Ponies out to defend dual title

The Havre High wrestling team has been on a roll as of late, and with the state wrestling meet creeping up closer and closer on the schedule, the Blue Ponies will continue to fine tune things as they attempt to peak for the end of the season.

This weekend, the fine tuning will take place at the Class A duals in Belgrade. The tournament begins Friday and runs through Saturday. It will feature a number of Class A schools, who will dual each other in a tournament-style format to determine a champion. Havre comes into the meet as the defending champion after knocking off Belgrade 50-25 in the final a season ago.

"I think that we will do well," HHS head coach Scott Filius said. "It just sets up really nice for us because we have so much depth, so it's hard for a lot of the teams to compete with us. But all of our kids are going to get tough matches and that's a good thing."

The Class A duals offer a great chance to see the rest of the Class A teams that the Ponies have not had a chance to compete against this season, and while Filius did not know every team that was going to be there, he did say that the majority of Class A teams would be in attendance.

"There are going to be 17 teams there," Filius said. "And I don't know the teams that aren't coming. It's a dual meet, so it will give us a chance to move some things around with our lineup and get all of our kids lots of matches."

The lineup may look different for each opponent in the tournament but the mainstays in the Havre lineup will all be in action and that includes Keegan Kennelly at 120 pounds, Grayson Brenna at 132 pounds, Parker Filius at 145 pounds, Jase Stokes at 160 pounds, Jace Billy at 205 pounds and Travis Adams in the heavyweight division.

Yet, coach Filius is also going to do some mixing and matching with his lineup to get some of his other wrestlers matches in preparation for the Central A Divisional meet that will take place Feb. 6-7 in Belgrade.

Others that will be on the mat this weekend for HHS include Ryan Stewart at 103 pounds, Dylan Stewart at 120 pounds, Logan Pleninger at 126 pounds, Dane Flammond at 138 pounds, Kody Pribyl at 152 pounds, Tyler Schaub at 170 pounds and John Chinadle at 182 pounds.

In addition to those wrestlers, even more HHS grapplers will get an opportunity to compete in Belgrade such as Gunner Aageson at either 152 pounds or 160 pounds, JayR Caplette, who will be at 170 pounds and Jordan Schroeder, who will wrestle at 182 pounds this weekend after making his long-awaited return to competition in the dual against CMR on Tuesday. Schroeder's win over CMR's KC Buday by fall in 2:36, was the first time he had competed in live action in over a year due to injury.

This weekend, Schroder will get even more opportunities as he and his teammates try to find their form before divisionals and state.

"You need something to fill the schedule for the weekend and (The Class A duals) are as good as anything," Filius said. "And we are looking forward to getting lots of matches for everybody so we can kind of see where we're at right now."

The action at the Class A Duals will get underway Friday in Belgrade at 1 p.m., and will continue on through Saturday night's championship match. It's HHS's last big tournament.