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Same Goal Now, Different Paths in the Future

Havre wrestling stars Parker Filius and Jase Stokes are chasing history together this winter. But when it comes to college, they have chosen much different destinations and, for that matter, different sports

For much of their lives, Parker Filius and Jase Stokes have done things together. They have wrestled together, played football together, even played in intramural basketball together.

But beyond that, they have even more in common. Both are three-time individual state champions, looking to become the first wrestlers in Havre High history to be the first four-timer. As Stokes said once: "I guess it will come down to who wins it first." As in, which will get the first chance at the finals of state wrestling.

For the past three years, Filius and Stokes have been integral parts on three Class A state championship wrestling teams and they are the biggest reason the Blue Ponies are heavily favored to win a fourth.

Like it or not, in terms of their Havre High sport's legacies, they will always be joined at the hip. But unfortunately for Pony sports fans, their highly productive partnership is on its last legs, seeing as each is headed in a new direction next year, one far different from the other.

Filius goes BIG

From the moment, he stepped on the mat for the Ponies, it was easy to see that Filius was special. But what you don't see - what many people never see - is all the work Filius puts in behind the scenes to get to where he's gotten.

Certainly, he has been blessed with many talents and the fact that his father, HHS head coach Scott Filius, is a bit of a wrestling guru and an NAIA National Champion, probably didn't hurt. But if one really wants to know what makes Parker Filius, Parker Filius; Stokes and many others will tell you, it's his un-relenting hard work.

"His work ethic is just unreal," Stokes said. "He is always doing an extra 100 yards or getting that extra bike in, he is doing everything extra that's what sets him apart from everyone else."

For Parker Filius, it's pretty much always wrestling season. What he does at Havre High, is just part of his regimen. He wrestles in prestigious tournaments all over the country and leading up to his senior season, the three-time state champion had earned himself quite a reputation. Intermat.com, a popular wrestling website, ranked Filius as its No. 62 wrestler nationally among the 2017 class. In the 145-pound weight class, he is ranked No. 12.

While Filius had offers from across the country, he made two official visits, one to North Carolina in early September and another one to Purdue later that same month. Ultimately, it was at the end of that second visit, when he made his final decision to be a Boilermaker.

"It was a difficult choice," Filius said. "Every school had something to sell. I decided I wanted to go to Purdue when I had a conversation with coach (Tony) Ersland on the way to the airport during my visit. I believe in him and where he is taking the program, and they have a really good lightweight coaching situation.

"It was really cool," he added. "But I am glad it's done and all I have to focus on is getting better at wrestling."

When you talk to athletes and even coaches, you hear that phrase a lot: "getting better." It's something people always say and it always sounds good. But when Filius says it, it's not a cliché. He absolutely means it. In fact, true to himself, he used his recruiting process as a learning experience, to learn new skills, learn about college wrestling and prepare himself as much as possible for the rigors of collegiate wrestling.

"My favorite part of the recruiting process was getting to see different coaches show technique," Filius said. "I learned a lot by being able to meet different people. The most exciting thing for me was to watch the practices at the two official visits I took. I learned a lot about what college wrestling is like. Wrestling on top and bottom is much more important and the level of physicality is tougher."

As a result, Filius, who has aspirations beyond being a state champion, such as junior nationals in July or his long-term goal of being an NCAA champion, did what he always does, he went to work and has a slew of new areas to focus on this season.

"I have been working on improving on top and bottom," Filius said. "And lifting to get stronger. We have been working on hand fighting and creating angles for shots."

Whether it's watching a wrestling practice at Purdue or whether it's sitting next to his dad or being coached by him, Filius is always trying to learn something.

"He's been great," Filius said about his father. "I talk to my dad about wrestling every day. During matches, he usually tells me something like you need to move your feet more."

In another month, Filius will close the final chapter of his career at Havre High and in the annals of Havre wrestling, it will be hard to find anyone better. It might also be hard to find someone who has worked harder or handled all the pressure; the pressure of winning, of following in the footsteps of Scott Filius or of deciding what college to sign with, better than Parker Filius, who at the end of the day, just knows how to win.

"There is no outside pressure that is greater than my own expectations," He said. "It's my job to win, not anybody else's."

Stokes made his own tough choice

While Filius faced a tough recruiting choice, Jase Stokes was faced with his own difficult decision and it wasn't even a choice between schools, it was a choice between sports.

Growing up, Stokes had always been a good athlete. Yet, he said, football was always his favorite sport. At Havre High, he would earn All-State honors as both a running back and a linebacker and ultimately, that earned him a scholarship to play football at Montana Tech of the Frontier Conference.

But leading up to the 2016 school year and the start of football season, the choice wasn't necessarily so clear. That's because, as a three-time state wrestling champion, one might assume Stokes was going to wrestle, but that assumption would be wrong.

"Playing college football, that was always one of my biggest goals," Stokes said. "But after my freshman year, I started teeter-tottering on which way to go and what to do, and I guess it was just before my senior year that I started to focus on getting football scholarships more than wrestling.

That decision might have been influenced by Montana Tech's interest in Stokes following the Orediggers' team camp, in which Stokes won an award. The senior then took an official visit to Butte in September, which played a big part in his decision.

"I am not sure exactly what made me decide," Stokes said. "But Tech has a really good football program and Tech is a really good school, so that was definitely part of it."

However, as much as Stokes was swayed by Tech, he also had Montana State University-Northern trying to sign him in both football and wrestling. He took a visit as a wrestling recruit last July and for football in September.

"It would have been cool to stay here," Stokes said. "And I definitely thought about it. If I was going to wrestle, I was going to do it at Northern. Coach Thiverge, he had Parker and I in a couple times and it was kind of like Tech in football, If I was going to wrestle, I wanted to win and Northern has a great program and that would have been a big part of it."

Stokes said the idea of winning a national championship did appeal to him, but ultimately, football meant too much.

"Before I even thought about going to Tech for football, I was thinking about my options and going to Northern," Stokes said. "And it would have been cool to try and help bring a championship to Havre. Northern was a good option, a really good option after talking to my parents and Scott (Filius). But I just have more love for football."

With his wrestling career set to end next month at the All-Class state meet in Billings, finishing it off as a four-time state champion has taken on a new significance.

"That would be a cool way to end it," Stokes said. "I have never heard of anyone that has been a four-timer that goes and does something else, so that's the ultimate goal."

If he has his way, Stokes will be ending his career as not only a four-time individual state champion, but a four-time team champion as well.

"That would be perfect," Stokes said. "I'll just hang up the shoes right there."

Of course, there is another four-peat that both Filius and Stokes are looking to achieve, but it's not on the wrestling mat or the football field. It's on the basketball court, in the Havre Intramural basketball championship.

Stokes, who said he once scored 30 points in a middle-school game, and Filius have both on the wrestling team's unofficial team since they were freshmen. The team has won the last three championships and if Stokes has his way, both he and Filius will go out on top, in another regard.

"We are trying to get the four-time going on that, too," Stokes said. "That will be pretty cool."

Seemingly, when it comes to Filius and Stokes, whether it's wrestling, intramural basketball or whatever else, winning is just what they do.

 

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