MatCats shine on home mat

It’s good to be home. After tournaments and duals away for a month and a half, the Columbia Falls wrestling team had two home duals Jan. 19 and won both.

The MatCats opened with Hamilton, winning 42-34, but coach Jessie Schaeffer said he thought the team was flat during the dual and he let them know it.

“I asked them if they were a fan, would they want to watch themselves wrestle?” he said.

Against Hamilton, Cameron Linstead, Seth McCall, Josiah Osborne and Mikey Dennision all had wins.

Later in the day, the MatCats came out with intensity and knocked off the seventh-ranked Polson Pirates, 48-36. Polson had beat Columbia Falls by 11 points in a dual just the week before.

The MatCats got strong performances from Linstead (105), Kaleb Gravelin (112), Shonn Roberts (119), McCall (125), Osborne (130), Colton Sweeney (135), Chase Ramberg (140) and Cameron Peterson (171).

Peterson was down 7-4 early in the match but battled back to make it 8-7 in the third and then pinned Josiah Edington.

McCall also had a great match, coming back to pin Carlos Quinones with just 13 seconds left for the victory. The crowd, which hasn’t seen the team wrestle at home this season, roared.

“It’s great to be home,” Schaeffer said.

The team still has some work to do in preparation for the divisional and state meets. The lineups are still in flux as wrestlers vie for a final spot on the roster.

The Cats are seeing good performances from their younger wrestlers as well as the upperclassmen.

Roberts, a state champion last year at 98 pounds, has lost just two matches all season and is wrestling well at 112 and 119. Gravelin, a freshman, is solid at 119 and 112 as well. Sweeney is just a freshman at 135 and heavyweight Spencer Ross is just a sophomore.

This week, the MatCats are home again with a dual against Whitefish on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and then duals against Libby and Frenchtown on Saturday. Libby is at 3:30 p.m., and Frenchtown is at 5:30 p.m.

Columbia Falls 48, Polson 36

98 - Thunder Morales, P, pin Cameron Goodwin, 1:16; 105 - Cameron Linstead, C, pin Cody Hedeen, 0:53; 112 - Kaleb Gravelin, C, dec. Jaben Wenzel, 7-2; 119 - Shonn Roberts, C, pin Alex Helgeson, 1:14; 125 - Seth McCall, C, pin Carlos Quinones, 5:47; 130 - Josiah Osborne, C, dec. Dylan Moll, 5-2; 135 - Colton Sweeney, C, pin Rhett Burland, 1:26; 140 - Chase Ramberg, C, pin Noah Fouty, 3:14; 145 - Craig Feistner, P, pin Bryan Shaffer, 1:01; 152 - Jared Young, P, pin Cody Walters, 2:34; 171 - Cameron Peterson, C, pin Josiah Edington, 5:16; 189 - Mike Corrigan, P, pin Michael Dennison, 1:45; 215 - Isaiah Williams, P, pin Matt Erhart, 1:13. Polson won forfeit at 160. Columbia Falls won forfeit at 285.

Columbia Falls 42- Hamilton 34

98 Cameron Goodwin CF won by forfeit ;105 Cameron Linstead CF pinned Kris Anderson :39; 112 Stephen Scheffer Ham. pinned Kaleb Gravelin 2:30; 119 Kyle Lubke Ham. pinned Clayton Moore 3:13; 125 Seth McCall CF pinned Casey Hammond 1:16; 130 Josiah Osborne CF pinned Austin Gaswint :53; 135 Easton Albert Ham maj dec Colton Gove 14-5; 140 Kyle Borgan Ham pinned Deian Jones 3:54; 145 Bryan Shaffer won by forfeit; 152 Zack Thompkins Ham dec Cody Walters 8-6; 160 both teams open ; 171 Tyler Sheffer Ham pinned Cameron Peterson 4:19; 189 Mikey Dennison CF pinned Philip Whitney 3:04; 215 Zack Brown Ham pinned Matt Erhart :52; 285 Spencer Ross won by forfeit