Smiling Success
Pirates take 5th at own tourney to open season
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POLSON - While a trio of Class AA schools dominated the Polson Invitational Wrestling Meet Saturday, the Pirates also came away with a strong showing. Polson finished second among the Class A schools in the competition, earning a fifth-place finish overall.
“I like the way we scrapped at the tournament this weekend,” Polson coach Bob Owen said. “I thought we wrestled hard but just needed to be a little smarter with our moves.”
Flathead finished first at the meet while Glacier and Sentinel were second and third. The only Class A school to edge out the Pirates was Corvallis, which finished 30 points ahead of Polson’s fifth-place total of 105.5 points.
Jacob Young picked up the Pirates’ only first-place finish of the meet, taking home the crown in the 140-pound weight class.
Young needed just a grand total of 1:43 to get past his first three opponents as he pinned the first two in just 22 seconds before needing 59 seconds to get his third win of the day.
Young opened the match with a pin of Eureka’s Wyatt Miller in just 22 seconds before needing just another 22 seconds to down Hamilton’s Donald Thomas in the second round.
Frenchtown’s Ty Hendrick put up a little more of a fight in the third round as Young needed 59 seconds to get the pin.
Young’s fourth and final match of the day went the distance as Young earned a 9-4 decision over Devan Williams of Corvallis to earn the 140-pound title.
Josiah Clairmont was able to earn a second-place finish for the Pirates in the heavyweight division as he went 2-1 on the day.
Clairmont opened the competition with a pin of Hamilton’s Jordan Buzzel in just 52 seconds before earning a 12-3 decision over Glacier’s Joel Horn in the second round. Clairmont came up short in his final match of the day as he fell to Flathead’s Connor Thomas in the championship round, 14-4.
Carlos Quinones finished third in the 105-pound division for the Pirates after finishing 4-1 on the day.
Quinones opened the competition with a pin of teammate Matt Wolters in 1:18 and followed that with a pin of Thompson Falls’ Wade Gascon in 3:14. Quinones came up short in his third match up of the day, falling to Kaieb Lieher of Flathead via a 14-8 decision. Lieher would go on to finish second in the weight class. Quinones bounced back with a 6-2 decision over Sentinel’s Dylan Schulte before besting teammate Taylor Martin with a pin 67 seconds into the match.
Martin finished fourth in the 105-pound weight class after going 3-2 on the day. Martin opened the day with a loss to Glacier’s Christian Knopp, who pinned Martin in 1:34. Knopp went on to win the weight class. Martin bounced back from the loss with a pin of Thomson Falls’ Tyler Addy in 1:11 in the second round. Martin picked up another win in the third round, picking up a 7-1 decision over Wade Gascon of Thompson Falls. Martin downed Josh Venena of Corvallis via a 8-1 decision in the fourth round before falling to Quinones in the third-place match.
Jesse Alfiero was the only other Pirate to place in his weight class, finishing third in the 130-pound division.
Alfiero went 4-1 on the day and opened the competition with a pin of Eureka’s Jose Letchner in 1:30. Alfiero also picked up a win in the second round as he earned an 8-2 decision over teammate Steven Walk. Alfiero fell to eventual second-place winner Luke Davenport of Sentinel in the third round via a 10-5 decision but bounced back with a 5-0 decision over Dustin DuBose of Corvallis in the fourth round. Alfiero finished out the day with a win as he picked up a 6-2 decision over Adam Richardson of Columbia Falls.
“I think the only reason we didn’t do even better was our lack of experience,” Owen said. “We have a whole lot of young wrestlers on the squad this year and they are only going to get better as they learn how to compete. Like I said, I think we wrestled hard but just need to be smarter. That’s a good problem to have.”
Owen’s squad will be back in action Thursday as they travel to Ronan to face the Chiefs before making the trip to Butte for the Mining City Duals Friday and Saturday.
