Mat Time in Havre: Blue Ponies ready to rumble at home

For years, the Havre High wrestling team has dominated in divisional wrestling tournaments. But, that tournament was the Central A divisional, and now, the Blue Ponies will be competing in the Eastern A Divisional, which is something altogether different.

The Eastern A tournament, which will be hosted by Havre inside the HHS gymnasium Saturday starting at 9 a.m., is essentially a combination of the old Eastern A and Central A divisional tournaments. Instead of having five or six teams, there will be 11 in action and they will be competing for berths in the Class A state tournament next weekend.

"I will tell you in a couple days," HHS head coach Scott Filius said about the changes. "But I was in favor of them. I think that it makes a better tournament, an actual tournament. Before we would have times where kids would hardly wrestle any matches at divisionals and that doesn't seem right. So I like the format. I think that it's going to reward the teams that are the best and the deepest.

"I also think it will make the state tournament better," He added. "That is one of the biggest reasons why I was in favor of it. A lot of times you had two of the best wrestlers facing each other in the semifinals and know you won't see that happen as much."

The increase in teams means an increase in competition. And in many years that would mean an eventual showdown between Havre and Sidney, the traditional powers in Class A wrestling for the team championship.

Yet, this season, Sidney is not quite as powerful as the Eagles have been in the past. Additionally, there are a number of up and coming teams in the Eastern A that will try to upend Havre, the prohibitive favorite to win it.

"I am not really sure about the Eastern teams because I haven't seen them a whole lot," Filius said. "Glendive and Laurel were probably the toughest teams that I saw. Miles City and Hardin were pretty tough too. I just don't know about Sidney because we didn't see them all year."

Even though the format at divisionals is different, the goal for the Ponies is still the same and still twofold: win the team title and get all 16 of their individual wrestlers to quality for next week's state tournament.

Of course the Ponies are in great shape to do just that with a lineup that is loaded with talent from top to bottom. In the lighter weights, the Ponies will be led by Ryan Stewart, who will wrestle at 120 pounds and freshman Martin Wilkie, who will look to continue his sensational season with a divisional championship.

Havre will be open at 126 pounds, but at 132 pounds, the Ponies will boast Logan Pleninger, the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class and a three-time medalist at state. At 138 pounds, Havre will put out another three-time medalist in Kody Pribyl. Manning the spot at 145 pounds will be sophomore Jazz Schroeder.

Then, as the Ponies move up in weight classes, their team becomes even stronger, starting with Parker Filius, a two-time state champion, who will compete at 152 pounds. He will be followed by Dane Flammond at 160 pounds and Austin Ratliff at 170 pounds.

At 182 pounds, the second of Havre's three individual state champions will wrestle in Jase Stokes, who is a two-time state champ in his own right. At 205 pounds will be talented sophomore Tyler Schaub and in the heavyweight class is defending state champ Travis Adams.

In addition to his normal varsity wrestlers, coach Filius gets to add four others to his roster this week and those are Kollin Nystrom, who will wrestle at 145 pounds, Jared Laux at 152, JayR Caplette at 205 pounds and Jared Sienkowski in the heavyweight class.

In order for individuals to qualify for the state meet, they must finish in the top eight in their weight class, something which Filius believes all of his kids are capable of doing.

"I think we have a good chance to get all our kids through," Filius said. "I don't think changing the format will have anything to do with that, but I will let you know in a couple of days."

The Eastern A Divisional meet, which features Havre, Belgrade, Livingston, Browning, Lewistown, Sidney, Glendive, Laurel, Hardin, Miles City and Billings Central, will start at 9 a.m., inside the HHS gymnasium. The finals should take place at approximately 3-4 p.m. All wrestlers who qualify advance to next week's state tourney in Billings.