Blue Ponies pin Bison on senior night

The Havre High wrestling team doesn't host a lot of duals at home, but when the Blue Ponies do host one and it's against Great Falls High, it's a must-see for wrestling fans.

Tuesday night inside the HHS gymasnium, the two teams, which are each defending state champions, put on a show for everyone in attendance. And when it was all said and done, it was the Ponies who prevailed on senior night, 33-27.

"It's always hard when you wrestle your last home match," HHS head coach Scott Filius said. "You are conflicted a bit. We left a lot of points out there, which was frustrating, but that doesn't diminish their effort (Great Falls High) to get those points and you have to give them credit as well."

Starting out, things didn't look good for the Ponies as they forfeited a match at 103 pounds and then gave up six more points when Caleb McMillen pinned Ryan Stewart to give the Bison a 12-0 advantage.

Havre and GFH split the next two matches as Martin Wilkie of Havre earned a 13-0 major decision over Jack Dressel, while Russell Wienholz made quick work of the Ponies' Lane Paulson, who was pinned in 20 seconds, which put the Bison up 18-4.

Logan Pleninger, one of the three seniors in action for Havre, did his part to get things back on track as he earned a technical fall in the 132-pound class, by way of a 15-0 decision to get the Ponies within striking distance at 18-9.

The next match, which featured Havre senior Kody Pribyl and Chase Perry of Great Falls going at it at 138 pounds, would define the dual.

For much of the match, Pribyl was in control and held a 2-0 lead heading into the final period. Yet, Perry took advantage of an opening and managed to not only, notch a two-point takedown, but also a near fall, which gave him a 5-2 lead with less than 10 seconds to go.

Facing defeat, Pribyl dug deep. He escaped the hold (1 point) and earned a two-point takedown with three seconds left to force overtime. And in the extra frame, Pribyl got a quick takedown to post a dramatic 7-5 win.

"I was just thinking that I didn't want to give up the pin," Pribyl said. "It was a close dual as is and I was just trying not to get pinned. The position favored him, but I was able to reverse him and get the two to send it to overtime.

"I was super excited," Pribyl added about his overtime victory. "It's senior night and I thought it was a big win for me. The whole crowd was into it and that made me feel really good."

Thanks to Pribyl's victory, Havre was within six at 18-12, instead of facing a 21-9 deficit, which might have proven difficult to overcome.

Jordan Kormac did win the next match for the Bison at 145 pounds, as he pinned Jazz Schroeder, putting the Bison in front 24-12, but the Ponies would go on to win the next four matches as Parker Filius (152 pounds), Dane Flammond (160 pounds), Walter White (170 pounds) and Jase Stokes all posted victories to give HHS its first lead of the dual at 27-24 with two weights remaining.

Tyler Schaub had a chance to put the win on ice with a pin at 205 pounds against Rylan Moldenhauer. But, the sophomore couldn't get over the hump and ended up dropping the match 4-2, which tied things up, with only the heavyweights left on the docket.

Since it was senior night, it seemed fitting that the dual would come down the heavyweights and when it did, Havre senior Travis Adams made sure he made the most of his opportunity. The defending state champion made quick work of Terrel Mitchell, his rival from Great Falls High, pinning him in 1:13 to cap the night and secure the win for Havre.

"All three of the seniors were big," Filius said. "Logan got a tech fall, Kody came from behind and Travis got that last pin. I think that says a lot about the character of those seniors. We had some other kids that underperformed but a lot of that still is just (Great Falls) competing."

The Ponies will take part in their last regular season tournament of the year Saturday, when they will travel to Malta for the Malta Invitational.

Havre 33, Great Falls High 27

103 - Kole WritingBird, GFH, wins by forfeit; 113 - Caleb McMilen, GFH, pinned Ryan Stewart, HAV, 4:29; 120 - Martin Wilkie, HAV, dec. Jack Dressel, GFH, 13-0; 126 - Russell Wienholz, GFH, pinned Lane Paulson, HAV, :20; 132 - Logan Pleninger, HAV, dec. Blade Massey, GFH, 15-0; 138 - Kody Pribyl, HAV, dec. Chase Perry, GFH, 7-5; 145 - Jordan Kormac, GFH, pinned Jazz Schroeder, HAV, 1:13; 152 - Parker Filius, HAV, dec. Chase Short, GFH, 11-4; 160 - Dane Flammond, HAV, dec. Tommy McMillen, GFH, 1-0; 171 - Walter White, HAV, dec. Mitchell Heffernan, GFH, 6-0; 182 - Jase Stokes, HAV, pinned Travis Tomei, GFH, 1:32; 205 - Ryan Moldenhauer, GFH, dec. Tyler Schaub, HAV, 4-2; HWT - Travis Adams, HAV, pinned Terrel Mitchell, GFH, 1:13.