Blue Ponies return to the mat

There is no question that the Havre High wrestling team is among the best in the state and this Saturday in Bozeman, the Blue Ponies will get a chance to prove it once again.

After getting two weeks off for the holidays, the Ponies will return to action this weekend when they will dual Butte High, Belgrade and Bozeman in a triangular Saturday in Bozeman. And while the Ponies have proven they can out-dual Class AA schools, particularly after posting a 6-0 mark on their way to winning the Mining City Duals, each week and each match presents a new challenge.

"Bozeman has a really nice lineup," HHS head coach Scott Filius said. "They are kind of a wildcard because they haven't had all their guys yet because they went deep into the playoffs in football and in duals they still didn't have all their guys. So we are not sure what Bozeman is going to give us. But, I expect that Butte is going to scrap. They were fourth at the Mining City Duals, so I expect them to have a full team and be scrappy."

The Ponies will be expected to win all three duals in Bozeman, but in order to do that, they will need to overcome a lineup that forfeits three weights as HHS will be vacant at 103 pounds, 126 pounds and 138 pounds. Yet, the holiday break did some good for the Ponies as they used the time off to get healthy and that means Jazz Schroeder, who had been out with an injury will be back in the lineup at 145 pounds.

"Right now we are as healthy as we have been all year," Filius said. "We had the cold go through all our guys, but we are getting healthy now and feeling good."

Bozeman, Butte and Belgrade each boast a slew of talented wrestlers, in fact Bozeman and Belgrade both have returning state champions in their lineup as the Hawks feature Trae Vasquez and the Panthers have both Jarrett and Sawyer Deegan. But few teams have the depth that the Ponies do with three returning state champions.

Parker Filius, who lost to Deegan earlier this year, will lead the charge for Havre as he mans the 152-pound weight class, while Havre's other returning champions Jase Stokes and Travis Adams will wrestle at 182 pounds and in the heavyweight class, respectively.

The rest of the Havre lineup includes Ryan Stewart, who will wrestle at 113 pounds, freshman Martin Wilkie, who will be at 120 pounds, Logan Pleninger, who will fill the spot at 132, Dane Flammond at 160, Walter White at 170 and Tyler Schaub at 205.

While the Ponies certainly want to win all three duals, the most important thing coach Filius wants from his team in Bozeman Saturday is simply to compete.

"We just want to compete in all situations," Filius said. "We want the kids to compete when they are ahead and when they are behind. And right now the kids are doing that well in the (wrestling) room and the big thing is when you get kids that are buying in and working hard and right now they are buying into it."

Havre will open the triangular against Bozeman, followed by a dual against Butte before finishing the day against Belgrade. The Ponies will then head to Cut Bank Jan. 8-9 for the Cut Bank Invitational.