Coming Home

Jase Stokes is one of the most decorated wrestlers to ever come out of the famed Havre Blue Pony program. Now, he’s coming back to the wrestling mats where he grew up — this time, as a Montana State University-Northern Light.

Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge announced Wednesday that the former Class A four-time state champion has transferred from Montana Tech to Northern. Stokes was a red-shirt for the Oredigger football team this past fall, but said, the pull to wrestling never left him.

“Mostly, I just missed wrestling,” Stokes, who is enrolled at Northern for the new semester and will wrestle unattached at this weekend’s Tyler Plummer Classic in Dickinson, North Dakota, said. “And I knew that if I was ever going to go back to it, it would be at Northern. So I’m really excited about it. I also just felt that wrestling is where I feel I have a chance to be the most successful.”

While Stokes, who was a two-time Class A All-State football player, wanted to give the gridiron a shot in Butte, Thivierge, who recruited Stokes heavily as a Blue Pony, made sure he had a place as a Light if he ever wanted to return to wrestling.

And he’s excited that Stokes has decided to do so.

“I’m am extremely excited that Jase has decided to come back and wrestle,” Thivierge said. “It was unexpected, but we are very pleased and excited to work with him on this next chapter in his collegiate career. I’ve said it before, Jase is going to be a threat in the NAIA and at all levels. He’s an athlete and his upside is limitless. He sounds very pleased with his decision to come back and wrestle and is already in the room working on his position and conditioning.

“As a coach, I always try and leave the door open for any athlete to return to the sport they love,” he continued. “I can’t wait to get to work with Jase and help him reach his true potential. As I’ve stated, his upside is huge, and we can’t wait to see what he does as a Light’s wrestler.”

Thivierge, along with throngs of Havre wrestling fans, has seen what Stokes can do as a wrestler. Last February, he and teammate Parker Filius each became four-time state champions, the duo becoming the first Blue Ponies to reach that milestone. Stokes was also part of four team titles in his time wrestling for Scott Filius at Havre High, and he won countless regular season tournaments and awards during a dominant prep career.

And now, he’s hoping to do the same types of things on the mat with Thivierge and the Lights.

“Tyson is a great coach,” Stokes said. “I’ve known him for a long time, and he’s got everyone in the room working for the same goal. And that’s competing for team titles and I’m excited to be a part of that. The guys here are awesome, they’re fun to be around, and I’m looking forward to being on the team with them. It’s exciting to come be a part of what they’re doing and that’s competing at the highest level.”

Of course, Lights fans should be excited about Stokes as a Light as well. He’ll start out wrestling at heavyweight for Northern, and, he’ll add to a legacy of local grapplers being a part of the great Lights’ program.

“Having a local talent like Jase boosts our roster and we already know he’s gonna help put fans in the bleachers,” Thivierge said. “The other important part of this is we landed another Montana stud and got us closer to a national championship caliber team … stacked with Montana talent.”