MatCats should do well this year

The Columbia Falls wrestling team will look to build on last year's success. The team returns nearly all of the 16 wrestlers that qualified for the state tournament last season.

The team lost Sal Baccaro at 119 pounds and heavyweight Cody Bartos to graduation. Justin Whitman at 125 pounds moved to Georgia.

Coach Jessie Schaeffer said this might be the best team he's coached. About 40 grapplers turned out for the first day of practice on Nov. 17.

Last year, 16 grapplers qualified for state, but only Baccaro and Whitman placed. The remaining crew was a young group. Now they're a year older and a year wiser, Schaeffer noted.

"It's a good group of kids," Schaeffer said. "The hard work will start paying off this year."

There's also more than 10 freshmen vying for a spot on the team - including some big wrestlers, like Spencer Ross, who is 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds.

The Cats will also look for good things from Adam Richardson, Mark Hader, Marcus Ross, Zayne Brunz, Jason Williams, Seth McCall, Josiah Osborne and Jake Babcock to name a few.

Schaeffer said the squad would fill all the weight classes. They open their season with a home dual against Whitefish Dec. 2. Matches start at 6:30 p.m. Frenchtown and defending divisional champs Polson should be strong this year.

The bulk of the Wildcats season is on the road. They have a home match Jan. 19 against Libby and Eureka and then a home match against Frenchtown and Polson Jan. 28. They host divisionals this year on Feb. 4.

Schaeffer is assisted by his brother, Ben. Both men were standout wrestlers at Columbia Falls.