Being short-handed didn’t dampen the fire for the Panther wrestlers, who nailed four wins over the weekend, including a 34-33 victory over eastern Montana’s powerhouse team, Colstrip.
In addition to Colstrip, the Jefferson High School grapplers took on — and defeated — Cascade, Powell and Broadwater counties on Friday and Saturday.
The action began Friday as Braeden Jones, 182 pounds, pinned his Cascade opponent. He was followed by an exciting 6-5 victory by Matt Riehl at 285 pounds.
Leo Anderson scored team points at 103 pounds while Christian Davis at 120 pounds stapled his opponent to add team points as well. Dayton Brown added a pin at 126 pounds to put Jefferson up 27-0. Zack Supalla and Miles Dodge at 132 and 170 pounds, respectively, were not as fortunate and would suffer losses. John Armstrong at 145 pounds and Jace Oxarart at 152 pounds added a pin apiece to put the final score at 39-18 in Jefferson’s favor.
The Panthers went on a scoring streak against Powell County in the second dual of the day.
The Panthers got team points from Anderson, Davis, Brown, Armstrong, Oxarart, Jones and Riehl. Supalla was able to get his victory by pin. Jefferson would win the dual in a lopsided 45-6 victory.
The Panthers traveled to Townsend on Saturday, Jan. 16 to wrestle in a triangular against Broadwater and Colstrip.
In the first competition of the day, Jefferson went up against Colstrip, which is a perennial wrestling power from the eastern side of the state. The dual started at 103 pounds and Jefferson got on the board quickly withAnderson, Davis and Brown putting Jefferson up 18-0. Supalla would score a pin while Armstrong would win a major 15-6 decision.
Jefferson was up 28-6 and had a comfortable lead. Unfortunately, that lead started to slip away as Colstrip would go on a 27-point scoring run to put the Colts ahead 33-28 with one weight remaining. Matt Riehl was the final competitor. Riehl was able to put Jefferson on top with the final team score being 34-33 for the Panthers.
In the second dual of the day, Jefferson went up against Elkhorn rival Broadwater. The dual again started at the lighter weights, which really seems to favor Jefferson as they can put up a lot of points on the board in a hurry. The Panthers got team scoring from Anderson and Davis. Brown and Armstrong both stapled their opponents. Oxarart, Dodge and Jones scored team points as well. Riehl secured a pin for Jefferson to put them on top 48-24. Eighteen of Broadwater’s twenty-four points would come from forfeits due to Jefferson having no one in those weight classes.
Coach’s take: We put on a dominant display this weekend by going 4-0 in duals. We had a number of wrestlers out of the lineup and had to forfeit four weight classes to any team that was able to fill them. The team was on fire and was able to overcome being short-handed by wrestling up to their full potential.
Supalla has been selected by his coaches as the JHS Panther Wrestler of the week. Supalla has limited wrestling experience but managed to pick up his first Panther victory with a pin on Friday night. His pin in the Colstrip dual helped seal that victory.
Jones had the quick pin of the week for the Panthers when he pinned his opponent in 26 seconds during the Broadwater dual.
The next action for the Panther wrestling team will be a home dual on Friday, Jan. 22 against Columbus/Absarokee at 12:30 p.m. and Whitehall at 3:30 p.m. The team travels to Manhattan on Saturday, Jan. 23 with action getting underway at 1 p.m. Jefferson then goes to Anaconda on Tuesday, Jan. 26 to compete at 6 p.m.
