Strong Finish: Ponies wrangle Cowboys

The Havre High wrestling team finished off the regular season over the weekend, and only the divisional, and state tournament's are left on the Blue Pony schedule.

And like all teams want to do, the Ponies will enter the postseason on a high note.

Havre High's Thomas Gruber, top, holds down Conrad's Dakota Suta during a 130-pound match in Friday night's dual between the Blue Ponies and Cowboys at the HHS gymnasium.

On Friday night, the Central A Ponies hosted the Class B Conrad Cowboys for a dual. Forsyth was scheduled to turn the event into a triangular, but had to cancel. The minor change didn't upset the Ponies any, as they defeated the struggling Cowboys 71-12.

The Cowboys typically have a very strong program. But with numbers as low as they have ever been in recent history, they brought just seven individuals to face Havre.

Blue Pony senior Gilbert Bara, top, takes down a Conrad grappler during Friday night's dual in Havre.

"Conrad is always competitive," Havre High head coach Scott Filius said. "And they will be back. This is as low as they have been for numbers, but historically they field a very good team, and they will be back. But we got some nice matches. It is good to get the seniors out of here and take care of that, but now we can get out of here and get ready for divisionals."

With only seven grapplers, the Cowboys were open at 119 pounds, as well as 105, 112, 152, 160, 171, 189, and HWT. That gave Keegan Kennelly (98), Logan Pleninger (105), Grayson Brenna (112), Jordan Schroeder (152), JT Belcourt (160), Jake Williams (171), Grant Pattison (189) and Dustin Odegard (HWT) wins by forfeit.

And even though the Cowboys house some talented wrestlers, the 48 points the Cowboys spotted the Ponies on forfeits was too much to come back from.

Havre's Dylan Stewart, right, locks up with a Conrad opponent Friday night at the Havre High gymnasium.

But the Ponies made sure to earn the dominating team win with solid individual wins as well.

Dylan Stewart (119) took control of his match early and won a 5-2 decision. Thomas Gruber (130) also jumped all over his opponent and earned a technical fall, while senior Gilbert Bara (135) pinned Tyler Richter in 1:21. At 145-pounds, Kody Pribyl went three periods before earning his 7-2 decision win, and Tyler Adams (215) earned a pin in 1:14.

Chris Steinmetz (125) and Gunnar Aageson (140) both lost, but put up good fights. Stenmetz fell behind early, but faught his way into the second period before being pinned in 2:43. Aageson led 6-2 midway through the second period, but couldn't hold on, eventually falling in 5:22.

Overall the Ponies wrestled well. Late in the season coach Filius wasn't focused on executing or working on one specific thing, just looking for his grapplers to wrestle well overall and win matches.

"I was looking for them to do everything they did," Filius said. "But the big match was freshman Kody Pribyl who I bumped up to 145 pounds. He was facing a tough kid and went out and wrestled very smart. He gave up a couple of points, but those are the matches we need. We need to win those matches, they were the two closest matched kids and we came out on top, and that is good to see."

The Ponies also sent a handful of wrestlers to Matla on Saturday.

HHS took second place with 151 points, placing nine individuals. Pleninger took first at 105 pounds, while Bara (135), Stewart (112), and Pribyl (140) all took second. Gruber (130), Aageson (145), Belcourt (160) and Jace Billy (189) all finished third, and Travis Adams (215) finished in fourth place.

Now the Ponies' focus turns to the postseason. After another strong weekend, the favored Ponies will gear up for the Central A Divisional tournament in Belgrade on Saturday.

Havre 71, Conrad 12

98 – Keegan Kennelly, HAV, won by forfeit; 105 – Logan Pleninger, HAV, won by forfeit; 112 – Grayson Brenna, HAV, won by forfeit; 119 – Dylan Stewart, HAV, dec. Morgan Koenig, 5-2; 125 – Blaine Berg, CON, pinned Christopher Steinmetz, 2:43; 130 – Thomas Gruber, HAV, tech. fall Dakota Suta, 2:40; 135 – Gilbert Bara, HAV, pinned Tyler Richter, 1:21; 140 – Brandon French, CON, pinned Gunnar Aageson, 5:22; 145 – Kody Pribyl, HAV, dec. Garrett Moritz, 7-2; 152 – Jordan Schroeder, HAV, won by forfeit; 160 – JT Belcourt, HAV, won by forveit; 171 – Jake Williams, HAV, won by forfeit; 189 – Grant Pattison, HAV, won by forfeit; 215 – Tyler Adams, HAV pinned Justin Ratzburg, 1:14; HWT – Dustin Odegard, HAV, won by forceit.