Ponies steal the show on finals night

BILLINGS — There are few things in high school sports that can rival the excitement of finals night at the All-Class state wrestling tournament and once again finals night was a time for the Havre Blue Ponies to shine.

In front of a packed house inside the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra in Billings Saturday night, the Havre High wrestling team put on a show, capturing five individual state titles and coming just short of two others as HHS put seven wrestlers into the championship round.

While the Ponies had the team title already locked up when finals night came around, there was still plenty of drama and excitement starting with juniors Parker Filius and Jase Stokes.

Both Filius and Stokes were two-time champions coming into the tournament and both were attempting to win their third of a possible four individual titles. No Havre wrestler has ever won four individual titles, but after Saturday night, both Filius and Stokes will have the chance to do just that next season.

Filius, who was the first Havre wrestler to take to the mat in the championship round, treated his opponent, Alex Wickens, of Lewistown, like a rag doll and defeated him 20-5 via technical fall after seemingly scoring takedowns at will.

“I was a little disappointed with my pace to start the tournament,” Filius said. “But I was able to pick it up later and I was pleased with the way I finished.”

It seemed like Filius could have pinned Wickens at any time, yet he repeatedly would take down Wickens and allow him to get back up, only to take him right back down again, before the score difference finally became 15 points and the match was stopped.

“I don’t get a lot of pins,” Filius said. “I like to get a lot of takedowns and score a lot of points.”

“It would be cool,” Filius said of being a four-time champion. “That is something that is very important to me.”

After Filius took care of his business, Stokes went about taking care of his as he was the next Pony on the finals stage in the 182-pound final against Connor Murdock of Hardin. Stokes and Murdock battled in the Eastern A Divisional final with Stokes getting the win and even though it was another hard-fought match, the result was the same as Stokes squeaked out a 7-4 decision.

Murdock struck first with a two-point takedown, but Stokes answered with one of his own and after a one-point escape, he lead 3-2 entering the third period. In the final period, Stokes got another key takedown, which gave him enough of a cushion to hang on for the win.

“It feels good,” Stokes said. “I have the chance to be the first four-timer for Havre. I didn’t wrestle my best, but I wrestled hard and I guess that’s all I can ask for.”

Following Stokes' victory, Tyler Schaub was the next Pony wrestler to compete on finals night and the sophomore didn’t disappoint. Schaub earned a trip to the finals after an overtime victory.

In the championship match at 205 pounds against Hunter Severson, Schaub and the Sidney wrestler were tied at 2-2 going into the third. Severson had just beat Schaub in last week’s Eastern A finale. A false start on Severson gave Schaub the advantage, then he scored an escape point to go up 4-2. And with less than 30 seconds left, Schaub scored another takedown, which clinched the 6-2 victory and his first individual title.

“I just wrestled,” Schaub said. “It feels great, I placed higher than my brother (his sophomore year).”

“We worked all week to get off bottom,” coach Filius said. “He (Schaub) beat two kids that had beat him in the semis and the finals and I am very proud of him.”

In the fourth championship match of the night for Havre, senior Travis Adams took the mat and despite falling behind 2-0 early in the match, Adams got the pin over Bryce Blumenschein of Belgrade in 3:03 to wrap up his Havre career with two state titles.

“I feel tired, sweaty, sore, my knee still hurts, my other calf hurts, I think I got a little mat burn on my face,” Adams said after his match. “But nothing can compare to the feeling in my soul and in my heart.”

Following his victory, Adams held up two fingers to symbolize his two state titles and pointed at the direction of the Havre fans for the last time.

“I was just basking in the moment,” Adams said. “It was my second time winning the championship match and it’s priceless.”

“Travis wrestled him 20 times and he finally got a takedown,” coach Filius said. “But I was never worried about him. I had complete confidence in him.”

After Adams left the stage, there was a passing of the guard moment of sorts as freshman Martin Wilkie stepped onto the championship mat at 120 pounds and dominated. In a perfect way to cap an extremely impressive first season, Wilkie pinned Caleb Birdwell of Lewistown in 3:15 to win his first state championship.

“We put in a lot of work during the summer,” Wilkie said. “So this was the goal and it feels great to achieve it.”

“Right now he is just a sponge,” coach Filius said. “He is a pleasure to coach. He is in that stage where he is learning everything right now and he just has so much passion, it’s just really fun.”

At that point, the Ponies had reached five individual champions, which tied a school record, yet, they would never get to six.

Despite a championship-caliber effort from both Logan Pleninger at 132 pounds and Kody Pribyl at 138 pounds, both seniors fell short of the elusive individual state championship that had been alluding them, something coach Filius know all too well. Pleninger lost a heartbreaking decision to Laurel’s Clayton Carter in ultimate victory overtime, while Pribly fell short against Dillon’s Brent Tezak in the 138-pound final.

“Yeah, I have been there,” Filius said. “It’s tough to go out on the losing end of it. I have been dragging around those two with me for years. It was fun to get them into the finals, wish we would have got one of them (Pleninger or Pribyl) through to the dance, but we came up short.”

And while finals night was a perfect ending for the Ponies, it was, as usual, dominating, and the seven wrestlers who took the mat in the final round of the 2016 wrestling season were a big reason why Havre was once again kings of Class A wrestling.