Havre Daily News Staff
It doesn't matter where or when you face a Class AA team on the wrestling mat, it's never an easy proposition. But on Tuesday night at the Havre High gymnasium, the top-ranked Class A Havre Blue Ponies made their duals with AA rivals CMR and Great Falls High look as close to easy as possible. The Ponies remained unbeaten in duals this season with two convincing home wins Tuesday. HHS crushed CMR 61-17 and beat the Bison 57-15. The Ponies were already well ahead of the Rustlers as Zack Smith pinned Woody Buck at 98 pounds and Duel Stadel, Chris Recio and Brett Normandy all received forfeits. But HHS also took care of business on the mat, winning seven more matches. Eli Hinebauch, who has been perhaps Havre's best wrestler the last three weeks, pinned Jake Dixon at 4:54 in the 130-pound match and Myles Mazurkiewicz quickly dispatched Austin Baily with a pin. Kent Pattison also picked up a huge win for the Ponies when he beat CMR's Mitch Rohrback 6-3 at 140 pounds. Against former Havre High standout Aaron Jensen's Rustlers, HHS was also strong in the upper weights for veteran head coach Scott Filius. Curtis Shandorf (160) , Ethan Hinebauch, who moved up to 171 and Phillip Sutherland (189) all won by pin, and Paul Jensen rallied to a 9-8 decision over Mike Nelson at 215 pounds. HHS put in Cody Johnson to wrestle defending AA state champion Nash Halfrisch at 152 pounds, and Halfrisch came away with a 9-0 decision. Ranked wrestlers Mike Budeski and Kelly Olds also picked up wins for the Rustlers and Phil Selvin beat HHS's Evan Ohm in the heavyweight match. As impressive as HHS's win over CMR was, the Ponies' handling of the Bison might have been even more impressive. The Bison came into the dual with the Ponies fresh off a third-place finish at the inaugural Class AA Duals last week in Great Falls. However, that was of no concern to HHS. At 105 pounds, Stadel dropped a heartbreaking 3-1 decision to GFH's topranked and defending AA state champion Dylan Mendenhall, and Smith was pinned by top-ranked Cole Mendenhall at 98 pounds. But Recio backed his teammates up with a dismantling 20-5 technical fall over Anthony Zimmer at 112. The landslide continued for the Ponies with Normandy taking apart Tanner Jacobson 15-9 at 119 pounds, Dillon Seely getting a major decision over Logan Oswald at 125 pounds, Eli Hinebauch earning a 15-0 tech. Fall over Stephan Horn and Mazurkiewicz picking up a 11-2 major decision over Zach Shalz. And the Ponies weren't done. Pattison captured his second big match of the day at 140 pounds when he beat highly-ranked Julian Wichman 5-0 to keep Havre's momentum rolling. At 145 pounds, Aaron Olson pinned Josh Alstead in 3:54 and freshman Casey Schaub pinned Trylan Wassman in just 46 seconds. Back at his normal weight, Ethan Hinebauch quickly took down Justin Boland in just 34 seconds at 160 pounds. At 189 pounds, Sutherland won perhaps the biggest match of the night for the Ponies as he pinned highly-ranked Zach Wichman of GFH in 2:31. Jensen also got another big win for HHS at 215 pounds, pinning Matt Cable in 3:59 and Mitch Schnittgen rounded out the HHS victories with a 5-2 decision over Josh Zimmer at heavyweight. What was most impressive about HHS's dual wins were the final scores. Havre didn't just beat the Bison and Rustlers on the mat, the Ponies did it in convincing fashion, by getting mostly bonus points for pins, technical falls and major decisions. It's that kind of wrestling that has Havre more heavily favored than ever before as the Ponies near the postseason. It was also an emotional night for HHS as it was the last time the seniors would wrestle at the HHS gymnasium. Havre has one dual left this season, its annual matchup with Class B powerhouse Conrad. The Ponies and Cowboys meet Saturday in Conrad.
