The Montana State University-Northern wrestling season is off and running.
    On Thursday night, the Lights were in Ronan for the first of three Maroon/Gold Scrimmages, and the trip was a complete success according to MSU-N third-year head coach Tyson Thivierge.
    "The reception was great, the crowd was great, there was a social for us after the dual, it was really neat," Thivierge said. "This idea of getting out there with three scrimmages this season is good for our young team, and it's good for our program. We want to get Northern out there and be seen again, and this is a good way to do it. So it was a really good night for us."
    In the dual, the matches were close, as expected. The Gold team defeated the Maroon 21-17, with many matches going down to the wire.
    "That's the thing that's tough about these duals, these kids see each other every day in the room," Thivierge said. "So there weren't may surprises. A lot of tight matches, but most of them went like we thought they would."
    Ronan freshman Cameron Neiss got things started with a pin of Derek Rogers at 133 pounds. That was one of four straight wins by the Gold. Garret Tennant beat Demetrios Mitchell 6-0 at 141 pounds, Brandon Leliefeld pinned Cole Gorder at 149 and Anthony Weerheim beat James Petersen 6-3. The Gold also got a win at heavyweight from Rudy Shaffroth. He beat Devin Norland 6-3.
    In the middle of the dual, the Maroon got wins from Cody Miller, who pinned Travis DuMont at 157 pounds, and Tay Todd, who beat Ronan's Mickey Cheff 7-0 at 157 as well. The Maroon also got wins from Max Payne at 174 pounds and Kody Reed at 197. Payne earned a major decision of Jared Miller, 15-5 and Reed majored Nick King 11-1. In an exhibition match, former Havre Blue Pony Ethan Hinebauch pinned Gary Anthony at 165 pounds.
    "I was really excited about the way we wrestled," Thivierge said. "We have a lot of young guys, and even though this was an intra-squad dual, this was their first real competition of the year. But a lot of guys really came out and wrestled with confidence and they took it to each other, so that was great to see.
    "There were a lot of competitive matches," he added. "So it was a great start for us. And now we'll continue to build on this."
    The Lights will compete in their second scrimmage of the season on Monday night in Glasgow.

Gold 21, Maroon 17

133 — Cameron Neiss, G pinned Derek Rogers, M, 4:59; 141 — Garret Tennant, G dec. Demetrios Mitchell, M, 6-0; 149 — Brandon Leliefeld, G pinned Cole Gorder, M, 4:27; 149 — Anthony Weerheim, G dec. James Petersen, M, 6-3; 157 — Cody Miller, M pinned Travis DuMont, G, 2:42; 157 — Tay Todd, M dec. Mickey Cheff, G, 7-0; 165 — Exhibition, Ethan Hinebauch, M pinned Gary Anthony, G, 2:33; 174 — Max Payne, M maj. dec. Jared Miller, G, 15-5; 197 — Kody Reed, M maj. dec. Nick King, G, 11-1; HWT — Rudy Schaffroth, G dec. Devin Norland, M, 6-3.