Hungry for More

The word dynasty sometimes gets thrown around a bit loosely in sports, but when it comes to the Havre High wrestling team, there really is no other way to describe its success over the last 17 years other than to call it what it is — a dynasty.

Since 1997, HHS has won nine Class A State championships under head coach Scott Filius, two of which came in 2013 and 2014, when the Ponies captured back-to-back titles. Now, armed with three defending individual state champions and seven returning wrestlers who finished in the top three at state a year ago, the Ponies have their sights set on a three-peat for just the second time in school history.

“I think that at the start of the year, everyone has the goal of being an individual state champ or winning a team state championship,” Filius said. “I don’t really get caught up in doing it year-to-year or anything like that. I think you start out each season the same. You have the same goal and try to achieve it and then everything just takes care of itself.”

Of course, if the Ponies are going to win their third consecutive state title, it would put them in elite company, but surprisingly it would be the third time in the last 17 years that a team has been able to pull off the feat.

The first to do it in that time was the Sidney Eagles, who have been the Ponies’ biggest rival for the past 17 seasons and are second behind Havre with five state championships since 2000, including four in a row from 2003-2006.

After Sidney went on their run, Havre went on a four-year run of its own, capturing the state title in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Laurel and Corvallis managed to sneak away with championships in 2011 and 2012 before the Ponies returned to dominance two years ago. In all, HHS has won six of the last eight titles in Class A and shows no signs of slowing down.

“We got a great group of kids,” Filius said. “They work really hard, they have wrestled together for a long time now. They travel well together, they compete well together. They also do a very good job in the class room. They are just a great group of kids to work with and that really makes it a lot of fun.”

From top to bottom, the 2014-15 Pony team is loaded with talent. Whether it’s Keegan Kennelly, Logan Pleninger and Grayson Brenna in the lighter weights, Parker Filius, Jase Stokes and Kody Pribyl in the middle weights or Jace Billy and Travis Adams in the upper weights, there are few weaknesses in the Havre lineup.

Depth has always been a strength of the Havre wrestling program and it’s part of the reason why the team has been so successful under Scott Filius. Yet, this offseason, the Montana High School Association passed a rule that once again changed around the weight class and reduced the overall number of them from 15 to 13.

This is the second straight year in which MHSA has made changes to the weight classes after the member schools adopted the National Federation’s weight class with the exception of the 98-pound class prior to the 2013-14 season. (See related story below).

Essentially, the 98-pound class and the 106-pound class were combined into the 103-pound weight class, while the 195 pound and 220 pound weight classes had the same fate and were combined into the 205-pound weight class.

“It certainly takes two guys out of our lineup because we had the numbers to fill everything, so it’s kind of frustrating from that standpoint,” Filius said. “It’s going to make the state tournament more competitive, considering there were 15 weights and now there are just 13. It will make those weights around there more competitive and more competitive is always a good thing. It hurts us more than other teams, because typically we have been full and have been able to fill those weights.”

When asked if he supported the measure Filius said he did, because it was what is best for the sport of wrestling.

“I didn’t pen it but I didn’t fight it either,” Filius said. “I thought it was the best thing for the sport even though it certainly wasn’t the best thing for Havre. But it will make it tougher for some teams too that could skate by at some of the weights and now they won’t be able to do that.”

Another change on the horizon for Havre is to the divisional format. This will be the last season that Havre will compete solely against the Central A at divisionals. Next season, the tournament will include the Central A and the Eastern A, meaning Havre and Sidney, the two powerhouses of Class A will compete for divisional as well as state championships every year, starting in 2015-16.

“I don’t think it will change much,” Filius said. “We proposed it years ago and have got resistance from other people and I think most of that resistance was from other people thinking it doesn’t give someone an advantage. I think if people didn’t like the four divisional tournaments and thought it gave someone a leg up, they would have voted for the two a long time ago.”

In terms of this season, even though the Ponies will not do battle with Sidney at divisionals, the Eagles are still the biggest threat to stop Havre from a three-peat, which they will be determined to do after finishing as the runner-up to Havre at state two years running.

Central A rival Belgrade along with Columbia Falls, Hardin and Corvallis are other traditional contenders that will be looking to unseat Havre this season.

However, that task of knocking off the Ponies will prove extremely difficult and even though the new weight class rules may hurt Havre’s ability to score points, it will make the team on the mat even better, with the competition fierce to earn a spot in the Pony lineup.

The veterans with spots in the lineup in hand are Parker Filius, a state champ at 138 pounds a year ago, Stokes, a state champ at 152 and Jace Billy, who won state at 195 pounds. This season, Billy will man the 205-weight class, while Parker Filius will move up to 145 and Stokes will bump up to 170.

Kennelly will wrestle at 120 pounds this season after a second-place finish at state in the 105-pound class last season. At 103 pounds, the Ponies will have Ryan Stewart and at 126 pounds will be Pleninger, who finished third at state at 113 pounds last year. He will compete against Dylan Stewart, who will also wrestle in the 126-pound class after a fifth-place finish there at state.

Brenna, who finished third at 120 pounds a year ago, after winning a state title as a sophomore, will wrestle at 132 pounds this season for Havre, while at 138 pounds, Havre has a trio of wrestlers fighting it out with Dane Flammond, Jazz Schroeder and T.J. Lovenguth all battling it out for a spot in the lineup. At 152 pounds, there will be Pribyl, who finished fourth at state at 145 pounds last season as well as Gunner Aageson, who will see time at 152 pounds and 160 pounds. Walter White will also be in the mix at 160 pounds.

Rounding things out in the upper weights will be John Chinadle and Tyler Schaub in contention at 182 pounds, followed by Travis Adams in the heavy weight class, who is last but certainly not least after finishing runner-up at state at 220 pounds last season. Adams lost to older brother, Tyler in the state title match a year ago.

The Ponies will open their season this Friday at the Havre Invitational and from there they will navigate a busy schedule starting in Butte from Dec. 11 to Dec. 13, where they will compete in the Butte Central Mixer and Mining City Duals. Then, on Dec. 19 and Dec.20, the Ponies will test their strength against one of strongest wrestling fields in the state at the CMR Holiday Classic. In the second half of the season, HHS will compete in the Cut Bank, Chester and Missoula invitationals, while also squaring off in duals against Great Falls High, CMR, Malta and, in the Class A Duals, Belgrade Jan. 23 and Jan. 24.

The Ponies will defend their Central A Divisional title in Livingston on Feb. 7 with their state title defense set to begin at the All-Class State Wrestling meet at the Metra in Billings on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14.

The Havre Invitational, which features teams from along the Hi-Line as well as Lewistown and both CMR and Great Falls High will get underway Friday at 1 p.m.