The match took four overtime periods, but the Panthers’ Leo Anderson defeated the defending state champion, Nate Blodnich of Anaconda, to help lead the team to victory against the Copperheads.
The Panthers also came away with a win against Conrad, in a week beset with injuries among members of the varsity squad.
The team traveled to Anaconda on Jan. 26 to take on the Copperheads before a large crowd in the “Snake Pit.” Following Anderson’s win, the Panthers went on a roll and collected wins from Dylan Mikesell, Wyatt Rauch, and Braeden Jones and pins from Christian Davis, Dayton Brown, Zack Supalla, Keaton Poulsen and Matt Riehl. The Panthers prevailed, 45-15.
The Panther wrestling team hosted Three Forks and Whitehall on Friday, Jan. 29. The injury bug has hit Jefferson especially hard as several members of their varsity are out of the lineup. Three Forks was the first dual of the event and wins were tough to come by. Anderson, Christian Davis and Riehl were the only Panthers to put points on the board as Three Forks won by a commanding score of 44-12. Jefferson fared a little better against Whitehall but was defeated 49-24. Anderson, Brown and Colman Thornton won by pin while Mikesell added team points as well.
The next morning the Panthers traveled to Fairfield on Saturday, Jan. 30 to wrestle in a triangular with Conrad being the third team to compete. In the first competition of the day Jefferson went up against Fairfield. The dual started at 103 pounds with Jefferson jumping out to a quick 24-6 lead. Jefferson collected points from Anderson at 103 pounds, Mikesell at 113 pounds, Brown at 126 pounds, and Supalla at 132 pounds, with Mikesell’s win coming by pin. Christian Davis at 120 pounds and Thornton at 138 pounds were not as fortunate. Jefferson would forfeit the next three weight classes to find themselves behind 30-24 in the dual. Rauch would win by pin at 170 pounds to tie the score 30-30. Unfortunately, Jefferson would forfeit the next two weight classes to put the dual out of reach. Riehl finished things out for the Panthers at 285 pounds with a pin to end the dual with Fairfield on top 42-36. It is important to note that 30 out of Fairfield’s 42 points came from forfeit points due to Jefferson’s wrestlers being out of the lineup.
In the second dual of the day, Jefferson went up against Conrad. The dual started at 103 pounds with Anderson suffering his first loss of the season. Jefferson went on a 24-point scoring run as Mikesell, Davis, Brown and Supalla all got their hands raised. Thornton was bested by his opponent while Rauch registered his second pin of the day. Riehl also collected points for Jefferson to put the Panthers in the lead 36-20. Dominick Davis got an exhibition match at 103 pounds and lost by a narrow 7-3 decision against an opponent that pinned him a week earlier.
Coach’s comments: We have been a revolving door of wrestlers in and out of the lineup for the past few weeks and somehow, we have managed to come out on top so many times. That finally caught up to us this weekend and we were simply overwhelmed at our home duals. We competed much better on Saturday and ended the week with a 2-3 dual record. Not where we wanted to be, but given the circumstance, we still managed to pull out a couple wins.
Rauch was selected by his coaches as the JHS Panther Wrestler of the week. Rauch, a junior who is new to the sport, managed to pick up a win against Anaconda and stapled two of his opponents in Fairfield to finish 3-2 in his first week of wrestling.
Anderson had the quick pin of the week for the Panthers when he pinned his opponent in 50 seconds during the Whitehall dual.
The next action for the Panther wrestling team will be on Saturday, Feb. 6 when the team travels to Thompson Falls with action getting underway at 1 p.m. The dual scheduled for Friday, Feb. 5 in Deer Lodge has been cancelled.
