As they ramped up for the post-season, Jefferson High’s wrestlers faced a packed week of dual competitions — and emerged with promising results against some tough competition.
The Panthers hosted Lincoln County on Jan. 23. Jefferson and Eureka have enjoyed some tough duals over the years, and this match-up had the potential to be another great battle. But the Lions jumped out to a big lead before the Panthers started to work their way back.
The highlight of the evening was at 215 pounds, where Jefferson’s Brady Armstrong and Lincoln’s Wes Banks reprised their state championship final from last year. The outcome this time was the same, with Armstrong pinning Banks in the first period. Cooper Mikesell, Mike Richard, Blake Nordlinder and Chrystyan Hogue also scored points for the Panthers, but not enough: Jefferson fell by 52-30.
The next day, the Panthers traveled to Townsend for the first day of the State Class B Dual Team Tournament. In the first round Jefferson faced defending state champion Huntley Project. Armstrong, Russell Douglas, and Dylan Stevens won their matches, but Huntley cruised to a lopsided 63-16 victory, proving that it is once again the team to beat.
Then, Jefferson took on Cut Bank. This went much better, as the Panthers claimed a 48-24 victory, with points from Douglas, Armstrong, Stevens, Richard, Korbin Rintamaki, Owen Mikesell, Cooper Mikesell and Brayden Tarr. The Panthers fell to Florence-Carlton, 56-23, despite victories by Douglas, Stevens, Armstrong and Cooper Mikesell. But in the final dual of the day, they edged cross-county rival Whitehall, 42-36, avenging a loss earlier in the season. Douglas, Rintamaki, Cooper Mikesell, Richard, Nordlinder, Stevens and Armstrong all scored in this one.
Jefferson’s 2-2 record qualified it for the championship bracket in the second day’s action. And on Saturday, it faced Anaconda. The Panthers were firing on all cylinders: Douglas, Owen Mikesell, Mason Mikesell, Cooper Mikesell, Richard, Stevens, Tarr and Armstrong all won, driving a 48-30 victory.
That win put Jefferson into a match-up against Shepherd for fifth place. This was a tightly contested battle that went back and forth before the Panthers came out on top, 36-27, within points from Cooper Mikesell, Richard, Nordlinder, Stevens, Tarr and Armstrong — who was selected as the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler.
While the boys were in Townsend the Lady Panthers joined a two-day, all-girls tournament in Lewistown that featured 30 teams. Madison Neely took 4th place at 190 pounds, and Emma Jurkovac placed 5th at 100 pounds.
Coach’s comments: We completed the week with a 4-3 dual team record and a fifth-place finish against some top-ranked teams. The girls were able to place two on the podium at a very tough tournament. Once again, we proved that Jefferson is a competitive team and one to watch out for. We have a difficult January schedule that is designed to make us battle tested for the post season, which is rapidly approaching.
Mike Richard was selected by his coaches as the JHS boy’s wrestler of the week. Richard was 5-2 with three pins in the duals and some critical wins. Megan “Cat” Anderson was named JHS girl’s wrestler of the week. She was 5-3 on the week with four pins and wrestled hard throughout the tournament. Brady Armstrong had the JHS Panther Quick Pin of the week, dispatching his opponent in 21 seconds in the Whitehall dual.
The Panthers were set to travel to Anaconda on Jan. 28. They close out the regular season on Friday, Jan. 31, when they host Fairfield on Senior Night.
