Blue Pony dynasty

After three years of smashing records and blowing away the competition, it might have seemed logical to think the Havre High wrestling team could get complacent. Not these Blue Ponies and not on this weekend. Despite a strong effort from Central A rival Belgrade, the Blue Ponies fought their way to a whopping fourth-straight Class A state championship Saturday night at the Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark in Billings. HHS scored 215 points to Belgrade's 196.5 to win the 2010 Class A championship and join Sidney as the only other Class A school to win four straight state titles. Havre and Sidney have now combined to win the state championship in each of the last eight years. And after a scare at the Central A meet a week ago, the talk around Billings this weekend was just maybe, the Panthers, or the likes of Frenchtown, which finished third, Corvallis, which took fourth or teams like Ronan and Libby had a chance to knock the Blue Ponies off. But HHS knew better, and wound up winning all but one match in the first round, sent eight wrestlers into Saturday morning's semifinals, five into the finals, crowned three state champions and placed 11 grapplers overall. "From day one this year, we knew this wasn't going to be easy," said HHS head coach Scott Filius, who has now led the Ponies to six state titles. "But this team kept on with the same work ethic as the great teams before them, and they also forged their own identity. And that hard work and dedication was rewarded this weekend. "They came down here and were focused from the get go," he added. "And this whole team wrestled really well. You have to wrestle to the best of your abilities to win this thing, and these guys did that. This championship really was a total team effort, and I couldn't be more pleased and more proud of them for that." Indeed, it took the entire Blue Pony state roster to hold off the Panthers. Havre got the big lift from its three state champions and five finalists, but placing 11 wrestlers out of just 14 in the field this weekend proved to be too much for the rest of the competition to overcome, including the Panthers, who had 18 wrestlers entered in the state meet. "This really is about the team," Blue Pony senior Kent Pattison said after capturing his second straight individual title on Saturday night. "We didn't have some of the really great wrestlers we lost from last year's team, or even the year before that, but we started the year making sure that everyone was on the same page. We worked really hard in the room, we bonded as a team, and as the year went on we just got better and better. And this was awesome to see us come down here and continue this dynasty like this. This was an awesome way to end it." Pattison got the Pony Express rolling by winning a second state championship, this time at 152 pounds. Pattison beat defending champion Mickey Cheff of Ronan in the finals, and fellow senior Mitch Schnittgen backed things up with his second straight state title in the heavyweight division. Schnittgen took down Hamilton's Wes Sherman in a rematch of last year's championship match. Junior 112-pounder Duell Stadel also captured a state championship by beating defending champion Cody Ishler of Frenchtown. "I can't say enough about the three guys who won tonight," Filius said. "They are all very hard-working guys who have really put in the effort over the years. The two seniors, Kent and Mitch are guys who have become great leaders and this weekend they led by example. But all three of those guys are the type of kids that just make you privileged to be their coach. They came down here and did what they set out to do, and in this building, that's never as easy as it sounds. But they were so focused and determined and they have earned the success they are having right now." Not everything went according to plan for the Ponies on finals night. But without HHS's other two finalists, the Ponies likely would not have been hoisting their fourth championship trophy in a row either. At 140 pounds, senior Tyson Gruber had a monster weekend, winning three straight dominating matches to reach the final bout. But in the title tilt, Gruber ran into the almost unbeatable Ryan Martin of Lewistown, who capped off a perfect season by pinning Gruber for his third state championship. Still, Gruber's efforts, three pins in three wins, played a major role in HHS's run this weekend. The same can be said for sophomore Eli Hinebauch, who lost a heartbreaker to Miles City's Shane Cooley in the 145-pound finale. Hinebauch entered championship night 43-3 on the season, and he had a superb overtime win in the semifinals, but came up short in his bid for a state title for the second straight year. "Without those guys, without this entire team, none of this is possible," Schnittgen said. "Winning an individual state championship is great but it's really icing on the cake. It wouldn't be the same if we didn't come down here and win this one as a team, and that's what we did this weekend. Everybody on this team was a part of this and that's what makes it so special." And special this one was. Havre stormed through the first round on Friday, winning 13 matches, nine by fall. The Ponies had a strong quarterfinal round on Friday afternoon and maintained a comfortable lead heading into Saturday morning. By tournament's end, 11 of 14 Ponies reached the medal stand with freshman Gilbert Bara placing third at 105 pounds after reaching the semifinals, sophomore Casey Schaub finishing fourth at 171 pounds after losing a heartbreaker in the semis and senior Brett Normandy placing fifth at 125 pounds after also narrowly losing in the semifinals. "That's the difficult side to this tournament," Filius said. "No matter how well you do, and all of our kids wrestles extremely well this weekend, you end with your heart going out to some of these kids because they don't quite get to where they are trying to go. A kid like Brett Normandy, it just tears you up because, he's done everything for four years that we've ever asked of him. One of the hardest-working kids I've ever known, and it's been an honor to coach him over the years." And the contributions kept on coming, all weekend long. Even though the Ponies were open at both 98 and 130 pounds, Havre was able to make history because of the likes of Zack Smith (98), Josh Salapich (189) and Jared Rutkoffsky (215), who all wrestled back after tough losses to place sixth. Dillon Seely (135) also went 1-2 for the Ponies and Kameron Pribyl (160) went 2-2. In all, just one wrestler didn't score for the Ponies, and Kolton Lodge was Havre's second entry at 215 pounds. That face exemplifies the kind of performance the Ponies put on this weekend in Billings, and their willingness this season to keep HHS's rare winning streak alive by any means necessary. "When you think about it, it's been an amazing four years, and it took the efforts of a lot of people to accomplish what this program has," Filius said. "It starts with great kids, we have always had great kids in this program. It's also a result of great assistant coaches and a lot of support. Great support from our school, the administration, the parents and the entire community. We are all just very fortunate to be a part of this. "And that's what's so great about this one," he added. "Because this team continued the great tradition we have had here, worked as hard as ever and put their own stamp on this program. That's special and it's something we're all really proud of."