Brothers, freshmen, four titles, what a night

BILLINGS — And then there were four. Four Havre High wrestlers who outlasted all that Class A could throw at them at the state tournament in Billings.

Overall, there were six Blue Pony wrestlers who battled it out for individual state titles at the Rimrock Auto Arena as the Ponies captured their second straight team title Saturday night.

Sophomore Keegan Kennelly (106), freshman Parker Filius (138), freshman Jase Stokes (152), junior Jace Billy (195), senior Tyler Adams (220) and sophomore Travis Adams (220) all competed in the championship round.

In a unique situation, Travis Adams took on older brother Tyler Adams in the finals as the Ponies won four of their six matches on final's night.

Individual title winners included Filius, Stokes, Billy and Tyler Adams.

“They are all great kids, and those were great wins by a couple of freshmen, a junior and a senior,” Havre head coach Scott Filius said. “But all of the kids wrestled well, we even had some kids win it all last year return and wrestle better this year and not win it. I was pleased with our kids.”

The championship round started at 220 pounds, meaning the brother versus brother showdown took center stage.

Tyler Adams wasn’t going to take a defeat from his younger sibling, and controlled the match early on, taking a 10-3 lead after the first two periods with three takedowns, an escape, and a near fall. From there it was just making sure he didn’t get caught off guard before eventually earning the 14-5 decision and finishing the weekend 4-0.

Tyler put together a stretch of three pins to get into the championship match. He first pinned Mikey Denision of Columbia Falls in :53 Friday morning, followed by a pin over Luke Channer of Corvallis in the quarterfinals, and a pin over Hunter Severson of Sidney in the semifinals. Travis finished 3-1, But the loss didn’t matter much to either brother as Tyler stressed just how much fun that moment was for both.

“This is a good feeling all around,” Tyler Adams said. “I like the fact that it was against my brother because it was a good way to go out. But he is a good wrestler. And we kind of talked about this match before, and I thought I would probably win. But it was about going out there and having fun, too. It is nice to win, but it is still about having fun.”

Billy also had a standout match, and made sure he was ready for the challenge when it came time. Unlike the Adams brothers, Billy was the final weight class of the night, and without doing the math, there was no guarantee the Ponies had clinched a team title just yet. But after seeing the HHS freshmen get their wins, Billy thought it might be in the bag.

But just to make sure, Billy knew he needed to get a win against his opponent, Belgrade’s Jaden Bryant. Billy got two points on a takedown in the first period, and took a 3-0 lead on an escape to start the third. Bryant answered with a takedown of his own; before an escape gave Billy a 4-2 lead to close the second. And the match came down to the final 12 seconds. Billy gave up a point for stalling, and quickly realized he couldn’t give up an escape or takedown if he wanted the win in regulation. The grapplers were on their feet in the final seconds and Billy hung on for dear life, both arms wrapped around Bryant’s waist.

It was a great finish after a third-place finish last year.

“This is 100 times different, knowing that I am the best in the Class A and nobody can beat me,” Billy said. “But I knew I had to ride him out for those 12 seconds. I think if that match was one second longer he might have gotten out, but it took everything I had in me to hold on.

“But we did awesome as a team,” Billy added. “And in the finals we really stepped up. I thought the team finish might come down to me so I really put a lot of pressure on myself. But when I saw our freshmen getting pins, I knew I could take some of that pressure off myself. But I actually felt more relaxed coming into this match than any other. I had a little pressure at first, but I felt great going in.”

Billy made light work of his opponents all weekend long before the tough title match. He pinned Andrew Burgess of Columbia Falls in 1:42, Michael Bumgarner of Hamilton in 3:34, and Monty Jessop of Corvallis in just 58 seconds in the semifinals.

And Filius and Stokes may be freshmen, but they didn’t wrestle like it as they took down a lot of great talent to combine for an 8-0 weekend.

Filius capped off his state run with a dominating takedown and pin in the second period. It was a state run that began with a pin over Brevlin Thompson of Anaconda, a pin over Colton Gove of Columbia Falls, and a 10-0 major decision over Tyler Olsen of Corvallis in the semifinals. But in the 138-pound chipper, Filius turned his 2-1 lead through one into a 3:23 pin over Sidney’s Jordan Stevens.

And in another unique situation, Parker Filius also got to share his triumph with family. Head coach Scott Filius is Parker’s father and has been his coach almost as long as he has been his father. Parker has been wrestling all over the country since the age of five and has found it very comforting to have his father and coach in his corner.

“I have been working for this all year,” Parker said. “But I have been wrestling since I was little and I have wanted to win a state title since watching matches here growing up. This is pretty cool. And (my dad) treats me just like everybody else, I have to put in the same work everybody else does. But yeah, it is nice to know he is right there supporting me as my coach and as my dad.”

Scott Filius, father and coach, tries to separate the feelings while competing, but that is easier said than done.

“It is a little different, I work hard to not make it different, but it is,” he said. “You can’t help but to have that tighter relationship, but more than anything I might have just had a little higher blood pressure during the match. But I was confident, and I felt good for Parker.”

Stokes followed suit with a dominating finish of his own.

After earning three straight pins to get to the title match, Stokes finished his first state tournament with a pin over Bryan Schaffer of Columbia Falls in 4:50. Stokes also pinned Sean Cooney of Butte Central, John Preller of Laurel, and Mason Mavrinac of Anaconda. Stokes’ pin over Schaffer came with just 10 seconds left in the match. He didn’t need the pin to win as he had a commanding 10-0 lead, but the fall did help Stokes earn the quick pin award for the Class A.

“This is awesome,” Stokes said following his win. “I like that I helped my team out too, this is a great experience. I really worked hard in the room with some good partners. Parker (Filius) is my partner most of the time so that was good and that really helped me get better as the season went on.”

Both Filius and Stokes now have the opportunity to become four-time state champions for the Ponies. Havre has had plenty of standout freshmen in the past, but have not had that opportunity in some time.

“I am just taking it one year at a time,” Filius said. “Right now I am just focused on winning another one next year, so right now the goal isn’t four titles, it’s two.

“I have thought about it a little bit,” Stokes added, “But it is a long ways away, so I still have to work hard for that. But it is nice to know that it is at least possible in the future.”

Kennelly and Travis Adams didn’t get that individual title they were hoping for, but they still had great weekends. It was especially heartbreaking for Kennelly who now has back-to-back No. 2 finishes.

Kennelly took an early 2-0 lead, but fell behind 3-2 after giving up an escape and takedown near the end of the first period. The score was tied at 3-3 when Kennelly started the second with an escape, but Kohltin Starkel proved to be as tough as they come, grabbing another take down before giving up an escape at the end of the second. Kennelly trailed just 5-4 heading into the final period, but another takedown by Starkel with just 34 seconds left stretched the deficit to 8-5, the eventual final decision score.

It was tough for Kennelly, but overall, it was another great weekend for the Blue Pony wrestling team.