Wrestling arrived in Boulder on Jan. 10, as Jefferson High hosted a mixer with Anaconda, Deer Lodge, Manhattan, Three Forks and Townsend. A total of 70 matches provided plenty of action, and the Panthers masked Senior Night by honoring Eric Lufkin, Drake Schake and manager Josie Marks.
With a home crowd behind it, Jefferson came out on fire. The first round found Leo Anderson, Christian and Dominick Davis, Michael Mitchell, Eric Lufkin, Eli Reed, Talon DeMers and Dakota Dorn all having their hands raised for victories. But in the round’s final match, Coen Guisti was injured badly enough to require an ambulance. The Panther wrestlers lost their focus after that, and only the Davis twins, Anderson, Cody St. Clair and Drake Schake were able to secure second-round wins.
The next morning, the Panthers boarded the bus again and traveled to Choteau for a two-day tournament with 31 Class B and C teams. In the first round, Clara Lufkin and Gracie Olds were both eliminated at 132 pounds, while Mitchell at 120 pounds and Braeden Jones and Tyler Dryer at 145 pounds won their matches. In the next round, Anderson and Dominick Davis at 103 pounds, Christian Davis at 113 pounds, St. Clair at 120 pounds, Lufkin at 126 pounds, Reed at 138 pounds, DeMers at 160 pounds and Schake at 182 pounds all won to advance into the quarterfinals.
