well and won two of three duals that they competed in, notching wins over both Belgrade and Butte High by the scores of 42-28 and 44-18, respectively, while being defeated by Class AA's No. 2 team, Bozeman, 36-32.

The dual loss at the hands of the Hawks was Havre's first dual defeat all season. But one thing that worked against the Ponies was that they had wrestlers at just 10 of the 13 weight classes, while Bozeman sported a full lineup.

"I thought that we did well," HHS head coach Scott Filius said. "It was good to get back on the mat after being off for a couple of weeks. Bozeman got the better of us, we had too many kids on their back (getting pinned) so that kind of cost us and we were giving up three weights. The kids are used to that and we usually stress that and overcome it, but that's kind of why of you go do them (duals)."

After starting a day with the loss, Havre turned its attention to Butte High, another traditionally strong program in the Class AA ranks. But this time, the Ponies came away with the 14-point victory thanks to victories by Ryan Stewart (103 pounds), Martin Wilkie (120 pounds), Logan Pleninger (138 pounds), Parker Filius (152 pounds), Dane Flammond (160 pounds), Jase Stokes (182 pounds), Tyler Schaub (205 pounds) and Travis Adams (heavyweight). The last three all earned pins for the Ponies.

After Havre defeated the Bulldogs, the Ponies met up with Belgrade, its conference rival, in the final dual of the day. And while the dual between the two teams may not have been that exciting, it did provide everyone in attendance with one memorable match.

For the second time this season, Belgrade's Jarrett Degen, a three-time defending state champion at 138 pounds, moved up in weight to wrestle Parker Filius. And for the second time this season, the two waged a classic match, with Degen narrowly getting the better of Filius by the score of 3-1.

The match was so highly anticipated that no other matches took place while it was being held, giving everybody there a chance to watch. And after two periods, it looked like Filius might get the win as he earned an escape point to take a 1-0 edge into the final period. Yet, in the third, Degen tied the match with an escape point of his own and then finished off the win with a two-point takedown with 1:31 remaining.

"It was a good match," coach Filius said. "It was good for those guys to get another chance to compete."

Yet, Parker Filius still had a good weekend posting a 2-1 record overall. Havre also had a number of wrestlers that went through the triangular undefeated. Adams, Schaub and Stokes all went 3-0, while Pleninger, Flammond, Stewart and Wilkie all won two of three. Walter White and Jazz Schroeder also finished with one win apiece.

"You could tell that we had been off the mat for a while," coach Filius said. "But, it will be nice to have those matches under our belt to start the second half of the season. And nobody got blanked, so it was good."

Havre will be back in action this Friday and Saturday, when they will be in Cut Bank for the Cut Bank Invitational.