Mat Cats double Dogs; Houle champ at Polsonn

Columbia Falls opened the 2009 high school wrestling season by doubling Whitefish in a Northwestern A Conference dual Friday, then the Mat Cats placed ninth at the tough Polson Invitational on Saturday.

Junior Kelly Houle captured an individual championship at the Polson invite, winning the 189-pound crown.

En route to a 54-27 team win, Brady Richardson (125 pounds), Travis Pete (135), Joe Gross (160) and Kodie Kenfield (215) earned wins by fall. Picking up forfeit wins for the Mat Cats were Sal Baccaro (105), Justin Whitman (112), Nick Toavs (140), Houle (189) and Quinton Millward (hwt).

CFHS head coach Jessie Schaeffer was pleased with the overall effort at Whitefish.

“We wrestled pretty aggressive,” Schaeffer said, pointing to the efforts of Richardson, Pete, Gross and Kenfield. “The other individuals went out and wrestled solid. We put together some good matches.”

Richardson pinned Jonathan Reimer just 1:03 into their match. Pete won by fall over Steven Vail in 2:47. Gross did the same against Nick O’Dell in 2:39. Kenfield pinned Dylan Dryden in 2:35.

Only one match in the dual came down to a decision, as Tanner Benedict of Whitefish edged Shawn Whitman, 7-6, at 145 pounds.

Schaeffer indicated that Whitman got off to a slow start and could not fully recover.

“He had to play catch-up throughout,” the coach said.

Wins for the Bulldogs came from Zach Berger (119), who pinned Adam Richardson in 5:16, and Kaleb Prestegaard (152), who won by fall over Jarrett Smith in 2:55.

It was Richardson’s first varsity match.

“He made some small errors,” Schaeffer said of the freshman. “It was a highlight to have him in that match.”

“Whitefish has some pretty solid kids. “We matched up pretty well.”

Before the CFHS-Whitefish dual, Ronan blanked the Bulldogs, 63-0.

HOULE WON all three of his matches by fall en route to a title in the Polson tourney.

The Mat Cat pinned Brennon Fisher of Frenchtown in 3:36 in the championship face-off.

“He wrestled every match individually,” Schaeffer said of Houle.

Pete placed fourth at 135, edged by Michael Beebe of Mission-Charlo 4-3 in the medal match.

Schaeffer said Pete did not get his offense going in the final period.

“He could have taken a couple more shots at the end. Those are the things we need to learn from.”

Kenfield was fourth at 215. He lost an 11-2 major decision to Brady Anderson of Hamilton, a state place-winner the last two years.

“He wrestled the name instead of wrestling his match,” Schaeffer said of Kenfield. “Brady frustrates individuals. He doesn’t give up a lot.”

Schaeffer said Justin Whitman, Brady Richardson and Gross all came within a win of getting into the medal round.

Teamwise, the Mat Cats placed ninth with 67.5 points. Flathead scored 234.5 points to edge Missoula Sentinel by 2.5 points for the title. Polson was fourth, and Whitefish placed seventh.

“We didn’t wrestle to near the capabilities that we showed in the practice room,” Schaeffer said of the Polson tournament. “I was a little disappointed overall. We’ll take our slow steps to where we need to be.”

Schaeffer said the Mat Cats do not match up very well with Ronan.

“It’s going to be a dogfight, depending on where they move kids,” the coach said. “We’re going to make a couple of weight changes.”

Junior varsity matches start at 6 p.m. today (Thursday) at Ronan, followed by the varsity dual.

The Mat Cats compete in the annual Mining City Duals in Butte Friday and Saturday. Each team will wrestle five or six duals, and as many as seven.