Bulldogs use strong start to snare silver at Ted Kato
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THOMPSON FALLS — Fueled by strong opening rounds and three silver medalist, the Mission-Charlo Bulldogs finished in second place at the Ted Kato Memorial Tournament.
While finishing second at a 13-team tournament is no small feat, the Bulldog grapplers must have left Thompson Falls Saturday thinking of what could’ve been. Leading most of the tournament, the Bulldogs were in the catbird seat at the start of semifinal round but only won seven more matches the rest of the way, to let their lead slip into the hands of the Florence Falcons.
Russell Schultz (112), Scotty Gilleard (125) and Dakota Matt (140) all won their semifinal match for the Bulldogs, but couldn’t capture the championship. The other victories for the Bulldogs in the late rounds were 119-pounder Casey Nitschke’s and 285-pounder Nick Dinnell’s victories in the consolation matches to finish in third.
Both Schultz and Matt got a little redemption in the semifinals, defeating opponents that had beat them the week before at Choteau. In his semifinal match, Schultz renewed his rivalry with Thompson Falls’ John Gunderson with an 8-6 overtime decision. Schultz had defeated Gunderson at the Superior Invitational and the Western Montana Duals, before losing to him at Choteau. Schultz, who started the tournament with a 9-2 victory over Flathead’s Billy Allen, was pinned by Allen’s teammate Sunny Cheff in the finals.
After pinning Superior’s Tyler Wharry in the opening round, Matt faced Arlee’s Al Plant in the semifinals. Matt had beaten Plant twice before losing to him last week. Saturday, Matt pinned Plant in the first period but was pinned by Plant’s teammate Cole Rice in the finals.
Gilleard also faced a Warrior in the championship match and was pinned by Logan Lefler in the third period of a closely fought match. Gilleard pinned his Eureka opponent in the opening round and edged out Flathead’s Jacob Egley in the semifinal with a 4-3 decision.
After getting a first-period pin in his opening match, Nitschke lost by technical fall to Plains’ Kenneth Beech. He recovered by beating Sentinel’s Julian Preston 17-2 for his first technical fall of his career and pinning Arlee’s Cameron Dominick in the first-period to capture third place and continue his late-season surge.
“Last year, he (Nitschke) finished a little short of Billings, so I know that has been driving him,” Mission-Charlo coach Lyle Cronk said of Nitschke, who has been piling up the pins lately.
After being pinned in the semifinal match, Dinnell defeated Noxon’s Cody Martens 3-0 to finish in third. It was the fourth time that the Mission senior had defeated Martens this year, yet Martens had a higher seed at the tournament. Cronk said this was just added incentive for Dinnell.
Cronk was encouraged with Nitschke’s and Dinnell’s ability to wrestle back to finish on the podium.
“If we want to be in the hunt at divisionals, we have to have everybody wrestle back,” Cronk said.
The Bulldogs’ opening rounds were highlighted by pins from Victor Mendoza and Ata Sahin, the Bulldogs’ foreign exchange wrestlers. Mendoza, Mission-Charlo’s junior varsity 119-pounder, pinned Julian Peterson. Safin was trailing Hellgate’s Skylar Nowlen 12-4 late in the third period, when he pinned him.
“This really got everybody fired up and we had a great opening round,” Cronk said.
The Bulldogs will wrap up the regular season at the Darby Darbarian Tournament Saturday. It will be the last tournament before the Western B-C Divisional in Deer Lodge Feb. 5.
