Ponies meet CMR on the mat

Coming out of another outstanding weekend of action, the Havre High wrestling team won't waste any time to once again return to the mat.

Just over the weekend, the Central A Blue Ponies took second place at the Class A Duals after falling to Belgrade in the championship round. Now, hoping their good production will carry over, the Ponies will host the Class AA CMR Rustlers tonight at the Havre High gymnasium. The varsity matches are hoped to get going around 5:30.

The Rustlers are normally one of the top names no matter what sport is in season. But with a very young wrestling team, the Rustlers find themselves in somewhat of a rebuilding scenario.

"They (CMR) are normally really good," Havre High head coach Scott Filius said. "But they are down right now. They aren't what they have been in the past and they have a young team. The one thing about them is that they are well coached and they are going to wrestle hard, right now they just don't have a bunch of talent."

Aaron Jensen is the head coach of the Rustlers and is no stranger to the Havre program. Jensen wrestled for Filius in high school, and he also competed for MSU-Northern in his college days, so Filius knows the CMR grapplers will compete hard.

Ryan Otto (189) and Phil Selin (215) are the two most experienced wrestlers for the Rustlers and will challenge the Ponies. Both Otto and Selin went undefeated at the Class AA duals over the weekend in Butte.

The rest of the tentative CMR lineup will be sophomore Nick Allison (98), sophomore Braden Murphy (105), sophomore Riley Wavra (112), junior Woody Buck (119), freshman Jesse Johnson (125), junior Jake Tri (130), sophomore Jacob Marmon (140), junior Blake Cotton (145), senior Sam Wavra (152), junior Nathan McCracken (160), junior Austin Fisher (171) and freshman Braxton Hasner (HWT). The Rustlers are open at 140-pounds.

The tentative roster for the Ponies will be Nate Kennelly (105), Gilbert Bara (112), Duell Stadel (119), Thomas Gruber (125), Zack Smith (130), Dillon Seely (135), Eli Hinebauch (145), Kameron Pribyl (152), Grant Pattison (160), Casey Schaub (171), Jared Ruttkofsky (189), Tyler Adams (215) and Josh Salapich (HWT).

Riley LaBuda was back in the Pony lineup at 140 pounds but reinjured his shoulder in Belgrade. As of now HHS will remain open at 140 and 98 pounds, but may move some kids up from junior varsity to try and fill the holes.

This late in the season the Ponies are looking for a win at home.

HHS has wrestled well all season long behind Hinebauch, Pribyl and Stadel, and will look to do so again tonight. And coach Filius is looking for his guys to just come out and do what they know they are supposed to do.

"You always want to get a win," Filius said. "But this time of year you just want to be sharp. It doesn't matter who you are up against, you just want to be real sharp, Hopefully the kids aren't having to be asked to wrestle on the edge and wrestle hard through the whole match, hopefully that stuff is just coming."

Tonight the Ponies will host the Class AA Rustlers at the Havre High gymnasium at roughly 5:30 p.m.